Bare has joined up with Informa...

Just got an email from Bare that they have teamed up with Informa and have many Bank jobs, none in my area.
I wondered what happened to Bare as they have been laying low for months....who see's them as a team?

Live consciously....

Create an Account or Log In

Membership is free. Simply choose your username, type in your email address, and choose a password. You immediately get full access to the forum.

More Discussions About Bare Associates International (All Companies)

Yeah, I thought that was odd. I looked at the shop, it looks like a pretty standard platform shop at the red, white and blue bank. I thought ath had that bank sewn up but I guess not.

I think these shops are for a competitor of that bank, not actually for the bank itself. Informa specializes on doing studies/shops on bank competitors. They're probably teaming up with BARE to get a larger pool of shoppers able to do the shops.

Oh, ok. I didn't know that about Informa. Interesting.

"Teaming up" suggests to me that BARE may be doing some scheduling work for Informa or perhaps has been sub-contracted by Informa to do some shops. It doesn't sound like a merger/acquisition.

I agree, only the email sounded more serious. I have done Banks for Informa, never for Bare....did sound like a merge of sorts.

Live consciously....

Informa is too huge for BARE to acquire. It has lineage dating back to 1734 and has 11,000+ emploees (not ICs) is and is publically traded (on the FTSE 100). And while I am sure the Bare brothers would entain an offer, the really are too small for Informa to buy. Also, no PR statement to be found. Its not a merger.

The email said, "Bare has recently partnered with Informa to schedule a Bank project"...looks like Bare has become a scheduler for this project.

Live consciously....

Yes, Bare is scheduling some of the more routine bank shops for Informa, as well as using their vast shopper lists to seek out native speakers of several languages, also for some bank shops. It is unclear whether this is a short-term "fix" or will continue for the long haul.

Informa is continuing to schedule "invitation only" shops for their most demanding clients.

No one at Informa has mentioned anything except the scheduling of some shops by Bare. Their (Informa's) expertise really is necessary to handle the more demanding shops, both scheduling and QC.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

I got the same information from Informa. They are concentrating on their more "intense" types of shops and told me they have moved the standard go and ask a fairly simple question shops over to Bare. I do not know what their "partnership" arrangement entails.

I applied for 4 shops with Bare on Monday and stated I could do them tomorrow. I have not heard a thing and my apps are still pending. Sadly after 3 days, I booked my weekend. They keep sending out emails that the shops need to be done but state do not contact the scheduler about your pending apps. So I guess they don't need done that bad.

I agree that Bare is short of impossible to work with due to no one ever answering back....I have applied for two seperate shops with Bare for months, every month with no response.

Live consciously....

Bare and SQM can be so impersonal, i work for other MSC who schedulers actually call you or email and it is ao much better...they pay less than both but they are my favorite and prefer them because they take time to care, makes a difference. Sometimes MSC forget they need good customer service too...

@Mysteriousways wrote:

Bare and SQM can be so impersonal, i work for other MSC who schedulers actually call you or email and it is ao much better...they pay less than both but they are my favorite and prefer them because they take time to care, makes a difference. Sometimes MSC forget they need good customer service too...

That's odd. I have spoken to three people at SQM, and I have spoken to at least 10 at BARE. I do a lot of work for BARE. I don't have problems with responses (by a lot of work, I mean that I have over 1000 completed jobs for them). Even the ones I don't speak with respond right away to emails or just assign jobs with no contact when I have no questions. You can call BARE Monday to Friday and there is a live person answering the phone. I've met Mike and Jason a couple of times, and I found them to be quite pleasant and professional.

IMO, The people at SQM are the most personable, yet professional one can cone by -- both by e-mail and phone.

Ive worked with both schedulers and program managers at Bare as well as with Jason Bare too. Ive no complainst about them.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/2019 06:57AM by Rousseau.

How long does it take to get paid from Bare? They still mail checks to me for the last payments.

Signed up with Bare got a shop recently; they waited till the day before to assign it; guidelines riddled with errors (bad English; Page Not Found Links; incorrect requirements); went back and forth with scheduler; cancelled. Spent $10 worth of time with them just trying to get their story straight. And their documentation cannot be read on a cell phone or tablet.

>> NOT New ~ Yahoo Email Got Hacked <<

Let's remember that Bare is only scheduling some Informa shops. I suspect that Informa is still doing QC and payment or those. Any information to the contrary ??

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

I love working for Bare. Frankly, I prefer to deal with MSCs online and not by talking to schedulers unless necessary. However, each time I have found it necessary to call Bare about a shop, they have been happy to help and work with me.
I've been paid consistently within the guidelines for pay dates.
The ONLY thing that I don't like is that they've switched to a Power Point style of guidelines, which now requires 15 pages to print out instead of 6-7.

I have direct deposit with Bare. They pay the month after the shop is done but I don't remember exactly when in the month payment is issued.

@ShopperFun99 wrote:

How long does it take to get paid from Bare? They still mail checks to me for the last payments.

Kim

@walesmaven wrote:

I suspect that Informa is still doing QC and payment or those. Any information to the contrary ??

No. Bare is doing the QC, not Informa. Basically, the clients belong to Informa, but the projects get outsourced to Bare.

@unclebobg wrote:

The ONLY thing that I don't like is that they've switched to a Power Point style of guidelines, which now requires 15 pages to print out instead of 6-7.

The PP was designed by Informa previously. If you look at some truly Bare projects, the guidelines are still in PDF.

This is not the only MSC to move to PP presentations.

I just hate it.

Barev& Informa teaming up...to form Voltron, Defender of the mystery shopping universe.

Competition, beware!

I have worked with BARE for almost 3 years and can't say enough good about them. The payment is usually by the 15th (give or take a few days) by direct deposit. I have never had an issue with on time payments.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/20/2019 02:18PM by Harley1963.

Same here i have applied for months but no response, yet they send me email for available shops every day. Did you get any reply?

I used to do some simple bank shops for Informa in my area. They were really easy and always bonused towards the end of the month. I have stopped doing them since they teamed up with Bare. The price dropped and no bonus. Probably worked out for Informa..

Hi Jk1nole,

Informa has moved our projects back in house! Our quarterly projects have already made the move, and in November the rest of our regular shops will be back with Informa.

Briana Baca
Data Collection Manager
Curinos

Briana.Goldman@Curinos.com

“Reality is the leading cause of stress amongst those in touch with it.” —Jane Wagner

From what I had heard, the team work with Bare was always meant to be temporary. When Informa reorganized, it appears that a lot of their reliable shoppers had difficulty navigating the new system sign-up process. I know that I needed help with that, since the initial instructions were a problem. Apparently so many of their reliable shoppers never did fully sign up that they had to outsource scheduling while they got enough of us back on board to resume in-house scheduling of all of their shops. Apparently that goal has been met. If I am wrong about all of this, I hope that someone from Informa would clarify.

Also, perhaps Informa's core shoppers never liked the Bare offers well enough to take those shops, and Informa may not have been happy with the "new-to-Informa" shoppers" performance on the new-to-them Informa report requirements and format. That is speculation on my part, though.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

I agree with above, I didn't sign with the new Informa program and wouldn't do the jobs with Bare, had trouble getting assigned with Bare, got annoyed and de-activated (long story). Huge mistake on Informa's part, too bad, I used to work for them quite a bit and liked them, their main headquarters isn't far from me...

Live consciously....

I just asked for, and got, step-by-step improved instructions for signing up with the new system so was able to use it within days of its inception. Ask, and ye shall be helped!

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.

Click here to login

Bare has joined up with Informa...

Create an Account or Log In

Official List of Mystery Shopping Companies

Mystery Shopper Magazine