Although I’ve done 200+ shops in 10 years, I just discovered and joined this forum. Hello everyone! I’m so pleased that a MS community exists.
And the timing is perfect for this topic. Two weeks ago, I signed up with HS Brands and accepted two shops.....
SHOP 1
HS Brands is one of those MSCs that warns you constantly to save your draft or risk losing content. I diligently did just that for my 1st shop. I submitted a lengthy, timely report for a 2-part mystery shop (phone call then physical visit). I thought I provided significant detail beyond the surface questions. I saved a PDF before logging out.
Then I heard from the “proofreader,” who essentially said: (1) Explain how the CSR responded to your questions on the phone call. What specifically did she say? (2) Explain your “no” responses.
OK. I looked at the form and confirmed for #1 that the phone call Qs were all Y/N on whether specific statements were made. I had still dutifully explained in the summary that the CSR hit all the talking points, then I added bonus content and suggestions about the speed and tone of her delivery. I replied to the proofreader accordingly, but added a superfluous 2nd sentence to the summary that reiterated the CSR’s 100% performance. (In retrospect, this was a mistake.)
On #2, I got a nervous twinge that I might have omitted an explanation for a “no.” I checked the PDF and verified that I had covered everything. Hmm! I accessed the draft that I had just “updated” and discovered that blocks of content were missing from the visit portion of the report. Somehow, it was the first draft I had saved on their system, not the final report in the PDF! To add insult to injury, when I clicked on the HS Brands support page, I was locked out of the shop report completely.
I told the proofreader that the HS Brands system had sent her an early draft, but because I had a PDF of the final version, I could update it easily as soon as I regained access. No response. Starting to feel a bit desperate, I reached out to the scheduler and asked him if he could unlock the document for me.
The scheduler responded quickly, then commented: “The report looks pretty detailed to me. Do you still need in?” Huh? I logged in and looked at the report. It was the final version that I had submitted.
The proofreader never replied to any of my emails. A day later I received an automated system notification: “8/10. Thank you for the additional information.”
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SHOP 2
My 2nd shop for HS Brands was a compliance audit. Before the visit, I reviewed a 50-page training presentation, training on marketing materials, training on IT Security, and 3 additional sets of guidelines. The goal was to verify whether the client’s franchisees were honoring their contractual obligations when using and selling the client’s products.
I completed and submitted the audit report on time. Boom! I received an email from the proofreader in less than 3 minutes, identifying an error in one of the introductory questions. Uh oh. The comment was as follows: “You are supposed to identify the products used by [Franchisee]. You say only that [Franchisee] is using [Client] Products. This is incomplete.”
Well, I had no idea what to do with that. I re-reviewed literally every page of the supporting documents. Nothing. There were no lines of questioning that could have resulted in anything else.
I decided to get creative. I had spotted the client’s former legal name on some obsolete materials. I wrote the proofreader and said, “[Franchisee] is only using [Client Products]. At one point the [Client Products] were called [X]. Are you possibly looking for that?” For fun, I added the client’s former legal name to the report field.
Again, no reply from the proofreader, just an automated notification that arrived within a minute of me submitting my Hail Mary: “9/10. Thank you for the additional information.” Remember, not only did I invent an answer for the proofreader, but the audit was complex, the report was lengthy, and there was NO WAY that the proofreader got much further than the introductory question on which I was dinged.
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SO. FRUSTRATING. Has anyone else had an experience like this, with the same MSC or elsewhere? Would you agree to handle future shops for them?
Experienced evaluator and auditor available for consulting in Hampton Roads, Virginia, and eastern North Carolina. Active member of North Carolina bar.
Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 01/24/2020 07:09AM by BlueDev93.