Good for you! There are really good MSCs and I try to work for them often. They hire good schedulers and editors in general. They establish professional and good relationships with their shoppers and staff. A few of them sided with me when the companies were against me because of my reports. They paid me when they were told not to and against their wishes, kept me. I will always be loyal to them.

A few months ago I did a special shop for the first time for my new MSC who I was registered with a while back but somehow I never had a chance to shop for them. When they offered it to me, I did not see any problem. It was rather complicating but I completed it with a significant money outlay.

The editor rated me an 8. Checked my log later, I had '1' as my rating. I contacted the editor. She said she did not know but she gave me an '8.'

Forgot all about it. I did not receive anything from that MSC. So I asked the editor again. She said she did not know why. No one had bothered to explain anything at all and the shop was gone from my log.

Then I received an invite after several months to do the very same shop. No way! If they are that unprofessional, there are better battles to slay. I have a very busy schedule and I decided not to impact my stress level. I must have heard something against them that's why it took years before I shopped for them and I took a chance with them. Never again!

In the publishing field, advertising, marketing, technical writing, and almost every other writing application today, the single space is the standard. Some individual businesses or some very traditional fields cling to the double-space style, but the need for the double space became obsolete when automatic proportional typewriters, typesetting machines, and word-processing software were developed.

Service Scouts is very particular, Coyle is too. ACL until you get used to them is a bit of a pain. One of their editors told me not to write in paragraphs and by not doing it that way, it would save me time? Service check was always interesting. My mother and I both worked for them and we'd always get things for something weird. She is a retired English teacher and I write technical documents and have done some MSC editing.

Confero has the strictest scoring system ... good luck getting a 10 out of them even if there's no narrative required.

@azncollege wrote:

Do people still type double space after periods during the post-typewriter era? Single space after a period is standard these days.

One of CSE's clients requires double space after periods and it drives me crazy.

Most courts require a double space after a period. So anyone coming from a legal background will do it.

I have been working for one msc for two years now and in the 400 or so reports I have done for them I have rarely had a question and have always gotten a 10. Then last month the editor (new???) sent back 8 of my reports for extensive editing. Then sent back half of them again. She mentioned in a few that they were not in order of the experience I had. I re read each of them and told her that yes, they were in exact order of how the shop went. Then I asked if I was supposed to report the narrative in the order of the questions on the form even though the instructions said to report the narrative in the order of the events. She finally accepted my reports without a change in the order I wrote the narrative in. But I got 8 on most of them. My score for her, and only because she was very nice about it, was a 6.

You're correct! MANY of the shop companies use double questions. Legally speaking these are questions which are impossible to answer and objectionable in a court. Many shop forms from virtually every MSCs also invariably contain multiple spelling and grammar errors but expect shoppers to be perfect.

A few weeks ago I had a shop for Bare. It said in the guidelines to do my best getting the staff member's names, and if I was unable to get their names then I need to get a good description of them. I dealt with three people during my shop and they were all wearing name tags. The 1st person was sitting down the entire time and she ended up leaving when I was in another room. In my report, even though they were all wearing name tags, I still gave a brief description of each person. I got an email asking how tall the 1st person was. I immediately responded and said that she was sitting the entire time and couldn't tell, so I wasn't quite sure. Again, I gave a brief description. I gave her approximate age, her hair color and style, approximate weight and her name. And, again, I mentioned she was wearing a name tag so I was 100% positive of her name. A couple days later I saw my report had been docked a point. I got a 9 out of 10 and a note saying in the future I need to make sure I get a "proper description" of each person. I was pretty irritated but figured why bother saying anything because obviously this person was looking for SOMETHING to pick apart. I have been pretty consistent with them and was getting all 10's except for one, way back when I first started. I got a 9 but no explanation why. I don't even know if you can dispute your ratings. Can you?

I'd revise it: "What MSC is pickiest about editing?"

"What" is appropriate since there is an unknown number of MSC's under consideration.

If you are trying to select from among a specific list of MCS's and you want a specific one mentioned, "which" is the better choice (as "which" is restrictive).

"What name do you prefer I pick for my son"? Open ended.

"Jonas, Adabas, or John: which name do you prefer I pick for my son"? Among those listed.

"In your opinion" (with or without a comma) is unnecessary as every comment here is an opinion.

I think it's still a bit ambiguous as to what "editing" means. Is it one's own editing before submitting a report or the MSC's editing of one's submitted report, or the applicable editorial guidelines? My guess is the former as most of us never see the finished product.

Few MSC's have a style guide or specific editorial guidelines, so it's quite a challenge to fulfill whatever they may be.

I'm new, so I hope I'm doing this correctly. I believe the APA went back to double spacing after a period because it was easier to read.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/10/2019 06:44AM by LucyLove.

@LucyLove wrote:

I'm new, so I hope I'm doing this correctly. I believe the APA went back to double spacing after a period because it was easier to read.

I didn't know that, but it makes sense if you're a professor reading tons of papers. I've always found it interesting that some fields that have nothing to do with psychology or education use APA.

Coyle

Once upon a time, there was an editor at RCM who for whatever reason always nitpicked in every little thing. I took several years off from doing MS in general and just came back recently. Found out, there's now a new editor and she's always pleasant to work with and approved the shops easily. I have no doubt if that old girl at RCM moved to one of these MSCs that you all mentioned.

@rboggs127 wrote:

I hate repetetive and double questions. "Did the host smile and wait till you were seated to hand you menus?" Yes or no ? Then you have to write out, she smiled but she did not wait for me to be seated to hand us menus. So which is it? Yes or no?

@rboggs127 wrote:

I hate repetetive and double questions. "Did the host smile and wait till you were seated to hand you menus?" Yes or no ? Then you have to write out, she smiled but she did not wait for me to be seated to hand us menus. So which is it? Yes or no?

The answer would be "No," in this instance. The host would need to do both to earn a "Yes."

IMO, Coyle is by far the pickiest, and this is exacerbated by their vague guidelines. EPMS is by far the least picky. I cannot recall ever having a shop returned by them for editing or more information.

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.”
———————————————————

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.
————————————————————————-

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?



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 01/24/2020 07:09AM by BlueDev93.

That would send me spinning. Did they see the error of their ways?

BlueDev3 it sounds to me like you were in The Twilight Zone.

Well said! (And thanks for reading my really long post.) I can’t believe I’m the only shopper who has had a difficult time with this proofreader...maybe someone who’s working with HS Brands will see this and chime in!

@azncollege wrote:

They had decent paying jobs in CA after bonuses. Service Check discontinued all their shops back in September and appears to be out of business. Their website is down and phone number got disconnected.

@BirdyC wrote:

@Irene_L.A. wrote:

Service Check

I'm not signed up with them. I don't think they have a lot in my area, but if memory serves me (and I'm not sure it does), aren't they somewhat infamous for not having high-paying shops? Or I might be thinking of another company....

Service Check disallowed a casual diner shop ten years ago or more from me because I "complained". Actually, the server delivered a burger and fries when I ordered a tuna melt. What was a supposed to do, pretend I forgot what I ordered? What about the person who ordered the burger? Sorry, I ate it?

Silly on so many levels! The role of a mystery shopper is to behave like an ordinary consumer. A regular customer wouldn’t have said, “Oh well, I guess I’m in the mood for a burger after all.” It makes sense that they’re out of business.