I have a bit of heartburn with this group.

They took over the scheduling of a client I have been doing for a certain MSC.
OK. I applied for 4 shops. Did not hear anything for 2 weeks until I received an email that a shop was due that day. I complained and was told I had received notification that my request was accepted. I did not!

Later, These shops returned to the original MSC with a Bonus. Why? They were not being scheduled. OK. I went to Kern and applied for one. No response. Went to the Original MSC, applied for the same shop. It was immediately accepted.
I performed this shop and it cleared several days ago.

I just checked Kern. The same shop application is still pending...



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2011 02:45PM by mrcomputer101.

I long ago learned not to request or accept through Kern or, in fact, any scheduling company when I can go to the source of the shop and accept it there. Kern may get 'credit' for having scheduled it, but I despise the extra layer of bureaucracy.

It was not until recently that I could bypass kern...

In my experience with them, even when I have tried to schedule through them, it is never accepted nor denied. It just sits there in my pending apps.

I had accepted an assignment through Kern and had an unexpected situation arise where I could not perform the shop. I notified them - in advance - that I could not perform it but would like to reschedule if at all possible. I never heard back, and two days after the shop was supposed to occur, I receive an email saying they are removing it and giving me a flake citation. I emailed the person back trying to nicely explain what happened, and she told me that I never contacted them in the first place and that there's nothing I can do. I was very frustrated by this.

I always go to the source rather then Kern, however Retail Eyes only scedules with kern.

What a mess they are !! I had 2 jobs scheduled and accepted to complete with one company. By mistake I found these listed on the Kern site. Sunday afternoon, they were to be performed. That evening at 6 pm, Kern's site says they are "pending". I emailed kern, wanting to know what's going on. (How can a job be 'pending', if it is to be performed that day). This is what I received, Monday morning from the scheduler:

"I do apologize for the lateness of the assignment of the shops you've been assigned. I've been extremely busy this month and am trying to play catch up. These two shops are still available and I'll be happy to assign them if you're still interested. If so, please let me know what dates you'll be able to complete them.

Again, I apologize for any confusion and lateness for my response and I hope you're having a good day!"..........a "good day", she says!

I called the original company and made a major complaint against Kern and sent them all copies of each email transcripted.

Oh, it gets better. Evidentially, the original company made contact with Kern as her supervisor calls me and being "politically correct", she claims the jobs WEREN'T assigned and talked her way right out of it.

By the way, I had a job scheduled with Trend Source and they messed that up also. It is so hard to get that star on your name with TS and I no longer get emails. They probably consider me a "flake" because of this Kern company. When I get the courage, I'll call them but right now, I'm still upset about all of these issues.

I sincerely hope that other companies do not sub-contract with Kern.

Needless to say, I am extremely upset with them !

Kern is the reason I can't get into Chipotle, they just don't respond.

On tuesday, 3/25-2011, I assigned/applied for a shop on the kern/sassie board,. I looked today and it is still pending. The shop is not due until April 03.

Somewhere in the guideline instructions it explains how I had to also be a shopper for another specific compnay to apply for this shop. So I applied to the other company.

They, KERN, made it sound like---WE WILL KNOW WHO U R IF U R NOT REGISTERED with OUR partner." Of course, you won't find my name in there database.

The funny thing is I can't find this shop in the Partner's Job board.

Any ideas on how I can. Or should I avoid them and there shops all together. (watch now, they will approved me.)

Complain to the actual company that has the jobs...

KERN- how about a message shop closed?
When you post for a shop for the next day and do not bother to take it out of pending until past noon some of us have a life and do not sit around waiting.....
be so kind to tell us it was filled.

I have not really had long delays when I have applied, not more than a few days.

If it was the job start date or getting really close to it and I still hadn't heard, and I wanted to make other plans, I would just cancel the app.

I guess I am in the minority in this thread in that my dealings with Kern have been positive. There are a few schedulers and principals who have been very good to work with.

I applied with Kern for a shop 3 weeks ago, it is still pending and still on the boards...funny thing is, it is right in my town, coulda be done by now, I just deleted, they need to wake up!

With Kern, it really seems to depend on the scheduler. Some of the ones with whom I've worked have been terrible, while others have been great.

I've never had an application accepted through Kern. I don't think they accept them for anyone else in my area either as the shops just sit there on the job board forerver.

If they are being sub-contracted to fill the jobs, then the original MSC should do the leg work and void the contracts. Kern is not, fulfilling the obligations and, they are embarassing the MSC. I spoke to one MSC directly and told them of the situation (above) wen it happened. Recently, I spoke to them again about another situation, Kern was also brought up; they are no longer contracting with them. Wise decision.

I wrote previously about schedulers errors and not been able to get response on how to fix the problems, which was not caused by me and getting absolute silence, no replies to my emails That company is Kern scheduling and I thought their way of handling it was rude. Schedulers and reviewers seemed to be only interested to cover their backs and not be blamed but Owner/manager should be fairer and try to understand and help, not close me out. I still do not know if I will be paid for shop or no. Was anyone involved in that recent inside mess they had about scheduling or had a similar experience and what did you do? MRCCCC

I'm in my 6th yr. working through Kern and haven't had a speck of a problem. One of their schedulers, Cindy, is in my "top 3" I have purposely omitted the last name for her privacy. She's accommodating, understanding of senior citizens, communicative and easily accessible; rhetorically asking, what more could one seek in an associate?

So Kern is at it again with the covert all for $20.

"We need the PRICE ranges/points for those products.
You DO NOT want to get caught or sent away if at all possible."

Great competitor shop and they are getting a whole lot for $20.
Go for it folks, just do not get caught!

I have applied thru Kerns Scheduling, but I find out who the MSC is and then deal with them. Most of the time it will tell you you have to be signed up with in order to get the assignment. I have not as of yet had a problem.

Cindy is good to work with, I agree. So is Greg.

I was not debating the people but the shops assigned.
They are asking a LOT. That $20 is you need to take another person with for covert is now $10. I am familiar with covert. But the quantity asked IMO is not practical. But I am sure people will take it. And after you get caught and have no legal proof for taking pics with with the paperwork saying do not get caught.... good luck explaining that one.

But Kern doesn't set the prices or the shop requirements; they just schedule the shops for the MSCs who do.

You can bet they have a say in it. All shopping companies do. And they will naturally go as low as they can go. How do you think bonuses are available?
Again my point is impractical shops.

I can see your point, yes. My point is, Kern schedules. They don't come up with the shops. If you have a beef, it should be with the company that outsourced their scheduling to Kern.

Kern knows EXACTLY what they are asking the shopper to do.

But they don't write the guidelines. The client and the MSC write the guidelines and set the pay, not the schedulers. Schedulers need to know the guidelines top to bottom so they can help shoppers, but they don't write them.

We're not on the same page.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/06/2011 03:59PM by TechSavvy.

If they DON'T know what they are asking shoppers to do (based on having looked over the guidelines and instructions and talking with the company), then shame on them. Since schedulers are the first line of defense for answering shopper questions, they need to have a handle on the requirements.

I haven't had any problems with them. Within a day or two of applying for a shop, I get an acceptance email or an email saying the shop was given to someone else.