I did around 1,200 of the "Pegasus" company a year for the previous company. Yes, they were much easier to work with. When there was a question about something in a report, from either the shopper or the company, you could get an answer. But, they are no longer. We now have to accept the way this company works or not do the shops.
I believe the two biggest issues are there is no consistency with editing and shoppers are not being informed as to what they did wrong, just given a generic drop box explanation. Most of us want to present our work correctly. All companies have their own expectations of us, but if they do not let us know their expectations it becomes frustrating. A lot of us now know to capitalize anything, it shouldn't be an issue moving forward. It is better to go ahead and do that, than to constantly have some editors return your report because you didn't and be marked down for it. If you are a route shopper and have locations that are always up to date on their OSA and other requirements (you know, the locations that make us happy inside), your reports have been consistent and in November you received a 10 and now in January you receive a 6, that's when we have the WTF reaction. I have gone back and compared photos to see if there was something I missed and there was not. This is where an editors interpretation of the guidelines may come into play.
I believe they are using an outside editing company instead of editing in house. More than likely, these editors are new at doing this type of shop. These are pretty cut and dry. The photo requirements answer the question and should not need a verbal explanation or confirmation in the comments box. I am having shops returned for that reason. So, now if something is different than other locations we are supposed to add a comment? This is not in the guidelines. Usually, if there needs to be an explanation, the report asks for it. A lot of what seems to be returned would pertain to a different type of shop, ones that are either subjective or objective and need to paint a picture with words.
Most editors do send an email after each location, saying the rating and if it is low, the drop down box. You have to open those emails that you get that say something about your shop has been edited, I don't remember what the say because I deleted them all. If a shop is on hold, it does say a shop has been returned to you. When you go to your shop log, the shop will show as unfinished or something like that.
Keep a record of why a shop has been returned. Hopefully, at some point we may be able to get our questions about these things answered.