The new fast casual shops this month are confusing. And it's probably my fault, but the emails say exactly the same thing, and the shops, when you open them on the app, say the exact same thing. There was ZERO indication, without opening the guidelines, to tell that there was a difference between the two shops I had been assigned.

On my phone, before I got to my shop, I clicked on the shop that I was on my way to do. I read everything, nothing said what type of shop it was. I clicked on the CPI page, but it wouldn't load on my phone, I tried several times. Then I decided to download the guidelines on my phone. I went back into the shop, then I clicked on guidelines and questionnaire. And the guidelines said that it was an online order and pick up shop. I read it twice. Told my son what it said (we only have one car at the moment, and he was door dashing), so I did my online order, picked it up and then did my survey while he did his thing. The shop asked me why I did the wrong shop. Which made me go back out of the survey and check again. Both of the shops emails and titles and everything short of the guidelines said the exact same thing. And when I clicked on the guidelines that time, it came up with the Dine in version on the guidelines. Still in the same shop..

At that point I had no choice but to finish the shop with the info that I had. I did NOT do the dine in shop, and my son only dashed for that store one more time so I could not redo it (I also wasn't going to let my son leave me behind with no transportation).

When they called me today to redo the shop I told them what happened, and I opted out of the fast casual shops until they identify the shops the same way they used to do it so that you can tell what you're doing when you open the email or the shop on the app. I can't afford to keep shopping and having my shops invalidated because there is no way to tell them apart.

The CPI tells you which shop it is. It takes a few minutes to open on a phone. You can't blame MFI because you didn't read it and did the wrong shop.

I have learned the hard way to always check the CPI. The information is always there.

This does not make sense. Even if the OP was correct about everything in her post, she should have known which shop scenario to use because the scenario was listed in the shop posting when she applied online.

It is up to each shopper to review the CPI, shop guidelines, and the shop form before a shop.

Her post suggests that she waited until the last minute and possibly checked Shop 2's guidelines and confused them with Shop 1's scenario.

The shop posting doesn't always match the CPI. That's why it is so important to check it.

I just can't imagine leaving home without prepping the job first.

And, then, of course, I have done exactly that!

I think I would have just rescheduled, if at all possible.

I got a rejection. I “shopped outside of the phase”?

I was automatically emailed and replied I would do it on the date they requested.

It was assigned to me.

I did it.

What did I do wrong? It’s probably my fault -always is.

@OP and @all: I have no criticism for anyone, but I have a wee wonderment for people who know about such things. For how long has there been this discrepancy? Is Market Force experiencing a coding issue? An interface issue? As a person who sometimes becomes tired, frazzled, and feeling short of time, I always appreciate clear information. It makes it easy for me to focus on the facts at hand. "Shop du jour on such and such date in such and such place at the the given time or within the given time frame" seems like a cohesive set of information for each assignment. So why is the information appearing differently in different places where MF shoppers look for it?

It sounds like the wrong guidelines opened or something. Hard to say what happened.

They changed the guidelines on the burger shop to include all of the various options instead of having different guidelines for different shop types. You still have to look at your CPI to figure out what shop type you were assigned.

Side note -I’ve never been able to access the app -have you?

-I can’t access the site on iOS on my phone -can you?

I CAN access on iOS on a computer.

@Tanischri87 wrote:

Side note -I’ve never been able to access the app -have you?

-I can’t access the site on iOS on my phone -can you?

I CAN access on iOS on a computer.

I always use the app with no problem. Have you made sure you have the latest version?

MF likely knows the consolidation of the guidelines has created some confusion and/or mistakes. Perhaps that is why they offered a redo. Benefit of the doubt. I've been asked to go back and take a new photo on a shop, but never offered the opportunity to complete a shop again by MF.

It sounds like you performed your shop outside of the required time frame.

@Tanischri87 wrote:

I got a rejection. I “shopped outside of the phase”?

I was automatically emailed and replied I would do it on the date they requested.

It was assigned to me.

I did it.

What did I do wrong? It’s probably my fault -always is.

@BusyBeeBuzzBuzzBuzz wrote:

This does not make sense. Even if the OP was correct about everything in her post, she should have known which shop scenario to use because the scenario was listed in the shop posting when she applied online.

It is up to each shopper to review the CPI, shop guidelines, and the shop form before a shop.

Her post suggests that she waited until the last minute and possibly checked Shop 2's guidelines and confused them with Shop 1's scenario.

BusyBee, you are correct. Except, I didn't apply for either of these shops, I was talked into doing them by a scheduler on the phone. And the scheduler did NOT differentiate between the shops at all, she just asked if I would do them. And I DID look at the CPI on the desktop at home the previous day. But my memory sucks, so I usually open the shops and look at them before I go into the store or when I have a little time to kill before I get there to double check. But neither the email or the shop list on my phone said that there was any difference at all between the shops, it wasn't until I opened the guidelines (it is entirely possible that the shops switched positions on the list without me realizing it) that showed it was an online shop.

Previous to this, and I've been doing these fast casual shops for a few years now, when there was a difference between the shops, it said so IN THE EMAIL and/or in the shop listing where it could easily be seen. But it also says that to be sure, you should check the CPI and read the guidelines, which I do.

For some reason, the CPI doesn't load on my phone, all I get is the little button at the bottom to click so I can sign it, I don't know why, it started a little over a year ago, but it's never been an issue (until now), so I didn't pursue it. This will become an issue, and I'll get to the bottom of it, even if I have to get Verizon, LG and Marketforce together to find the problem and fix it. I tend to get a little testy when things caused by other people cost me money.

Morledzep - Did you try to see the CPI from the app? The app has some limitations so I sometimes need to go to their web site. You should have been able to access their website on your phone and view the CPI there .

Not always. They didn't say whether or not it included a milkshake for several months.

@kenasch wrote:

Morledzep - Did you try to see the CPI from the app? The app has some limitations so I sometimes need to go to their web site. You should have been able to access their website on your phone and view the CPI there .

I was on the app. I can go to the website on my tablet, but not on my phone, it doesn't resize the pages right and I can't see what I'm looking at. I think it's an android thing, they put the full headers and footers from the page, which obscures the content that you're trying to read. Honestly, I prefer using the app for most things, I get more useful information without having to change windows, usually.

@whosear wrote:

Not always. They didn't say whether or not it included a milkshake for several months.

right, but they listed the reimbursement for the milkshake separately from the regular reimbursement for the meal. So it was relatively easy to tell if there was more to the shop than ordering the meal.

I opened one shop that showed 3 reimbursements, one for the meal, one for a milkshake and one for a delivery fee. I skipped that one, I don't live where anyone delivers.. lol

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/24/2022 07:09PM by Morledzep.

@Morledzep Now this makes sense! When they CALL you and you accept a shop, the email they send you doesn't list the type of shop you are doing. I have never used their app so I have no idea what is supposed to happen there. When I am out and about and need to access their website, I use Chrome on my phone to access their site.

@Morledzep wrote:

@BusyBeeBuzzBuzzBuzz wrote:

This does not make sense. Even if the OP was correct about everything in her post, she should have known which shop scenario to use because the scenario was listed in the shop posting when she applied online.

It is up to each shopper to review the CPI, shop guidelines, and the shop form before a shop.

Her post suggests that she waited until the last minute and possibly checked Shop 2's guidelines and confused them with Shop 1's scenario.

BusyBee, you are correct. Except, I didn't apply for either of these shops, I was talked into doing them by a scheduler on the phone. And the scheduler did NOT differentiate between the shops at all, she just asked if I would do them. And I DID look at the CPI on the desktop at home the previous day. But my memory sucks, so I usually open the shops and look at them before I go into the store or when I have a little time to kill before I get there to double check. But neither the email or the shop list on my phone said that there was any difference at all between the shops, it wasn't until I opened the guidelines (it is entirely possible that the shops switched positions on the list without me realizing it) that showed it was an online shop.

Previous to this, and I've been doing these fast casual shops for a few years now, when there was a difference between the shops, it said so IN THE EMAIL and/or in the shop listing where it could easily be seen. But it also says that to be sure, you should check the CPI and read the guidelines, which I do.

For some reason, the CPI doesn't load on my phone, all I get is the little button at the bottom to click so I can sign it, I don't know why, it started a little over a year ago, but it's never been an issue (until now), so I didn't pursue it. This will become an issue, and I'll get to the bottom of it, even if I have to get Verizon, LG and Marketforce together to find the problem and fix it. I tend to get a little testy when things caused by other people cost me money.

It may be a setting on your Android because the website displays properly on my Samsung S21 Plus.

@Morledzep wrote:

@kenasch wrote:

Morledzep - Did you try to see the CPI from the app? The app has some limitations so I sometimes need to go to their web site. You should have been able to access their website on your phone and view the CPI there .

I was on the app. I can go to the website on my tablet, but not on my phone, it doesn't resize the pages right and I can't see what I'm looking at. I think it's an android thing, they put the full headers and footers from the page, which obscures the content that you're trying to read. Honestly, I prefer using the app for most things, I get more useful information without having to change windows, usually.

I have never been able to access the CPI in the app on my LG phone.

@87Supra wrote:

I have never been able to access the CPI in the app on my LG phone.

Me either! I use a Google Pixel and it's been a long time since I've been able to get it on the app. I can open it on the website just fine but not through their app. Even when I go to report on their app and I sign it it's a blank spot.

Hmm. A few thoughts...

With the pandemic, a lot of clients are open to pivoting. Eg. If the drive-in is closed, they want you to shop the drive-thru. If the drive-thru is closed, just go ahead and shop for dine-in or curbside pick-up or whatever the instructions say. In order to be able to successfully pivot, you need to be given the guidelines for any applicable potentially pivoted element. It can be confusing or misleading if you go straight to the guidelines and just look at the first page. Your CPI should always be your first stop, then you know what to look for when you get to the guidelines.

AND as I was reading these comments, I was able to determine precisely which fast casual restaurant you are talking about. And I don't mean the one with a drive-in. I mean the place with the dudes I could count on one hand. I used to shop them ALL OF THE TIME. I probably did 20 shops there in one year and then suddenly I never saw the opportunity again. It's always amazing how that happens with MF. You're left wondering if they revoked your priviledge for perhaps picking up shops for a certain client a bit too frequently or if they just lost the client in general. Now I know it was probably just me hammering that one a bit too hard for their algorithm or whatever.

I have a few other clients that I "frequented" over the years for this MSC, like the place with the helpful hardware peeps. Do you guys still see those opportunities? Or how about a popular paint brand? Or a place with natural ingredients in their lotions and they offer you a tiny paper cup of tea when you enter the store? Do you see these shops on the board ever? I don't! And I am wondering if they just put me out to pasture on these for being a little too eager to shop them or if they just don't offer those shops in general anymore, like the client has moved on to another MSC.

I don't even receive the email list of shops from this company anymore. Do you?? I used to get like a daily digest email with a list of available shops in a certain mile range in my area. I reached out to them about it multiple times and they brushed me off. I have the Shop Notifier thing for this mailing list turned on in my account settings, but those emails stopped coming years ago. I even changed my email address to see if that would help-- no dice. I'm a little scared sometimes because I have definitely heard MANY horror stories about them dropping the axe on shoppers just simply for having been in their system for more than 5 years, regardless of how perfect your track record is with them. I am at like double that and I used to see like 300-400 shops in my area. Now I typically see maybe 50-- and only if I'm lucky. Makes me wonder if they are easing me into retirement. lol

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/27/2022 07:08AM by Myster Myster.

I haven't seen the natural, plant based, small cup of tea shop in a few years. I am now a devoted paying customer...and it ain't cheap!

I believe the helpful hardware folks have moved to a new MSC, but I never see the ones in my neck of the woods with the new company.

If you know you have memory trouble (who doesn't?) and trouble accessing the CPI on your phone, just print it out while you're viewing it on your desktop at home. Unfortunately, people eschew the old-fashioned "print and read" method, but sometimes it comes in darned handy! When I'm doing a new shop, I print out the survey (and sometimes the guidelines if it's a complex shop) and bring it with me to review in my car before doing the shop--because it's easier on my eyes than trying to pull it up on my phone.

I print the CPI for every Marketforce shop that I do. That way I can double check when I arrive at my shop.

@Myster Myster wrote:

AND as I was reading these comments, I was able to determine precisely which fast casual restaurant you are talking about. And I don't mean the one with a drive-in. I mean the place with the dudes I could count on one hand. I used to shop them ALL OF THE TIME. I probably did 20 shops there in one year and then suddenly I never saw the opportunity again. It's always amazing how that happens with MF. You're left wondering if they revoked your priviledge for perhaps picking up shops for a certain client a bit too frequently or if they just lost the client in general. Now I know it was probably just me hammering that one a bit too hard for their algorithm or whatever.

Did you ask MF about this? At one point I had done a lot of shops for that chain, and MF deactivated me from them without informing me. I wrote to the help desk after not seeing these shops anymore when I logged in, and they told me that they sometimes temporarily bar a shopper to protect them from (I assume) being identified as the shopper. I suspect I'd already been outed by a manager who was at both locations I shopped in one week, but MF said they couldn't be any more specific. They told me how long the ban was for, and when it was up, I started shopping that chain again.

Yes, I reached out twice to MF agents about it when I noticed I wasn't seeing those shops anymore. I also reached out to them about the mailing list of available shops I stopped getting in my email. They just brushed me off on both counts. They told me I was seeing everything that was available and that I was enrolled on the email list. They basically shrugged it away when I told them I wasn't seeing either.

I knew another shopper in the area who was a friend of mine and she told me she was able to see and accept those particular shops and was still receiving the email list, so I'm dubious about the agents' response. I didn't want to push it because I have read so many bad stories about them just completely deactivating shoppers. I'd like to hang on as long as I can.

But thanks! I may just have to give it another shot