Corporate Research International

Much more economical for them to pay low fees and have the bulk of their shops and then only have to pay fair or good fees for a few.

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More Discussions About SteriCycle Mystery Shopping (All Companies)

Amanda Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> I did one of those digital pizza shops and it's
> not worth the $6 or whatever. I picked up a last
> minute one the other day for $22, something
> worthwhile for me.

What's digital pizza? It has a tiny RFD chip inside that you swallow?

no, you have to take digital photos

I have done some for them too, and tried to get the training test to do one of them... however, the manual never even shows up! Much less a test!! I've emailed them several times, and then I received an email saying someone else was taking over that area, and to email them with the problem.. wasn't worth the frustration.

I agree, the pay is low, and I generally wait for the end of the month too, but then I am always listed as a backup for them, and never get called...

I won't do them. you have to handle the pizza too much to take the photos - who wants to eat it then? Besides I am a vegan and you always have to order one with meat. Being vegan knocks me out of 99% of the restraurant shops. But my 18 year old has done them because he eats the whole thing by himself anyway.

Jude Wrote:
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> no, you have to take digital photos

I was joking

I've seen them, but not at CORI.

Don't eat the slices that get cut in half! There might be some "industrial grease" on the knife you use. Who wants to eat that?

Fiber, anyone? :p

> sneakers wrote:
> I was joking

I've seen them, but not at CORI.

I just joined a company and they have identical shops as CORI.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/28/2008 05:58AM by Amanda.

Jude Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I won't do them. you have to handle the pizza too
> much to take the photos - who wants to eat it
> then? Besides I am a vegan and you always have to
> order one with meat. Being vegan knocks me out of
> 99% of the restraurant shops. But my 18 year old
> has done them because he eats the whole thing by
> himself anyway.

Actually, if you do the non photo........you order a one topping(of your choice) medium pizza and no photos or mangling of the pizza. I order mushroom or tomato a lot. I actually picked one up that paid $16 plus reimburse pizza and tip. I did do a photo one also for $22 plus reimburse and tip. If you use kitchen shears to cut the pizza, it doesn't mangle it at all and if you flip the box back just right......everything stays in place........you just have some smaller pieces.........I have it down to a science now.........used to do them all the time for other company but CORI pays much better especially when you wait till end of month when they need them done. I did see they have already upped a photo one for June to $12.25 and it is not even June yet. It is one of the locations I just did last week.......think I will wait a couple weeks and see how high it can go......

You can have them- - - - I still don't like 'em.

I'm a vegan - that means no cheese either.

Okay............did the bonused photo for addtl $22........sat on my page since 5/21........other shop went right through (non photo) so I wait the 3-7 business days as their site says can take that long to verify receipts.
Emailed them last night............well, their editing dept screwed up and didn't get the shop submitte to Pizza client so they can't use it now........past due.

No fault of mine and they are paying me the entire amount since I did everything right..........but what a waste for them...........I told them I would have notified them sooner if I had realized that it would have helped. Scheduler explained that the editing dept was so backed up that it prolly wouldn't have mattered.

So editing dept told me I could reapply and do the shop again...........I checked and it is bonused only at $12.25.............so will wait and if it gets up in the $20 range again........might do it again.

well, back up at $22........emailed scheduler about doing it again........

WWWWWWWTF! Man, I shop I did has mysteriously disappeared from my history page!

..getting upset, this one was expensive.

bugspost Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> well, back up at $22........emailed scheduler
> about doing it again........

Now at $25...

They charge you a sleazy Pay Pal conversion fee when it's them imposing PayPal on you in the first place.

They also take forever to assign a shop after you apply....why is it so difficult to make a decision???

Their website is also poorly designed and user unfriendly.

PayPal conversion fee? I have never had fees charged by PayPal except when I was a seller on eBay. And PayPal is definitely preferred by me to checks that say wonderful things like "XYZ Shopping - Shopper fee account" which by depositing to banks where I have accounts potentially gives me away as a shopper! PayPal also avoids the problem of rubber checks which some companies have unfortunately sent out in the past.

I don't remember any times I have had to request a shop from CORI. They are always just there to take them. The real problem is the $$.

Arch Stanton Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> They charge you a sleazy Pay Pal conversion fee
> when it's them imposing PayPal on you in the first
> place.
>
> They also take forever to assign a shop after you
> apply....why is it so difficult to make a
> decision???
>
> Their website is also poorly designed and user
> unfriendly.

Are you sure we are talking about the same company? I've never had to apply for a job with them and never had problems with their website. And I have direct deposit with them, not paypal. I have all of my direct deposits for all of my shopping made to a credit union in another state. I have an old account in Denver I didn't close when I moved - - Everything for MS goes to and comes out of that account - - easier to keep up with for me - -

When they switched to Pay Pal, they told everyone that they were going to
deduct the Pay Pal fee from the paid commissions, as if they were not cheap
enough already. The cut their overhead by eliminating the cost of printing
and mailing checks and passed the fees along to their shoppers. This increased their bottom line by whatever we are aborbing.

I got an e mail today about increased commissions on Exxon shops. Guess what.
They did not disclose the increased amount. Are we supposed to guess ?

How do you buy a dollars worth of gas ? I can't stop the pump that quickly.

The problem is that there are thousands of people out there falling for this
treatment so those of us who see through them are powerless.

But we have a choice - we don't even have to waste our time going to their site if we don't like the way they run their business.

I have been doing business with CRI for over a year. I rarely have trouble with the reporting of the shops. All the schedulers are very nice. I get paid on time. I don't do too many shops because there is not much in the area I am in but if I go out of the area they will work with you on fees. Of course, that does not happen at the beginning of the month. I still think they are one of the best companies to do business with.

CORI only pays PAYPAL IF you request it.........they do direct deposit in your bank account w/ no fees or charges. Obviously, some shoppers wanted paypal. I am just glad it is an option and not required. I quite prefer dd over paypal. Trendsource and Service Intelligence also do dd. I wish all ms companies did!!

From their site:

Corporate Research International now offers paypal as a payment option for those who do not wish to use direct deposit.
You can select Paypal as a payment option from your profile.

PayPal Payment Fee Notice
Due to the transaction fees imposed by PayPal, Corporate Research International will be deducting the fee from your payment to cover the costs. The fee is 3% or a maximum of $1.50.

For example if you earn $10.00 you will be paid $9.70, with 30 cents covering the PayPal Transaction Fee.

johncharris Wrote:
>

> I got an e mail today about increased commissions
> on [gas shops instead of client name]shops. Guess what.
> They did not disclose the increased amount. Are we
> supposed to guess ?
>
> How do you buy a dollars worth of gas ? I can't
> stop the pump that quickly.
>
> The problem is that there are thousands of people
> out there falling for this
> treatment so those of us who see through them are
> powerless.

John..........you need to delete the client name from your post as it is a violation of your ICA.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/25/2008 02:04AM by bugspost.

John, you don't buy $1 worth of gas. You couldn't drive very far on it, and you would have to do about 15 shops that way. If you insist on doing them, just wait for the best possible fee at the end of the month and forget about the $1. Better yet, don't do them.

I get emails from them almost daily. There are dozens of shops they do in my area but they like want: interact with 6 employees and be able to describe and name at $4 a shop plus a 26page questionnaire.

NOPE!! Then I'm reading what problems everyone else has had with them...I'm not buying it!!

I've wondered myself what some of the clients of these companies are paying for the shops? Boggles the mind especially on CRI.
So far the ones I go to the max for pay pretty well and pay quickly. With a little extra bonus added on to the pay.

I opted to delete myself off of their database. Too much trouble for such little pay from what I've read off of this forum.

The Q is not just what the client is paying, but what percentage they keep for themselves. I spoke to a gas station owner who told me the gas company charges HIM $50/month for the shopping service. That money goes to the MSP (not CORI in this case,) who take the lion's share, and starts their offerings at $4 +5 gas the beginning of the month. Shops left at month's end goes as high as $12 or $14 + $5 gas.
So even then, MSP gets $36-38. And the gas co hasn't spent a cent because the gas station owners are paying it.

I have to admit they really can be awful. If you are new to this, you get great experience out of them. You learn what companies are looking for and how timing works. The forms aren't too terrible, mostly. I did have trouble a couple of times with the pics I sent them. We straightened them out without much trouble.

It is definately best to do these shops on the way to something else. On the way home, I do those gas shops. On the way to other shops, I stop and get lunch. I have a full time job, so I know it's just for fun and a few free meals to me. For people who are doing it for more than that, I know it can be frustrating.

I just started a month ago, so I didn't know about waiting until the end of the month to drive the commision up. Now that I know, I'll be waiting too.

Happy Shopping!

Sometimes not till the last day of the month.

I once set up a route of these gas stations out in Montana because they were getting desperate and were offering $50 for each. I went out and did 7 or 8 of them and when I returned home, there was an email concerning one of the shops stating that this shop was being pulled and I should not do it because I wouldn't get paid for it. The thing is, I was out on the route all day, not at my desk so how would I know not to do it. When I checked the time of day closely, I discovered I didn't get the email until after I had already done the shop. I know one gal there that I've dealt with over the years and I wrote an email to her explaining the situation and telling her I expected to get paid. It took a little longer and they never did pay me for that shop, per se, but they did a little juggling and added $50 to the pay I got so I was happy. They also reimbursed me the entire $2 ($1 for gas and $1 for in-store) even though the receipt I uploaded to them was for less than that.

And those few pennies of 'overpayment' make a world of difference in your attitude toward a company. I have one company I love to work with but they have a stringent 15% tip limit on restaurant shops. 1 cent less and they threaten not to pay for the whole shop but 1 penny more they won't reimburse the extra penny even if you are under the total possible reimbursement. E.g., you have a 'budget' of $40 to work with. Your bill comes out to $34.50, you leave a tip of $5.20 you will be reimbursed $34.50 + $5.18 because 15% of $34.50 is $5.175 and they will round it up to $5.18. Now in the greater scheme of things, how many real customers would leave a tip of exactly $5.18? (In fact, how many would leave $5.20? At least it is a round number).

This company keeps me at bay by choice. I don't think they pay enough, but that is just my thought. I still haven't taken a job from them still weighing the pros and cons. Maybe someone can give me a different outlook on this.

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