Hi:

I've been around for a while, but I chose to create a new handle for this issue due to some of the posts I have seen lately about the MSC. I do not particularly want one of their representatives to comb all of my previous posts, find something that they don't approve of, and label me accordingly.

One particular gas client for IPSOS has a program in which a shopper must choose to be either a mystery shopper or an auditor, but cannot be both. These gas stations can be either red/white/blue or black/red.

I was in touch with a scheduler about changing from mystery shopping to auditing (the scheduler involved does not schedule the state that I reside in, but has excellent communication skills whereas the scheduler for my state never returns emails). I was informed that I could not switch back to the mystery shopping program for 6 months if I chose to become an auditor. I agreed but the switch did not immediately take place - possibly a technical error. I could (and can) still assign mystery shops but not audits.

I picked up a mystery shop last week (because I cannot self assign audits yet). I performed the shop during the timeframe specified and met all of the requirements for the shop. When I returned home to input the mystery shop, I was informed that I needed to take a quiz. No problem (I thought) - I emailed the scheduler I had been working with and was advised to take the quiz - it would be removed again after the transition to auditor completed. I attempted to take the quiz. I tapped the link on the screen as advised, the popup window appeared, and a message in the popup window advised "You are not permitted to take this test as you have already taken this test and passed".

I emailed the general mailbox, I emailed every scheduler that I knew of regarding this project, and the only person that ever replied was the scheduler that I had originally been in touch with (this scheduler has tried and I believe that no one is answering on her end). I finally did the only thing I could think of to do - I wrote all of the answers on a piece of paper and took a picture of it. I did the same with the receipts. Both were uploaded to the only places available on the form and submitted. The editor returned the survey and informed me that I needed to take the quiz. I emailed the editor, copying the general email box and scheduler, that I could not take the quiz. I attached a picture of the screenshot showing that I could not take the quiz. No communication was received.

I received the following email this morning:

"Comments: Do NOT ever submit an empty survey. If the questions are not showing up, then you must take the required quiz first. Follow the directions on the screen to find and take the quiz. Only after you pass it will the questions appear. If you are having trouble finding the quiz, try holding down Control while you click the link."

My reply:

"It was not empty. If you will look at the ‘uploads’ section, you will see that I uploaded a file showing a picture of the screen stating that I had already taken and passed the quiz. I know about pop ups. The problem is that no one will reply to emails when there are technical issues. I sent emails to this address and to multiple schedulers to no avail.

Please do not ever send emails that contain words in ALL CAPS - this insinuates that you are raising your voice and I will not contract with a company that abuses contractors for issues beyond their control."

I would love feedback. I know that Karen (@KarenSchedulesForIpsos) and Diana (@dpaone - Ipsos) read this forum. I have also seen Jennifer (@jenniferatgfk) and Bill (@billcarden822) post on the forum. What else could I have done? Why did my pay have to be withheld and why did I receive a scathing email when I tried to contact every person possible? I have no intentions of performing any shops for IPSOS if this issue is not resolved. I'm the low person on the totem pole - there is nothing I can do unless someone reads this that is actually in the business of helping shoppers.

I can tell who you are by your correct use of punctuation and grammer and paragraphs. Not really, but if I really wanted to I could figure it out. Seriously though, switching from msytery shopper to auditor is not a common thing and snafus should not be a surpirse. At least it was just one shop and now you know you are cut off from mystery shops even though you can still assign them. Not your fault but not something they are likely to spend a lot of resources fixing because it seems sort of a one-off problem. On the note, half the editors' notes are just canned cut and paste things anyway -- they don't get paid a lot per report and this thing is not in their bailiwick. Yeah, they should have not used caps, but they are pretty low on the totem pole too so I wouldn't quit the whole compnay over it.

The review came from mystery.shopping@ipsos.com after the evaluation was submitted the 2nd time. The original assigned editor probably actually looked at the uploads.

@mystery2me wrote:

On the note, half the editors' notes are just canned cut and paste things anyway -- they don't get paid a lot per report and this thing is not in their bailiwick. Yeah, they should have not used caps, but they are pretty low on the totem pole too so I wouldn't quit the whole compnay over it.

I think they could easily figure out who you are because of the specificity of your post. But I agree with mystery2me, if you want to continue to any of the many, varied assignments that Ipsos offers, you might just have to suck it up. I've had to roll over occasionally because they are a large percentage of my work.

And I want to chime in and say every aspect of my life in the past two years has been affected by websites that are not working properly, lack of phone numbers to get in touch with someone, the ability to handle an issue online or even on the phone to get passed on to a human if my issue is not one of the 5-10 listed faq's, the help people when I can finally get to them telling me to click somewhere that does not exist on my end etc etc. I feel like my entire life lately has been going over the same issue with whomever answers the phone the next time I call over and over.
I know this is not helping you with your problem but it seems like communication is broken right now across the board when it comes to large and small companies. Hopefully at some point life will get back to normal where issues can be solved or at least you can find someone to help you who actually helps you. .

Thanks @sandyf - I wish the same for you. I was hoping to attract someone from IPSOS's attention but they are really good at ignoring shoppers when there's an issue. Offer them a favor and you will get a reply pretty quick. Ask for help? Ha! Oh well - between getting cheaper by the day and their complete lack of communication, I haven't missed doing shops for them so far. I did see the post that payments haven't been received on time this week from IPSOS. I hate it for the shoppers - thankfully I wasn't expecting anything from them. Companies can only treat people like garbage for as long as people let them...

Hi - if this is a client that I schedule (I am guessing you know the schedulers) you can email me at karen.holland@ipsos.com and I can see if I can do anything?

Karen - That was so nice of you to offer help! It always makes me happy when we all try to work together. Thank you!

Ipsos has lots of issues. Reject shops no reason. Lots of technical issues but can’t reach anyone to fix it

IPSOS certainly has a group of poorly trained editors. (And some good ones too.) Luckily, the two times one of my reports was rejected once on the Shopmetrics side and once on the Sassie side), I was able to successfully appeal the ruling. Once the editor herself agreed with my argument, the other time the editor was overruled by the senior editor. But, in both cases, I was prepared to go to the program manager.

My position has always been, I don't care what the position taken by the company is as long as it is right. I remember well how angry one employee was, in a prior life, when I rejected an expense report. Until he found out that I did so because he had shortchanged himself on his exchange calculations. I told him, I don't care how much you are reimbursed as long as it is the correct amount.

Thanks to all for the responses. This issue was resolved today - my report was returned with all restrictions removed and I was able to resubmit the evaluation. The evaluation was scored and will be included in the next pay cycle. I would like to give a big shout out to @KarenSchedulesForIpsos - even though she does not schedule these particular shops, she was willing to step up and go to bat for a shopper that needed help. Thanks to Lindsay and Mike for having the report returned so that it could be resubmitted.

Please guys - if you know that you have completed every part of an assignment correctly, don't ever give up because of a technical error or something that is beyond your control. If you messed up, that is a totally different story. If you completed all of the assignment correctly, keep pursuing the issue until it gets resolved. Yes, sometimes it is easier not to press the issue, but I would still have an awful taste in my mouth for the company if these 3 individuals had not helped. I appreciate the willingness to get the issue resolved.

Yeah, Karen is exceptional -- responsive and willing to help.

Now if I could just learn how to use this stinking "new and improved" website.....

Karen, I am tearing my hair out with Jennifer...here is the post that I wrote, and if you can help me, I would appreciate it!

Does anyone have a phone number for Ipos. I asked for 2 shops, got 3, the third one had me drive, instead of 30 miles. I put 110 miles on my car today.

I asked when I got the 2 that I signed up for I was given the 3rd. Wrote to the scheduler, asked her either for travel $$ or to delete it. She did not answer my email nor did she remove the shop.

So, I did all three shops, emailed her and she REMOVED all of the shops that I did. So....I have wasted about 6 gallons of gas at $5.25 and over 4 hours. I would like to talk to someone there, but, of course no phone number on their page. THANKS!

Hi, I don't know what project that is I am afraid, so I can't be of much help - if you email me at karen.holland@ipsos.com I will find out who you can talk to if you want.

If I were assigned one I didn't request and didn't want, I would politely notify the scheduler and then completely forget about it. I realize your main problem is you lost all three after doing them. I hope you can get it resolved.

I never used to have issues with them. Until lately! The new website and app are awful!!! I haven't even received any notice and just had a shipping shop rejected. I have been doing those for years! And no one reached out to me in email or text. So yes beyond frustrated..

@iamashopper wrote:

Karen, I am tearing my hair out with Jennifer...here is the post that I wrote, and if you can help me, I would appreciate it!

Does anyone have a phone number for Ipos. I asked for 2 shops, got 3, the third one had me drive, instead of 30 miles. I put 110 miles on my car today.

I asked when I got the 2 that I signed up for I was given the 3rd. Wrote to the scheduler, asked her either for travel $$ or to delete it. She did not answer my email nor did she remove the shop.

So, I did all three shops, emailed her and she REMOVED all of the shops that I did. So....I have wasted about 6 gallons of gas at $5.25 and over 4 hours. I would like to talk to someone there, but, of course no phone number on their page. THANKS!

I have had several instances much like this over the last few years. Now, If I can't self assign, I dont bother with that scheduler (not Karen) . I've even had shops removed, "Per client" the notice says, while I was doing them! I still have no trust in this one and try to avoid any unnecessary interaction.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/2022 01:01AM by sestrahelena.

I’ve had those same things happen. Also while I’m inputting the report, she’ll delete. She’s a serial deleter. I don’t understand, because if it hasn’t been removed by the client, then she assigns it to someone else to duplicate the shop usually at a higher rate because it’s later in the month. I do suggest you (iamashopper) email her and ask her to put them back while you’re also pursuing other avenues. Put something urgent-sounding (to her) in the email title. Make the email as short as possible with no compound sentences, preferably just bullet points. She doesn’t read them carefully, whether because she’s too busy and overcommitted or another reason I don’t know. She may have seen your email about deleting one and deleted all three without reading it all. I also suggest you look to see if they’ve been put back in the board and if so, just reassign them to yourself. You can comment in the internal section if there is one on the report. Or just email the scheduler about what you’ve done.

@sestrahelena wrote:

@iamashopper wrote:

Karen, I am tearing my hair out with Jennifer...here is the post that I wrote, and if you can help me, I would appreciate it!

Does anyone have a phone number for Ipos. I asked for 2 shops, got 3, the third one had me drive, instead of 30 miles. I put 110 miles on my car today.

I asked when I got the 2 that I signed up for I was given the 3rd. Wrote to the scheduler, asked her either for travel $$ or to delete it. She did not answer my email nor did she remove the shop.

So, I did all three shops, emailed her and she REMOVED all of the shops that I did. So....I have wasted about 6 gallons of gas at $5.25 and over 4 hours. I would like to talk to someone there, but, of course no phone number on their page. THANKS!

I have had several instances much like this over the last few years. Now, If I can't self assign, I dont bother with that scheduler (not Karen) . I've even had shops removed, "Per client" the notice says, while I was doing them! I still have no trust in this one and try to avoid any unnecessary interaction.

Reading the last couple of posts. I would have done two of the three shops and would have left the third.

iamashopper seems to be a seasoned shopper since it says she's been a member of this forum for over 5 years and this incident led her to actually post, which then marked her as a new participant.

I'd have say someone messed with her, IMHO.

@sestrahelena wrote:

I have had several instances much like this over the last few years. Now, If I can't self assign, I dont bother with that scheduler (not Karen) . I've even had shops removed, "Per client" the notice says, while I was doing them! I still have no trust in this one and try to avoid any unnecessary interaction.

If it's before the day you're scheduled to do them, that's one thing. If it's after you've left to do them, or while you're doing them, that's unfair and you should be paid something for your time and effort.

Helena suggests--......if you want to continue to any of the many, varied assignments that Ipsos offers, you might just have to suck it up. I've had to roll over occasionally because they are a large percentage of my work.

Bob agrees--Fortunately for me, I am not in the above position where it is necessary to "take one for the Gipper." I neither need nor desire to suck it up, so I refuse to take such an action, but this is business.

I would tend to agree with everyone. I wish we would have better communication.

I am having the same issue. I did my first gas station/retail shop for them and when I was asked to update/correct the survey the app would not let me. In addition, I had contacted them about the glitch and even sent a screen shot. Also the app would not let me upload multiple photos for a few questions that required it which it one of the reasons the survey got kicked back. Despite my emails they refused to pay me. I did put in an appeal and explanation about the survey and why a question was answered the way it was. I have not heard back and they relisted the shop at that location. There's plenty of other companies that would appreciate a diligent worker like me. I am retired with plenty of time to mystery shop. Good luck to you.

The OP shares--....I chose to create a new handle for this issue due to some of the posts I have seen lately about the MSC. I do not particularly want one of their representatives to comb all of my previous posts, find something that they don't approve of, and label me accordingly.

Bob comments--I can definitely relate to and agree with your position. An MSC, that departed the business a few yrs. back, employed a scheduler who informed me the company's owner disliked my attitude.This, according to the scheduler, was predicated solely upon my postings. She informed me he chose not to terminate our contract, due to my dependability and quality of reports. Once again, business ruled over a personal opinion.

So, I'm curious about the status as MS or Auditor. Were you able to switch?

I think it is odd the instructions say you cannot do the audits if you have EVER done a mystery shop.

You would think it was the other way around. Once you audit a place a few times, the store will remember you and not give accurate results on the mystery shops.


taken from wired (dot) com:

WHEN YOU WRITE IN ALL CAPS IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU’RE SHOUTING.

A single capped word, on the other hand, is simply EMPHATIC.

The app for Shopmetrics audits has many issues, the primary being that it crashes often during audits and will lose information if it has not synchronized with the server at the time of the crash. I do use the app, but I save all of my information and wait until I get home to scroll through the report and submit it on my laptop. I've seen others post that they use their phone browser instead of the app to submit reports because of the glitches.

If you performed your job correctly but technical issues beyond your control caused you not to be paid for an assignment, start a thread and ask someone to step in and help. Many email communications to this company go unanswered; sometimes public announcements generate more attention. Best wishes to you.

@rcmedcop1 wrote:

I am having the same issue. I did my first gas station/retail shop for them and when I was asked to update/correct the survey the app would not let me. In addition, I had contacted them about the glitch and even sent a screen shot. Also the app would not let me upload multiple photos for a few questions that required it which it one of the reasons the survey got kicked back. Despite my emails they refused to pay me. I did put in an appeal and explanation about the survey and why a question was answered the way it was. I have not heard back and they relisted the shop at that location. There's plenty of other companies that would appreciate a diligent worker like me. I am retired with plenty of time to mystery shop. Good luck to you.

I wish that IPSOS Project Managers knew that there are some schedulers who are in constant turmoil and conflict with their independent contractors.

Those schedulers cost their clients time and money by ignoring emails and capriciously deleting assignments. If I were employing someone with such a lack of interpersonal skills, I’d surely want to hear about it - especially if it were affecting my end clients and work product.

@Rousseau wrote:

. . . I was prepared to go to the program manager.

@ColoKate63 wrote:

I wish that IPSOS Project Managers knew . . .

How can we find out who the project managers are?

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/30/2022 10:59PM by Lacey.

One of the reasons why mystery shopping companies like to use independent schedulers is because they can wash their hands of any tactics those schedulers use.

There are other benefits, like larger databases of shoppers to communicate with.

That said, I don't think that Ipsos would be as upset as they should be if they knew some of the scheduling tactics that go on. If that scheduler is successfully getting their shops filled within budget, I don't think they are going to care one bit what kind of tactics or lack of professionalism that scheduler has.

Sorry to say you have given enough information to positively identify you.

@dontshopforIPSOS wrote:

Hi:

I've been around for a while, but I chose to create a new handle for this issue due to some of the posts I have seen lately about the MSC. I do not particularly want one of their representatives to comb all of my previous posts, find something that they don't approve of, and label me accordingly.

One particular gas client for IPSOS has a program in which a shopper must choose to be either a mystery shopper or an auditor, but cannot be both. These gas stations can be either red/white/blue or black/red.

I was in touch with a scheduler about changing from mystery shopping to auditing (the scheduler involved does not schedule the state that I reside in, but has excellent communication skills whereas the scheduler for my state never returns emails). I was informed that I could not switch back to the mystery shopping program for 6 months if I chose to become an auditor. I agreed but the switch did not immediately take place - possibly a technical error. I could (and can) still assign mystery shops but not audits.

I picked up a mystery shop last week (because I cannot self assign audits yet). I performed the shop during the timeframe specified and met all of the requirements for the shop. When I returned home to input the mystery shop, I was informed that I needed to take a quiz. No problem (I thought) - I emailed the scheduler I had been working with and was advised to take the quiz - it would be removed again after the transition to auditor completed. I attempted to take the quiz. I tapped the link on the screen as advised, the popup window appeared, and a message in the popup window advised "You are not permitted to take this test as you have already taken this test and passed".

I emailed the general mailbox, I emailed every scheduler that I knew of regarding this project, and the only person that ever replied was the scheduler that I had originally been in touch with (this scheduler has tried and I believe that no one is answering on her end). I finally did the only thing I could think of to do - I wrote all of the answers on a piece of paper and took a picture of it. I did the same with the receipts. Both were uploaded to the only places available on the form and submitted. The editor returned the survey and informed me that I needed to take the quiz. I emailed the editor, copying the general email box and scheduler, that I could not take the quiz. I attached a picture of the screenshot showing that I could not take the quiz. No communication was received.

I received the following email this morning:

"Comments: Do NOT ever submit an empty survey. If the questions are not showing up, then you must take the required quiz first. Follow the directions on the screen to find and take the quiz. Only after you pass it will the questions appear. If you are having trouble finding the quiz, try holding down Control while you click the link."

My reply:

"It was not empty. If you will look at the ‘uploads’ section, you will see that I uploaded a file showing a picture of the screen stating that I had already taken and passed the quiz. I know about pop ups. The problem is that no one will reply to emails when there are technical issues. I sent emails to this address and to multiple schedulers to no avail.

Please do not ever send emails that contain words in ALL CAPS - this insinuates that you are raising your voice and I will not contract with a company that abuses contractors for issues beyond their control."

I would love feedback. I know that Karen (@KarenSchedulesForIpsos) and Diana (@dpaone - Ipsos) read this forum. I have also seen Jennifer (@jenniferatgfk) and Bill (@billcarden822) post on the forum. What else could I have done? Why did my pay have to be withheld and why did I receive a scathing email when I tried to contact every person possible? I have no intentions of performing any shops for IPSOS if this issue is not resolved. I'm the low person on the totem pole - there is nothing I can do unless someone reads this that is actually in the business of helping shoppers.