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Ipsos Ignores Important Information

October 16, 2024 02:37PM
You'd think that if there was a question in a survey then the client wants the information, and the program provider, in their quest to support their shoppers with accurate shop details, would update their databases accordingly <massive eyeroll>

Not so with the Conditional Reveal gas station program.

Just booked a big loop (which I will analyze and post about when completed), and one of the stops I've visited on multiple occasions in the past.

On each visit I have reported the address as posted as being incorrect. "South" is missing in the street name, and the station is on the total opposite end of town from the address on the street without it in the name.

Took the shop again, and the address still has not been updated.

Have synthesizers, will travel...
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October 16, 2024 02:58PM
The following is to illustrate the difference in how MSCs communicate. 2nd 2 None, with a mammoth grocer as a client, is one with whom I am contracted. Earlier this week, I sent a letter to my contact concerning a location I had visited that did not have a section the report addressed. The following day, I received a reply stating the report had been corrected. In addition, at any time I have sought assistance from the scheduler, I have always received a reply. The scheduler and the above mentioned contact are two different women.

Both communication and payment as agreed are imperative to me. I refuse, at my age, to be aggravated.
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October 16, 2024 09:19PM
I love mystery shopping. I loathe Ipsos. If I want to work, I'm stuck with them. I choose to work. And kvetch about the big "I" every time I get the chance on the forum! Thanks to all you guys for putting up with me!
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October 17, 2024 02:10AM
I appreciate the perspective you bring to the forum as well, sestrahelena.
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October 17, 2024 02:25AM
I realize that there are at least two sides to every story, but I often wonder what the big I is doing. It takes them 5-7 days to respond to an email. They hide behind distro aliases. They are snarky. They don't seem interested in details, or dare I say, even doing a good job. And then I look at someone like the company with the Ty projects. They have (publicly listed) 3 people working on a 25K (thousand with a K!) project. All of them respond same day, usually within minutes, to emails. Why can the latter company keep up with email, but the "I" never can? I don't know the answer, but it is a head scratcher.
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October 17, 2024 06:33AM
@sestrahelena

Maybe I don't remember, but in a short form, what are the 3-5 things you hate about "the big I". I'm assuming it' the gas station and chinese fast food MSC you are referring to.

No MSC is perfect. I will put why i like the "big I". Here are a few reasons I like them

1. they pay quickly
2. they have easy reports and shops I like
3. I get responses from the schedulers I work with. I'm not talking about the black hole email people are referred to.
4. Most of the assignments are self-assign and I can grab them and not wait forever to hopefully be assigned.
5. I like both Sassie and Shopmetrics software much more than many goofy independent MSC and their attempt at having a good shop reporting site.
6. most shops (that i do) do not require much narrative.
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October 17, 2024 12:07PM
1. Consistently lowering fees/reimbursements/bonuses.

2. Incomplete/incorrect instructions and shop rejections based on that.

3. When contact is possible, replies to rejections or faulty guidelines result in replies such as, "It's the shoppers' responsibility to adhere to the guidelines" which does not answer any question as the why the guidelines did not say what was required. Or the reply will include more questions about nothing related to what I've written in about.

4. Their overall distain for shoppers and apparent view that we are all liars and schemers, evidenced by so many things, including the opinion that Google is infallible. Example being, if you report differently than what Google says, you're wrong, even with picture proof.

5. Frickin Fred and the whole condescending cartoon and video garbage with the Kool-aid drinking executives showing us how FUN and EASY it us to do a shop correctly. It's just demeaning, but, again, shows how they think that we're idiots.

Bonus pick:

6. They subject us to their money making ads in order to watch required videos and want shoppers to pay them for seminars and meet-and-greets. They should be paying us. So rude.
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October 17, 2024 12:39PM
This tread reminds me of the old adage concerning one person's meat can be another's poison. My decision to terminate Ipsos was strictly predicated upon being dissatisfied with their business model of paying a small fee quickly and their disdain for necessary communication.
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October 17, 2024 01:56PM
I KNEW it! Shopperbob's got his mind on his meat!
*said in good fun*
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October 17, 2024 03:22PM
@CoolMusic wrote:

You'd think that if there was a question in a survey then the client wants the information, and the program provider, in their quest to support their shoppers with accurate shop details, would update their databases accordingly <massive eyeroll>

Not so with the Conditional Reveal gas station program.

Just booked a big loop (which I will analyze and post about when completed), and one of the stops I've visited on multiple occasions in the past.

On each visit I have reported the address as posted as being incorrect. "South" is missing in the street name, and the station is on the total opposite end of town from the address on the street without it in the name.

Took the shop again, and the address still has not been updated.

Go to the clients "Station Finder". The address that they want to use is there. If it matches what is on the survey, they will never update it. What IPSOS could do is to add a yellow "sticky" on there with the correct address.
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October 17, 2024 04:09PM
@sestrahelena

You listed fair reasons to NOT like them. I personally have not encountered any of those issues myself. I have only done the chinese fast food, the bank calls about ATM's not working, account openings at the same bank, and flights listening to credit card offers. These all pay fair enough for the level of work involved. I have never done a shop where a video was required, so I cannot comment on something I've never seen or watched. In general, i find Ipsos to be very easy to work with for the shops that I am willing to do. I'm sure they have some crappy shops too just like most MSC, but I don't bother with the crappy shops regardless of the MSC.

Honestly I do not believe I've ever had a rejected shop with them. I remember pretty well some of the shops I've done that were rejected. I remember doing the pizza one with another MSC that uses sassie and I wrote the wrong number on the box. I wrote the store number, not the shop number. That was my fault and it was rejected. But with ipsos, i've never had a rejected shop.
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October 17, 2024 04:26PM
Playing tech nerd on this one - the wrong locations aren't necessarily the fault of the MSC.

Some of these stores, especially the large, nationwide chains, are fed in a master list to the MSC through a location import.
When a store is closing, changing ownership, has a "USPS address" vs. "local street name" address, etc., it can take months for someone to actually go in and make the updates, before the next massive list is sent to the MSC.

I see this all the time in my area bc you sometimes have a county road and state road that overlap and two totally different addresses can be in the system. I will use the store's app or website to confirm the address.

I do agree that it'd be nice if the MSC at least responded had a better way to communicate these things with clients, even a simple "We'll let the end client know" can be all it takes but I know this particular company is not the best about communication.
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October 18, 2024 09:55PM
I find my IPSOS emails get forwarded to the appropriate person when i accidently send them to the Senior Vice President.
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October 19, 2024 12:12PM
The fact is that IPSOS doesn't care. They don't care about the shopper, the don't care about the client. They only care about minimally fulfilling their contracts with the client at the greatest transactional profit.
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October 19, 2024 04:25PM
I absolutely love the schedulers that work with the company on the TY projects.
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October 20, 2024 01:23PM
And another incident relative to the original post:

Took a Famous Highway location on a previous route through southern Idaho, but it turned out the place was a fairly new Green Dinosaur location. Reported as such, accepting half-pay for the report.

Same location is currently on the Job Board, and it's still showing as a Famous Highway shop.

Have synthesizers, will travel...
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October 20, 2024 08:47PM
Cool,

Yep. They did at least 2 debrand shops on a famous highway location here, my son did one of the debrand shops. It came up on the current list this round and I did it, half pay, full reimbursements. Famous highways seem to need to update their records.
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October 20, 2024 11:15PM
And along the same lines, I'm looking at doing the last loop of darkness jobs in my area. One of them was a ding-a-thon every time I visited, but the last time I drove by the area it had changed to a Green Dinosaur. It's on the list. Waiting for the time window to flip, and will gladly take 5 minutes to snap some pictures for a few bucks. Will be interesting see if it still shows up after I report the rebranding.

Have synthesizers, will travel...
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