Coyle getting ridiculous

Coyle is getting ridiculous they are asking for so much detail now (on top of what was described in the guidelines). I do not think it is fair nor reasonable they do not specifically identify what they are really looking for in the guidelines and then they create two guidelines that differ from each other. I mean c'mon, for the rates they offer it is not fair especially now they have requirements of one more or guests.

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More Discussions About Coyle Hospitality (All Companies)

thanks for the heads up

Coyle has always required massive amounts of narrative.

I stopped doing Coyle shops, the guidelines are unclear and there are too many back-n-forth needed after submitting the report.

Coyle has been ridiculous. Im in agreement with the above comments.

Do not do their shops. Not worth the time and effort. Not risking like $300 layout and waste hours writing report for them to tell you it's rejected or a low score. I believe the inflation since Covid has just made their shops not worth it.

Coyle reports are not for everyone. I recently completed an FD shop with a bar visit and a four-course meal. I wrote a blow-by-blow report, which took four hours. The meal was over $300 with a fee. I wanted to try this dining experience without spending my own money. It was worth the four hours I spent writing.

Not my circus - Not my monkeys @(*.*)@

~Polish Proverb~

I used to have more time and completed loads of Coyle reports. They would take me hours to write, at least four hour, often longer. I do not have the patience or desire and would rather go to the $50 steak house.

I've never had a huge problem with their reports, I've always been a writer and can easily overwrite a thesis in no time. But the moment they started having people bid against each other I bailed and never looked back. The way other companies have paid my airfare and given me frequently insane bonuses, it's clear Coyle is pinching pennies while making us fight each other. That's a line I'm not crossing.

They always have been ridiculous. Nothing is new.

I signed up not too long ago and can already tell that I won't be taking a lot of assignments from them.

There are a couple of shops on the easier side that are profitable that I will do.

I do not touch 99% of what is offered. I will spend $300 all day every day if it means NOT writing for 4 hours about it afterwards. The level of detail at times can be excruciating. Almost makes more sense to wear hidden camera and just video the entire experience so they can see for themselves.

I did a phone shop once for Coyle and never did anything else.

I would imagine a lot of the "detail" Coyle receives is made up because no one can remember all of it.

I have done several different shops for them that require not too much time. One is a clothing store and I don't have to make a purchase, but need to take pictures. ( They do not require any narrative for "yes " responses) and a take-out food place that is above the fast food level and again it did not require tons of narrative. There are some very high end restaurants that I am afraid to take.

I think my scores are over 95%

I have yet to come across a MSC that has such desirable fine dining clients. Reports are comprehensive, yes. It's a style you adapt to when writing them for Coyle just as with other MSCs. They don't take me long unless the visit is a bad one.

I agree....I have found them to be ridiculous.
Ironically, with trepidation, I tried the urgent care shop.
To date, it remains the highlight of my shopping "career" - the most $ for smallest time and effort.
So maybe 99% of their shops are....ugh.

@Fastjack wrote:

I've never had a huge problem with their reports, I've always been a writer and can easily overwrite a thesis in no time. But the moment they started having people bid against each other I bailed and never looked back. The way other companies have paid my airfare and given me frequently insane bonuses, it's clear Coyle is pinching pennies while making us fight each other. That's a line I'm not crossing.

I'm new to the industry and have been trying to build up a dependable reputation on Coyle. What's the deal with bidding against each other? That's troubling!

Also which companies are paying for airfare? I have been trying to research other MSCs that feature hotel stays/travel opportunities but so far Coyle seems to have the most. I've only seen others on Market Approach but they are timeshares which I'm not particularly interested in.

I do not engage in bidding wars. Whatever they post is the fee for me. I don't care about a $10-15 fee.

As others have pointed out, the amount of narrative is nothing new with Coyle. It's been like that for over 20 years. You are either someone who is willing to write the narrative for the reimbursement...or not. It can be done, and many do it. It's simply a preference.

The part that's new and getting ridiculous is the bidding for fees, and lack of travel reimbursement. When I did cruise shops for them long ago, they paid for round trip airfare for me and my guest to Asia, and back. The current round of cruises they just posted reimburses only parking at the port, and the evaluator is expected to foot the bill for a trip to Europe and back (they are asking for U.S. based evaluators).

Years ago, I would circumnavigate the globe with shops and pay almost nothing, but I am not sure if that's possible anymore, or ever will be again.

Make an appointment for the urgent care shops and they go much quicker.

I haven't seen this but am unlikely to take one as the last time I went to an urgent care I picked up something nasty and was hospitalized for 3 months. The attending DR herself told me there was something very bad in the building.

I agree. for a 300 dollar dinner, I am up to challenge. When I did it the first time, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Now, I feel like I can slam it out in 3-4 hours. The first time, it took me about 7 hours. It was a totally memorable dinner. Still, I like my TRH easy ones.

My rule is that the food has to stay in my body longer than it takes to write the report. I'm not about to knock out a 3-4 hour report. I either spend my own $ or don't bother. The level of detail takes away from the overall experience.

I will do a TXRH or national brewery shop all day every day as those take 20 mins max (and not that long).

So, um...no mexican / spicy food shops huh?

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

My rule is that the food has to stay in my body longer than it takes to write the report. I'm not about to knock out a 3-4 hour report. I either spend my own $ or don't bother. The level of detail takes away from the overall experience.

I will do a TXRH or national brewery shop all day every day as those take 20 mins max (and not that long).

I've done several high end Coyle shops. I've found it's in their interest as well as ours to get the shop accepted.

So if you hit the marks, and recorded the data, as asked, you should be okay.

They'll work with you to make it work.

Many of their shops just are not worth the time and the effort anymore. If you add up the times spent for a free meal, the math doesn't add up.

I just performed a nice dine-in shop for them. The pay was basically a reimbursement for the higher end meal, but the reimbursement didn't cover all of my food expenses since my guest and I don't like to choose the cheapest appetizers, drinks and entrees. After I spent 3 hours filling out the EXTENSIVE list of questions they had, I had to write a few narratives. After I submitted the report, a couple days letter, I got a request from the auditor asking for a time stamp for every single item I ordered: what time I ordered the item, what time I received the item, what time the dirty dish was removed. It also asked for time stamps for when my server stopped by my table and a detailed write up of each dish I received.
Be prepared to do a lot of work for some of these shops! Other ones I do for them for casual restaurants are not as extensive but still much more than a TXRH shop.

While the narrative is undoubtedly the worst part of the report, I hate the fact that I often have to fill in sections that are irrelevant (i.e., questions about the bar when you did not visit the bar.) But I really hate the fact that they take so long to assign shops after I have applied. I have a good record with them and have to maintain placeholders on my calendar to see if I am assigned a shop. Then they take a week to review the reports. I do dining shops almost every day and a week ago is hard to remember sometimes.

@chintwin wrote:

I just performed a nice dine-in shop for them. The pay was basically a reimbursement for the higher end meal, but the reimbursement didn't cover all of my food expenses since my guest and I don't like to choose the cheapest appetizers, drinks and entrees. After I spent 3 hours filling out the EXTENSIVE list of questions they had, I had to write a few narratives. After I submitted the report, a couple days letter, I got a request from the auditor asking for a time stamp for every single item I ordered: what time I ordered the item, what time I received the item, what time the dirty dish was removed. It also asked for time stamps for when my server stopped by my table and a detailed write up of each dish I received.
Be prepared to do a lot of work for some of these shops! Other ones I do for them for casual restaurants are not as extensive but still much more than a TXRH shop.

On the bright side those detailled time stamps help with the 500 characters for the narrative.

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Coyle getting ridiculous

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