Bearclaw14 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am with you. When I had been MSing about 2
> months I took a gas station just a few miles from
> my house for $10. It was the worst shopping
> experience I have ever had. It took me over four
> hours including time on site, report and pictures.
> The place was the nastiest thing I've ever seen.
> It was so windy and I was trying to flip through
> 30+ pages of the guide (that I had to print at
> home, cost me more than $10 just on that).
>
> I have had offers to do others for as much as $75.
> I immediately delete them, it would take $200 to
> get me to do another one. NEVER AGAIN!!

I did one, last year, and I feel the same way. Never again. It was only 2 miles from my house but the money just wasn't worth all the time involved with this. I forgot to take one of the required pictures so I had to go back to take that. That's just too much work for too little money. The best part is that I didn't get paid for the shop because I didn't realize I had to submit an invoice. I've done numerous shops for GFK and I never had to submit one and I always got paid. By the time I was told that I needed to do the invoice, and that's why I didn't get paid, someone in the accounting department told me it was too late. I earned that money, believe me I earned it. So that's left a bad taste in my mouth.

Abc

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/2014 07:16AM by Mary Smith xoxoxo.

I have been reading pros and cons about gas station audits. It seems that there are those that make it a route and become so good at it that it is worth it to them. Especially those that are not in urban areas where bonuses are plenty.

Where I am, there are never gas stations that pay more than $10 for any company and I am not ready to spend the effort to learn how to become proficient at them with all the other much easier assignments I have found by signing up with more companies and scheduling companies.

My email inbox always has something for me to do every day if I choose to. It's just a matter of connecting the dots and making a route that I can do several shops in the same area at once to maximize the mini trip to the other side of town or to the mall that is say 12 miles away.

I can understand why there are the "specialists" who drive hundreds of miles and make a big route of stations and can hit the requirements in their sleep and get in and out in 20 minutes. It's not for everyone.

For an urban shopper, you might as well take the Ikea shop instead.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/2014 12:47AM by scanman1.

Ummm what are you doing? have done over 5000 gas stations and never took 100 pictures

The OP said it was the first gas station shop. I remember when I started auditing the stations, I took multiple shots of every required picture and of every infraction, even if it duplicated a previously photographed similar or same type infraction. I suspect that may be commonly done by new auditors. Now I take about half as many pictures as I did when I was starting out. With 5,000 stations under your belt, of course you are now taking the minimum needed pictures because you know exactly what you need. The new auditor doesn't have that advantage.

My comment: They should pay "much more" than what they do on these types of shops. And they should tell their shoppers up front that certain browsers won't work with their system. I did these shops before in unusually cold weather for my area (30 degree weather at night in S.E. Texas). They didn't give me all the information up front about these shops about the particulars like the web browser issue (I found out much later in the game). The pain in the neck you get from these shops just isn't worth the pay. I did several of these and I resized each of the pictures (at least 80 of them). And their browser wouldn't accept them as somehow, they went back to the default size when they got over to their systems. It sounds like things haven't changed: "Don't use *Google Chrome*.

I actually like the gas station shops. They are easy and fun! Yes, my first one was a bit of a learning curve and it took me nearly 5 hours to complete. Then I realized that I could answer all of the questions first and load all of the pictures at the end. This brought my time down to about 40 minutes on average.

My worst one was a gas station where the canopy was leaning about 10 degrees to the left and the windows were rotting out of the frames. It took me a bit of time to try and explain what the issue was and once it was done, they sent me back out to the location the next month to recheck if they had fixed everything. Nope... in fact it looked worse. I expect to hear on the news that a local gas station fell over on a car any day now...

Suggestion: I generally try only one new gas station audit program before accepting a bunch of them. That way I can learn what I need to improve on or if to give up on the idea entirely.

We also will never again do one of these, even when they offer a $20. bonus. From now on It is going to take a $100. bonus up front :-)

Never again? Oh did you did you get scared when the guy in the turban got excited when you tried to take pictures of the pumps or were you bummed when you dropped your camera into the bowl trying to take a picture of the negitive issue?

My biggest problem with gas station audits is keeping awake while uploading the photos. After the eighth report, any break time is tranquilizing. It always annoys me when the assistant manager says that the store is separate from the gas station. There is usually gas station POP in the store, but they don't want it to be included in the audit.

Hmm...a safety vest...I think I would ask them to pay me to wear one of those. Unless it was Halloween!

There is one gas station that I have been to 4 times. The flags are still attached to the canopy and I take my pik and turn it in - makes me wonder why that is even a question since they obviously don't really care.

I used to print at home until I had to print a 50 page cheat sheet for a novel shop. My printer croaked. So i was near the location and found that I could print my document for pick up at Fed Ex. Did it in black and white for $2.73. Very convenient.

I completed a mystery shop at a gas station. Relatively easy but it's located within an airport. The curb appeal shot was tricky. Best angle was on entry road to airport express. Not a good place to pull over and get out. I found a service road gave me an angle that captured the canopy, sign, and sorta captured the store. Waiting to see how it turned out.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/08/2014 04:35AM by whosear.

"The best part is that I didn't get paid for the shop because I didn't realize I had to submit an invoice. I've done numerous shops for GFK and I never had to submit one and I always got paid. By the time I was told that I needed to do the invoice, and that's why I didn't get paid, someone in the accounting department told me it was too late. I earned that money, believe me I earned it. So that's left a bad taste in my mouth."

A company that doesn't pay for completed and accepted work because of some arbitrary time limit for submitting an "invoice." is ethically challenged and should be shunned.

You need to harass this company into getting what's rightfully yours...threaten to report them to the client...Trust me, it works! You don't need them!