I've shopped at least one MSC where in order to see the details of a shop, you first have to take a training/test for that particular client. That means that you have to spend an hour studying and taking a test sometimes only to find out that the job pays $3.50 for a complicated set of pictures and report/uploads. I don't see that everywhere. Is there a way around all that or do you just steer clear of those companies. I'm probably a bit grouchy because it just happened again but I think it is a bit disrespectful of the company to not be up front about the fees/reimbursements available for the shop before wasting my time. lol I've taken several of the trainings and do shop for the MSC but I also wasted a lot of time on one of them and was disqualified just because I was 52 and not 25. lol That 25 year old could get in the groove and do a bunch of em in a route and make some money but it was worthless to me and took time I could have been shopping elsewhere. Another example was to take the test only to find out the pay was very low for a shop testing ADA compliance that was supposed to take 20-30 minutes. I accepted a job for a low pay to see if I could make a difference to a mobility impaired person. I was in a mobility chair at a retail store for 3 1/2 hours before I could gather all the infor mation I needed to make $6 and still had an a report to write when I got home. The MSC was not up front about the time the shop would take. I am mobility impaired and I took the shop to see if I could do it since it was only going to take 30 minutes. What I learned was that if I wanted to shop at that place, it would take me three hours instead of thirty minutes. I consider that shop community service and a gift, but I sure won't do anymore of that particular shop. there any way to influence an MSC or do you just steer clear of that company and let the newbies take the hit with finding out about the time consuming problems??? I don't shop them from the boards anymore....I wait for an email with a decent price tag in it. Guess I'm hoping that maybe the MSC's read the forum and see our frustrations too so that at least they are aware.

You are absolutely on the money when you express outrage at needing to do the testing before you can see enough detail to see that you either would not take such an underpaid job or that you are ineligible for it in the first place. A great deal of the outrage and disgust for them in a thread devoted to them has to do with this. The rest of it has to do with their jobs paying peanuts and systematically being bonused when they can't find folks desperate enough to take them at the low prices.

There are two positives to be said about this company: I have rare heard of them rejecting a shop except for photos on the pizza. They pay you your peanuts promptly and reliably.

Several months ago on a forum somebody from there said 'we heard you' and that they would look into displaying more info pre training. That is unlikely to happen in my opinion. The training is a head game. If you knew that what was at the 'end of the rainbow' was $3 shops with photo uploads and a report of more than 5 y/n questions, why would you bother at all? But once you have wasted an hour or more on training and testing to discover that $3 wonder, you almost feel you need to take some shops to recoup your lost time.

My personal opinion is that this company is disrespectful and manipulative. And while I will continue to suggest new shoppers sign up there for the training, almost guaranteed payment for shops even that are screwed up and quick payment to keep them from getting discouraged with payments that take a month or two to come in, I also feel strongly that shoppers need to move on to other companies. Other companies have higher expectations to get it right, they have less training and they pay more, though it takes longer.

Glad to know it isn't just me!!! I picked up some more lucrative ones from there for a specific company at various locations where no one wanted to do them so the commissions kept increasing until I did all of them and made some money. But all those pizzas and gas stations and age requirements were getting to me. I'm going to focus on the fee only and not so many reimbursement shops. I'll save the fast food ones for when I'm doing 3 other shops in the same area. lol I've added lots of new companies to my list in the past few days and my calendar is filling up quickly for March. Thabks for listening.

Could questions be posed and answered here to the effect of "Is the fee worth it?", What is the starting fee of the book store/gas station/burger joint?", and forum members shared. If we adhere to our ICs, even if the MSP isn't influenced, shoppers could be. Would this be in violation?

I got into one of these last week. Sandwich shop a few blocks from work for a quick lunch. Took and got past the test. It was not bad except that it could only be taken the day before the shop. THat was the first strike. The second strike was the evaluation report that was seven pages long with comments. The third strike was three back to back items to be timed. Not just minutes and seconds but minutes, seconds and tenths of seconds all going on at the same time.

The pay was decent and the report, once gotten into it, was not too bad. I am not sure I will do any more because I am not a fan of their food and I am some other things turned me off. If I could have seen the paper work first off I would not have bothered.

7 pages? Wow. Long! Hope it paid well. :-)

How can I get back to the "sticky's"? I closed my windows and lost the list and now I can't find all the goodies!

dee shops Wrote:
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> 7 pages? Wow. Long! Hope it paid well. :-)


The printed evaluation was 7 pages but the actual imput was not that bad. The pay was $8 and time in the store was about 5 min. If the time in the store was up to 30 min, like they said it could be, and then had to fool with 7 pages, then no it is not worth it. When you add getting two or three different employee names and time 3 different actions and remember it all before you get to the car then it is really not worth it.:-)

It was one of those deals where I was commmited to do it before I could see the paperwork. If I could have seen the paperwork first it would have been a big no thank you.

There is a MSC that has GS shops that offers a route of their stations. One of the stations listed in that route always comes up as a solo shop. The only thing I can come up with is the shopper that takes the route can drop which ones they do not want to do. The same shopper must get the route all the time because I seldom see the route listed. I have seen it twice so I know the solo shop is on the route.

This station is gas, tobacco products, sodas and coffee only. The job description is an evaluation report of 30 questions for $8.00. It is not a reveal from what I can gather. 30 questions for such a small place seems like overkill to me so I will not go any farther to sign up for it. If the 30 questions is an easy in and out then I would like to know it because I may missing a shop that puts a little gas in my tank (if it does), and a little money in my pocket. I go by it on my way home.

I have done a few shops for this MSC and I just remembered their reports do have the narritives, however, that information is not given in the shop details.

Are the MSC's afraid that if they give us enough shop/report details and fee paid on a shop for us to decide if we want to do the test or not we will end up not doing the shop?

I get so mad at having to read material and take a test to find it's a cheapie that I don't want to do any of their shops. I did three "home improvement" shops in a two week period with them. One for less than $9, the next for $12 and the last for $18, I'm learning to be patient until the email is screaming "BONUSSSSS!!!!!!" But to have to take a test to find that the shop goes for $4 is excrusiating.

iblessyah@yahoo.com Wrote:
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> I get so mad at having to read material and take a
> test to find it's a cheapie that I don't want to
> do any of their shops. I did three "home
> improvement" shops in a two week period with them.
> One for less than $9, the next for $12 and the
> last for $18, I'm learning to be patient until
> the email is screaming "BONUSSSSS!!!!!!" But to
> have to take a test to find that the shop goes for
> $4 is excrusiating.

You said that you never took one of those shops for under $9, so what is the big deal that it starts out at $4. If you are not going to do it anyway, what difference does it make? The onus to work at the price you want to is on you, not the MSC. Their job is to makw as much money as they can for THEIR company, not yours. Your job is to make as much money as you can for YOUR company not theirs. Time is on your side. They have to get those shops done at some price. The question is; will it be your price or will it be theirs?

BTW, whenever I have some free time, I do the presentations and take the test even if there are no jobs in my area at the time. If I travel to another city or state and the jobs do come up there for it, I'm ahead of the curve because I can just choose the jobs I want or not.

Doing training and testing in downtime is good advice. It not only allows me to learn the details of the shop, but also puts me in position to accept a shop when it reaches a fee that's acceptable to me. It's good to be able to pounce on a $5 shop increased to $25.

That was her point, Emdisco. That she did not want to spend the time to do the training and test only to find the shop only paid $4.

dee shops Wrote:
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> That was her point, Emdisco. That she did not
> want to spend the time to do the training and test
> only to find the shop only paid $4.


The job does not pay $4 if you don't accept it at $4! When I look at those jobs, I don't see $4 jobs. I see jobs with the potential to go up to $10, $15, $20, $30 and up. People can't tell me that it can't be done because I've done it on too numerous occasion. So why complain about something that is not real for you. I can see if you do a bunch of $3/$4 jobs, that would be different. But if you are not going to do them anyway, it doesn't matter what they offer. Back in the 90's I used to travel from state to state selling used computer equipment at heavily discounted prices. I had set prices on my wares, but everything was negotiable. Some people would come to me and asked "how do you want for this or that " and I would give them my price. If they didn't purchase what I knew was a good deal, I would ask them "how much are you willing to pay for it?" Some people would give me a price and some people would say "i don't want to insult you." I would tell them that they would not insult me with a really lowball offer. If they put it out there it was up to me to accept it or reject it. It is the same with these jobs. Accept them or reject them. Don't cry about the price, especially when those prices are not etched in stone. Accept them or reject them. It's very simple.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/2010 02:17AM by Emdisco.

You are totally missing the point. This has nothing to do with accepting the job. It has to do with shops that make you train and test before seeing what they will pay.

dee shops Wrote:
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> You are totally missing the point. This has
> nothing to do with accepting the job. It has to
> do with shops that make you train and test before
> seeing what they will pay.


I have not missed the point. This company operates like this since I've been a shopper. Maybe it was differnt years ago when you started. If you don't like how the operate, then there are another 500 companies to work with. They make you pay your own paypal fee; so what! Accept it or reject it. It's not rocket science. Not one of us has to do business with this company. You know the rules. You know how the game is played. Are you in or out? Or are you gonna sit on the sidelines and complain. I like a lively discussion. But this thing with this company is ludicrous. Look, if you don't take the training, you can't get the assignment. It's that simple. That is the point. Take it and have a chance to expand your income. Don't take it and forfiet that chance. Real simple.

I think you are way out on a limb here. I give up. No reasoning with you. Ever.

I agree. As a new shopper, I signed up with and took several tests for one company, then saw how little the shops paid and did not accept them. I also stopped wasting my time on their tests and have never accepted a shop from them. I still see their e-mails constantly but ==delete== maybe someday I'll be so desperate I'll want to take their tests.....but probably not unless they begin to disclose more up front, like the pay.

Another thing I hate is getting an e-mail that gives very little info about a shop, very vague location, no pay amount, and says "if you are interested in performing this shop, e-mail back and one of our schedulers will contact you." Can we not give enough information up front to allow a shopper to know if they are interested or not? Pay should definitely be disclosed. If the pay is negotiable, say so. One particular company frequently does this, I don't work for them either.

AustinMom Wrote:
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> I agree. As a new shopper, I signed up with and
> took several tests for one company, then saw how
> little the shops paid and did not accept them. I
> also stopped wasting my time on their tests and
> have never accepted a shop from them. I still see
> their e-mails constantly but ==delete== maybe
> someday I'll be so desperate I'll want to take
> their tests.....but probably not unless they begin
> to disclose more up front, like the pay.

Yay! Someone who GETS IT! That was the point the OP was trying to make..it's not aboout taking tests in spare time, it was about trying to get the MSP to give the details before WASTING time. For some of us live in places where they have few shops, and even fewer of them that we want to do, and even fewer yet that ever get high enough in pay to bother with doing the training in advance. They know what they are doing. They are hiding the info on purpose, and wasting time we could use more productively.
>
> Another thing I hate is getting an e-mail that
> gives very little info about a shop, very vague
> location, no pay amount, and says "if you are
> interested in performing this shop, e-mail back
> and one of our schedulers will contact you." Can
> we not give enough information up front to allow a
> shopper to know if they are interested or not?
> Pay should definitely be disclosed. If the pay is
> negotiable, say so. One particular company
> frequently does this, I don't work for them
> either.

I hate this, too. I am pretty sure I know what MSC you mean. Sometimes I email back, and then am sorry I did so.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/2010 04:43AM by dee shops.

Thanks dee. My original question/beef was about the wasting of my time. If I had "spare time" to take the tests to be prepared, I'd be using it on better odds elsewhere. I know that I have the right to do business with that company or not or take the tests or not. But newbies have a tendency to not know everything like some other people think they do. They think that the practice is normal and something you have to go through. My intent was to express my aggrevation and to see if anyone thought there was any way I/we could influence that practice to go away. Tonight I applied for a shop where I was able to see the fees and the test came up after the fact. That's a much more reasonable approach to me. Thanks for the support! I'm lovin' this site!

"Yay! Someone who GETS IT!" I understood your explanation, Dee. And, I also get Emdisco's point.

As I said earlier, I do testing when I'm so inclined based on the name/location of the Company. No doubt the fee is going to be low. Here, almost monthly, low-paying shops get highly bonused, five times or more the original fee. That's why I'd recommend doing the training. You never know ~ ~ ~

Also though, I have emailed the scheduler requesting info before spending time on a test. His responses provided enough detail that I ruled them out - one was due to age requirements and the other was an integrity shop, which I don't do. No wasted time.

Mert Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "Yay! Someone who GETS IT!" I understood your
> explanation, Dee. And, I also get Emdisco's
> point.
>
> As I said earlier, I do testing when I'm so
> inclined based on the name/location of the
> Company. No doubt the fee is going to be low.
> Here, almost monthly, low-paying shops get highly
> bonused, five times or more the original fee.
> That's why I'd recommend doing the training. You
> never know ~ ~ ~
>
> Also though, I have emailed the scheduler
> requesting info before spending time on a test.
> His responses provided enough detail that I ruled
> them out - one was due to age requirements and the
> other was an integrity shop, which I don't do. No
> wasted time.


Mert, I don't have any issue with the idea of taking the tests in spare time, based on personal interest or money-making readiness, I agree with you and Emdisco on that. My point was that Emdisco was discounting the entire point of the other person by saying, "Just take the test."

Thanks again Dee. I might wind up taking the tests. I just want to make an informed decision about taking a test/studying material by knowing what I'm getting in to. I guess that's the point I was trying to make. Just give me the facts up front and then I can decide. Then when I get that email that says the commnission has increased, I can go take the test if I want to. I've actually taken some of the tests and am ready when the price tag increases for the ones I feel like taking on. I still like it better when the MSC reveals the price and then requires a test. That makes it easier to make a decision and I do indeed bless the scheduler and MSC with my business.

dee shops Wrote:
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> I think you are way out on a limb here. I give
> up. No reasoning with you. Ever.


You are right. There is no reasoning with me on this issue. We all are mystery shoppers why? Because we want to make money. Why would you encourage people to NOT check out a company that pays in weeks instead of months, has some of the highest fees paid for doing the same shops as other companies and pays on time. You are right; there is no reasoning you can do to make me understand this. I am not doing for recreation. My last 6 paychecks from this compay have been;
Jan 22 - $91.01
Jan 29 - $71.03
Feb 05 - $68.79
Feb 12 - $10.67
Feb 19 - $162.75
Feb 26 - $66.08

And it's not just the money I made, its got more to do in the time frame that it was paid. I received this in 6 weeks, not 2-3 months. You can make the same money or more at other MSC, but it will take you forever to receive it. If you need money and need it fast, it just make sense to me that you would work with a company that pays in weeks instead of months. And another thing; I did not make over $400 doing $3 and $4 shops. My per shop average is somewhere around $18/per shop. So your reasoning cannot make me understand that I wasted my time taking those exams. I think it has paid handsomely. I deal in facts. If you can afford to overlook the positives and concentrate on the negatives; go ahead. I just wish more shoppers in this area felt like you guys do. My per shop average would go through the roof.

Whatever.

iblessyah@yahoo.com Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks again Dee. I might wind up taking the
> tests. I just want to make an informed decision
> about taking a test/studying material by knowing
> what I'm getting in to. I guess that's the point
> I was trying to make. Just give me the facts up
> front and then I can decide. Then when I get that
> email that says the commnission has increased, I
> can go take the test if I want to. I've actually
> taken some of the tests and am ready when the
> price tag increases for the ones I feel like
> taking on. I still like it better when the MSC
> reveals the price and then requires a test. That
> makes it easier to make a decision and I do indeed
> bless the scheduler and MSC with my business.


When you get the email that says that the commission has increased and it to the level where you WOULD take the shop, you had better believe that it will more than likely be taken by some one else already. Maybe not, because I've seen jobs sit and sit and seen more than a few go up to $50. You, being the CEO of your company, I would think, would prefer to have your company in a position to take advantage of a good situation. Well if you haven't taken the test you just missed your chance. It's your call CEO.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/01/2010 04:44AM by Emdisco.

dee shops Wrote:
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> Whatever.


Precisely!

There is more to it than the fee paid for me. I do not like narritives. I tend to stay away from them. I can write one but I wrote enough papers and reports, in college and my 30 years as a educational tester, that I do not want to write reports of any kind. That is my choice, however, I would like to know half or all the report is narritive. Why take the test to find that out?

Why take the test and sign for the shop just to find I have to time three different actions on top of each other and 30 questions for a ff? I forgot, there is also a story to tell also. These shops never get a bonus.

All iblessyah , and a few more or us, would like is a little more information about all that is expected, not just the pay.

Dee, I don't think Emdisco will ever get it and they are surly not going to let you (or any of the rest of us) have the last word. :-)

Deech Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Why take the test and sign for the shop just to
> find I have to time three different actions on top
> of each other and 30 questions for a ff? I
> forgot, there is also a story to tell also. These
> shops never get a bonus.
>
The point is that you don't have to sign up for the shot. Once you take the trainig, the training tells you everything there is to know about the shop. Plus, once you have passed the training you can look at what you have to input without having to accept the assignment. And it is totally not true that these shops never get a bonus. They are bonussed systematically until some takes them. The increments are very small, sometimes as little as $.25 but they are bonussed.
You need to stop spreading dissinformation to people who are unaware of the good aspects. Most of the people saying these things already have access to the company and can choose to accept a job if they want. Don't do a disservice to people by denying the chance to make an informed choice about their companies.
And Deech, beleive or not; it is about making money to some of us.

Emdisco Wrote:
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> And Deech, beleive or not; it is about making
> money to some of us.


Yes, for most of us. Don't think that you are the sole person trying to make money from shopping. This is NOT a hobby for me, or most of the other regular participants here.