I think we should rate the mystery shopping companies we work for just like they rate us. What does everyone think?

I think it would not make any kind of a difference. What would MFI care if I give them a 10 or a 3? I think each of us already rate them as they relate to us in our minds, putting it down on paper would not make it more real. There are several threads on the forum about best and worst, or most liked. Check out the search feature and read some of those.

We wouldn't rate them for their sake, but for other shoppers' sake. Think of them like product reviews on Amazon. You can read the reviews of other consumers, plus their "grades" on a few key objective categories.

Great idea! If some kind of rating system could be produced and maintained here I wholeheartedly believe quite a few MSCs would watch it closely. They are in competition with each other from two fronts, for their clients and for their shoppers. If I'm in charge of an MSC and I look at the ratings and find that I'm competitive in the categories of (these are just exampled) timely pay, reasonable pay, scheduling and issue resolution but I'm tanking it on editor feedback (e.g. mean, prolonged time span, difficult to understand) you can bet I'm going to drill down on my editors, getting an understanding of what the marketplace wants and what my competitors are doing with respect to those editors and either change the behavior or clean house.

Why am I going to do that? Because I know all the shoppers here are going to see those ratings and be inclined to use them to decide with whom to do business. That impacts my ability to deliver a solid shopper network to my clients. No shoppers, no shops, no clients.

I've always thought the MSC employees we interact directly with should be a shining example of customer service since that's what they are all (mostly) about; it's rather ironic there are so many customer-unfriendly representatives. What do the MSC folks on this forum think?

Maybe I'm taking the phrase "customer service" too literally. I consider the client to be the customer and my relationship with any MSC as an IC to fall into the category of vendor. Since we depend on each other to deliver results to the customer I do expect a professional relationship, but I'm not put off if they are not friendly as long as it doesn't cross the line to rude. I enjoy it when the relationship is friendly and relaxed I just don't expect it.

I rate them in my own mind (as do other shoppers). The question seems to be of one who doesn't want to find out for themselves...and don't forget, one month a certain MSC might give you a job you love, and you give them a 10, while the next month the same MSC needs a job done, you don't want to do, then do they get a 5...? Rating shifts and is individial.

I think the only type of rating system that is feasible would be about things which are not subjective. A specific, such as "do they pay according to terms?," as opposed to do they pay quickly?"

Maybe, but in any event and with whatever categories and how they're worded (and with the ability to change your rating) it would be a nice apples to apples comparison.

I just meant that "do they pay well" and "are the jobs hard" can vary so much from shopper to shopper. Some of those things we have to just judge for ourselves. Now a quick reference which would tell me things like they pay on time, if they deduct from the fee for errors or late submission and have shopper support available on weekends could be a great tool. Kind of like those charts for product comparisons.

Do they pay quickly would be a 10, as just happened from RSG, did the bank yesterday, got paid today...10 10 10.

Yeah, Lisa at RSG doesn't let any grass grow under those payments does she!

Okay I will rate them:

Freeman -0 (horrible pay time)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sinclair Customer Metrics 10+
ICCDS 10+ ( they pay me in 30 days or less)
Market Force ( I know people hate them but they pay me fast, except this month)
AthPower 10++ ( always pay me and give me TONS of banks, I love you athPower!)
Customer1st. ( fast pay, great scheduler)
Trendsource ( A little funny about "deductions" but they paid me in 2 days!
Quest for Best ( fast payer, fun jobs)
Confero ( pays like clockwork )



Issue companies Service Check: I like them but they are hard on those narratives..

I believe the only way this would work is for some one to design an objective metric with few key categories and have an automated system where people could vote. If the voting population is large enough, personal biases would wash away.

That's where it's at!

If we started a voting system it might turn into a popularity contest. I think mthat there should be a system devised that takes all parts of the MSC into consideration. Types of accounts, payment amount, schedulers, edotors, speed of payment, weither they have a good reputation, etc. Only then could you have a good rating system. What does everybody think?

When you read reviews on sites that sell goods, they often rate a variety of categories and some are subjective, i.e., "fit to size" & "comfortable". Then there is a place to comment on your response to that category, plus a section for overall comments with a pros and cons section. I don't see why that wouldn't work. I think it would be wonderful.

Someone should set up a mystery shop for all the mystery shopping companies. As far as customer service, there is internal customer service (shoppers, co-workers, etc.) and external customer service (the client's we shop for them). All customer service standards should be top of the line, but there are some MSCs that just don't get the internal customer service aspect.

I believe CSE did shopper survey and made several improvements. Their schedulers are prompt, pay is fair, survey forms do not have redundant repetitions and narratives and best of all their pay cycle is very fast.

For 30 years before becoming a mystery shopper, my husband and I worked for a publisher selling advertising and rating campgrounds and RV parks on a 1-10 basis in 3 different categories. We walked a very fine line with ratings because we had to sell the ads to the same companies. Many customers would not commit to advertising until they knew their rating which was reviewed and updated annually.

Over the years, however, we learned that ratings were very often a matter of perception. We also trained newbies in the field with guidelines that were 3 pages long. After telling one new couple about this, they asked 1 camper how he liked the park we were in and if he felt the rating we gave was accurate. He said it was great and was planning to return asap and that he felt the rating was too low. A few minutes later they asked another camper with the same basic demographic what he thought. He said he hated the place, thought it was a dump, was leaving asap, would never come back, would tell his friends to stay away and that it should be deleted from any list of parks because the rating should have been a 0.

RV parks always claimed their best advertising was word of mouth. So our comeback would be that they would have to protect against the 2nd type of unhappy camper.

Anyway, long story short, any rating system, no matter how subjective, specific and well-controlled, is inherently flawed because everybody's needs and wants are different. Plus, on any given day, those needs and wants can do a 180 because of some little unexpected thing that sends us off into left field.

That said, if someone wants to start doing a rating system, I'll be glad to add my input.

In order for a rating system to have any real value, the questions can't be generalized like whether they pay quickly. They need to be specific. Either the shopper should have the option of picking whether the MSP pays within 30, 60, 90, or more days or the time period the MSP promises payment should be clearly stated with a question as to whether the MSP adheres to stated promise.

Each question would have to have similar guidelines to follow. There can also be an area for shoppers to provide additional comments as to why they've scored as they did or any other pertinent information. This is so other shoppers can read the answers and decide for themselves if the MSP actions are acceptable or inadequate based on what's important to them.

With that being said, I'm not willing to spend the time to set up something like that. I only MS part time for the jobs I enjoy and I'd like to spend the little free time I have doing something I enjoy. I will, however, participate with my feedback.

One can develop their own rating. It may just take few months. If they don't pay or their reports demand too much for the money they are paying it would be easy not to work for them.

Initially, I signed up for many companies. There are some that I won't work for.