It is what it is.........

November 01, 2011 12:25PM

I am new to mystery shopping and maybe what I am going to share is the norm. I have one company that calls me or emails me if I put any negative comments about a shop. I know that companies would rather hear the good stuff, but it is what it is. I feel that I have contracted to do an objective report, not what the company wants to hear. Am I misreading this.....or is it normal to be called and emailed about negative comments. I strongly get the feeling that they desire for me to change the report. I do not go looking for negative stuff....it just happens sometimes. I am very quick to report the posistive as well as the negative. Help this new shopper understand.....thanks guys

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November 01, 2011 12:33PM

I have sent in negative comments on reports and I have never been contacted about what I wrote. Some MSC's do care what is written in their reports if that is the case just the the MSC this is what happened and that is why the negative comment is in the report.

November 01, 2011 12:56PM

This has happened to me as well with FF shops, particularly from MF. It pissed me off so much that I completely stopped shopping for that client. Having spent money on 2 meals, neither of which I actually wanted, then being asked what kind of car I drove, what I was wearing, how long I stayed in the restaurant (info already in the report) in the hopes of identifying me and therefore, not paying me, was the straw that broke the camel's back.

After the third round of questions, I simply wrote back that I would not divulge the requested information and that knowing who I was was not going to make the counter any cleaner. I was paid and never heard back from them and never did another shop for that chain.

Managers with icky stores like to challenge reports because there's money involved in it for them. They get bonuses for perfect reports. When the reports are less than perfect, it is financially better for them to have the report rejected and therefore, maintain their "perfect" scores than to accept the report, work on the problem and lose the bonus.

November 01, 2011 01:10PM

There are several types of challenges to negative reports--or any type of report for that matter. The editor challenge, the client challenge and the location challenge. For some reason the cheaper the shop fee the more likely the location challenge, it seems. Perhaps it is because they nickle and dime their employees as much as the company nickles and dimes the shopper. I generally view a client challenge as a request for more information about something mentioned to take corrective action. The editor challenge usually is because I failed to comment on something or they failed to read the report. In the case of a negative report my sense is that the editor is doing a CYA 'the shopper states and confirms that . . .'

None of us ever likes to be challenged because once the report is submitted it is time to move on to other things and a challenge is time consuming. I think that is why negative reports are so darn tough to write--you want to make sure ever i is dotted and t is crossed so nobody wastes your time further.

November 01, 2011 01:10PM

I regret that the only shops that I have ever had rejected happened to be negative. Most companies are fair and reasonable.

I have stopped shopping for one company due to the rejection of a very good shop that was fairly reported. I wish it was not this way but a few companies are dedicated to being only positive which of course leads to no improvement of problem areas.

Prior to taking on shops that require significant investments of my own funds I always like to do a few shops so I know what to expect from their editors.

November 01, 2011 01:25PM

I once did a McD's and noted that the manager was texting after ringing my order. I also noted that the tables had crumbs and debris all over them and the floors had trash. I noted that the flies were landing on my food and I had to throw it in the trash can! I noted that the trash can was so full that I had to sit my food on the can and not in it. I got a call about this report. I was asked what I was wearing that day and which car I was driving. I was told that McD's wanted to find me on the tape. I never heard anything else about this shop and was assigned many others. About 1 month later I took the same shop. There was new management, friendly smiles, clean floors and tables, help cleaning during my visit and 3 of those huge fly/insect lights on each wall in the dining area! Sometime a negative report is a good thing! I admire the way McD's reacted to the report.

November 01, 2011 01:28PM

Thanks so much guys....that helps me to understand what is going on....

November 01, 2011 08:55PM

From a MF scheduler she told me.... your status changes if you do not included at least one negative on all reports. Same if it is a negative report you must include one positive. As hard as it is to find them. That all affects the % quota according to her.

November 01, 2011 10:48PM

I think I can see it.. (sort of). ...through the clients eyes: "Is this shopper being hyper negative and saying we have flies and over flowing trash cans?" I think to their horror, they hope the shopper is exaggerating.

Then, they get testy and want to interrogate YOU the shopper. The: "I want to know what you were wearing so we can find you on the tape" sounds a bit scarey or perhaps they DO believe you and want to verify their possible deplorable conditions.

But in reality, I don't think clients are out to screw shoppers, (mostly) they want the truth but I think it's the STORE that screams and fights/ says "No, we dont have feces stained toilets EVER!" But the truth is, that manager is about to lose his job (maybe) so he is going to challenge the shopper but demanding to know who the person was who reported his "fly zone."

It's not the clients that are so rotten or even the schedulers but in fact the employees in the said establishment who allow filth and flies to snack on your future parfait cup. I have not had a horrible experience yet, but one was pretty close.

November 02, 2011 03:59AM

I had gnats flying around one shop I did. To prove to the MSC and client there were flies or bugs in the restuarant, I periodically kept fanning, in my face or over my food.

If I am going to mention bugs in my report, I might as well let them see how it was affecting my meal time. They are forever telling us "we will be recorded the minute we enter the establishment."

Next time I did that shop, it was a little cleaner.
Hre hare, rabbit, rabbit, bunny, bunny

November 02, 2011 11:34AM

I spent 23+ years in retail management. For part of those years, I received mystery shops on my employees. 25% of my performance appraisal was based on my customer service score. There were two circumstances that we challenged our shops. First, we would challenge them if the narration did not match the rating. In reality, it was only when the narration was positive but the score was low. Our reviews were based on the score. Who would challenge a high score with negative narration comments? Second, we would ask for confirmation on a really bad mystery shop, especially if it could lead to disciplinary action against an employee. The process was not easy to challenge a shop. You had to first convince "corporate" that there was an issue worthy of a challenge. They were a great tool to reward and coach our employees.

November 02, 2011 12:57PM

Thanks beatlesfan! I too was in retail for 30+ and the company also did the same thing. Mystery Shoppers are priceless, if they are allowed to do their job. As far as negative reports, I have 2 examples. The 1st is a FF. The place was full of flies and the food was awful. This was reflected in the report. The best questions, would I return and would I reccommend this place. I told them no and that this place was a bad reflection on the rest of the chain. I didn't recieve anything negative from corporate. The 2nd was a big box store. I am big on ADA Compliant and this store had aisles and departments crammed to the point that you could barely walk. This is a question on the report. The next time I went to this store.....cleaned up. I still mystery shop this store. We need to just be honest and keep up the good work!!

vickeet

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