Depending on the shop I will try and negotiate a bonus, and then I check the job notice for the bonus. If it isn't there then I email/call them to discuss it BEFORE doing the job. The bonus should be posted in black and white if not then it didn't go through/get done.

Lorilu Wrote:
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> OMG!!! I am steaming mad right now over them.
> Seriously, I just got off their website and wanted
> to see what some of our seasoned shoppers thought
> and boom there you are.
> kmiarussi, I thought they were a joke from the
> beginning but now I...ughhh! I can spit nails. Ok.
> What I am going to do is copy and paste what I
> wrote so you will know what happened. No, I did
> not send it but I need feed back. Has anyone ever
> sent a letter like this to a so called shopping
> company?
> Here it is...
> I have spent the last 2 hours studying to qualify
> for a shop only to finally find out that the pay
> is only five dollars. I have 2 pages of notes
> about what all they expect from this shop and it
> would take me at least two hours including the
> return. That is not even minimum wage. I am not in
> this to get rich but I am also not doing this to
> get taken advantage of. That is plain crazy. I
> don't get why you would think someone would put
> that much time and work into something to only get
> paid 2.50 an hour. Besides that, the training was
> chock full of unfinished words and repeated
> sentences which I would be counted off on my
> report if my work was that shabby. I have heard
> talk of boycotting and I just might encourage it.

Much ado about nothing! They had a hamburger/steak chain that went bankrupt. They still have gas stations/ convenience stores and a chicken shop. They want newbies to work for nothing and a quarter (not even a half) of a chicken dinner.

If you are a newbie figure it out. The time involved is not worth it unless you do MANY shops and the hours you spent reading redundant instructions divided by the number of shops reduces the preparation time down to a few cents per shop.

There are many gas station/convenience store shops so you may do enough shops to make the cost per shop for preparation cost effective. If you do enough routes, one gas station after another it may eventually pay by volume, but you have to do a lot of work. Shoppers who have worked a few either love them or hate them.

If you take a picture of a dirty toilet bowl in the gas shops use the strap or you may drop your camera in. The camera does not work too well after that. If you take pictures outside take them from far away. I do not know what the guy in the turban was saying but I am sure it was not "welcome to my gas station" take all the pictures you want!


The 10 cent bonus I frequently see catches my eye. WOW 10 cents bonus, It want to make me reach over, grab my mouse and delete.

You may see the bonus go up at the end of the end of the month or if someone flakes. You got to play chicken for a chicken dinner. Do not feel bad if you miss the bonus. You have to wait for someone to flake or take the left overs. They are left over for a reason. They are horribly time consuming no one takes those shops until the bonus starting at less than 10 cents for some shops goes up.

yes some can be not so nice. Sometimes you just need to take a break from those kinds of companies. There are many more out there, that pay better than they do. I just like the direct deposit and weekly.kmiarussi Wrote:
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> I have done 20 shops for them and the last 4 days
> have been having trouble submitting the paperwork
> because their server kept timing out. I was doing
> everything right and their Client Operations
> Support Representative told me that if I was too
> stupid to figure it out then I shouldn't be
> working for them.. You have got to be kidding me?
>
>
> I tried on several computers and followed all
> directions they gave and they blame it on me?
>
>
> Will never do anything for them again.
>
> Anyone else ever have this problem with them?

By all means try to negotiate a higher fee when they initiate a call to you...always ask what the shop is paying before you accept it...If I'm familiar with the shop and have seen it on the job board so I know what the usual fee is...I always ask for at least 5-10 more... I dont always get what I won't but I always get offered more than the usual fee...then I make the dedision to accept or not.

BTW...if you don't know the usual fee...don't hesitate to ask the schedular what the usual shop fee is.

pony123lucy Wrote:
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> I have a question about bonuses. When the
> scheduler calls you on the phone do you try to
> negotiate a higher fee?
> Also, how do you make sure they do pay you the
> bonus you were promised?
> Thank you.
.............................................................................
My previous post was in response to your ?s...I forgot to answer your last one...If you are given the shop at a bonused fee...most MSCs will either send you a confirmation email stating the bonused fee...you can also request one...CORI will usually post the bonused fee amount in the shop fee info when it has been assigned to you...never complete a shop that has been promised a bonus without having some writen confirmation to fall back on just incase things go a rye...

Don't worry about spending all that time prepping for a job only to find the pay is ridiculous. As someone else mentioned before it will come up again with a bonus and then you will be ready to go.

There have been times when I have had trouble submitting the forms to Corporate Research International. It is very frustrating and annoying, and I do not know why this seems to happen only with their website. Usually, somewhere in their printed instructions, there is an email address for the person in charge of the project. I have found that the best thing to do when this happens is email that person, explained the situation and resubmit the report the next day. I know, resubmitting is a pain in the neck, but at least CRI's report forms are usually fairly short.

Yes, I, too, do find it annoying that they hide the rate of pay until after you have taken the test. I know that they usually raise the pay rate but there are some clients for which they never raise the pay rate.

CRI was one of the first companies I shopped with for a long time when I started out over 10 years ago. I got sick as a dog...literally...from a restaurant shop I conducted for them. I called the company, told the CSR I spoke to what happened and how I should let the client know. She told me to put it in my report.

WELL, I did what I was told, submitted the report and got an email from one of their Quality Control people informing me that I would be "BLOCKED" from shopping that client again and would not get paid because I, "put too much information in my report!" I went back and forth with Quality Control informing them that I only did what I was told by THEIR CSR and was told that they did not care because I put too much information in the report and I was still going to be blocked and NOT GET PAID for the shop or reimbursement. I the person again that it wasn't my fault that the information was in the report, but she said it didn't matter because it shouldn't have been put there and I was still blocked and not going to get paid. I told her to deactivate my account and she said I had to do it myself, which I did immediately after I got off the phone and haven't looked back since.

I was sick for a week behind the food I ate and thought I was going to have to go to the hospital!

I had a problem uploading receipt last weekend for Payless shoes. It skipped the upload and went right to the job. I tried to use upload receipt 20 times plus and gave up. I forgot about it until Tuesday when I finally got caught up on emails. Oh well. Did not get paid for that one!!

First you need to delete the client name from your post.

Why are you saying you will not be paid? Did you contact them right away?

Something not mentioned (I don't think) in this thread - chat. I use the Live Chat feature all the time. It's better than the phone, because I can do other things at the same time!

I've been doing assignments for them for a couple years. The pay is not very much but sometimes the assignments are pretty easy. I agree with the person who complained about the time it takes to get qualified for a shop. Sometimes only one question is off and it takes hours to figure out which one it is.

I would agree if it wasn't for the fact that you get kicked off the Chat waiting line after 15 minutes and have to go back to the end of the line. I tired for literally hours to get into chat and was never able to. They should remake it so you can "sit" in line for however long you want, they can always close the chat quickly if you aren't there when your time comes up.


treydawgmt Wrote:
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> Something not mentioned (I don't think) in this
> thread - chat. I use the Live Chat feature all
> the time. It's better than the phone, because I
> can do other things at the same time!

Then, of course, there are times when chat seems to be closed even during hours that they say they are opened.

Has anyone seen CORI'S main home improvement shop for the month of Feb.? There are none listed for my area. I hope they didn't lose this client!!!!!!!!!

Come to think of it, no. This month's just got wrapped up. I know they've posted the next round prior to finishing one and I also know it caused issues when a shopper would take one from the new month effectively blocking shoppers from scheduling the jobs that had been lingering from the prior round. I had that happen when trying to assign the shop near me at a surprisingly big bonus. The scheduler went in and found out someone had ignored the bonus shop and taken the new one at the starting fee for the same week! Apparently some people don't want to make money

I just thought it was strange they have soooo many posted for Feb. in my area but not that one. I am their "main" shopper for my area. I always need something from these stores.

I like them a lot when the fees increase enough. I've found the job to be quick and the report even quicker. Too many shoppers take them at the starting rate around here, but sometimes I get them in the off months

CoRi pays fast and if you don't like the commission fees, just wait until the second half of the month when they start raising them. Easy to work for, I have never had a complaint with them. If I have a question, they generally answer pretty fast and are courteous whne they do so. No issues with them for me!

I have noticed those shops are absent too. I keep thinking maybe they will show up shortly...hope so.

Liz

Although the pay is low , the work is steady. The schedulers are great and the pay is like clockwork.

LOVE CORI...steady work and relatively easy reports...not to mention weekly pay!!! they are very reliable

Re: Cori tests. Do you take all you think might come around or wait until they are on the board?

I have noticed that not only the home improvement shops are not showing, but the big box mart shops are not showing wither. They always came with a sweet commission in my area.

cynb,

Mostly I just wait for them to show up. It's not like there's still not plenty of time since I already know the starting fee

BTW, next month's hardware stores are on the board. The test is also up again. For those who have done the job there is one change which will be obvious if you go straight to the test

I will never ever work for this company again. I traveled over a 100 miles to do a shop. The place had gone out of business. I informed them of this fact. They refused to pay me anything!

They do things like that. I suppose calling first if you are making a long trip would be a good idea.

I do like some of the shops they offer in my area, but one thing that I find annoying is that for many of the clients there is no way to print a complete copy of the instructions. I hadn't forgotten something, and when I checked the printed instructions (I was already on the road.) to see what I was suppoed to do, it said, "See the training video." This was not at all helpful because I am not one of those people who is wired 24/7. Need less to say, this was one time that they did not pay me because when I did the shop, I missed something.

I once emailed them and asked if there was some way to get a printable copy of the complete instructions, and they never answered.

Wow I just passed the home improvement store test, then I got to see how much this job paid...ummm no.

Does their pay get better later on?

omahaman2 Wrote:
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> I will never ever work for this company again. I
> traveled over a 100 miles to do a shop. The place
> had gone out of business. I informed them of this
> fact. They refused to pay me anything!

Did you document anything? I had several routes of gas stations summer before last and they always included locations which were either closed or had rebranded. I took the required photos and, unlike some companies, the pay was in full. In fact, I got paid in full for the same closed locations several times. I'm not totally sure why the client wanted them done that many times, but it was great for me knowing the job was only going to take about 2 minutes and didn't even involve shutting off my engine.

Secret Agent Mom, of course they do! Unassigned shops start increasing as soon as the start date. Sometimes it goes up by dribs and drabs, other times they take a nice jump. The send out e-mails every morning listing the fee increases.