Hi, I just got thru doing a shop for a company named CRI. The shop went well until I tried to log in the report. I kept getting "incorrect shop id, company, or unit ID. I immediately emailed them for help, and that was three days ago. I triple checked the info I was putting in, so I know it was correct. Yesterday, I was notified that I was "unassigned" the shop because it was late. I also sent an email on Tuesday informing them of my problem. I still have not heard from them. I have another shop with them due on the 3rd that I am about to cancel because I do not want another problem like this. Has anyone out there have/had a similer problem? If so, was it taken care of? How? Thanks in advance for any and all help.Gloria

Hope you get it sorted out.
I have yet to shop with CRI, but will be doing a shop next week.

Keep us posted

Try calling direct at 419-422-3196. I don't know of an 800 number. I usually call and ask for the shops I want to help withif they don't call me first. Just beaware that if you cancel on line, your rating will go down. That's why I always go directly through them on the phone.

My complaint about CRI is the extremely low pay of $5 for shops that require you to take training before being assigned. I did a couple of shops for them a few months ago that paid $10 and more. These same shops are now only paying $5. For me its not worth it for the required training review,travel and reporting.

I shop mostly with CRI. It's best to contact them by phone. A number I have is 419-422-3593. Ask for the scheduler for the shop you did and explain what's going on. Your auditor rating will be affected because the system unassigned you. Call them, make sure you tell them you sent an email. I've found they are usually pretty good to work with.

I have done a lot of jobs for CRI, the pay is low but when you can get 4 or 5 shops from them in the same area, or work them into your schedule with other shops, it helps make some extra income.

Mike

As you see every shopper has different opinions about every company based on personal experience.

My experience with this company was not a positive one. I did an hour of training online and another hour in a store gathering names and descriptions of 8 employees in 3 different departments. It took me an hour to do the report because it was my first with them and I wanted to do an excellent job. I was given a score of 10 for the shop but was not paid because they claim they did not receive my receipt. I mailed it in because I did not have a scanner yet and I did not make a copy because I did not think it necessary because you have a better chance of being hit by lightening than having your mail lost. Needless to say, none of my emails were answered. I know they used my report and were paid by the company. I am not sure what the company pays but I more than earned the $15 fee.

Since I was new to shopping and decided to learn my lessons and give them another try. Again, I did the hour of training and the hour in the store gathering names and shopping different employees. This time when I logged on to do the report, the shop was gone from my assignments page. Again, I emailed with no response. At least I didn't lose another hour doing the report.

Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. I have decided their low fees aren't worth my time. I am an experienced, reliable shopper who does quality work. All I expect from companies is the same amount of integrity as I put into their shops.

Hi everybody. Thanks for all the info. I finally got a reply this am. She "never got any emails from me". However, she did reassign me, and told me exactly how to get the report in. I returned her email with a note of thanks. I will do the next on on the fourth and see how it goes. If I still have a problem, I think I will let this company pass. They say it takes 2-3 "business days" to respond to an email, so the phone number will come very handy...Again, thanks to all of you..HAPPY SHOPPING Gloria

Regarding CRI, I was excited to sign up to shop for them, until I saw the assignment. They wanted some gas station shops right around the corner from me and I was thinking, Great! a few gallons of gas here, a few more there, etc., but they were willing to reimburse me ONE DOLLAR for any outside shops and ONE DOLLAR for an inside shop! Needless to say, I didn't sign up--I couldn't! I was laughing too hard! I quickly unsubscribed from them.

yeah, you sure are not going to fill up your tank. They start out at $4.00 for the gas station shops. What people dont realize is when they do not get assigned they will raise the commission. So as shoppers the best we can do is not assign until they increase. Instead of thinking you are so smart getting a jump in the other shoppers. They have to come up on the pay, because the scheduler has to get the jobs done. Sorry I wont do a shop for $4.00 and a bucks worth of gas, its hardly worth the time. When they raise to 8-10 then I will.

I have done approximately 15 shops for CRI. My experience with them has been positive. Any problem with them was ironed out. They do have an instant online chat but I believe it's only till 5:00 pm. I had a problem with a scheduler one time but she ended up apologizing to me. I felt she treated me like a child. She gave me an ultimatum stating that if she didn't hear back from me by a certain time, I left her no choice but to re-assign the job to another shopper. I explained to her that besides mystery shopping I had a "real job" and if I had to rely on mystery shopping to live I would probably starve, especially with the pay from CRI. She was giving me a hard time about a shop which involved a store that was closed due to flooding. She insisted the store was open and it actually never re-opened. I told her I wasted more time in training, printing materials and wasting ink, and using gas to go to this shop. I also said by all means feel free to give it to someone else because it actually cost me money and even if it was available I was already in the hole. The only shops I do now for them is when I can get KMart promotions which are on the weekends and usually around holidays. They are quick and easy with very limited questions. These are easy money compared to the regular KMart jobs which I find to be quite time consuming. For a regular KMart shop I was in the store for nearly one hour because you can never find any help, plus the online training, the report, gas and travel. It's not worth it for $5 plus $1 reimbursement.

Lowes are the worst, I never assign to those. From what I see they have a hard time getting the shops done.

Yes, Lowes is bad. I don't think I ever finished the training session and test. When I started and saw what they expected of you and what they were paying, I couldn't be bothered.

I think the mystery shops are a good way to earn a few dollars,but some in particular do ask for alot for the small amount of money they pay you.

Are there any shops that give out free goodies?

I have been doing shops for CRI for almost a year and did not have any problem with them until recently. I never signed up for a shop I always waited until the end of the month for them to call me so I would get a bigger commission. Last week they called and asked me to do a shop that was 75 miles away and told me I was to get a $30.00 commission on it because of the distance. They also told me I did not have to buy anything and did not need a receipt. I went and did the shop which was in a appliance department and came home and wrote up the report.I had to e-mail so they would by-pass sending in a receipt. The day after the report was sent in I got an e-mail saying I had been unassuigned from the job because I did not send in a receipt or proof that I was at the job. I have e-mailed them and called several times and they refuse now to pay me for it. I think they were just looking for an excuse not to pay me the larger commission. I don't know if I would take any more jobs for them if they call again.

Greetings,

As was mentioned, they have a live chat during business hours, so there is no reason to wait "several days" to get a response to an email.

I can't imagine why a scheduler would tell you not to get a receipt when it is required to enter a shop. Doesn't make sense.

I have done hundreds of shops for them and can always iron out any confusion.
I am of the opinion that $6.00 for 15 minutes work is not bad. I always take gas stations that are on my way to other shops, or I take 3 or 4 in the same city. I usually make $18-24 an hour this way.

They do tend to go through schedulers rapidly, but I have gotten along well with all of them. I get calls often to shops for $20.

I don't mean to sound as if I am defending them, but I have made quite a bit of money.


Regards,
Guy Novello
Gold Certified.

I have to agree with what Guy says, I have shopped with CRI and will comtinue to do so. The shops don't pay much but they usually take 10 to 15 minutes to complete and they can be added to my schedule when I am going to be in the area anyway. I get 1 or 2 calls a week from them with shops that I sometimes take. As I said if I am in the area anyway why not. This company pays every 2 weeks it seems and they do direct deposit which is easy and quick.

Mike

I'm with you guys. Most of the shops I do are for CRI, the schedulers are great and often times call me when they have a high dollar shop. I assume it is becasue they can count on me, I've done a lot of "emergency" shops as well. They really go to great extremes to avoid any confusion and try to work things out.

I started out with Corporate Research. You are all right about the poor pay. MSers have to be careful to consolidate trips for assignments in order not to be paying the MS company! I carry a small dry erase board in my car. It's the kind the teachers attach to the wall for writing homework assignments on. When I have a bunch of shops in one day with photos required, I photograph the board with the assignment number and place, then I do the shop photos, then photograph the board for the next shop, etc. It saves time trying to remember when I shop started and another stopped, especially for convenience stores when I may not have taken the photos in the same order that they are listed in the paperwork.

CRI has one shop that I like. If I explained it in detail, I probably would be giving away too much proprietorial information. It is medical, there are no photos and the pay is very good. It also lets me return frequently. I doubt, though, that it is available in most cities. With any company, you have to look for what you want.

The main thing for me is the nuisance of having to upload receipts and photos. Some companies let me fax or mail, which actually take more time, but my computer is old. My computer won't upload, so we have to do it on my husband's computer while doing the report on mine. We have some new equipment but haven't had the time to install it. My husband works weird hours, so I don't schedule anything with CRI unless he'll be here to assist when I'm done. CRI is strict about deadlines (midnight!--why not just before 8AM?) but flexible when there is a problem. I get the impression that their schedulers are overworked. I like the frequent pay.

Some (most) companies need to itemize their checks, though. It helps to know exactly which shop I am being paid for. If the pay is by direct deposit or PayPal, why can't I get an email telling me what the payment was for, not just that the payment was made?

I am interested in demonstrating the wines. Does anyone know of a company that has the wine demos?

Well i have been with CRI for about 5 month and have not had a problem. They always pay on time and assigments are easy to pick up so if you have time you can make money. Sometimes they are very cheap but you can negotiate with them. I think they are avery good company to work for.

Corporate Research is an okay company. It's wonderful that they pay every week, but sometimes it seems that they will go out of thier way to not pay you.

I have been shopping for CRI for the past 6 months and they have been great.I get my pay on time and they call me when they need someone last minute. I have been doing gas stations and have been paid 15.00 per shop. I have a whole lot of them at the end of the month. They go up when they can't get someone to do them the first of the month. Last August I did about 40 gas stations with them and they paid me 18.00 per shop. I know alot of their shops don't pay much but you have to pick and choose. I just found out that they went up on their K-Mart shops.

I work with corporate research also and i find that they mostly have small paying jobs unless you don't take a job then they pay you more.I find they do want you to do so much befor you can shop.But check this out if you have to pass a test you can always call and they will give you the answers.

I started with Corporate Research and I love them. I have been paid every week and have no problems putting in my reports. To make some money with them, take a trip and group a bunch of shops for the same day. I travel around 100 miles and do 20 or so shops in one day. It gets me out of the house and I'm seeing territory I never would have seen if not for doing this.

I just signed up with them recently and did one shop for them, which I've already been paid for. It does look their shop pay isn't the greatest, but they're pretty easy and if you already have other shops at the same time in the area, it's not bad. I saw the hardware store shops for $5 and it didn't seem worth the time, but I did see an e-mail about a week ago listing some higher fees, so it sounds like they will raise the fees if it looks like the shops won't get done. So, for them I'm going to plan on not accepting any assignments too early. There were some shops for $15 qand $20, which were all taken by the time I logged in.

I noticed that also with corpprate research, I did a shop for them today and the fee was increased to $15. There was a Lowes shop that I missed out on because I was working around the house that was offered at $50. The end of the month is the best time to do the shops for corp[orate research.
Mike

I did a Lowe's this morning for 5.00 and the only reason that I did it for that amount was, I was going there anyway. I have been shopping for this company for a year and I have never seen a Lowes at 50.00. I hope I didnt misspell anything.

I have never seen $50.00 for a Lowes, but they do raise the commissions considerably, when they need the job done. Seems Lowes is a very involved shop, I steer clear of them.

I've done many shops for CRI and never had a problem. I don't take any of the low paying jobs, I just wait them out until they raise commissions. If another shopper feels they can take those $4 gas station shops, well, I guess they can. I live in a pretty rural area and sometimes they can't find people to take shops so they raise the fees. They will also negotiate with you on fees. I did one Lowe's for them some time ago and it had to qualify as one of the worst shops I have ever had. Everytime I saw an employee, they would bolt for the back of the store and I spent an hour and a half just trying to find employees that would speak to me. ONE girl at a service desk just simply turned her back on me. Of course, this was not the fault of CRI. I looked at my history just recently and found that I had never done a shop for them for less than $8. Many of the shops I had were raised commissions from $18 to $50, so I am quite happy with CRI and will surely keep right on shopping for them.