I had the same experience. I called the person to which I was referred who told me that my story had changed from what I had stated to another staff member. It had not. She later stated to me, "You tell one person one thing and then lie to me about your report." Pretty strong comment to make. Very unprofessional.

2jsmom

If you would like to reach out to me directly (via PM or email at dave@sentrymarketing.com), I would like to hear more about your experience with our company. I agree that being told you lied on a report is not professional and I would like to fully understand what occurred​.

Thanks

Dave

@2jsmom wrote:

I had the same experience. I called the person to which I was referred who told me that my story had changed from what I had stated to another staff member. It had not. She later stated to me, "You tell one person one thing and then lie to me about your report." Pretty strong comment to make. Very unprofessional.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/20/2016 11:39PM by Sentry Marketing.

It might help the original poster to make that decision to reach out to you, if you identified yourself and your position with Sentry. Just a thought.

I had a similar incident about my reports too. After I wrote my comments, the editor claimed that I did not explained my no answers. My "no" answers were included in my narrative comments. I've solved my problem by recapping the "no" answers at the end of the narrative comments and separated it with another paragraph. For example, section 1, narrative comments, then a separate paragraph for the no answers. Section 2, etc.,etc. That way, they can't say you did not explain your no answers.

I have only done 3 shops for them and each one I have had issues with. No mater how well you write your report they seem to find something wrong with it. One of them they could not even read the receipt right to properly reimburse me. I just stay away from them now.

@res820 wrote:

It might help the original poster to make that decision to reach out to you, if you identified yourself and your position with Sentry. Just a thought.

Take a look at Dave's user name. The site would not allow him to use the name of the company if he didn't fully represent them. The OP knows who Dave is.

Dave Agius, Founder / President
dave@sentrymarketing.com

@res820 wrote:

It might help the original poster to make that decision to reach out to you, if you identified yourself and your position with Sentry. Just a thought.

I would encourage any forum member who has experienced an issue with our editing staff to contact me directly. I would like to review each situation to determine the reason we returned the report, what guidance we provided regarding the revisions and the overall interaction between the evaluator and our editing staff.

If there are issues with our processes, training or procedures​, I would like to get them corrected as soon as possible.

Dave, it sounds like your request for direct communication is well intentioned. However. I can fully understand why posters hesitate to contact you directly after posting/venting here. There is a history of shoppers being banned from shopping for Sentry after posting here.

You may have changed how you deal with shoppers who vent, but I'm sure you can understand how this might make some people a bit gun shy. Maybe you could ask for people to send you the name of the editor or the type of shop. This is information they could likely send you here on the forum without losing their anonymity. It would give you the chance to investigate the issues and correct them, which seems to be your goal.

@bandmomma wrote:

I have only done 3 shops for them and each one I have had issues with. No mater how well you write your report they seem to find something wrong with it. One of them they could not even read the receipt right to properly reimburse me. I just stay away from them now.

What kind of shops would you get tagged with three issues? Were they grocery or dining shops? Did you get paid back all the money plus Job Fees or did the Editor find fault and fail your shop?


Sentry must be doing a lot of things right because I see they do get their shops filled and are not afraid to raise the bonus level if someone is willing to drive to help them out.


I like how Dave from Sentry has treated this thread, we have seen Schedulers come here and start attacking shoppers trying to defend their actions. Dave has been a class act, I think he's cool!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/21/2016 06:57AM by GuyFawkes.

TeriW

You are correct that our company has deactivated the account of some shoppers who have posted on this forum. As I've discussed before, the decision to take such action is based on the content of what was posted and not simply the decision to post.

We don't know if what has been posted about our editing staff is accurate or not. The only way to validate the details of what has been posted is for those members who have posted to provide the details so that each situation may be reviewed and a determination made with regard to the accuracy of what's been posted. If the purpose of posting here is to vent, so be it. If the purpose is to improve the situation, then each of the forum members who posted will have to make the decision to contact me.

It's possible that there are problems with our editing staff, assignment guidelines or other processes that need to be corrected. It's also possible that the shop reports in question were submitted with issues that needed to be addressed before each report could be released to our client. Unforatuenlty, each situation cannot be reviewed without looking that the assignment in question, original version of the report submitted, revisions requested, and the communication between the shopper and our staff. Each shopper felt strongly enough about their situation to post about it pubiclly. I am willing to review each and every situation and report back to the shopper, but without the details of the shop, there is nothing that can be done.

Dave

@TeriW wrote:

Dave, it sounds like your request for direct communication is well intentioned. However. I can fully understand why posters hesitate to contact you directly after posting/venting here. There is a history of shoppers being banned from shopping for Sentry after posting here.

You may have changed how you deal with shoppers who vent, but I'm sure you can understand how this might make some people a bit gun shy. Maybe you could ask for people to send you the name of the editor or the type of shop. This is information they could likely send you here on the forum without losing their anonymity. It would give you the chance to investigate the issues and correct them, which seems to be your goal.

Good to hear that I'm not alone. I haven't accepted assignments with them for a long time and then did again because of the very nice scheduler. NEVER AGAIN! I gave very accurate accounts but they wanted more...it
appeared that they wanted a bit of fiction to go with the facts.

Any suggestion that our staff would condone or solicit factually incorrect information is simply not true. I would encourage GrammyB9 to contact me so that this claim can be reviewed.

Facts matter.

@GrammyB9 wrote:

Good to hear that I'm not alone. I haven't accepted assignments with them for a long time and then did again because of the very nice scheduler. NEVER AGAIN! I gave very accurate accounts but they wanted more...it
appeared that they wanted a bit of fiction to go with the facts.

I too have only done a few shops with Sentry since I have returned to mystery shopping. All three of the reports I completed came back for clarification/ more detail. My first reaction is to take the call back personally I feel like I give very detailed reports, and I breeze through most shops for most companies. However, I realize and am continuing to learn that Sentry just requires a different level of reporting. I as an independent contractor respect that, and will work to give them what they want. My goal is to give them the feedback they are looking for without having to receive a call for clarification. I am hesitant to accept a Sentry shop only because I know at this time, I am not able to give it the time and attention it entails. When I have more time on my hands I will gladly try again.

@GrammyB9 wrote:

Good to hear that I'm not alone. I haven't accepted assignments with them for a long time and then did again because of the very nice scheduler. NEVER AGAIN! I gave very accurate accounts but they wanted more...it
appeared that they wanted a bit of fiction to go with the facts.

This is not a Sentry Shop, its one of his competitors I wish he would buy out and get them on the "straight and narrow"!

I did a Shop after one of the Schedulers called and offered $15 above their rate because Shoppers won't apply at their current rate of $15 for "Minimum of 60 minutes or evaluating six employees plus cashier". This was not Sentry, its a smaller company where shops just sit for month after month. If one of the Editors send's you one question your report goes from 10 down to 6 immediately! That's why I wanted to know what has happened or why you feel unhappy with the Editors from Dave's Company because my situation was pure insanity!



Final Question Do you have anything you would like management to know about?

Do not leave a No!

I put in plenty of good things I enjoyed about my shopping experience inside the store, it was outside there were some things I felt needed to be addressed. So I wrote the following things I felt would detract from the customer's shopping experience.



"At 2:04 PM I arrived at my assignment, I walked over to Shopping Cart Station 1 where I saw four used condoms hanging from the shopping-carts along with eight empty bottles of Jack Daniels sweetened beverages. I did not think the shopping carts at Shopping Cart Station 1 were clean so I walked over to where Shopping Cart Station 2 is located. All around Shopping Cart Station 2 someone or some people had emptied their weekly or bi-weekly trash in multiple carts leaving it inside and all over the ground. The trash at Station 2 included over a dozen dirty diapers , empty bean cans and bloodstained meat packages.


When I saw a customer bringing their cart to Cart Station 2 I asked if I could have their cart and they said yes". I wrote "I saw and heard customers complaining next two check-stand 1 about the unsightly trash at both Shopping Cart Stations. I entered the Store at 2:07 PM and overheard customers complaining to their front managers and cashiers about all the debris in the parking-lot. The males in the Meat Department were laughing about the condoms, so everyone appeared to know about the trash? I left the Store at 3:30 PM after doing my weekly shopping and all the trash was still in both Shopping Cart Sections, nothing had been touched yet the entire store was laughing about it.



My Report got crushed by the Editor for this company, here's what they wrote me:


Email 1: "Where were you when you saw the dirty condoms, alcoholic beverages"? Please report immediately where you were.



I wrote "I was next to Shopping Cart Station 1" the Editor accepted this answer and sent me another question.



Email 2: "Where were you when you saw all the dirty diapers, bloodied meat packages and weekly trash"?

I wrote, "I was next to Shopping Cart Station 2"


Email 3: "Where were you when you heard the customers telling the employees they had saw the dirty condoms and alcoholic beverages"?


Email 4: "What time did you hear the customers complaining about the condoms, dirty diapers and trash"?

Email 5: "What time did you hear the employees in the Meat and Produce departments laughing about the trash?


They said "Because we had to write you five different times your report received a low score". I asked the Scheduler to review my report, they could not understand why the Editor wrote me five times when all the information needed was inside the report. Should I have left out all the information about the trash? Shopping Cart Station 1 and Shopping Cart Station 2 are labeled in big letters, everyone who work's at the Store knows where they are. Was it my job to keep track of the time the employees in each department were laughing about the condoms hanging from the shopping cart? Why did I get five emails and get my shopped hammered?

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/22/2016 12:24AM by GuyFawkes.

OMG. I have no words.

This is the exact experience I had. So many additional questions that were clearly addressed and explained in my original narrative.

@GuyFawkes wrote:

They said "Because we had to write you five different times your report received a low score". I asked the Scheduler to review my report, they could not understand why the Editor wrote me five times when all the information needed was inside the report. Should I have left out all the information about the trash? Shopping Cart Station 1 and Shopping Cart Station 2 are labeled in big letters, everyone who work's at the Store knows where they are. Was it my job to keep track of the time the employees in each department were laughing about the condoms hanging from the shopping cart? Why did I get five emails and get my shopped hammered?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/22/2016 01:16AM by thunderdeacon.

GuyFawkes

To be clear, your experience was NOT with Sentry. Is this correct?

Thanks

Dave


(removed quote)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/22/2016 06:09AM by Sentry Marketing.

@Sentry Marketing wrote:

GuyFawkes

To be clear, your experience was NOT with Sentry. Is this correct?

Thanks

Dave

@GuyFawkes wrote:

@GrammyB9 wrote:

Good to hear that I'm not alone. I haven't accepted assignments with them for a long time and then did again because of the very nice scheduler. NEVER AGAIN! I gave very accurate accounts but they wanted more...it
appeared that they wanted a bit of fiction to go with the facts.

This is not a Sentry Shop, its one of his competitors I wish he would buy out and get them on the "straight and narrow"!

I did a Shop after one of the Schedulers called and offered $15 above their rate because Shoppers won't apply at their current rate of $15 for "Minimum of 60 minutes or evaluating six employees plus cashier". This was not Sentry, its a smaller company where shops just sit for month after month. If one of the Editors send's you one question your report goes from 10 down to 6 immediately! That's why I wanted to know what has happened or why you feel unhappy with the Editors from Dave's Company because my situation was pure insanity!



Final Question Do you have anything you would like management to know about?

Do not leave a No!

I put in plenty of good things I enjoyed about my shopping experience inside the store, it was outside there were some things I felt needed to be addressed. So I wrote the following things I felt would detract from the customer's shopping experience.



"At 2:04 PM I arrived at my assignment, I walked over to Shopping Cart Station 1 where I saw four used condoms hanging from the shopping-carts along with eight empty bottles of Jack Daniels sweetened beverages. I did not think the shopping carts at Shopping Cart Station 1 were clean so I walked over to where Shopping Cart Station 2 is located. All around Shopping Cart Station 2 someone or some people had emptied their weekly or bi-weekly trash in multiple carts leaving it inside and all over the ground. The trash at Station 2 included over a dozen dirty diapers , empty bean cans and bloodstained meat packages.


When I saw a customer bringing their cart to Cart Station 2 I asked if I could have their cart and they said yes". I wrote "I saw and heard customers complaining next two check-stand 1 about the unsightly trash at both Shopping Cart Stations. I entered the Store at 2:07 PM and overheard customers complaining to their front managers and cashiers about all the debris in the parking-lot. The males in the Meat Department were laughing about the condoms, so everyone appeared to know about the trash? I left the Store at 3:30 PM after doing my weekly shopping and all the trash was still in both Shopping Cart Sections, nothing had been touched yet the entire store was laughing about it.



My Report got crushed by the Editor for this company, here's what they wrote me:


Email 1: "Where were you when you saw the dirty condoms, alcoholic beverages"? Please report immediately where you were.



I wrote "I was next to Shopping Cart Station 1" the Editor accepted this answer and sent me another question.



Email 2: "Where were you when you saw all the dirty diapers, bloodied meat packages and weekly trash"?

I wrote, "I was next to Shopping Cart Station 2"


Email 3: "Where were you when you heard the customers telling the employees they had saw the dirty condoms and alcoholic beverages"?


Email 4: "What time did you hear the customers complaining about the condoms, dirty diapers and trash"?

Email 5: "What time did you hear the employees in the Meat and Produce departments laughing about the trash?


They said "Because we had to write you five different times your report received a low score". I asked the Scheduler to review my report, they could not understand why the Editor wrote me five times when all the information needed was inside the report. Should I have left out all the information about the trash? Shopping Cart Station 1 and Shopping Cart Station 2 are labeled in big letters, everyone who work's at the Store knows where they are. Was it my job to keep track of the time the employees in each department were laughing about the condoms hanging from the shopping cart? Why did I get five emails and get my shopped hammered?

No Sir, it was a smaller company I am hoping you buy out and "put them on the straight and narrow" because of your expertise in retail Why the Editor was jerking with me on this shop is beyond me. Thank you for being kind enough to see what the Shopper's World is like. I wish your company had more jobs around here, you must be doing something right if you have some of the biggest names in retail and they get filled at going-rate. I hope your company grows fast, thanks again!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/22/2016 03:10AM by GuyFawkes.

Wow! I read GuyFawkes story twice and just couldn't follow it. Which MSC is he talking about in his story?

FYI.....I've done several shops for Sentry and have found the schedulers and editors to be pleasant and straightforward in all interactions. Payments have also been made as promised.

I had a similar issue with Sentry a few years back. I don't recall specifics off the top of my head, though I could dig through my emails and find them, I'm sure, but I do know the editor had an issue with my report and I had an issue with what the editor said. I asked the editor for clarification- in what I dare say would have been a polite and professional manner, because that's just how I operate- and got no response. So I emailed the president of Sentry and again got no response. So, it's interesting to me that they'll respond when someone vents on a public forum, but not privately when a shopper reaches out via email. I stopped working with Sentry for awhile, but have since gone back and not had any issues.

@BirdyC wrote:

I've seen so many examples of questionnaires that don't match the guidelines, guidelines that are ambiguously worded or have contradictory instructions, editors who ask for responses that were already included in the report, etc., etc., that nothing surprises me anymore.

I'm with you on that. I had a shop just the other day where the printed version of the questionnaire had different questions from the live version when I went to report. It was a good thing that I took extra notes.

@mamx44 wrote:

Wow! I read GuyFawkes story twice and just couldn't follow it. Which MSC is he talking about in his story?

FYI.....I've done several shops for Sentry and have found the schedulers and editors to be pleasant and straightforward in all interactions. Payments have also been made as promised.

IT WAS NOT SENTRY, IT WAS A SMALLER COMPANY I HOPE HE BUY'S OUT! Dave has been great to make sure if anyone has comments or questions about editors he is willing to listen to our input. I can't thank him enough for leaving his proverbial office door open. I want to mention I know a manager who put a surveillance camera near the "Suggestion Box" because he was pissed off someone sent Corporate great ideas without throwing them past him. We had a policy if one of the employees came up with a great idea that saved substantial costs they would get a percentage of savings until one of the employees hit it big. They quit the program after writing him a check for ten years of wages. The Store Manager was furious because if he had stole the idea he would have made $250,000. I like Dave, he reminds me Senior VP who created the program and stuck to his word, can you imagine getting a check for 10% of a companies cost-savings?



"This is not a Sentry Shop, its one of his competitors I wish he would buy out and get them on the "straight and narrow"!

I did a Shop after one of the Sentry's Schedulers called and offered $15 above their rate because Shoppers won't apply at their current rate of $15 for "Minimum of 60 minutes or evaluating six employees plus cashier". This was not Sentry, its a smaller company where shops just sit for month after month. If one of the Editors send's you one question your report goes from 10 down to 6 immediately! That's why I wanted to know what has happened or why you feel unhappy with the Editors from Dave's Company because my situation was pure insanity!"


I did a shop for a company that was not Sentry Marketing, its a smaller competitor whose shops sit month after month unless its Scheduler calls and pleads to get their shops off the list.


The trouble all started with the very last question of this report, they ask the following question.

"Do you have any comments you would like Management to know about"?(Yes or No) "Do not put No, its not an acceptable answer"!


Next its the final observation I thought was relevant because nothing was done, I did another shop in the same Center and still after two hours all the same debris was hanging around the shopping cart return areas. I put in plenty of good things I enjoyed about my shopping experience inside the store, it was outside I felt the local store was not meeting management's expectations. So here's what I wrote which began a cycle of emails getting bounced back for further clarification that made my score fall 4 points because their editor had questions already contained in my report.


"At 2:04 PM I arrived at my assignment, I walked over to Shopping Cart Station 1 where I saw four used condoms hanging from the shopping-carts along with eight empty bottles of Jack Daniels sweetened beverages. I did not think the shopping carts at Shopping Cart Station 1 were clean so I walked over to where Shopping Cart Station 2 is located. All around Shopping Cart Station 2 someone or some people had emptied their weekly or bi-weekly trash in multiple carts leaving it inside and all over the ground. The trash at Station 2 included over a dozen dirty diapers , empty bean cans and bloodstained meat packages.


When I saw a customer bringing their cart to Cart Station 2 I asked if I could have their cart and they said yes". I wrote "I saw and heard customers complaining next two check-stand 1 about the unsightly trash at both Shopping Cart Stations. I entered the Store at 2:07 PM and overheard customers complaining to their front managers and cashiers about all the debris in the parking-lot. The males in the Meat Department were laughing about the condoms, so everyone appeared to know about the trash? I left the Store at 3:30 PM after doing my weekly shopping and all the trash was still in both Shopping Cart Sections, nothing had been touched yet the entire store was laughing about it."

(End of Report Observation)


"My Report got crushed by the Editor for this company, here's what they wrote me:


Email 1: "Where were you when you saw the dirty condoms, alcoholic beverages"? Please report immediately where you were.



I wrote "I was next to Shopping Cart Station 1" the Editor accepted this answer and sent me another question.



Email 2: "Where were you when you saw all the dirty diapers, bloodied meat packages and weekly trash"?

I wrote, "I was next to Shopping Cart Station 2"


Email 3: "Where were you when you heard the customers telling the employees they had saw the dirty condoms and alcoholic beverages"?


Email 4: "What time did you hear the customers complaining about the condoms, dirty diapers and trash"?

Email 5: "What time did you hear the employees in the Meat and Produce departments laughing about the trash?


They said "Because we had to write you five different times your report received a low score". I asked the Scheduler to review my report, they could not understand why the Editor wrote me five times when all the information needed was inside the report. Should I have left out all the information about the trash? Shopping Cart Station 1 and Shopping Cart Station 2 are labeled in big letters, everyone who work's at the Store knows where they are. Was it my job to keep track of the time the employees in each department were laughing about the condoms hanging from the shopping cart? Why did I get five emails and get my shopped hammered?"


I asked the Forum should I have given feedback to our MSC or kept quite because the Editor slammed me because they had to send out 5 Emails asking for clarification? Also I would like to add I checked up after finishing up another Shop inside the same retail center because I wanted to see if anything was done. Two hours passed by and nothing was done, I checked on my email count and noticed their Editor exceed 5 replies. What could I have said that would have prevented all these throw-backs?

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/22/2016 03:46AM by GuyFawkes.

I got to add this story I added to my post above because it shows how some people are dialed in to the buzz of business while others are constantly chasing their tails. I like Dave because he's willing to step in the trenches with us, he has not forgotten what the War Zone look's like!


I want to mention I know a manager who put a surveillance camera near the "Suggestion Box" because he was so pissed off someone sent Corporate one of the greatest cost-savings ideas ever. We had a policy if one of the employees came up with a great idea that saved substantial costs they would get a percentage of savings until one of the employees hit it big. They quit the program after writing him a check for ten years of wages. The Store Manager was furious because if he had stole the idea he would have made $250,000 I like Dave, he reminds me Senior VP who created the program and stuck to his word, can you imagine getting a check for 10% of a companies cost-savings idea? He saved the Company over $2.50 million by simple observation, once upon a time more company executives would leave their doors open and be accessible instead of thinking their employees are something to avoid or evade.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/22/2016 03:54AM by GuyFawkes.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

OK, so plenty of people have had plenty of stuff to say about Sentry in the past. This is not the past, this is the present, and I found Dave's responses in this particular thread to be non-argumentative and not overly defensive, he seems as if he would like to get to the root of the problem for this situation. I say we go forward with no negative expectations and see what the outcome is for this issue.

I totally agree, he's gone way overboard to extend not only a olive branch but the entire tree to get us moving forward. Thank you Dave, I wish more CEOs had your willingness to investigate areas like your doing. Can't wait to watch your company grow bigger, all the best wishes to you!

GuyFawkes
Do all your reports to the MSC include such long and repetitive narratives? Could that be part of the problem?

I would be happy if his posts did not include long and repetitive quotes.

@GuyFawkes, first of all, I am not going to quote any of your never-ending quotes since it would just be a waste of time for other forum members and a waste of space in general.

Second, why are you rambling on and on about another MSC's issues in a thread specifically about Sentry? Yes, I know that we can sometimes go off-topic in this forum but to include so many posts about so many issues with ANOTHER MSC in a Sentry thread is doing a disservice to Sentry and the man you seem to adore so much. Why don't you create a new thread to discuss your issues with the other MSC and leave your positive comments about Sentry in this thread. I am sure the owner of Sentry would be appreciative.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

...and I found Dave's responses in this particular thread to be non-argumentative and not overly defensive, he seems as if he would like to get to the root of the problem for this situation.

I agree. In the past, the posts I've seen from Dave tend to be argumentative, defensive, and not very professional in attitude toward shoppers. But he seems genuinely interested in looking into this issue and resolving it. I can understand why he would need details of specific shops in order to review them to find out what's going on.

That being said, it does appear that there's an issue with shoppers being asked to provide information already included in their reports. It happens with other MSCs, too. But based on this tiny sample of forum members (just think how many shoppers out there aren't members here!), it seems this may be common at Sentry, not an occasional issue. Maybe the level of editorial expertise isn't very high, or the editors are overloaded and don't have time to carefully read the reports. If the info doesn't jump out at them, they assume the information isn't there.

If Sentry had more shops in my area and/or the ones they have paid enough to make them worthwhile, I'd try out a couple after reading this thread. But all I ever see here are shops paying less than $15 (sometimes bonused up to $17 or so) for a lot of work and, from what I gather, very detailed narratives (which I generally enjoy, but not for $15--LOL).

I don't intend for my response to be argumentative, but I don't agree that based on this thread, the conclusion should be that there is an issue with editing at our company. As I previously posted, there are over 800 posts about Sentry over last 12 months and only 8 - 10 are related to editing. That's about a 1% occurrence.

As of this post, I've not been contacted by any of the forum members who posted complaints about our staff. Until this happens, I am not able to research the specific situation to determine the facts of each reported issue. I am willing to review each issue and report back to this forum so the community will have the entire

​If there are discrepancies between sample forms, guidelines and current assignment instructions we would love to correct these issues. In order for this to happen, we have to know the project and nature of the issue. Our editors review hundreds of shops per month. The don't have time to return shops for frivolous reasons. When a report is returned, it is because the editor believes that the report needs to be clarified or elaborated upon in one way or another. If the editors are returning reports to request details already in the shop, this can be rectified by reporting the issue to me. I'll be happy to see that each issue is researched and follow up with the shopper.

I ask the community to keep in mind that there are two sides to each issue and reality often falls in the middle. I'm willing to be completely transparent with the msf community in the research and follow up on any issue reported here. At this time, however, we have not received the requisite details to research any of the issues included in this thread.

@BirdyC wrote:

@JASFLALMT wrote:

...and I found Dave's responses in this particular thread to be non-argumentative and not overly defensive, he seems as if he would like to get to the root of the problem for this situation.

I agree. In the past, the posts I've seen from Dave tend to be argumentative, defensive, and not very professional in attitude toward shoppers. But he seems genuinely interested in looking into this issue and resolving it. I can understand why he would need details of specific shops in order to review them to find out what's going on.

That being said, it does appear that there's an issue with shoppers being asked to provide information already included in their reports. It happens with other MSCs, too. But based on this tiny sample of forum members (just think how many shoppers out there aren't members here!), it seems this may be common at Sentry, not an occasional issue. Maybe the level of editorial expertise isn't very high, or the editors are overloaded and don't have time to carefully read the reports. If the info doesn't jump out at them, they assume the information isn't there.

If Sentry had more shops in my area and/or the ones they have paid enough to make them worthwhile, I'd try out a couple after reading this thread. But all I ever see here are shops paying less than $15 (sometimes bonused up to $17 or so) for a lot of work and, from what I gather, very detailed narratives (which I generally enjoy, but not for $15--LOL).