I have just completed four shops for them, only one of them they gave me a "9", and the other 3 an "8". This is the first time I have worked for them. Have you found them to be picky?

Haven't worked for them since 2008 and everything back then was 10s. A whole lot may have changed in those 2 years. I even turned off emails from them because I found the sunglasses so NOT worthwhile and the optical shops I have given up on. When I can get 2 pr of glasses and an exam for a little less than 1 pair after any discount and my fee from their client, there is not a whole lot of reason to do a report. I do check their job board a couple of times a year but never see anything other than these jobs. I had no issues with payment with them--they paid at the end of the month following the month in which the work was done.

I find them okay. Depending on which editor you get, a might get a 9 for something really nitpicky a la CSE style. Usually I get 10's. I do the eye exams once a year for all three of us as my insurance covers the exam, so I end up getting $150 for something we would have to do anyway. I can buy the glasses elsewhere, cheaper.

Nice going, Dee, about the insurance covered eye exams.

I have one complaint about Beyond Hello, regarding their big-box home improvement shop. The pre-instructions state that you have to visit every department, but once you've signed up for the shop, you'll find that 11 different employee interactions are required. For $15. It's deliberately deceptive on BH's part, and it makes me question their ethics.

I like this company, even though their pay is not particularly high. They're communicative and pay on time. I do wish they had more in my area, however, I'll do that big non-prescription glasses shop every now and then, but only if it's convenient for my travels. My one gripe about that shop is that you have to return to the same location. I understand it, but if it weren't for that, I'd probably do the shop more frequently -- it's so familiar to me that it makes it a breeze. I never do the return portion of the shop, so it requires a separate trip back. Re: pay, although they don't have much in airports, what they DO have pays relatively well. The shop I'm talking about is double its normal price, although you do have to make a small purchase, which is included in the fee.

Re: grades, mine have mostly been 10s, so I don't know about that. However, the feedback on the one shop I did for which I had a lower score was very explicit. Carol, did they not explain why it was graded that way? If it happens again, I'd ask the scheduler for input (if you care enough).

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2010 02:32PM by nicelytwicely.

I've actually only done three shops with them because 90% of what they have here are the sunglass shops.

For the first one I got a 10 with tons of praising comments. The second one I did find a bit nitpicky. I got an 8 because they had to email for clarifying comments "not in the report." I replied with the information, plus showed told them where to find it where it was indeed already in the report, but still got the 8 since they contacted me.

lisams901, if it was already in the report and you care about the score, you can email your scheduler and they'll look into it -- although I guess, it depends how much time has passed. Not exactly like this, but something similar happened to me, and I emailed because I was confused, not even to challenge the score. I received a response saying that the editor was in error, and that my score had been raised to a 10.

I know I should have emailed at the time, but it's been over a year now.

I worked for them alot...they have my favorite San Francisco coffee shop here in L.A., and I mostly did that. They now tell you what to order, so, don't do them anymore, and won't touch the eyeglasses. They were fine when I worked for them, getting 9/10. They pay like clockwork. Reports are a little involved, but it is a stable company.

lisams901 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've actually only done three shops with them
> because 90% of what they have here are the
> sunglass shops.
>
> For the first one I got a 10 with tons of praising
> comments. The second one I did find a bit
> nitpicky. I got an 8 because they had to email for
> clarifying comments "not in the report." I replied
> with the information, plus showed told them where
> to find it where it was indeed already in the
> report, but still got the 8 since they contacted
> me.


Yes, I find that if they have to contact you, even if what you said WAS there AND in the correct section, then it's an automatic 8.

Irene_L.A. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I worked for them alot...they have my favorite San
> Francisco coffee shop here in L.A., and I mostly
> did that. They now tell you what to order, so,
> don't do them anymore, and won't touch the
> eyeglasses. They were fine when I worked for
> them, getting 9/10. They pay like clockwork.
> Reports are a little involved, but it is a stable
> company.

We don't have that store here, unfortunately! I did that shop for them once, but it was in an airport.

We have two here. I love them. :-) I loved them since I spent a year at Berkeley some years ago. Now we need Noah's!

Dee..I remember the first coffee shop at Berkeley, I lived in SF then. Noah's closed most of their stores, but there are two here that I know of, not in my area. Manhattan bagels bought them out, bagels still the same. Can't imagine a bagel shop in Hawaii.

I like Beyond Hello just fine. Communication, reports and timely payment. Shades and clothing shops here. Checking my shop log, I can hardly believe I haven't done any sunglass shops this year. Years past, I would do 2 or 3 per mall, every other month or so. I have several malls in my radius.

The sunglass client utilizing mystery shopping, in my opinion, is testament to well-trained employees and the benefits of mystery shopping. I've gone into a store on my own time and the employees hit all their marks. Kudos, at least around here.

nicelytwicely Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I like this company, even though their pay is not
> particularly high. They're communicative and pay
> on time. I do wish they had more in my area,
> however, I'll do that big non-prescription
> glasses shop every now and then, but only if it's
> convenient for my travels. My one gripe about that
> shop is that you have to return to the same
> location. I understand it, but if it weren't for
> that, I'd probably do the shop more frequently --
> it's so familiar to me that it makes it a breeze.
> I never do the return portion of the shop, so it
> requires a separate trip back. Re: pay, although
> they don't have much in airports, what they DO
> have pays relatively well. The shop I'm talking
> about is double its normal price, although you do
> have to make a small purchase, which is included
> in the fee.
>
> Re: grades, mine have mostly been 10s, so I don't
> know about that. However, the feedback on the one
> shop I did for which I had a lower score was very
> explicit. Carol, did they not explain why it was
> graded that way? If it happens again, I'd ask the
> scheduler for input (if you care enough).


Yes, they contacted me. I had a typo in my time for the return, 4:32 instead of 4:52 which didn't make their 30 minute wait to return, even though it had been 45 minutes and I explained that. These are the sunglass shops that I feel uncomfortable with the returns anyway. And out of the four I have done, only one (the one located in Macy's) got all their points. The other three had several missing marks.

I don't think ANY of the of the shops I've done for that client has hit ALL their marks but I agree, the associates are well-trained, and all knowledgeable to varying degrees (some, impressively so). It's usually the same 2 things they miss for me and one of them is funny, because it has to do with how you...uh, "dress" for the shop.

I have worked for BH for years. I like their shops and they have good schedulers. Pay is always on time. I just wish they had more variety of shops. I get sick of doing P & R's.

Aw nicely twicely, you mean the jeans and no name tag and looking like you just stepped off the beach?

I think she means how you have to adorn yourself with a particular item. I have shopped these a lot, and have never seen a shopper in the stores looking like they just stepped off the beach. But I do see people on the street looking like that all the time here. Particularly women who already have children walking the streets in bikinis with no cover-up. These are mainly tourists. The young, gorgeous girls that walk around like that do not need one. The locals who need one, wear one. :-)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/2010 08:56AM by dee shops.

dee shops Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think she means how you have to adorn yourself
> with a particular item.

Yes, that is what I meant.

If I remember correctly, they are a Sassie company. I have a very low opinion of each of these companies as their websites and the use of this software is not very user friendly whatsoever. However, on top of that, I don't think they really offered that much in my area anyway. They are places I would never shop in real life and their rates weren't impressive enough for me to do them anyway. This was a few years back, but I haven't checked back with them since.

I love Sassie. LOVE. So you are saying that basically because this MSC uses Sassie, you hold them in low esteem?

Sassie is not user friendly? Why? I have never had any problems with the Sassie sites.

Oh, oh oh! Now I get it! That's US not the employees you were talking about. Because mine did wear no name tags, jeans and looked like they just stopped off of the beach, instead of their all black. Now for myself, yup, I have never had a pair of sunglasses hanging out of my blouse before in my life! I felt pretty stupid! ha ha

Entering the shops may be user friendly, as I haven't done many of them, but as far as searching for jobs and seeing them displayed, I think the Sassie software is pretty poor, to be frank. The shops don't stand out in any way and it looks like a high schooler designed the search engine for it. It looks very blah and definitely not sharp like a Trendsource, Market Force, or other mainstream company.

Bizarre. I find Sassie just a couple of quick clicks away from the shops I want/need to see. I find Trendsource awkward at best and Market Force an exercise in frustration in trying to find the jobs that are there and within 4 miles of my home. CORI is 'mainstream' yet you get nothing but the client name on a lot of stuff until you have put up with the 'training'. Service Intelligence is not too bad unless their system has gone into slo-mo. And how many page turns did it take to find if there was any work in your area from Gapbusters or Bestmark????

I agree. Sassie is definitely one of my preferred platforms. I find Market Force annoying. The only way I can search for jobs within a reasonable distance is to use "find" on the page.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/25/2010 02:20PM by nicelytwicely.

I agree. I find Sassie very easy. I find Trendsource difficult and clumsy, especially entering reports. Marketforce is listings are easy to see - but all is not displayed - and what is displayed lists way more or way less than what I want to see there's no way to search just for what I want to see, like in Sassie. I like Sassie best. Prophet is OK.

Not being a super high tech person, I find Sassie easy and very duable. Hate Marketforce site...and their jobs.