Does anybody have any difficulty in communicating with this company Service Intelligence/Experience Exchange. They will let me know when I have a shop and when its due daily. But if I have an issue it's difficult to reach them and get an answer. Anybody agree, disagree or thoughts?

Agree. Since operations moved to NC it has been nothing but a hassle. And when they respond you wonder what the HECK they read in your VOX as it is almost irrelevant. (Question: "If you can change the time on job XYZ then I would be able to take and perform it as I will be in that area on Tuesday early in the day." Response: "I don't see where you have signed up for job XYZ."

You sort of sit and wait for the canned email that supposedly is a request from the client for more information when you have more than X departments that did not perform up to expectations. The email questions how you did timings and what you used, asks you to describe a specific section of the store where no deficiencies usually are found, and asks are you SURE that the employees did not ABC. My favorite part of that canned email is when there was nobody in a department and the request is to tell them what the employee was doing and how many customers in the department. How many customers is not an observation for the shop in the first place and I would have to lie if I told them what the employee was doing since I already reported there was no employee present. Tempting to give a smart ass reply.

They seem unable to open about half of the scanned receipts sent and when 4 or 5 receipts are faxed on one phone call they can't find the ones in the middle of the heap. So I am reduced to faxing one at a time. Talk about inefficient!

Yes, since they moved, I have not gotten my monthly shops and keep getting emails for a new shop they do, which I haven't taken the test for, have written to no avail..really frustrating.

How about the E-mails that they send us but say "DO NOT REPLY." Ok how can we get in touch with them then?

That is when you have to use their funky little VOX system.

I'm happy to report after not having gotten my favorite lunch job from them in 4 months, not any feedback, Rudy called and said they wanted to get back on track, and emailed my shop, which I did same day. He called again and said if I have any problems with anything, please call him. Looks like there getting straightened out.

Can you pass on Rudy's number? So when we/I have difficultes we/I have a contact name and number?

deleted, wrong info...sorry.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/05/2011 10:24PM by Irene_L.A..

Hmmm. Their website is down and has been for a while. I just tried the above number and got a fax machine. Looks like they have taken a major crash. I then called the NC number 800-528-5745 and the operator confirmed the systems are down. Restoration time unknown. "I know they are working on it".

Tell me about it! I've been trying to enter a report since 9:45 this morning. First, the evaluation form wouldn't load, still no vox response. Then, the whole site crashed. I just hope I'm not penalized for a late report when I've been trying for over 8 hours.

I found it responsive until about 2:30 when I went out to do a quick shop. By 4PM when I got home it was "Problem loading page" type crash. The Global Compliance site is even more descriptively crashed.

I wonder if they give their clients better treatment? Maybe that's why all their clients are going to other companies... It would be interesting to really know what's going on behind the scenes there. I just don't understand how they can ignore emails.

They are impossible to contact and when I've called, the receptionist sounds too busy to even bother saying "one moment", they just cut you off and transfer you to another place where you get voicemail, and you're lucky if there is room for a new voice mail message, not that leaving one will get you anywhere, because they probably just delete them all and don't call back.

I am not taking any jobs from them that require me to spend a lot of money. It's just not worth the risk. They are NOT helpful to you when you need assistance or clarification.


I'm looking forward to more jobs leaving to other companies.

Irene_L.A. Wrote:
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> Rudy at Service Intelligence (888) 309-8650.


Just tried to call and this is a fax number. Thanks anyways.

Flash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I then called the NC number 800-528-5745
> and the operator confirmed the systems are down.
> Restoration time unknown. "I know they are
> working on it".

This number is correct. I was first transferred to Heather's voice mail but declined to leave a message. Called right back and asked to be transferred to a desk where there was an actual human. Rudy came on the line and confirmed that the system is still down. There was a huge storm in NC that caused power outages and other problems. They will be sending emails to all their shoppers once the system is back up, in a few hours according to Rudy. I was assured that nobody would be penalized for late reports.

I wrote down fax# above Rudy's name, threw his personal out, sorry about that, looks like you figured it out,

SI website is now up. I don't know how functional it is yet. They emailed today there would be no penalties for shops late because of their website and that they would be down today and would email us once they were back up. They are up but no email. Par.

Irene_L.A. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I wrote down fax# above Rudy's name, threw his
> personal out, sorry about that, looks like you
> figured it out,


You may want to edit your post accordingly since the information posted is incorrect. Save a bit a time for the next shopper that has to call. Thanks

And an update. They finally emailed about an hour after my post that the website was up. It promptly crashed again after that. But at present they seem to be not only up but posting work.

Going to change the subject over to Rudy for a sec i looked back at some of my old E-mails and found this.... But I'm looking at the number too 528-5745 and it's the number everyone is saying is a fax. but below Rudy advertises it as his actual phone number... Strange. Maybe after hours they turn it into the fax, but one would think they would let a machine pick up messages. I guess this goes with the lack of communication.....

Rudy Garbelotto
Program Delivery Specialist
Service Intelligence, a Global Compliance Company
rudy.garbelotto@serviceintelligence.com

T: 800-528-5745 x176/704-414-5667
F: 888-309-8650/704-556-0732
13950 Ballantyne Corporate Place, Suite 300
Charlotte, NC 28277-2712
www.serviceintelligence.com
www.globalcompliance.com

that's a direct reply from him.

Over to the site having issues. North of the Border (Canada) we (er... I) didn't have any difficulties getting onto the site. Although I had no reports to file.
I was just brousing shops available in Ontario.

The number I reported was a fax was the (888) number which Irene posted as being Rudy's number. The (800) number works just fine and for those wanting to reach Rudy, his extension is now posted with your quoted information.

For what it's worth, it is true that there were widespread power outages in the vicinity of SI's offices. Straight line winds caused power line poles to snap in half, a quarter of a million people were without electricity, and highways and interstates were closed. Most offices without electricity that are internet dependent are dead in the water.

I was wondering if it was a weather related issue or some other type of problem. The fact that folks were having issues getting reports in earlier in the day, combined with the person who answered the phone not indicating there was a power outage but rather indicating that they were "working on it", led me to believe this particular problem was at SI rather than weather or ISP related.

It seems a huge number of shoppers have voiced their concerns about poor communication from Service Intelligence.

And they just recently reacted by posting several warning messages in their forums. They warn that shoppers posting messages they don't like will have it noted on their accounts, and further action may be taken. In response to one frustrated shopper's comments, they write: "we will note this commment on your account. If you are unhappy with our company we will be glad to inactivate your account. " In another message, they tell shoppers that using the field support link isn't the best way to contact them, and we should email directly, except they don't seem to realize that since they switched to the "experience exchange", they have insisted that shoppers use "field support" to contact shoppers. There are no email contacts listed on the website.


My interpretation: "Do not complain about us or we'll punish you".

They don't seem to realize that shoppers are frustrated. We try desperately to contact them, and get no response, even when we do have the correct email address. If we don't know who our contact is, what elese can we do except use field support?? It's not like their staff directory is published.

Why do they all sound grumpy and overworked, and why has it seemed like it's been like that for the last four years?

Why do they come onto their forum and pretend like they have the best customer service in the world? Why do they deny the lack of communication? Why do they act like they always respond to messages? Why can't they admit they have made a mistake, and want to try to do better?

When they deny having poor response time to messages, they actually sound quite arrogant.

Frankly I see the problem as only being since April of 2010 when the work was moved from Canada to NC. And yes, you expect that on a company run forum the company would squelsh any negatives. That is why I stay well clear of company run forums.

I recently went to perform a shop and the business had been closed for two months. I sent a message to SI about this issue and received no response...and, the job was still on my board a couple of days later. I really dislike the new job board they are implementing. I find it difficult to navigate and time consuming. I wish they would keep the old job board and ditch the new one.

Wow! Just read the comments made by their PDS head and must say that I'm flabbergasted! Talk about heavy-handed, delivered with a scolding, arrogant tone. Just .... wow! Their response to the issues raised makes sure that board will be abandoned in no time and people will be venting on public forums instead of a private one. They've driven the complainers (who are complaining for very valid reasons) out in the open. I expect a @#$%&-storm of negativity to pop up on MS boards concerning SI ~ and well-deserved it will be.

IMO, they went about this in the worst way possible. Instead of acknowledging their mistakes and failures to respond, they threaten to terminate those who dared voice their complaints. Yep, kill the messenger instead of hearing the message. That'll help right?

"Heavy-handed" is a good description of virtually all interactions with them these days. I have worked 'with' them for about 5 years and 'for' them 1 year (since they moved operations to NC) and these days am very much wishing the client in my area that I like would move elsewhere. I know, 'beware of what you wish for' because they could move to a company that is even worse and pays less.

What communication they respond to would lead one to believe that they didn't read it. I indicated that if the time could be changed on a particular long lingering shop (so it wouldn't be an orphan shop) I would be able to take it. A similar situation in the past would have been acknowledged with thanks and a quick time change as they dropped it in my bin. This request was treated with complete incomprehension that I would be asking. Forget it. Another shop lingered to past due and since it was an 80+ mile round trip, I suggested $30 extra would be fair to do it. They countered with an extra $3. Forget it.

In the past if I occasionally messed up a code (17 characters & digits?) I got an email saying they had fixed it for me. With the current crew there is a harangue that ends with 'one more error and you will be restricted or terminated'. Definitely it has become an adversarial situation. I try to stay under the radar.

I did my lunch for them, and everything went smoothly...guess it's hit and miss, but running smoothly it's not. Wish they would stop sending those 7.00 retail store's which are 40 miles from me...I get these daily, up to three a day. When I called Rudy back at the # I posted, yes, I got a fax...think he forgot his #.

Athena34 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It seems a huge number of shoppers have voiced
> their concerns about poor communication from
> Service Intelligence.
>
> And they just recently reacted by posting several
> warning messages in their forums. They warn that
> shoppers posting messages they don't like will
> have it noted on their accounts, and further
> action may be taken. In response to one
> frustrated shopper's comments, they write: "we
> will note this commment on your account. If you
> are unhappy with our company we will be glad to
> inactivate your account. " In another message,
> they tell shoppers that using the field support
> link isn't the best way to contact them, and we
> should email directly, except they don't seem to
> realize that since they switched to the
> "experience exchange", they have insisted that
> shoppers use "field support" to contact shoppers.
> There are no email contacts listed on the website.
>
>
>
> My interpretation: "Do not complain about us or
> we'll punish you".
>
> They don't seem to realize that shoppers are
> frustrated. We try desperately to contact them,
> and get no response, even when we do have the
> correct email address. If we don't know who our
> contact is, what elese can we do except use field
> support?? It's not like their staff directory is
> published.
>
> Why do they all sound grumpy and overworked, and
> why has it seemed like it's been like that for the
> last four years?
>
> Why do they come onto their forum and pretend like
> they have the best customer service in the world?
> Why do they deny the lack of communication? Why
> do they act like they always respond to messages?
> Why can't they admit they have made a mistake, and
> want to try to do better?
>
> When they deny having poor response time to
> messages, they actually sound quite arrogant.


Hi Athena: I may be the shopper you were referring to that was told by the moderator that they were going to inactivate my account for 30 days because of my post. I emailed her back and told her that there were many shoppers who were dissatisfied with the way SI was being run since they bought it out and nothing was done with theirs.

She emailed me back and said they couldn't have negative posts in their forum for "new" shoppers to see, and I told her that I felt sorry for the newbies who were coming in to a company what wasn't being run right. I politely advised her that I had shopped with SI for many years and, at one time, it was my primary source of income but I could no longer be connected with them the way they were now and she could deactivate my account permanently, which they did.

There were other things I said as well, but at this point in time, I don't remember all of it. I really miss the "old" SI and the staff when they were still in Canada before GC came into the scene.

They lost the two shops I did, both food...bummed over the healthy tex mex.