Ipsos Ignores Important Information

You'd think that if there was a question in a survey then the client wants the information, and the program provider, in their quest to support their shoppers with accurate shop details, would update their databases accordingly <massive eyeroll>

Not so with the Conditional Reveal gas station program.

Just booked a big loop (which I will analyze and post about when completed), and one of the stops I've visited on multiple occasions in the past.

On each visit I have reported the address as posted as being incorrect. "South" is missing in the street name, and the station is on the total opposite end of town from the address on the street without it in the name.

Took the shop again, and the address still has not been updated.

Have synthesizers, will travel...

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The following is to illustrate the difference in how MSCs communicate. 2nd 2 None, with a mammoth grocer as a client, is one with whom I am contracted. Earlier this week, I sent a letter to my contact concerning a location I had visited that did not have a section the report addressed. The following day, I received a reply stating the report had been corrected. In addition, at any time I have sought assistance from the scheduler, I have always received a reply. The scheduler and the above mentioned contact are two different women.

Both communication and payment as agreed are imperative to me. I refuse, at my age, to be aggravated.

I love mystery shopping. I loathe Ipsos. If I want to work, I'm stuck with them. I choose to work. And kvetch about the big "I" every time I get the chance on the forum! Thanks to all you guys for putting up with me!

I did a conditional reveal for the shop near me. I didn't pay attention to the address because it was so close. The shop correctly listed the address, but it got the name of the store wrong. It was actually listed the store on the other side of the intersection, for a competitor gas station. Because I pass by these locations everyday, I was getting confused too, until I checked.

My gas receipt had the correct address, but my store receipt had the wrong address. I was surprised by this. I explained it in the last narrative box, and I was relieved that it got accepted with no clarification requests. Also, no docking on the shop score.

sestrahelena, I wish you had more MSC options, but I do like your passionate posts about Ipsos!

I appreciate the perspective you bring to the forum as well, sestrahelena.

I realize that there are at least two sides to every story, but I often wonder what the big I is doing. It takes them 5-7 days to respond to an email. They hide behind distro aliases. They are snarky. They don't seem interested in details, or dare I say, even doing a good job. And then I look at someone like the company with the Ty projects. They have (publicly listed) 3 people working on a 25K (thousand with a K!) project. All of them respond same day, usually within minutes, to emails. Why can the latter company keep up with email, but the "I" never can? I don't know the answer, but it is a head scratcher.

@sestrahelena

Maybe I don't remember, but in a short form, what are the 3-5 things you hate about "the big I". I'm assuming it' the gas station and chinese fast food MSC you are referring to.

No MSC is perfect. I will put why i like the "big I". Here are a few reasons I like them

1. they pay quickly
2. they have easy reports and shops I like
3. I get responses from the schedulers I work with. I'm not talking about the black hole email people are referred to.
4. Most of the assignments are self-assign and I can grab them and not wait forever to hopefully be assigned.
5. I like both Sassie and Shopmetrics software much more than many goofy independent MSC and their attempt at having a good shop reporting site.
6. most shops (that i do) do not require much narrative.

1. Consistently lowering fees/reimbursements/bonuses.

2. Incomplete/incorrect instructions and shop rejections based on that.

3. When contact is possible, replies to rejections or faulty guidelines result in replies such as, "It's the shoppers' responsibility to adhere to the guidelines" which does not answer any question as the why the guidelines did not say what was required. Or the reply will include more questions about nothing related to what I've written in about.

4. Their overall distain for shoppers and apparent view that we are all liars and schemers, evidenced by so many things, including the opinion that Google is infallible. Example being, if you report differently than what Google says, you're wrong, even with picture proof.

5. Frickin Fred and the whole condescending cartoon and video garbage with the Kool-aid drinking executives showing us how FUN and EASY it us to do a shop correctly. It's just demeaning, but, again, shows how they think that we're idiots.

Bonus pick:

6. They subject us to their money making ads in order to watch required videos and want shoppers to pay them for seminars and meet-and-greets. They should be paying us. So rude.

This tread reminds me of the old adage concerning one person's meat can be another's poison. My decision to terminate Ipsos was strictly predicated upon being dissatisfied with their business model of paying a small fee quickly and their disdain for necessary communication.

I KNEW it! Shopperbob's got his mind on his meat!
*said in good fun*

I like the acronym (or actually initialism) YMMV - Your mileage may vary. Another variation that I stumbled upon recently from shopperbob is YMMV - You make me vomit. Meat, poison, mileage, vomit - they all work for me!

@CoolMusic wrote:

You'd think that if there was a question in a survey then the client wants the information, and the program provider, in their quest to support their shoppers with accurate shop details, would update their databases accordingly <massive eyeroll>

Not so with the Conditional Reveal gas station program.

Just booked a big loop (which I will analyze and post about when completed), and one of the stops I've visited on multiple occasions in the past.

On each visit I have reported the address as posted as being incorrect. "South" is missing in the street name, and the station is on the total opposite end of town from the address on the street without it in the name.

Took the shop again, and the address still has not been updated.

Go to the clients "Station Finder". The address that they want to use is there. If it matches what is on the survey, they will never update it. What IPSOS could do is to add a yellow "sticky" on there with the correct address.

@sestrahelena

You listed fair reasons to NOT like them. I personally have not encountered any of those issues myself. I have only done the chinese fast food, the bank calls about ATM's not working, account openings at the same bank, and flights listening to credit card offers. These all pay fair enough for the level of work involved. I have never done a shop where a video was required, so I cannot comment on something I've never seen or watched. In general, i find Ipsos to be very easy to work with for the shops that I am willing to do. I'm sure they have some crappy shops too just like most MSC, but I don't bother with the crappy shops regardless of the MSC.

Honestly I do not believe I've ever had a rejected shop with them. I remember pretty well some of the shops I've done that were rejected. I remember doing the pizza one with another MSC that uses sassie and I wrote the wrong number on the box. I wrote the store number, not the shop number. That was my fault and it was rejected. But with ipsos, i've never had a rejected shop.

Playing tech nerd on this one - the wrong locations aren't necessarily the fault of the MSC.

Some of these stores, especially the large, nationwide chains, are fed in a master list to the MSC through a location import.
When a store is closing, changing ownership, has a "USPS address" vs. "local street name" address, etc., it can take months for someone to actually go in and make the updates, before the next massive list is sent to the MSC.

I see this all the time in my area bc you sometimes have a county road and state road that overlap and two totally different addresses can be in the system. I will use the store's app or website to confirm the address.

I do agree that it'd be nice if the MSC at least responded had a better way to communicate these things with clients, even a simple "We'll let the end client know" can be all it takes but I know this particular company is not the best about communication.

I haven't had much experience with Ipsos. I started when the hedgehogs moved over, where some of the bonuses were sizeable.

With the recent card acceptance shops on Presto, there were quite a bit of odd online shops where the business didn't have a website.

For the most part, I've been lucky on the shops. For certain types of shops like online retail, reading about the experiences of others, if I got the wrong retailer, location, or editor, the shop could have very well turned out differently though.

Recently for the gas station reveals, I'm glad to have the benefit of reading the experiences and knowledge of other experienced members on the forums beforehand.

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