Hi Carrie,

I appreciate you reaching out to shoppers. One feedback is the turnaround time for responses. I ran into a catch 22 and went in circles for a week the first time I shopped for EPMS. It was discouraging. It took 4 days to hear from support and then another 2 days from the scheduler grilling me why my report was late (I couldn't perform due to technical difficulties with the audio recording for the phone call).

As a new shopper, I'm under the law to do EXACTLY as told and not change one dot. Therefore, going back and forth with my scheduler, she finally got to a point where she understood why the report was not done. We are told if we don't do EXACTLY as performed to the dot, then our reports are rejected and we are not paid. Well, when a scheduler or support doesn't get back to us within 2-3 days, what do we do?

It pushed 6 of my EPMS jobs back and eventually I had to cancel most of them because I couldn't meet the deadline due to one shop. Reaching that target means going to see them THAT DAY. So that adjusts the priority because maybe I don't reach them til 3pm and then go to meet them. Well.....that means my whole day revolves around who I can reach at what time. Some flexibility needs to be built in. I've had the same person answer 3 times. There are only so many excuses you can make before it's obvious.

I liked the apartment shops but I echo the sentiments of others with the redundancy in these reports that are also ludicrous. The color of the agent eyes and the layout of the office? I guess a tour and business card and detailing the unit does not PROVE I was there. Oh, I guess the security cameras don't work either. Oh wait, I have it all recorded and it doesn't prove that I was ever there or that the agent was real. Wait, uploading the floorplans and brochures are not enough to show I was at the property.

Carrie, please help us reduce the madness!

I'm guess I'm just a coward - I will only take a shop if I can shop anyone
I do have one coming up that is a recorded phone call. What questions are they wanting me to ask?

hwacheon, reading your post reminds and reinforces the need for mystery shopping.

Schedulers may not be the best at responding to emails in a timely manner. However, EPMS publishes their phone number, and almost always answers the phone. They have talked me through a few sticky shops.

txshop, I shop targets and anyones. Targets are a bit trickier to deal with on my end as they relate to my schedule. When EPMS sees your phone attempts, and you communicate with them that the target has not been reached, they will extend your due date.

For the phone portion, don't lead the agent. You will ask almost no questions. You will initially express interest in an apartment. They should take it from there. They should ask what size apartment you want, what date you want to move in, what your budget is (I answer that by asking what the rent is and after hearing that amount, I state it is within my budget), how you heard about them, if you have pets, how many people will be living there, if you have any special needs (you might answer that you would prefer ground floor, or third floor; or you may indicate you need space for a home office). The leasing professional should invite you to the community, and may ask for an appointment. Just have your scenario planned. Don't offer too much info. I often have pregnant pauses in my phone calls, giving the agent every opportunity to get it in gear.

Make sure you get the agent's name. You will be able to listen to your call, and then report the phone portion.