"as to copy and paste i do it freely... the sassie shops dont seem to notice at all... if it is a redundant question then it deserves a redundant answer..."

cooldude: You are my kind of a guy.

I want to address the discussion about quality of work performed on high paying and low paying jobs. I don't take jobs I'm not willing to do well. I give all of them my best effort. Once I sign on, I am committed to the best quality work I can deliver. I could not possibly be satisfied doing less.

This is not a criticism of any poster or a suggestion that my attitude is right or more desirable. This is simply an explanation of the way I think about my work and what I expect from myself. Doing my best makes me happy.

Mary,

Please accept my compliments on a well stated and concise posting; I agree completely with your comments.

i do the minimum amount to get paid... it makes no difference to the company or to me what the quality of work is or the pay... i just meet the guidelines... long as i get paid (and i am assuming they can use the report)... i am happy and i am assuming they are happy...

"Patience is a virtue, catch it if you can, seldom found in woman never found in man."

with the low ball work... it could be the area you are in or the number of shoppers in your area... or just the businesses... it could be a lot of things... for the most part however they are out of your control... so you can either wait... or not... either way if some of the above problems are true it doesn't matter...

with the higher paying work usually the companies will seek you out because when they do they are desperate... desperate enough to pay their employees the extra few cents to take time for a phone call... and the call itself...

keep your head up

"Anger. Fear. Aggression. The dark-side are they. Easily they flow. Quick to join you in a fight."

I agree with Mary and want to add. My top MSC pays $15.00 for a 15 minute retail (no purchase) and a 30 minute report. I do two in the same Dept. store, and feel the money excellent for a job I enjoy and takes under an hour.
They call me monthly and I do diferent locations, same Co. Many times towards the end of the month they offer an extra 5.00 per job, that's 40.00, in this economy (especially CA) you think I won't give them a good report, questions are redundent, so what, I never thought of copy and paste. I go to Panera bread, do my reports and I'll have me a nice lunch and a good day. I've pretty much figured it out, would I really get in my car for 3,4 or 5 $'s, hell no, but if I choose too, my report would be as good as I can do, as in the Party store which pays 7.00 for 15 minutes, in my town, consisting of a rather long redundent report, but is fun and I usually need cards for holidays or stationary, so reimbursement is welcome, and they pay the following week.
Pick and choose, but always always, give them good work, or at least the best you can do, it doesn't take much longer.

"i do the minimum amount to get paid... it makes no difference to the company or to me what the quality of work is or the pay... i just meet the guidelines... long as i get paid (and i am assuming they can use the report)... i am happy and i am assuming they are happy... "

Exactly cooldude.

We may not agree with how Sentry operates but I think it is commendable that the owner is willing to handle any issues presented. Thumbs up Dave. It may not be the company for everyone but when you build rapport with the owner I think that is a good thing.

prettygul"

I agree that Dave is willing to handle any issues. However, I wish Dave can take many of the frustrations of shoppers and see what structural changes he could make in his business to make it better for himself as well as people who work for him.

For example: Many shoppers here have complained about repetitions in the reports (many times same question is asked three times). He has to decide what he can do to make narratives easier to write. Another issue shoppers complain about is payment schedule. There are few MSCs who pay real fast (BestMark, Consumer Service Experts, Feedback+). How can they do it versus some who take 3 months to pay (I do not know Sentry pay schedule).

Since this is an anonymous forum (Jacob needs to be commended for that), there is a wealth of negative/positive information here (from seasoned shoppers like Flash, MaryDavis, Irene and few others). There is ample opportunity to establish best practices for MSCs.

Yes, I totally agree. When that happens, I will gladly take more shops from Sentry, they realy offer great shops but with a lot of hassel. Right now I don't feel successful when completing the shops so I'm still in waiting. Good Luck.

anakin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> prettygul"
>
> I agree that Dave is willing to handle any issues.
> However, I wish Dave can take many of the
> frustrations of shoppers and see what structural
> changes he could make in his business to make it
> better for himself as well as people who work for
> him.
>
> For example: Many shoppers here have complained
> about repetitions in the reports (many times same
> question is asked three times). He has to decide
> what he can do to make narratives easier to write.
> Another issue shoppers complain about is payment
> schedule. There are few MSCs who pay real fast
> (BestMark, Consumer Service Experts, Feedback+).
> How can they do it versus some who take 3 months
> to pay (I do not know Sentry pay schedule).
>
> Since this is an anonymous forum (Jacob needs to
> be commended for that), there is a wealth of
> negative/positive information here (from seasoned
> shoppers like Flash, MaryDavis, Irene and few
> others). There is ample opportunity to establish
> best practices for MSCs.

The shops with a lot of narrative and redundant questions requiring comment are not for me. We've all seen them. I had one the other day that paid $10 and required a phone call, a visit and a 35-40 question report with perhaps a dozen comment boxes. I did the phone portion and started to fill in the report when I noticed how long and complicated the entire report was. I decided it wasn't worth the money and cancelled telling the company I didn't think they were paying enough.

^ Good for you. I have done that also. I like prophet. You can see the report before you accept. Sassie does not allow that.

ces1948 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The shops with a lot of narrative and redundant
> questions requiring comment are not for me. We've
> all seen them. I had one the other day that paid
> $10 and required a phone call, a visit and a 35-40
> question report with perhaps a dozen comment
> boxes. I did the phone portion and started to fill
> in the report when I noticed how long and
> complicated the entire report was. I decided it
> wasn't worth the money and cancelled telling the
> company I didn't think they were paying enough.



That's pretty much why I stopped dealing with Sentry. Send me to the same shop across town after a 10-hour workday and expect me to fluff things up if the workers are doing their job right? I tell it like I see it. I let them know that and I parted ways with them. I could only fluff the same kind of phone call to the same people every couple of weeks (because I took their shops in a pinch) for only so long before it got tedious. They thought I C&Ped, but that's not my problem now and hasn't been for about a year.

If I want nine pages of essays from each of their shops, I'd just re-enroll in college and take an upper-level English course.

I have seven years of ms'ing experience and I put the same amount of effort and writing on every job, whether it pays $3 (phone) or $300 (beach resort). If I took a job, I will put in my best effort, period! As to Sentry Marketing, I shopped for them and I find their editors to be wonderful. I love their shops and if not for rotation, I would do a lot more. Out of sheer luck, the last shop I did for them resolved a medical issue for me and I am grateful.

I had nothing against Sentry, but they seemed to egg me on to drop stuff into reports that just wasn't there. I wasn't going to do that just be be extra creative.