This company used to be a neat one to work for. Didn't pay much, but the reports were short with just a short naritive needed. Even though you had to phone in your results, and their website looks like it's from the 90's, I always thought they were a great company to work for.

They did a complete 180 it looks like though. Reading through some of the reviews, it looks like the owner sold the company to another person. That person laid off all of the English speaking staff that were headquarted in Tustin,CA to a outsourcing company in the Phillipines. Entering in my report took almost 15 minutes as their employee's could not understand English half the time. Now I am just crossing my fingers that they pay without giving me any issues.

Ohh well, it was good while it lasted.

Dr D

I always enter my shops online. I find its quicker and there are no communication problems. Based on the current amount of jobs posted, they may have lost some clients. The Call Center refuses to answer that question.........

This is very sad to me. They were one of the first companies I started with in 2004. They were a family owned company with personalized service and decent pay. A "scheduler" called me last week. I couldn't understand him and he couldn't understand me. The phone call was much longer than it needed to be and was a complete waste of time. Does anyone know if they are paying on time?

Actually, most people in the Philippines speak English. Is it just their accents that you're having trouble with?

drdisney Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
That
> person laid off all of the English speaking staff
> that were headquarted in Tustin,CA to a
> outsourcing company in the Phillipines.

It could of been a little bit of both. Either way, there should be no reason why it took almost 15 minutes to give results over the phone when it normally would of taken a little under 5.

Eric




LateRain Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Actually, most people in the Philippines speak
> English. Is it just their accents that you're
> having trouble with?
>
> drdisney Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> That
> > person laid off all of the English speaking
> staff
> > that were headquarted in Tustin,CA to a
> > outsourcing company in the Phillipines.

KathyC Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This is very sad to me. They were one of the first
> companies I started with in 2004. They were a
> family owned company with personalized service and
> decent pay. A "scheduler" called me last week. I
> couldn't understand him and he couldn't understand
> me. The phone call was much longer than it needed
> to be and was a complete waste of time. Does
> anyone know if they are paying on time?




I feel sad as well, they were one of the first companies that I started with and now I just don't know they still pay ontime, but it is my humble opinion that if they are going to outsource the scheduling then maybe they should think about just updating the website so that we don't have to deal with calling in reports.

I have to say that I really, really liked the old schedulers, they were nice and friendly and I got the impression that they didn't just see me as someone that would do the job. I hope that they all landed on their feet.

I received payment from them yesterday, via check for shops that I did last month. I've been with them for 2 years and have never had any payment issues.

They were great when had the Drive in hamburger and drink shop that was a S xx ic blast. Have not done a shop since they lost that account.

My wife is Pilipina and speaks better English than I do. He vocabulary is fantastic. As is her accent< . But she is sweet and the sun rises and sets in her beautiful face. Mahal kita!!

Don

LateRain Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Actually, most people in the Philippines speak
> English. Is it just their accents that you're
> having trouble with?
>
> drdisney Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> That
> > person laid off all of the English speaking
> staff
> > that were headquarted in Tustin,CA to a
> > outsourcing company in the Phillipines.

I have received calls from the schedulers in the Philippines. I am offered a shop for perhaps $10 in a location that it 20 miles away and would take 30 minutes to drive each way. I decline, explaining that it would not pay for me to go there for $10. The scheduler responds, "But it pays $10, so I am giving you the shop." I reply no, $10 is barely enough to pay for the gas to drive 40 miles, and it will take me an hour minimum. Then they say, "So can you go next month instead?" I ask how much it will pay next month. I am told, "It will pay $10 so I will assign in to you." I understand that $10 is a lot of money in many countries, but trying to deal with the current version of DSG has gotten to the point where I will probably remove myself.

myst4au Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have received calls from the schedulers in the
> Philippines. I am offered a shop for perhaps $10
> in a location that it 20 miles away and would take
> 30 minutes to drive each way. I decline,
> explaining that it would not pay for me to go
> there for $10. The scheduler responds, "But it
> pays $10, so I am giving you the shop." I reply
> no, $10 is barely enough to pay for the gas to
> drive 40 miles, and it will take me an hour
> minimum. Then they say, "So can you go next month
> instead?" I ask how much it will pay next month. I
> am told, "It will pay $10 so I will assign in to
> you." I understand that $10 is a lot of money in
> many countries, but trying to deal with the
> current version of DSG has gotten to the point
> where I will probably remove myself.


I know what you mean, one of them yelled at me because I had to ask him to repeat himself because of his accent. I feel bad about it because I really liked their old schedulers.

I have not been on the board for a while and was going to post a warning today about DSG. The woman who headed the place is no longer there, but her signature block is on many emails.

I was always paid in 2 weeks and the shops were what I wanted. Same with my husband.

Sometime late summer, I was not paid, not was my husband. We were both told that the time to payment was now 35 days. I did one more shop, but could not stand the hassle.

Both my husband and I received payments not 35 days after the shop, but 65 and even 80 days later. No explanation.

I received almost daily calls "demanding I do shops for them." I refused (I did not explain, simply refused). The schedulers got angry and one called me some very negative words. I was also told i was stupid for not taking the shops, etc.

I was finally able to talk with a manager who did not know much, but apologized for the insults (they were recorded). I have not received any other calls, nor worked with them again.

Yes, it is sad. A nice Santa Ana, CA company that had a small town approach and knew the shoppers.

I haven't taken a job since they made the switch and I don't plan on taking them either. I'm tired of getting calls from people who don't understand that a $20.00 casual dining shop is not worth driving an hour one way. They won't take no for an answer either.

I hope this doesn't happen to all MSC's. Seriously. It is bad enough to call customer service on a credit card 800 # and get someone overseas who it is hard to understand - ditto for cell phone customer service - and now MSC's seem to be starting to go this route from what I am reading here. I don't know how to fix this but I find it very frustrating!!! I'd sure be bummed if my favorite MSC thus far went with pushy overseas schedulers.

I have not done any shops for them yet, but I got my first phone call from them yesterday (overseas). I completely understand how frustated shoppers are getting with these calls. I had to spell out a lot of what I said to the caller, because she could not understand me.

I was also very disappointed. I used to do $30 shops for a high end jewelry boutique which was pretty fun. However, the scheduler I spoke with sounded like she was reading off of a script- using my name every other sentence (way creepy). I felt like when I have to call Dell for customer service. They don't listen to you, they read off a script. I'm against the fact that they took business out of our country and outsourced so they can save the money. Meanwhile the area code I USED to call was the same area code I had which was nice.. speaking with schedulers who understood the area/theweather/etc. Oh well..

I received a call today. After about 15 minutes of trying to understand what was being said, I finally ascertained that they were wanting me to do online shops. It sounded like one shop and it needed to be done today. It was already 12:30 PM. The scheduler used my name in almost every sentence as well, basically read me the entire script of the instructions, warned me several times, that I would not be paid if I did not comply with the instructions.
I told her that I had been shopping for many years, and she continued, saying that they had to make sure that the shop was clear before they assigned it.
At no time did she ask me if I wanted the shop, but she gave the websit to me and said I would need to check it for the report. I asked when the due date was and she said whatever was on the website. I tried to ask what the pay was, but she said it was on the website as well. I finally gave up trying to understand her, and ended the call and going to the website.

Not only did she assign me 4 shops, but there was also a pre shop questionnaire and a post shop questionnaire. A total of 6 questionnaires. Luckily it was one of the websites that allowed me to change the date, which I immediately changed. There was quite a bit of information that I needed to provide and I will need to get tonight to do the shop.

If this had not been online, I would have, at that time, declined it, as I did not feel that the shop was correctly disclosed since there was no mention of multiple locations. I will complete it for them tomorrow and hope for the best in payment, but it will probably be the last time I shop for DSG.

I conducted a shop on 09/24 and errors were made in the "far, far away office". As a result, I was not paid. Several calls, lots of time on hold and one dropped call later, I was left with the promise of a call back from an "In States Rep." This was 01/10. I will keep you posted.

I signed up with DSG about a month ago when I got into mystery shopping. Every few days I would go through my list of dozens of companies, signing in and seeing what was posted. A few weeks after signing up w/them, they had a new main page up stating that they had created a new site for shoppers. I had to re-register for some reason. It still won't take or accept me or something. I'm glad I've read these comments because just for the fact that they've outsourced the help will have me erase them from my list of companies.

I truly believe, for those of you who are against outsourcing, that if all or the vast majority of shoppers were to stop shopping for them until they bring the jobs back, that those jobs would be brought back to the U.S. This company isn't a corporation or anything. You/We have the power to drive this one.

They call me TWICE a day. Not happy. I removed my phone number from their site, but I am still getting phone calls. Based on what I'm reading here, I'm just going to remove myself as a shopper with them. Ridiculous!

When I get the cals I am not obligated to stay on the phone. I just say that I have face cancer and have togo. They stop bor a minute..I am already gone.

Don


surftime Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have not been on the board for a while and was
> going to post a warning today about DSG. The
> woman who headed the place is no longer there, but
> her signature block is on many emails.
>
> I was always paid in 2 weeks and the shops were
> what I wanted. Same with my husband.
>
> Sometime late summer, I was not paid, not was my
> husband. We were both told that the time to
> payment was now 35 days. I did one more shop, but
> could not stand the hassle.
>
> Both my husband and I received payments not 35
> days after the shop, but 65 and even 80 days
> later. No explanation.
>
> I received almost daily calls "demanding I do
> shops for them." I refused (I did not explain,
> simply refused). The schedulers got angry and one
> called me some very negative words. I was also
> told i was stupid for not taking the shops, etc.
>
>
> I was finally able to talk with a manager who did
> not know much, but apologized for the insults
> (they were recorded). I have not received any
> other calls, nor worked with them again.
>
> Yes, it is sad. A nice Santa Ana, CA company that
> had a small town approach and knew the shoppers.

I have been also disappointed. I was calling for payment as well. Then today I was call to do two shops asap today, I said yes but check because I had done one site 4 days ago and the other 14 days ago. I was told that it did not matter. I get an email for the shop. I did the shop an hour later. Two hours latter I get a call to cancel the second shop, which was find I had not done it. Informed them that the 1st shop was done. Three hours latter he calls to cancel the shop that was done. There was a discuss that I would be paid, he laughed said good bye. I arrived to enter my shops and guess what I the shop has been removed. I get calls all the time that I can't hear them.