I recently did some phone shops for MeasureCP. Three of them came back and I was paid. The other two were scheduled during the snowstorm and I knew I wouldn't be able to get out so I asked my scheduler for an extension ahead of time. No problem she said, and gave me an extension until today.

I decided to run out at the last minute before the snow hit, because it was late coming to my area. I did the shops, but didn't report them because I had the extension from my scheduler. I was too exhausted that night to submit them and it would have been too late I figured since I had the extension I could submit them on the date the extension my scheduler gave me.

So I sent them in last night. I get a rejection notice today from the company telling me that I won't get paid because the client won't pay because they were sent in over 12 hours after the shop date. I wrote back saying I had an extension, gave the schedulers name with the extension date. The person writes back, saying that the client won't pay because the report is over the 12 hours.

I write them again, saying why did you bother to give me an extension then? I went and did these shops(there were 2) which were out of my way, not a whole lot, there were 21 miles one way. You should have told me that I needed to do them within a certain time frame. This isn't fair, I tell her. If you gave me the extension, that's the crux of the matter. I told her I could do the shops, but not submit them on time. It's as if they don't talk to one another.

She says, "she encourages me to keep shopping with them". Yeah, right. Like I can trust them again. If I didn't have the original extension, I could understand. The scheduler should have given me parameters. But she didn't.

I understand the "12 hour" thing. I did that on the other shops. But these two I couldn't and specifically asked for this extension and now they are reneging.

I feel they're taking advantage of me and probably using the report anyway. She says I can't go back and re-do it because they would recognize me. (I wouldn't go back and waste my gas anyway.) I've written them twice attempting to explain this situation.

What would you do?

If the rule is within 12 hours of shop completion, the extension assumed the shop would be done today and the 12 hours were needed after the shop was done. Since the shops were done Friday, the reports were due within 12 hours and the extension really doesn't apply. I can understand the requirement, since memories aren't always as sharp 2-3 days later especially in states where you can't record the interactions. It stinks that you went out in the storm and aren't going to get credit or payment for the shops, but technically if you didn't follow the guidelines, that's really the end of it, I'd think. I'd chalk it up to a learning experience and move on.

It's like 6 of one and half-dozen of the other, I think. With the extension, everything was spotty. I knew the rules, but I was also given an extension. I didn't know if I would be paid, either. I took a chance, I know. I think the scheduler should have said tho, to remember the 12 hour rule and frankly, I would have cancelled the shops, instead. My electric went out for a bit. When we have a blizzard, or a bad storm, you never know what's going to happen. Yeah, chalk it up to experience.

CeriseMaross Wrote:
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> What would you do?

Exactly what tsk said, above: chalk it up to a learning experience. I know it's incredibly frustrating, but it sounds like the extension was to complete the shop, not to submit the report, so it makes sense that they might refuse your report if it was late. Also, while they might have made an exception on the reporting deadline if it were due to, say, your power being out from the storm, exhaustion is generally not considered a valid excuse for submitting a shop report late (although I'm sure many of us might occasionally wish that were not the case!).

Sorry you lost out on the shops, especially after showing such dedication and getting out there ahead of the snow to get 'em done.

(Edited to fix grammar.)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/2013 09:30PM by Omgee.

Sometimes it is hard to meet that 12 hour deadline when you have a bunch of shops in one day so I understand but I think the previous posters are right. The extension seemed to be for when you actually made the visit not for how many hours you have to submit after the visit.

The end result is shops are generally due to be reported the day completed. Otherwise the data is "old".... Many shops rely on being able to get back to the store within hours not days. In this case the company IS correct.

Ouch. It's tough to not get paid after doing the shop. But I'm with the above posters. When you were granted an extension, I think it allowed you to do the shop at a later date rather than during a storm but the expectation was that the shop guidelines would still be followed, and the requirement on the shop is that it be reported within 12 hours. Regardless of what day the shop was performed, the reporting requirement would have still been within 12 hours. I would take it as a lesson learned and move on.

Yep, I hear all of you. And at least the schedulers are nice about it and saying to keep shopping. That's a good sign, too. I should have been clearer in why I wanted the extension too. Lesson learned here for me. Ugh.....

Goofy Wrote:
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> Sometimes it is hard to meet that 12 hour deadline
> when you have a bunch of shops in one day



Damn straight. Sometimes "impossible" is more like it! I mean, you do have to drive home, take care of family (and in my case pets too) and usually fix something to eat. Sometimes you're *so* tired from the drive home (if it was a long one) that you can hardly keep your eyes open ~ you can't tell me *that* allows for a quality report. Twenty-four hours is far more realistic and practical. Often, I get a couple hours' nap and then work into the wee hours before going back to bed.

I agree with the other posters; the extension was for the shop, not the report.

I also agree with Storm Cloud that 24 hrs. is far more realistic. When I accept a day route, it is only with the condition the reports will be completed the following day. If that should ever not be acceptable, the MSC need locate another shopper, as I'm unable to drive several hundred miles, complete the work and then type for hours.

Hello, Cerise. I'm sorry about the misunderstanding, but you didn't get a report extension. You got a shop extension, which is not the same thing.

I think it just comes down to the client's requirement, to receive the shop after 12 hours completion.

In the client's eyes, they can't correct an employee who did something 3 days ago.....

SunnyDays2 Wrote:
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> In the client's eyes, they can't correct an
> employee who did something 3 days ago.....



I get that we must do what the client wants... but *why* couldn't an employee or situation still be addressed even if the report is received three days later? They can require what they want and we must abide by it, but it just seems a little anal that correcting it three days later versus one or two days would make *that* much difference.

But, they're the boss.

Maybe it's to be fair to the employee who may no longer remember three days later if something unusual was going on that derailed them from their usual routine.

Personally, I wish they would wait a little longer to get the reports back to the clients. I think it is much harder to remember a person after a week than it is after two days. We would get outed less often if there was more lag time.

The acronym SMARTER is used frequently in employee performance management to describe the steps of the process.

S - specific
M - measurable
A - attainable
R - relevant
T - timely
E - evaluate
R - reevaluate

These all apply to the stages of mystery shopping - from our reporting of an experience to the client sharing the results with the team and creating an improvement plan.

Timeliness is critical. If too much time passes, relevancy diminishes.

I agree about remembering and time is of the essence. When I leave a shop, I drive to another location and immediately fill out my survey. This way, when I go home and fill out my survey on-line, I already have my answers. Does anyone else do this? I guess that's why I wasn't worried about forgetting anything. Maybe it sounds like I'm doing something twice, but for me, it's easier if I'm doing a few shops back-to-back. I won't get anyone/anything confused.

I should have been clearer to my scheduler about the actual report being turned in late, it was my wording to her, and my fault, that's all. I now know better, won't do it ever again. Plus, I'm also taking the advice I've learned here. If a shop must be turned in within 12 hours and I know I cannot do it within that time period, I just won't take it. Thank you to all for your sage advice.

Some of the drives logistically can't be done with the reports if you're doing other shops and you're attempting to make everything worthwhile (financially putting shops together on a route) within a 12 hour period.

It's wonderful that shoppers come together here to share.

I think it is often possible to get an extension from 12 to 24 hours or slightly longer as long as the scheduler is aware that ahead of time.

I have been a few hours late when doing a route, but never been penalized for that, but all my shops that don't give me the 24 hour window are reported before I go to sleep. I have been known to be up til 5 or 6 am finishing up my paperwork for a route.

Cerise, I do that too. I try to fill out anything that I can't verify later on my voice recorder or on the receipt (descriptions, for instance, and how many other customers were present and stuff like that).

I'm getting better at remembering details long enough to drive a block and write them down, but when I get back after a route I couldn't tell you if the banker at the second bank I went to was male or female or black or white any more.

I once had the odd experience of not remembering 5 minutes later whether my order had been taken by the black employee or the white employee until I heard them both speak. I think it's part of my natural introverted aversion to LOOKING at people -- visual details don't register with me sometimes. I'm doing better with that, and can usually remember what someone looked like now long enough to write it down, but I try to mutter the details to myself while I'm still in the store so my recorder picks it up.

itsasecret Wrote:
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> I think it's part of my
> natural introverted aversion to LOOKING at people
> -- visual details don't register with me
> sometimes. I'm doing better with that, and can
> usually remember what someone looked like now long
> enough to write it down

Same here. Even now, I still have to work diligently on actually looking at people. I don't know why I have this affliction. Probably shyness.

Yes, I said it. I am shy. Truly. Don't let my online persona fool ya.

"but I try to mutter the details to myself while I'm still in the store so my recorder picks it up."

I can just see myself talking to myself...
So you carry a recorder or your smartphone is on recording somewhere on your person? Oh Lordie, if I did that, I would be so nervous it would fall out of my pocket and someone would see it! lol.... You ladies are so funny, I really appreciate you so much!

I have a spy pen. I carry it in my shirt pocket. It picks up sound beautifully. It also is a real ink pen that I can take out and hold in my hand if I need to write something in plain sight of the target.

I wish I had one of the camera pens . . . then I wouldn't have to worry so much about remembering descriptions.

I have now removed myself from Measure CP.net. For cell phone shops in CA, this company only pays $10.00. The shopper is to stay in the Cell Phone store for at least 45 minutes, take a photo of the outside of the building and upload it as to a certain size. The report is detailed and takes at least one hour to do. $10.00 does not even cover two gallons of gas in CA, as our gas prices keep going up. I have been a shopper for many years and I would hope that some of you would not shop for this company, as I believe they are cheap as to pay and restrictive as to exactly what to write.
Good luck to you who write on the Forum.

A perfect example of location making all the difference in the world. I do question the 45 minute requirement. I have completed a couple of video shops for one of their cell phone clients and was not in store for that long. Total time was between 20 and 30 minutes.

I've completed a lot of cell phone assignments for MCP. I always request them after the fee has been raised, because $10 is just not enough for me to sit through yet another boring presentation. Never have the guidelines stated that 45 minutes was required on-site, nor has the report taken over 20 minutes to write up.

I thought that was odd. Usually there is no specific minimum stated and the only MSC who seems to always question time on site is MF. In fact, on one of their audits the instructions said it would take 15 to 30 minutes and when I entered 19 minutes, sure enough they asked why it went so fast.

I think I recall the guidelines on one of these saying that if it was necessary, a shopper had to wait up to 45 minutes on-site to get service before they could leave. The interactions themselves, though, rarely take over 15 to 20 minutes. And really, they shouldn't. Any sales rep with basic skills should be able to hone in on the needs of a customer in way less time than that.

I now automatically click delete without even reading all shops from $4-$10.

My time is worth more than that.

I used to do MCP Phone shops when they were $15.