BVA IS THE WORST -- #WriteYourRules

June 26, 2018 09:05PM

So I've been doing loads of the BVA food ordering shop, only to find out today at around 2PM that I might not be paid because I did too many shops in a day. Scheduler tells me that I can't shop more than one company or more than one of the same meal in the same day. Her defense is that she sent out an e-mail. I checked my e-mail, nothing. She copies it and tells me she sent the below on June 4th with the rule. Guess who didn't get that e-mail, because her first shop was June 10th?

Yup, that's right. Me.

Now the staffer is saying she has to ask her bosses in France to pay me. *Sigh*

Before you comment:

No, a per day/shopper/client rule is not in the shop instructions.
No, it is not in the terms and conditions of accepting the shop.
No, it is not on the shop form itself.
No, it is not on the shop sign up.
Yes, I could sign up for more than three shops in a day.

So, basically, I should have gone back in time a week, signed up, to have received her e-mail, to know that I wasn't supposed to do something. Right? My bad. My time machine must have been broken.

#burntoutinthebigapple

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June 26, 2018 09:09PM

@eodermatt wrote:

So I've been doing loads of the BVA food ordering shop, only to find out today at around 2PM that I might not be paid because I did too many shops in a day. Scheduler tells me that I can't shop more than one company or more than one of the same meal in the same day. Her defense is that she sent out an e-mail. I checked my e-mail, nothing. She copies it and tells me she sent the below on June 4th with the rule. Guess who didn't get that e-mail, because her first shop was June 10th?

Yup, that's right. Me.

Now the staffer is saying she has to ask her bosses in France to pay me. *Sigh*

Before you comment:

No, a per day/shopper/client rule is not in the shop instructions.
No, it is not in the terms and conditions of accepting the shop.
No, it is not on the shop form itself.
No, it is not on the shop sign up.
Yes, I could sign up for more than three shops in a day.

So, basically, I should have gone back in time a week, signed up, to have received her e-mail, to know that I wasn't supposed to do something. Right? My bad. My time machine must have been broken.

I do shops for these guys too. I have been incredibly frustrated with their terrible communication. I did not see an option to sign up for more than three shops in a day though, how are you doing that? It only lets you pick up to 3 shops at once, one per day. (Not saying youre lying, im just curious what youre doing differently than I am)

I too was curious about doing more than one but was paranoid about being paid so I have only stuck to one per day. Glad to know I dodged that bullet.

I agree with you 100%. YOu should be paid as this was not in your instructions for the job. They can only hold you accountable for what you did. They owe you money or you can likely take them to court/small claims if you wanted to do so. There's no way(Imo as a non lawyer who you shouldn't trust) they aren't in breach of contract if they dont pay you since they self admittedly only sent that additional instructdions via email.

CEO The Mystery Shoppers Depot
US Wide route shopper with 12k+ shops completed over 48 states and 6 countries.
Airbnb host based in Chicago and 10% discount if you mention this forum

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/2018 09:10PM by jrossetti.

June 26, 2018 09:13PM

@jrossetti
There's a more shops add on button once you assign shops. So you assign the shops, then say more, then select your area, then pick the same day on the calendar again. It gives you a new number, so it is a different shop.

#burntoutinthebigapple

June 26, 2018 09:17PM

Ahh, i gotcha. I never went back and tried to add another round. I just picked the next three days in a row and didn't try to do more.

Even so, they still owe you. You did everything that was required as per the instructions. YOu need to take screen shots of all of that stuff so you can prove your case if you end up needing it. They need to get off their duffs and update the instructions on the site so shoppers know better.

Sorry this happened to you. Update when you find out?

CEO The Mystery Shoppers Depot
US Wide route shopper with 12k+ shops completed over 48 states and 6 countries.
Airbnb host based in Chicago and 10% discount if you mention this forum

June 26, 2018 09:20PM

@jrossetti
I guess I'll update tomorrow, when the French office gets back to me.

#burntoutinthebigapple

June 26, 2018 10:29PM

I have tried to locate BVA on the mystery shopping company list but cannot find it. Is there another name?

June 26, 2018 10:33PM

@Equine24 wrote:

I have tried to locate BVA on the mystery shopping company list but cannot find it. Is there another name?

[bvams.com]

CEO The Mystery Shoppers Depot
US Wide route shopper with 12k+ shops completed over 48 states and 6 countries.
Airbnb host based in Chicago and 10% discount if you mention this forum

June 27, 2018 01:59AM

They appear to be a member of the M.S.P.A.:

[bvams.com]

Is there a way to get their United States address? In case, God Forbid, I do have to take them to small claims court to sue them for the ~ $1200 reimbursement they still owe me? Does the MSPA have the US addresses of its members?

#burntoutinthebigapple

June 27, 2018 02:23PM

They wrote me an e-mail this morning saying the following:

Hello Emily,

I submitted the issue to my boss and the conclusion is that since I agree that you never received the email with the limitations, you cannot be bound to follow them.

We are going to reward all of your surveys.

However, you never asked if there were some restrictions as did the other shoppers, you are the only one having done an average 8 jobs per day between the 21st and the 26th.

Only 18 out of those 46 surveys will be validated by our client because they are out of the boundaries. Therefore the work we did reviewing all the others will not be compensated.

We hope that you will understand that our relationship has been strained to the point that we’d rather put an end to our collaboration.

Best regards
The BVA Team

#burntoutinthebigapple

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/2018 02:23PM by eodermatt.

June 27, 2018 02:32PM

Wow! So, as a reward for being a go-getter, they ended your relationship! So sorry this happened to you.

Happy Camper

June 27, 2018 02:43PM

So, basically they're throwing the blame back on me for not asking to follow a stricter rule, using the system that they didn't create correctly to stop more frequent shops than 3 per day, and they're asking me not to do future shops using the new rule of three per day, which would in turn make them more money, which would allow them to make back the money they lost for screwing up their website design and their communication with shoppers.

Perfect sense making, I tell you. Perfect.

#burntoutinthebigapple

June 27, 2018 02:53PM

Wow. Just wow.

IF and only if you wish to continue working with this MSC, it's time for groveling. A complete and abject apology, asserting that in future you will ASK if there are restrictions before accepting shops, and even more groveling, is what I see as your only chance. Add an extremely courteous closing that even if they still choose to terminate your relationship, you enjoyed the shops and working for them, and wish them the best. You might, if you can afford it, even suggest "eating" the out of pocket costs of half of the shops the end client will NOT accept. While you will not be apologizing for being wrong, (because you weren't wrong!) you can still express regret that things turned out the way they did.

I've been doing this for about 10 years, and don't recall ever asking if there were restrictions. Plenty of times I've asked for clarification of murky guidelines, but I've never asked how many or how often I could do shops. Normally, companies just tell me "No, you've reached the limit on these shops, no more for you this month".

And, as I've stated before, I don't self-assign shops, either. So I'll never accidentally go over the limit.

Actually, these people sound ethical and upstanding. They are paying you for shops they will not be paid for. Outstanding!

June 27, 2018 03:06PM

I think they definitely shafted you but only you can decide whether it's worthwhile for you to try to keep working for them. Me personally, i wouldn't have liked how they tried to backdate an email i was suppose to know about. The scheduler may leave the company later on and they may get someone more ethical. If there are other msc's near you that treat their shoppers better that is something to think about.
Other msc's i work with are very explicit with rotation requirements, why can't they be? With that said, i won' t work with this msc.

June 27, 2018 03:11PM

I already asked to speak to her boss. If they're so upset about the money they lost paying me but not being paid - and rightfully so, they screwed up BIG TIME by not having any limiting instructions where other companies that are doing this shop had clear instructions of how many per client - they can allow me to do more shops to make up the money.

They want to get paid, right?

They can get paid by making the profit on the future shops that I do and applying that towards the reimbursement that they had to shell out for not doing what they're supposed to do when writing the instructions. Yeah, the relationship is strained, but cutting me off from being a "managed cash cow" is better than cutting me off and having to recruit other people to make up the money loss. Let's see what the boss says, and - of course - let's see that the reward comes in for the past (39) shops.

Or maybe they're into losing money. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#burntoutinthebigapple

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/2018 03:15PM by eodermatt.

June 27, 2018 03:17PM

I could not disagree more about groveling to this company. The shopper did absolutely nothing wrong. So what if other shoppers asked about restrictions. If it wasn't in the guidelines or on any shop paperwork, why should the OP be expected to waste their precious time. If it was so damn important, it should have crossed someone's mind at the MSC to include it in the actual shop paperwork.

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.

June 27, 2018 03:24PM

Thank you, @LisaSTL

@LisaSTL wrote:

I could not disagree more about groveling to this company. The shopper did absolutely nothing wrong. So what if other shoppers asked about restrictions. If it wasn't in the guidelines or on any shop paperwork, why should the OP be expected to waste their precious time. If it was so damn important, it should have crossed someone's mind at the MSC to include it in the actual shop paperwork.

#burntoutinthebigapple

June 27, 2018 03:56PM

If the shopper is OK with not working with them, then no groveling.

Accepting responsibility is NOT the same thing as accepting blame.

Groveling is an acceptable and approved business practice (sometimes!).

I have plenty of practice, and know it works, because I make my fair share of mistakes.

It works, because it defuses a volatile situation. Comes under "we'll make it right" customer service. Just like we're on the lookout for when performing shops -- it's not important if you made a mistake (no condiments on my sandwich? WTH?), it's HOW YOU HANDLE IT. After all, the only people who never make mistakes (contrary to popular belief, we are not infallible) are people who are doing NOTHING.

The MSC is OUR CUSTOMER. We need to project the same customer service attitude as Arby's or the nearby Chevrolet dealership.

Apologize and do what needs doing to "make it right". That's what being a professional entails.

Or move on, and find another MSC to work with.

June 27, 2018 04:02PM

Accepting responsibility for making a mistake is one thing. The point here is the shopper didn't make a mistake.

June 27, 2018 04:03PM

@ceasesmith wrote:

If the shopper is OK with not working with them, then no groveling.

Accepting responsibility is NOT the same thing as accepting blame.

Groveling is an acceptable and approved business practice (sometimes!).

I have plenty of practice, and know it works, because I make my fair share of mistakes.

It works, because it defuses a volatile situation. Comes under "we'll make it right" customer service. Just like we're on the lookout for when performing shops -- it's not important if you made a mistake (no condiments on my sandwich? WTH?), it's HOW YOU HANDLE IT. After all, the only people who never make mistakes (contrary to popular belief, we are not infallible) are people who are doing NOTHING.

The MSC is OUR CUSTOMER. We need to project the same customer service attitude as Arby's or the nearby Chevrolet dealership.

Apologize and do what needs doing to "make it right". That's what being a professional entails.

Or move on, and find another MSC to work with.

This is the difference between someone reacting for purely business reasons, and someone allowing emotion to dictate what they say and do. Youre not letting emotions get the better of you in your response and acknowledging that although it's not your fault, groveling may get you what you want. Youre making a much wiser choice than some of the others in this thread in my opinion. Emotional responses are rarely the best business responses.

WHile you are still acknowledging it's not your fault, youre also acknowledging that you want to do the jobs.

THis is such a crappy situation and is purely the fault of the MSP. I can't believe they tried to shift blame to op for not asking them if they forgot anything in their instructions. I Know I sure dont do that with anyone.

CEO The Mystery Shoppers Depot
US Wide route shopper with 12k+ shops completed over 48 states and 6 countries.
Airbnb host based in Chicago and 10% discount if you mention this forum

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/2018 04:04PM by jrossetti.

June 27, 2018 04:04PM

I said clearly I know the shopper did nothing wrong. That's why I differentiated between accepting responsibility and taking blame. Doesn't change my attitude about the customer service WE need to provide.

June 27, 2018 04:17PM

My reaction was not at all emotional nor did it ignore the MSC is our customer. If I had only one customer, maybe I would tolerate this behavior. I don't so I wouldn't. Perhaps the OP has worked with the company for years and this situation is not the norm. If this was my first experience with a company, it would also be my last. If there is a next time, the MSC might decide not to pay using this incident as an excuse. That makes cutting ties a smart business move.

June 27, 2018 04:22PM

Seems to me she said she just signed up June 10th. Not a long relationship.

And like I said, she can move on and find other MSCs to work for.

And it may be too late for groveling, anyway -- she's already blasted the company on social media (isn't that what the "hashtag" means? Isn't that twitter or something? And that's public.)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/2018 04:33PM by ceasesmith.

June 27, 2018 04:55PM

@ceasesmith wrote:

I said clearly I know the shopper did nothing wrong. That's why I differentiated between accepting responsibility and taking blame. Doesn't change my attitude about the customer service WE need to provide.

I"m agreeing with you if that wasn't clear. On all points.

Im currently working the same project. Giving up a couple of 25-30 dollar meals with less than 10 minute reports every single day between now and august is not something I am interested in doing. Id rather try and work things out.

This is a situation where Im perfectly content groveling. That completely eliminates my grocery budget for the month and allows me to try over 100 different restaurants. 50 bucks a day in food x 45 days = a savings of a few hundred for my food budget for the month and restaurants are 5% cashback on one of my cards

At the end of the day, they still made good. I dont expect everyone to get it right the first time, especially a low level person such as a scheduler. The appeal process worked as intended. They acknoweldged they made a mistake and did right in payment.

Kicking someone to the curb is rather ridiculous considering it was never their fault. I wouldn't be surprised if it were the scheduler saying they wanted to part ways rather than the company but that's an unsubstantiated theory.

CEO The Mystery Shoppers Depot
US Wide route shopper with 12k+ shops completed over 48 states and 6 countries.
Airbnb host based in Chicago and 10% discount if you mention this forum

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/2018 05:04PM by jrossetti.

June 27, 2018 05:47PM

I'll add that I know the BVA team looks at this board, so their relationship with the OP might not be salvageable regardless of any attempted amends.

June 27, 2018 05:54PM

@shopsuey wrote:

I'll add that I know the BVA team looks at this board, so their relationship with the OP might not be salvageable regardless of any attempted amends.

@shopsuey

We shall see. I asked the scheduler, Brigitte JONG, to forward me to the boss with whom she discussed these matters, so we shall see...

P.S. -- I am still willing to do these shops, as I said above. I'll do my three per day at $29-$30 reimbursement per shop. But I am not willing to grovel for a company that blames ME for THEM not posting guidelines on THEIR SHOPS and THEIR WEBSITES.

I also don't have to grovel for food, since I can just do "grocery-substituting" shops in other places. I can also eliminate my food budget with Coyle shops, Intelli-Shops, Bare International shops, A Closer Look shops, and other companies who know to write their rules on their shops. I can also do the same shop for the other mystery shopping company with the same client, who made it the standard across all of their shops to put the rotation rule in the guidelines. My point is: BVA screwed up, plan and simple.

No, I didn't Tweet, but I did put it on a private Facebook group where they were trying to recruit to warn other shoppers who might consider shopping for them.

#burntoutinthebigapple

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/2018 05:56PM by eodermatt.

June 27, 2018 06:25PM

I guess the question is whether BVA is getting a per-shop profit (i.e. $40 for every completed shop, $30 of which goes to reimbursement and $10 of which goes to them and their employees) or a flat fee for the project over all (i.e. $15,000 for the whole project plus x times $30 reimbursement for every shop completed, where x is a finite number of shops to be completed).

If it is the former, then they're gonna want me to continue shopping so they can rack up "profits" to pay off the shops that they can't send to the client but for which they are reimbursing me (because of their mistake!).

If they're just getting a flat fee for the project overall, then they can cut losses with me, and I'm whatevs. Back to the other companies in my area.

I would imagine, but then again I'm not a shop company owner, that the contract bewteen client and company is per-shop profit, because otherwise why would the mystery shop company care how many shops get completed? They could just get one shopper to shop one location once and then walk away with their flat fee.

#burntoutinthebigapple

June 27, 2018 08:08PM

What am I missing. They stated that they would be awarding you payment for all your shops. They then go on to say that they themselves will only be compensated for 18 or 46 shops. I don't read where they say you'll only be paid for 18 as a result of them not being paid. Am I the only one reading the response this way?

Shopping up and down the Colorado Rocky Mountain front range.

June 27, 2018 08:10PM

@COMystery wrote:

What am I missing. They stated that they would be awarding you payment for all your shops. They then go on to say that they themselves will only be compensated for 18 or 46 shops. I don't read where they say you'll only be paid for 18 as a result of them not being paid. Am I the only one reading the response this way?

In other words, the MSC is keeping their word by compensating for ALL of his work, even if they're taking a loss since their end-client will only accept 18 of the 46 shops.

Very infrequently shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado these days.

June 27, 2018 10:53PM

Just curious, what do you do with all that food? Am I reading this right, you did an average of 8 pick ups per day? I guess your freezer is full or have many greatfull friends and family.

June 27, 2018 11:22PM

@COMystery wrote:

What am I missing. They stated that they would be awarding you payment for all your shops. They then go on to say that they themselves will only be compensated for 18 or 46 shops. I don't read where they say you'll only be paid for 18 as a result of them not being paid. Am I the only one reading the response this way?

That’s how I read it. I also noted that OP was fired/deactivated due to their attitude with the company.

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