Is anyone else having problems with the people calling from Marketforce? I keep getting calls from people who are rude, some of them have thick accents and are difficult to understand, they start reading the guidelines before even saying what the shop is, offering money that is lower than what it is on the board for, they have no concept of distance (they asked me to do a shop that was 70 miles away for $18 and when I said no they asked me why), I have had to ask them to please stop and let me ask a question and when I say no, I don't get a goodbye or anything just a click. I like working with Marketforce, but holy cow I don't even want to answer the phone.

Thank you for posting this comment. This is NOT acceptable Customer Service protocol and I'd be very interested in any additional details you can provide. Even a date and time of the call will help us track down the culprit and address the issue! Thanks

This has happened to me before specifically with them. On the times that I do answer I will be pulling up the website to see exactly whats the posted offer versus what they offer over the phone because their verbal offer is always lower, for some reason. And if I bring this up, they put me on hold or act as if they don’t know what I’m talking about. To an insult to injury, they will come back with the pay that’s on the board, but at this point, I demand higher.

When I see the cal I did not pick the phone and wait until I read the message.

I like getting calls from MF schedulers in this country but have had the same experience with those calling from other countries. Often I can understand only half of what they're saying, and they read the guidelines and ask the qualifying questions in great detail. I've had the same experience with the caller being surprised I won't travel 50+ miles for $8.00. Once they countered with $9.00 for the shop. I think the call is being made from a country where wages are $10 a day. I just blocked that number.

I've found the caller ID is spoofing the calls to appear as if they are coming from the US when in reality they are coming from overseas.

I've always found the callers to be respectful and almost too polite.

And having worked in a call center, I know there are certain "marks" they are rated on. Things like greeting, up selling, ie. trying to find a different shop near you that you might take if you won't take the original one they called about.

And I agree, since they are overseas they have no idea the distances to the shops. But I find it's the same with US based schedulers for all MSCs. Shops "close to me" might be an hour drive away.

I blocked them. They do not leave messages, but they still call me.

They’re polite because they know they’re soliciting shoppers to work below minimum wage standards. Calling on them on it is the best way to get rid of them. They have no concept of calling during business hours either.

I got 6 calls in less than an hour and a half. Twice, they called two times a minute apart. I only got one voicemail.

I won't say too much, but, shops I did in the past for them are now showing up in other MS Co's sites. Perhaps Karma is coming to visit them. ???

I have never, ever had a pleasant phone call from MF. I don't mind that they are heavily accented. But, they are clueless and often rude. When I tell them, "Sorry, I am out of town, in a remote location in the mountains, on vacation" they ask me where I am so that I can work there. When they call trying to schedule a burger shop and I ask if it is a milkshake required shop or not, they don't know the difference and don't know how to find out. Often they ask me to re-shop locations I had been at recently and do not understand me when I advise "for rotation reasons, I am not interested." And then there is the insulting low fees they offer: often below what is posted on the board and always lower that fees I regularly get for the locations they wish to schedule.

A simply rule which all MSCs ought follow. e-mail, don't phone, unless there is some special situation at play - e.g. a fee far above what is publicly offered; a truly unique need for a quality shopper to re-shop a location, past deadline, which was screwed up by the prior shopper; a unique situation where the client has requested intelligence outside of their regular shop form; & etc. Routine calling for scheduling at base, particularly by clueless and rude schedulers, is quite annoying and it is a sure way to drive shoppers away from working with the MSC.

Like others, I will not answer calls from MF.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/21/2024 05:45AM by Rousseau.

I really wonder if the overseas "sales" company closes enough deals to justify whatever Market Force pays them. I can't imagine that they do, given all of the weirdness that happens during these calls. MF using this type of telemarketing tactic doesn't seem to sit well with shoppers, either. Reducing our fees to pay telemarketers, if they don't get us to shop for even less than the job board, looks like a waste of money to me. But I'm not good at math.

I sure miss the Georgia scheduler who called many years ago. She was so sweet and helpful!

@sestrahelena wrote:

I sure miss the Georgia scheduler who called many years ago. She was so sweet and helpful![/quote


Jasmine called me yesterday for a bonused shop. She's still around.

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The more I learn about people...the more I like my dog..

Mark Twain

I always answer the calls with the Georgia area codes after a $100 bonus offer 30 miles from me. It anchored an excellent one day route to and back.

However, after a while where the overseas calls stopped, they now come using a spoofed Georgia area code.

I get calls both from Georgia-Based employees and their call center offshore. I'll happily take the call and either I can negotiate the rate I want or I can't but I've never found any of them rude.

Not to be presumptuous, but most of the overseas calls I get they ask for me by name and ask how I am doing. I tell them fine and ask how they are doing. They then thank me for asking and then ask about the shop. When I tell them I can't do it for that price and say I need $30, they normally acknowledge I can't do it and may offer a nearby location. If I still say no,they usually say theyll make a note.

But I agree. Why spend the money on the call center calls?

I'm ok with the accent only because - they speak better English than I speak Tagalog or Hindi and also, it'd be hard in this country to get Aidan and Cassidy and Logan to show up, put in the hours - even odd hours - at an affordable wage. What I * cant* stand is the rattling off the shop requirements.

hee hee if I take a shop I say politely "I'll accept this shop, but I've done it before.....and I'll only accept IF you dont read the requirements to me". They comply and I can hear them smiling on the phone.

I love your comment. Once recently I said "I have done the same Five Guys for $5.00 more repeatedly". Answer "this is the Mex I can offer" and I say - I appreciate your call and doing your job - but just tell them to pay me the money they paid you to make these calls. She giggled awkwardly.

IF they have call centers from Britain or Australia, and if the woman begins the call with "you've been a bad boy" I'd consider doing some of the shops for free.

The average contact center employee in the US is paid $16 an hour. It is absolutely possible to pay them an affordable wage. Highest hourly rate is in NY (where virtually no contact centers are any more) is $18 an hour. If the Contact Center Agent is outsourced, hourly rate is about $25/Hour.

Average hourly wage for a Contact Center Agent in India is $1.24/hour.

Marketforce could use US Employees if they wanted to. Its actually not true to say Aidan, Cassidy and Logan don't show up and put in the hours. Average tenure for a CC Agent is 14.3 months, and average age is 40. You are assuming the same people taking fast food jobs are taking these jobs, which isn't the case. They don't work odd hours if they are in the US as the working hours are the same as ours. Overseas agents work overnight to meet US business hours.

I spent 20 years in the CC space. Its a massive falsehood that we "have" to send all these jobs overseas. They are being sent because $1.24/hour is more attractive than $16/hour, but customer and employee experience has suffered dramatically. Take the example here. You have someone calling and reading a bunch of info that is just annoying people as there is no context, and they are lowballing offers so its having the opposite impact.

Marketforce could use US Employees if they wanted to. Its actually not true to say Aidan, Cassidy and Logan don't show up and put in the hours. Average tenure for a CC Agent is 14.3 months, and average age is 40. You are assuming the same people taking fast food jobs are taking these jobs, which isn't the case. They don't work odd hours if they are in the US as the working hours are the same as ours. Overseas agents work overnight to meet US business hours.
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To each their own. There's good, there's bad. But all I know is that I owned 3 medium sized companies from 2000-2020. 41 Employees, 49 employees, and 34 employees. High turnover business - but half my people stayed with me for 20 years - even moved out of state away from their families to stay with me. My lowest paid person was about $3.00 over mine wage. Highest paid person around $300k.

As time went I swore to myself I'd be "out" when the gray hair is gone from my team.

One by one they paid for weddings, paid for Columbias, Cornells, Virginia Techs. In their mid to late 50s they were starting to go. *Some* of the newbies were good. BUT........ all I can say is...... I sold off my company that was doing $30 million in annual sales because I didn't want to deal with the new mindset and attitude.

Places I used to eat - Bob Evans, hooters, whatever- the manager would tell me "I hire the kids - they're gone in days".

So whether the wage is high or low, I'm merely reporting my experience, and my decision to leave tons of dough on the table and walk away. One of my companies was unionized before I got there. In my tenure we replenished their pension funds, and gave the guys *over* union scale wages. (Skilled labor. $40 per hour easily in 2015). Then a few newbies I hired. They joined union. Then the fun started. I sold the company to a MegaCompetitor who was waaaaaay bigger than me. He literally locked the doors the next day, told them to strike as long as they want because he's rich. 7 days later- their union was gone along with their pensions and health insurance.

The interesting part will be years from now. For *some* reason companies in America will. continue to gravitate to AI and automation. In the emerging markets, I think some of the workers will start asking for more money.

Will be interesting to see where the equilibrium point is.

Now I mystery shop businesses that I used to compete against. And yeah - I'm glad they have Logan.

I don't anymore.