Holy schneikes!

New Famous Highway Darkness project manager who is so wet behind the ears they're standing in a puddle.

Because of issues with the other brand's lighting shops not being accepted because store hours do not equal location/pump hours and the guidelines are not clear enough, I reached out to a former project manager with whom I had enjoyed effective communications in the past, and they referred my inquiry to the new one.

I asked a simple (to me anyway) question: The posted store hours for this location are between sunrise and sunset, so a darkness evaluation is impossible. How do I proceed?

After a considerable back and forth where they used inconsistent wording in response to my questions/points, they told me to do the shop as closed for half pay.

As it was on my route anyway, and pay was up to $60, I gladly stopped to take a site picture in the dark and post a closed report as instructed for the $30.

Ummmm...no.

Shop was rejected by the editor who clearly stated the store did not have to be open to complete the shop, in total contradiction to all the communications provided by the project manager. Had to @#$%& and moan in emails to both of them to get the shop accepted at the closed rate of $30.

In the most recent email from the project manager they continue to insist that the visit must be made while the store is open while the guidelines only state the pumps have to be open.

I was able to grab 2 more on an upcoming loop @ $75, and, because I had to wait for the 72-hour to open up, the remaining two went up to $100. Combined with a couple of Tiger/Flying Horse locations at $300 + reimbursement* and I have quite the lucrative 2-nighter coming up.

As a precedent was established on the loop involving all the bs (dark, store closed, pumps open, accepted without issue) I clearly informed the mgr I fully expect the shops to be accepted regardless of the posted hours they kept harping about (2 of 4 were wrong on this last loop) and store open/closed status.

*In typical Ipsos fashion 2 other locations in the same town are only at $30+. Still took 'em, needless to say...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/2025 05:11PM by CoolMusic.

So, you seem to be saying that they appointed a new project manager who has no basic knowledge of the project itself? That sounds about right. Classic Ipsos.

Possibly they did not know the new PM was not up to speed or the read for this project. You may need to write Carey to get this straightened out once and for all. These discrepancies are so easy to fix if only someone would read what the accomplished shopper is writing instead of skimming through the correspondence and sending back one of five generic responses.

"It is the shopper's responsibility to read and understand the guidelines."

@sestrahelena wrote:

"It is the shopper's responsibility to read and understand the guidelines."

but obviously not the project manager's..

I enjoyed the recent "Spring Into Mystery Shopping" email with one segment for "Night Owls" but the picture of the "Evaluator" taking her photo, is in broad daylight. The other thing I found amusing was the synonym for "evaluate" was actually written as the plural form of a donkey. I'd like to buy a consonant, please.

I got screwed on this with two shops but only when they were $10. Both locations were "closed" so I reported it as a closed location. The website of the station said they were open 24 hours. So I was told that if the pumps were on and you were able to pump gas, then it was open and i should have completed the shop.

But the pumps were dark as I pointed out to the editor, no response. They were too far for me to go back and see if the pumps actually were on so I just let it go. How can a station be open if the site is completely dark? Those were my only two rejections but if they had been bonused as in your case, I would have been pissed.

I have had a few sites where the pumps were on, but the site lighting was all dark. Even some of the display screens on the pumps at one location were not lit, so you could not see how much gas you were buying, but they were still on and functioning. This kind of situation is the very reason the client is paying for these shops.

@Datagirl wrote:

I got screwed on this with two shops but only when they were $10. Both locations were "closed" so I reported it as a closed location. The website of the station said they were open 24 hours. So I was told that if the pumps were on and you were able to pump gas, then it was open and i should have completed the shop.

But the pumps were dark as I pointed out to the editor, no response. They were too far for me to go back and see if the pumps actually were on so I just let it go. How can a station be open if the site is completely dark? Those were my only two rejections but if they had been bonused as in your case, I would have been pissed.

I got lucky. The locations I did during the fall of last year went well. At these locations, the store is primarily a car wash. One location only sells car washes and services. The store closes early, but the gas station canopy has the lights on all night, where gas is available 24/7. I take a picture of the store hours posted on the door.

@mjt9598 wrote:

I have had a few sites where the pumps were on, but the site lighting was all dark. Even some of the display screens on the pumps at one location were not lit, so you could not see how much gas you were buying, but they were still on and functioning. This kind of situation is the very reason the client is paying for these shops.

@Datagirl wrote:

I got screwed on this with two shops but only when they were $10. Both locations were "closed" so I reported it as a closed location. The website of the station said they were open 24 hours. So I was told that if the pumps were on and you were able to pump gas, then it was open and i should have completed the shop.

But the pumps were dark as I pointed out to the editor, no response. They were too far for me to go back and see if the pumps actually were on so I just let it go. How can a station be open if the site is completely dark? Those were my only two rejections but if they had been bonused as in your case, I would have been pissed.

Yes, I agree, it should have been reported as an open shop so the client could see, but I did not even think logically that a location would be so dark and still be operational to a customer. Next time I know. Luckily, was only two shops.

Got a followup: after even more email back-and-forth I finally was able to get the project manager to admit to the conflict in expectations between admin and editing.

I pointed out that their error wound up costing me $30, and, given all the time involved trying to get a clear concise explanation, I asked for a frustration bonus.

Request granted!

Because it's Presto, of course there's a funky method for adding pay after the fact, including a hidden project code you have to put into your map.