MYSTERY SHOPPING THREAD XII - ** New people please read posts 1 & 2 **

tomla

When you apply for an ESA job on their site how long does it take for it to be assigned to you generally and do you generally get the jobs you apply for?

Thinking of other sites where i don't have to apply i just get assigned straight away and i want to plan a day out in some areas for the ESA jobs but it would only be worth while if i was def assigned the ESA jobs.

misssarahleigh

in my experience they normally take a couple of days to confirm

82much

Is here a limit to how many petrol jobs you can do for Gyp in a month? I have just completed 2 and applied for another but was rejected I wrote to them but not had a reply as the jobs are showing with 0 payment!

Rosy_Violet

pinkprincess39 wrote: »

Gyp owe me £3 for returning the coffee equipment THEY requested back. It wasnt in last months pay and I have today not received anything either. Is it worth chasing them do you think or am I risking being dropped completely??

Depends how much you value being on their books?

You could hound them for the £3 and risk being booted off, but if there are some assignments you really want to carry on doing then why bother for £3?

I would possibly have sent a couple of emails with proof of posting but if I hadn't heard back I would more than likely not bother thinking about it.

I realise there is a principal here but Gyp don't have any!

I would log it as an expense and take it as a tax loss.

nehpets81

tomla wrote: »

When you apply for an ESA job on their site how long does it take for it to be assigned to you generally and do you generally get the jobs you apply for?

Thinking of other sites where i don't have to apply i just get assigned straight away and i want to plan a day out in some areas for the ESA jobs but it would only be worth while if i was def assigned the ESA jobs.

I think my ESA "hit rate" is about 15% overall so I woud say I usually don't get the jobs I apply for!

Rosy_Violet

tomla wrote: »

When you apply for an ESA job on their site how long does it take for it to be assigned to you generally and do you generally get the jobs you apply for?

Thinking of other sites where i don't have to apply i just get assigned straight away and i want to plan a day out in some areas for the ESA jobs but it would only be worth while if i was def assigned the ESA jobs.

ESA tend to assign jobs approx a week before they are due to start, unless they are close,on or past their dates then you will hear quickly- often by phone call.


As to whether you get the jobs you apply for the best answer I can give you is "don't bank on it"! If you read through this thread you will see that a lot of regular MSers never get any and others get everything. No one understands their allocation reasoning. My probability of getting their work is 50/50.

You will learn that planning your MS days is hit and miss. I would suggest that if you will only go somewhere based on the possibility of getting the ESA jobs, then wait until you are certain you are assigned the them before accepting other assignments. If you accept a job from another agency and then don't get the ESA jobs then it "won't be worth while". You will end up having to do the job and making a loss(can be useful if you are needing to for tax) or cancelling , which will annoy the agency and if you frequently did this your reputation will be pants!

You need to be reliable in this work and some days work out more lucrative than others. You can plan a bit when you are more experienced as agencies know who they can rely on but I would say it really is luck if jobs come up on the days and areas you want .

In the early days it is hard to synchronize the work but build up your reputation and things will slot in nicely. It is easier for me to plan now as I have years behind me. I will however not take an assignment in case I get others. I think it's wrong(unless a real emergency) to let an agency down.

Quite frankly I would leave it for another shopper who may well be in that area. There's always next time or the chance it will still be there if you did get allocated the ESA work.

Having said all that I am secretely glad that so many people take on jobs and release them last minute. I get lots of lovely work at increased fees and mileage. So thanks to one and all:T

nehpets81

I have just added up the jobs I have done so far in Jan and shocked myself when I saw it came to 35 so far... I fit this around a full time job and seem to have done the bulk of it for four different companies - RE, Gap, React and TNS. I think I should be more picky in future!

pinkprincess39

I have done 25 jobs so far this month with another 5 booked so far plus the MS phone calls I do which is about 100 so far! I have 7 jobs booked for feb so far

proshopper

Rosy_Violet wrote: »

ESA tend to assign jobs approx a week before they are due to start, unless they are close,on or past their dates then you will hear quickly- often by phone call.


As to whether you get the jobs you apply for the best answer I can give you is "don't bank on it"! If you read through this thread you will see that a lot of regular MSers never get any and others get everything. No one understands their allocation reasoning.

You will learn that planning your MS days is hit and miss. I would suggest that if you will only go somewhere based on the possibility of getting the ESA jobs then wait until you are certain you are assigned the ESA ones before accepting other assignments. If you accept a job from another agency and then don't get the ESA jobs then it "won't be worth while". You will end up having to do the job and making a loss(can be useful if you are needing to for tax) or cancelling it which will annoy the agency and if you frequently did this then your reputation will be pants!

You need to be reliable in this work and some days work out more lucrative than others. You can plan a bit when you are more experienced as agencies know who they can rely on but I would say it really is luck if jobs come up on the days and areas you want .

In the early days it is hard to synchronize the work but build up your reputation and things will slot in nicely. It is easier for me to plan now as I have years behind me. I will never however take an assignment in case I get others. I think it's wrong(unless a real emergency) to let an agency down.

Quite frankly I would leave it for another shopper who may well be in that area. There's always next time or the chance it will still be there if you did get allocated the ESA work.

Having said all that I am secreetely glad that so many people take on jobs and release them last minute. I get lots of lovely work at increased fees and mileage. So thanks to one and all:T

I agree with everything said!

Some companies work on the premise that the more MSers they have on their books the better. One company actually told me that they had lowered their fees because of the vast number of dropped jobs and reshops that this caused. They do make some jobs available to me at first allocation (at a higher fee rate than standard), but I now get most of my work from them as short notice jobs.

When it comes to scheduling my days, I have a group of companies that I pick up work from routinely, and I fit in the other work around this. Most of the scheduled work includes "full" expenses (e.g. mileage, but not at 40p/mile, parking, telephone calls, printing, etc). I routinely work within a 50 mile radius of home, but often end up 80 miles away. Reliability and flexibility are what give me the higher paying work. I do take on the occasional very inconvenient/out of the way job, but I make sure that the company understands that I am doing this for their benefit and not my own! This is usually acknowledged, and is then a bargaining point.

My own track record with any particular company is actually what gets me most of my work. There are several companies that I only do the very occasional job for (maybe only two or three a year), but these are often jobs that have have already fallen at the third, or even fourth, allocation. By the time I get them, they are (financially) very worthwhile, but more than urgent. One allocator has said to me many times that not only does he know I will do the job, but that I will follow the scenario to the letter, no matter how bizarre it might be. I maintain that I can behave in an eccentric way without necessary being identified as a MSer.

Good days and bad days? Yes, but the "backbone" of scheduled work means that I end up with reasonable months, good months and better months.

As Rosy Violet says, it's all down to experience. Good luck to all, especially the newer MSers (we've all been there)!

Rosy_Violet

[QUOTE=proshopper;29109289...

Some companies work on the premise that the more MSers they have on their books the better. One company actually told me that they had lowered their fees because of the vast number of dropped jobs and reshops that this caused.....


Good luck to all, especially the newer MSers (we've all been there)![/QUOTE]


It is better for clients to have access to more shoppers. I doubt any company wants to have reports from the same few people. The ease of the internet has changed the job rapidly and forums like this have created a huge increase.

The downside has been the lowering of fees but I totally understand why agencies have . They have their deadlines and if the work isn't carried out then they will lose the contract. No jobs for anyone then! Lowering the initial fee means at least they have some means of ensuring the visit gets done should it be cancelled!

I wish everyone good luck too and hope many of the new MSers enjoy the work.