Hi,

Whenever I accept a phone shop, it goes into my Requested Shops folder and not my Assigned Shops folder. I can't complete them because of this. What should I do?

Hi,

Some shops need to be approved by scheduler before you see it in your assigned folder.

Is there a certain rank or reason why all the phone shops I have applied to haven't been approved? I am new so I wasn't sure if that has something to do with it

Hi k0d4k, Viviane, and Caroline

As Viviane stated, some assignments need to be approved for you. Now once you reach a certain level of reliability then you can start self-assign (up to 3 assignments at a time, or more) as you get your reputation as a good and reliable Independent Contractor (IC.)

The other side of this issue is demographics. At times an assignment requires a certain characteristic of the IC. For example you need to be underage to do a liquor age verification assignment. If you are 40, (or look older that the minimum age to consume alcohol), then you do not fit the assignment requirements. Granted this is less important for phone shops, but maybe they have plenty of females, and now they prefer males (or visa versa) so that they can balanced report.

Please be assured that being new or just starting may not be the whole story. If it was, none of us will ever start. But again the scheduler (most probably a shopper or ex-shopper themselves) will have to judge the complexity of the assignment and the readiness of the IC. I am sure you will be passed for a more seasoned IC for complex banking assignment.

My advice is keep at it, be sure and steady, build your reputation as a reliable IC, and then buy a big stick, because you will need it to beat them away. Trust me a good IC is like a gold nugget to a scheduler.

Hope I gave you what you need.

I agree entirely with Wassim - and there are two more things to keep in mind:

First, there is A LOT of demand for phone shops. Dozens of shoppers request each one within hours of the shops being published. Schedulers then review the requests and approve those that are from the most reliable shoppers and that are for the nearest dates (if for example you can request them for any day next week, the first ones to be approved will be those requested for Monday).

Second - Badges. If you do even one of them, you'll get a badge proving you've had some experience in doing them before, making it more likely the schedulers will give them to you in the future. If you keep doing them, your badge level will increase, and the schedulers will, at a glance, see you've had extensive experience - and be very glad to give them to you again. Of course, as Wassim said, new shoppers are not left out and are, whenever possible, given a chance to start off and earn some experience in every type of shop.

How do you do phone shops? I'm new and never knew there were such a things. How are you able to record the call?

Hi Tammy,

There is a special category for those shops - it's called "Web and Phone Shops" (you can see it on the navigation bar on the left side of the screen when you login to iSecretShop), and when there are shops like that available, you can request and do them from anywhere.

The recording part is very simple - you just call the number provided in the shop guidelines, and enter the shop ID number when prompted. From there, it's all automated - you will be forwarded to the location you are shopping, the call will be automatically recorded, and once you hang up, it will be uploaded automatically in your shop report.

I hope this helps!

This is all great information and makes a lot of sense. I requested (yesterday) a phone shop for today. It would be my first one, so I totally understand if I don't get it. The issue is that the call is supposed to be made today between 9am and 5 pm EST and it's still sitting in my requests tab. So should I assume that I didn't get it and delete the request or should I just hang tight and see if they approve me to do it before the deadline? I can't really do it much later than 3 because I need to pick kids up from school so was hoping to get the call done this morning! TIA!

Hi Kelly,

You can try emailing or calling the MSP that posted the shop, and letting their schedulers know that you have requested it and would love the opportunity to do it - it's not guarantied to work, but it's a small extra step you can take if you want to, and that sort of engagement is greatly appreciated by schedulers, and often rewarded. :)

Good luck!

Thanks Ivan! I will do that!