I am getting really frustrated with the time it is taking to try and apply for shops that are listed as available only to pop up as taken. It's really starting to take a toll on my patience. Why can't available shops just show dates available? Why do we have to play the guessing game when trying to apply for available shops? 98% of the 220+ available web and phone shops listed as available right now actually aren't available. It takes me literally at least an hour to go through the web and phone shops just to find out most if not all are already scheduled and not available. Why do we have to go clicking through every date listed as available on each shop just to get a pop up stating "Another shopper is already assigned to perform this shop, please choose a date x days apart"?

I've actually stopped trying to apply for shops at the end of the month as soon as I see the pop ups starting because it so time consuming and fruitless.

I know people in this forum have suggested emailing the scheduler/msp and just request one of the available shops. I've done that especially this past week and never got a reply. I know they're crazy busy at this time of month but seriously this is really a problem.

Thanks for listening to me vent! I know I'm a bit cranky right now but I'm trying to apply for shops which should be the easy part and it's turning into the hardest.

Hmm, that's a tough one.

The reason you're getting those pop-ups is because most MSPs (or their clients) don't want all of their shops completed in the same day/few days.

It is very reasonable to assume that most shoppers would want to grab and complete the available shops within a few days of the shops getting posted. This causes problems to the client down the line, because they get a ton of evaluations done in a short time period, but then have very few of them done after that, so they can't get a realistic picture of their business' performance at all times.

To solve this, the iSecretShop system allows MSPs to set a "separation" rule - to limit the number of shops that can be done within a certain time frame - for example, that only 1 shop can be done every 3 days. This prevents shoppers from requesting/self-assigning shops within 3 days of another assigned shop.

There are currently only 2 ways to ensure you have the best chances of working around this:

1. Contact the MSP directly - their schedulers have the ability to manually override the separation rules, and assign any shop for any date. They tend to stick to their rules, but if you are a reliable shopper and/or have done those particular shops successfully in the past, your chances are higher. Also, near the end of the month, if they still have shops they're trying hard to schedule, the separation rules are often bypassed.

* IMPORTANT - when contacting the schedulers, use the primary MSP contact info (like info@examplemsp.com, scheduling@examplemsp.com, etc) - if you only contact a single scheduler, they might not be working at that time, and your emails could get unanswered until it's too late. If they don't reply within a day, try calling them :)

2. Be the first one to get the shops - watch out for emails about available shops, figure out when exactly some monthly or weekly shops are getting posted (it's very often on the same day of the month/week) and keep an eye on the Available Shops page - then request/self-assign as soon as you see them.

Personally, I'd also contact the MSP and ask them when can I expect certain shops to be posted. Explain the situation, let them know you'd really like to do those shops and be the first one to get them, and they might let you know the exact time and date when they are usually posted, or even let you know a few days in advance.

The direct, "hard" alternative to solving this would be to have the iSS developers redesign the calendar which you see when selecting a date when applying for shops (to have the unavailable dates marked red or something similar) - I'm not sure if this is doable at the moment or how much work it would require, but I can check with the iSS management - if it's possible and if it would save shoppers time, I'm sure they'd gladly do something about it :)

Thanks for the feedback!

Thank you Ivan! I appreciate the explanation. I will take your advice regarding emailing the primary MSP. Great advice!

Ivan gave you some great advice. I'd contact the MSP directly. I did that with my first phone shop, a few weeks ago, and I received the shop. In the email, I told them the dates/times I was available.

Tara_NJ @ May 27, 2018 5:25:57 PM

I am getting really frustrated with the time it is taking to try and apply for shops that are listed as available only to pop up as taken. It's really starting to take a toll on my patience. Why can't available shops just show dates available? Why do we have to play the guessing game when trying to apply for available shops? 98% of the 220+ available web and phone shops listed as available right now actually aren't available. It takes me literally at least an hour to go through the web and phone shops just to find out most if not all are already scheduled and not available. Why do we have to go clicking through every date listed as available on each shop just to get a pop up stating "Another shopper is already assigned to perform this shop, please choose a date x days apart"?

I've actually stopped trying to apply for shops at the end of the month as soon as I see the pop ups starting because it so time consuming and fruitless.

I know people in this forum have suggested emailing the scheduler/msp and just request one of the available shops. I've done that especially this past week and never got a reply. I know they're crazy busy at this time of month but seriously this is really a problem.

Thanks for listening to me vent! I know I'm a bit cranky right now but I'm trying to apply for shops which should be the easy part and it's turning into the hardest.

How do you find that many web shops? Thank you.

Hi Candace

Whenever they are available, you can see them on the Web & Telephone shops page - if there are none there, then there are none available at the time. You could always email the MSP(s) that post them to ask when can you expect them to be posted again, so you'd be one of the first shoppers to request them - that may help increase your chances of getting your requests for them approved.

Cheers!

I've also had this problem. It looks available, but it's not! In other systems, they highlight the available dates in a calendar, so you don't have to select every possible date until you find one that's available. I had a shop today that was only for today, but it was taken! So why was it still showing up? It's confusing because the shop has been filled, so it makes no sense for it to be on my feed!

Hi Cas,

Yes it is frustrating. Technology is not perfect. Someone somewhere is always working on that. Usually these shops have a date range listed, which is always updated. Perhaps the client wants them to continue to be listed just in case that they may need more shoppers. These assignments often do require multiple inquiries so that the client gets a well-rounded selection of reports from shoppers of both demographic and geographic backgrounds.

Hopes this tidbit is of assistance. Keep shopping along.

Hi Cas,

The feedback is appreciated!

I have actually informed the iSecretShop development team of this and I'm inquiring about the possibility of upgrading the calendar on iSS somehow, to have it highlight the actual available dates. They are working on several different improvement projects right now, but if this is doable, I'm sure they will look into it as soon as they can.

Cheers!

So one issue that I think has not been really uncovered is that the schedulers may add a few more shop requests than days available. This could be because the shop date range runs over days of the week that the shop cannot be conducted, like weekends or possibly there is another reason they add more shop requests than will be available. I have no answer to this but know that this happens & I feel your frustration with those situations.