Schedulers hold a lot of power over a mystery shopper’s paycheck. Schedulers can determine how many assignments you work by doling out assignments as well as by raising your lowering your shopper rating. They can reduce or eliminate your pay on an assignment you’ve already completed. They can also through great assignments your way if you fall into their good graces.
With so much power residing in the hands of a scheduler, it’s not hard to see why many mystery shoppers are reluctant to confront a scheduler when an issue arises. However, there are certain times when a confrontation is a must.
A Reasonable Outcome? Before you risk hurting your relationship with a scheduler with a confrontation over an issue, take a moment to think through the issue at hand. Is there a legitimate issue that has the possibility for a reasonable resolution? For instance, if you are upset over being discovered as a mystery shopper at a shop site, you may feel like venting to someone. But the scheduler has no control over what occurred at the shop site and is not the person to complain to. The scheduler is simply dealing with the fact that your identity was revealed.
If there is a feasible resolution to a dilemma, then ask yourself if the resolution falls under the power of the scheduler? For instance, if your scheduler lowered your shopper rating, it is feasible to believe that the scheduler can also raise your shopper rating. Or if your pay was reduced with little reason, your scheduler may be able to increase the pay to its original level.
A Clear Case. If you feel there is an issue that your scheduler can resolve for you, before you pick up the phone or shoot off an email, make sure you have a clear case to support your claim. If a quick revision of your report will resolve the issue, or if the issue at hand as a first-time offense for you, you may have a shot at winning your case.
However, if you have little evidence to support your case other than just pure emotion, or if you are a repeat offender of this same issue, you likely have little ground to stand on. For instance, if you have repeated occurrences of filing reports late, you likely are in need of a slap on the wrist. There is a time to take your lumps. So take an honest look at the events and see if you truly have a case worth pleading.
Keep It Professional. When you are ready to state your case, determine first if a phone call or email is a better format. If you feel the issue will require a lot of back and forth dialog between you and the scheduler, save yourself and the scheduler both some time and headache and pick up the phone. But be sure to keep your tone professional. Your best chance of countering your scheduler’s reasons for her actions is by listening to her state the reasons first before you jump into your own reasons for why she was wrong in taking the action against you.
If you are beside yourself with emotion over the issue and feel you cannot be professional in a verbal discussion on the matter, an email may be best. Often when drafting an emotional email, it is best to save a draft copy and then revise it to take some of the emotion out of it after you’ve calmed down a bit. Avoid firing off a testy email to the scheduler as you don’t want to burn bridges. You won’t get the outcome you’re looking for if you send accusatory or otherwise negative emails to the scheduler.
Keep in mind that schedulers are people just like we are. And just as we make mistakes, they can make mistakes, too. Give them the logical reasons why they should reverse their decisions and you might just find a happy outcome.