Complaint Review:
DSG Associates
DSG Associates Michele, Director of Client Services Patronizing, rude, & ineffectual: it's a "mystery" how this person became a director. Dsgai should adjust their hiring strategy. Internet
Several days ago, I was contacted by dsgai to become a mystery shopper. After familiarizing myself with the company, I decided to open an account & scheduled my first assignment. This "visit" involved calling 4 designated insurance companies to get quotes & various other types of information.
The day of the "visit", I attempted to access my account, but while logging in, got the message that my password was invalid. Spoke to Michele (Director of Client Services), who I can only describe as rude & patronizing. She suggested that I either did not know my user name (actually my email address) or did not know how to enter it correctly. She made a similar assumption regarding my password. I explained (when I got the opportunity to finally speak) that I had previously been able to access my account until that day. She asked me several times if I had done the assignment. I kept trying to explain that I could not get access to the forms necessary for completion of the job. She attempted to reset my password, but I still could not login. After hours of wasted time trying to get some assistance from dsgai, I was ultimalely unable to do the assignment.
Two days later, I received another call from dsgai & was asked whether I finished the job. Again, I tried to explain the problem. Again, I got another Rude dsgai employee who implied that it was due to incompetence on my part that I could not loggin successfully. Not being able to help (big surprise), she transferred me to Sarah, a supervisor.
Another hour wasted, spent talking to condescending dsgai employees who could not figure out how to reset my password! I am so frustrated with this company now, I do not intend to waste even one more second with them. I caution others to reconsider "shopping" for dsgai, given the attitude toward shoppers expressed by dsgai employees (whose titles suggest that they are in positions of authority & ,therefore, represent the company).
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Michele
Van Nuys,California,
United States of America
Clarification and Further Apology
#2REBUTTAL Individual responds
Fri, March 08, 2013
First, let me apologize again for any misunderstanding regarding the phone call that this person had with me. I remember the call very clearly and assure you that I was simply trying to help get the information clarified. We were able to log in as this shopper on our side and just wanted to trobuleshoot to try to help her find out why she couldn't log on. When I couldn't solve the problem for her, I had the password reset through the software system so she could again try with a new password on her end. I was hoping that would work because we were running out of options to try since it was working for me.
During the call, while I was trying to help the shopper, she asked me questions about whether I was used to talking to "dumb people" because she felt I was being patronizing. At that time I of course apologized and told her that was not at all my intention that I was just trying to help and had to ask these types of questions to try to figure out what the problem was on her end without seeing her screen. Again, I am sorry if my intentions came off any differently.
As for my employees, I am not sure who the shopper was speaking to but I will apologize for them if they were rude to her and certainly speak with Sarah about any role she played. Our goal is to help shoppers complete their shop visits for us in the most efficient way possible using our software. The software we use is an industry standard and widely used throughout the mystery shopping community so it is typically very user friendly for shoppers. Unfortunately, there seemed to be a problem with this particular shopper.
DSG Associates has been in business for 32 years and we schedule and complete thousands of mystery shops each month with shoppers throughout the US and in some foreign countries. We are a charter member of the MSPA and have an A+ rating with the BBB. We are always happy to speak with shoppers and help them in anyway possible. We also support the shopper community widely through our involvement with the shopper organization IMSC. Their President Pam Richardson has also worked very closely with us as a mystery shopper and now as the President of the IMSC.