specialist

scheduler

mystery shopper

laborer

administrative assistant

A Closer Look

I worked for ACL for 8 years as an editor and prior to that as a shopper. I recently left due to the new company culture and policies. The company underwent a total revamp moving from using IC's to instead using a staffing company to employ full and part time editors. This was all done over a several month period with no prior warning to any of the editors (except those moving to the staffing agency.) So, without explanation all the work dried up. So, you went from receiving 10 edits a day to none for days on end. If you asked about the lack of edits you were told, there was no work to hand out, which was only part of the truth. But they now want IC's to stick around with no work for weeks a time to pick up edits on weekends or if they are ever in a bind. Longstanding employees were fired and replaced by 'yes' men who actually do not have a full picture of how the company runs. This company does not value it's staff. The culture is toxic and dishonest. Making this type of business change could have been handled in an ethical manner; however, it was done in a toxic and dishonest way. Clients are running for the hills as the quality of the edits being submitted to them diminishes. This will only get worse as the editing process becomes more and more automated leaving the client with nothing more than a generic report.

Up until 2018, this was a good place for those working from home. When I was hired in 2011, the company was owned by three good quality individuals and had key staff managers that were experienced. When the company was acquired upon the retirement of the last of the three owners, the culture quickly went downhill. It was not clear to me why another company would acquire this one only to tear it apart. The pay was never great, but I had flexibility and default clients for which to edit. My editor Coordinator who headed our team was competent, as were the other team leaders. With the new ownership, the number of edits available to complete diminished significantly. I previously trained about 20 new editors per year and completed 75-90 reports per month. All of the work dried up. I had no new editors to train, even though the training process had just been revamped in the months just prior to acquisition.  I left for lack of any meaningful work.  I couldn’t make any money.  

I have been with A Closer Look as a remote, contracted editor for nearly four years. I work on tidying up the reports that the secret shoppers submit for the company. The pay is very low ( averages out to about $4.00 per hour), but the work used to be steady and the advantage of editing from home anytime of the day or night that suits me was nice.  I used to get anywhere from 4-6 reports on each of my scheduled days and could always get more if I asked. Now, within the past 1 and 1/2 years, the work has steadily decreased to about two reports per scheduled day if I was lucky, down to two to four reports per week in more recent months, and now, I have received no work in almost three weeks. Whenever I ask about it, I am told that they just don't have anything to give out right now, and it's temporary, even though this has been going on for some time. I can see from the company emails that go back and forth that some editors are still getting work. I just wonder why I am no longer getting any work. You think they would have the decency to tell me if they no longer need my services. I used to be happy to be a small part of A Closer Look, but now I feel like a discarded rag.

I made a single mistake on a report. They reached out to me via email, but the email did not say A Closer Look, so I discarded thinking it was spam. The issue at hand was never brought up by the person that I text with in regards to assignment questions nor was I made aware based on my shoppers page. Just the email with the deadline that I never saw until after my account was deactivated. They claim that I sent in the wrong photo of the food item, but I am not sure about that and not sure how one could tell. 
Regardless, the issue could have been resolved in a number of ways where everyone could have been happy and it made sense for all parties. Instead, I got a random email from someone I have never heard of while the assigner and myself got blindsided. The company has some ok shops, but honestly the pay is not worth the time involved or unrealistic and extreme expectations. 

I enjoyed my role with this organization when I first joined. Everyone was friendly, and I learned a lot and gained new skills.  What soured my opinion of this company is that when they decided to hire several part-time employees, they did not offer me the opportunity to become a part-time employee, despite my work being routinely praised. I had actually asked if they had any part-time roles available and was told that they did not. They gave all of the work usually assigned to ICs to their new part-time employees, and did not communicate that there would be no more work for ICs until pressed. The lack of communication, coupled with the low pay, ultimately made my experience with this organization poor. I essentially lost my job with no warning.

A Closer Look has a collaborative, supportive management team that utilizes innovative, customer-driven solutions. They also provide opportunities for promotions from within. I started as an Editor and was able to move up through hard work and dedication to the company. When I first began, it provided the ability to work from home while being home with my kids. It has now become a full-fledged career that I am happy to come to each day.  I have been with the company for 13 years through different management teams and one thing has remained the same. They are focused on keeping both their employees and their clients happy and providing the best solutions for utilizing results within their organizations.

This company hires people as independent contractors to avoid paying them even minimum wage.  They just got in legal trouble for hiring their editors as ICs when they tell them exactly how to do their jobs and treat them as employees (with no benefits and no obligation to pay minimum wage).  Their solution was to contract out the work to another company and stop giving work to their loyal editors, many of whom have been with the company for many years.  But they haven't fired us, oh no.  We are supposed to be at their beck and call in case they suddenly have extra work their new partner company can't handle.  And they've done all this with zero explanation.  Stay away... stay far away.

Very poor company.  After a breast cancer diagnosis, I was denied time off for surgery and required to work from my hospital bed.  When my doctor got mad that I was working and my recovery was inhibited, I was told I could take time off but there was no guarantee that my job would be there when I came back.  We were expected to work until everything was filled and, even if it took more than 40 hours we had to do it and not report the hours. Managers were very belittling.  I do have emails to back it up.

When I first started in 2018, I would have given this company a 5-star review and would have until about 2022. The reimbursement/payment was fair. Now, it seems that AI is being used, leading to poor communication, causing misunderstandings that could easily be cleared up if an actual human being were involved. The pay amount per shop is also lower than it used to be. Compared to other mystery shopping companies that I have worked for, some since 2007, this one is one of the worst. 

Stay away! You only get paid if people do the shops but this company does everything in their power not to accept shops from people and thus not pay you in return. Shops are not appealing... reimbursement amounts for shops are sometimes low and sometimes not even enough to cover what is required. Expectations are constantly changing and inconsistent.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Specialist 1 salary reported	$500 per day
Scheduler 1 salary reported	$10.00 per hour
Mystery shopper 1 salary reported	$15.00 per hour
Laborer 1 salary reported	$15.50 per hour
Administrative assistant 1 salary reported	$30,000 per year

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