"Garbage tagging"

[JerryM]

Has anyone else been hit by "Garbage Tagging"? That is, a tech "tags" an RO with a time slip, orders parts, several days later (after parts come in and the next pay period arrives), REMOVES the old tag, and RETAGS with the FULL job time allowed, essentually, "Double-dipping"? We caught 1 tech doing just this...... We are going to do a 3 month audit to see how long this has been going on, and how many are doing it.
We're looking for suggestions. The administrative staff have come up with several ideas on how to track this, but all options seem to have holes in them. We are running R&R Era, and time entry per day, per job, per RO seems to be an answer, but there are still gaps....
Anyone else getting stung? Ideas? If this act has infected the whole shop.... "OUCH!!"
If another shop has had this problem, please give us input..... If you haven't had this happen...... BEWARE..... This is an easy scam for techs to pull, and VERY difficult to detect!
I will update this string as we progress. We THOUGHT we could trust our techs, but.....

[robc]

I've seen it several times helping dealers with audits and whatnot. Unfortunately, other than firing the dishonest people, there are no simple solution. Here are some suggestions:

1) Since it appears that at some point your shop looks on the back of the hard copy to either reconcile the flag sheet with the R.O., or maybe when you actually attach the flag, sign or stamp across it so removal will be apparent. One shop had a rubber stamp that said something like, "Verified time records" and if the tech peeled off the flag part of the stamp imprint would still be on the hard copy. They also tried to do a better job of using the space that R&R had designed on the back of the hard copy for flags, that way they always knew where to look. Kind of like a check endorsement if you think about it ... payroll on one end, tech story on the other.

2) Another shop decided to punch both the hard copy and the time flag. This seems like a lot of work to me, and would only work if you always pay something on each flag. But at least it cued in the dispatcher to look for a missing flag.

3) Consider not paying anyone until the work is completed. Eliminating WIP is not my favorite advice, but it's better than being ripped off.

4) Several dealers used these types of behaviors to move towards a full electronic system. I am still under the opinion that if someone is going to steal it doesn't matter what kind of system you have.

Other suggestions???



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** Rob, Editor WD&S **
Help is only a message post away!
robc@dealersedge.com

[David Henson]

I've also seen such things happen. For partial flags, assuming you are using paper flag sheets, I suggest you circle the partial flag sheet and write "partial flag 1.5 hrs" for example. It's difficult to remove that.

With the Reynolds system you should also check flag sheets against time in 3651.

[Mike Davis]

We have addressed this issue by requiring a computer entry any time a paper tag is attached to the ticket. Each entry in the system should have a corresponding paper "tag" on the hard board. If the Advisor or whoever does your flags sees a entry for the time and no corresponding paper tag they should pull the flag sheet for the day of the computer entry. "IF" everyone does their job it will require at least two people (tech/advisor) to cheat this system. This type of situation if widespread should be evident in either the cost of sale accounts or in the unapplied labor variance accounts. If you track back and find where these accounts started changing you will find the starting point for an audit! I hope the tech doesn't still work there as that sends a message to the rest of the technicians as they have surely heard about this. If he/she is still there you can be sure someone else will try this in the future!

Good Luck!


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Mike

[Scott]

We require the punch times on both the flag sheets and the repair order. We have found this to be the best way and it is not that much more work for techs to punch every repair order and of course it keeps them honest.We also check all the flag sheets against R&R 3651 just to be sure, because the service writers can also make mistakes in the heat of a busy and crazy day. Have a great day everybody !

[David Henson]

Another good one I've seen on the Reynolds system is for the tech to be flagged, when using electronic flagging, but the job no charged.

The tech will be paid--usually for a recheck--yet the RO will be closed with no charges. The system will warn you that "Cost exceeds sale price" but you can pass right on by that edit and close the RO.

As you say, it takes the involvement of more than one person to do this. The exception report is a great place to start looking for discrepancies like this.

[MARY SHERICK]

OUR SHOP HAS GONE TO ALL ELECTRONIC FLAGGING. A TECH TIMECARD IS RUN DAILY. THE TECHS ARE GIVEN DAILY COPIES ALSO. A REGULAR CHECK OF REPAIR ORDERS IN PROCESS WILL ALSO HELP. THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT ANY SYSTEM USED NEEDS TO BE AUDITED FREQUENTLY. ANY TIME YOUR 247 ACCOUNT IS OFF, YOU NEED TO INVESTIGATE. ANOTHER TRICK I HAVE SEEN IN STORES WITH COMPUTER ROS AND MANUAL FLAG SHEETS IS FOR A TECH TO PULL CLOSED RO'S FROM THE FILES AND FLAG TIME ON THEM. THE WAYS TO CHEAT ARE ONLY LIMITED BY THE IMAGINATION OF THE CHEATER. YOU CAN ALSO LIMIT THE TECH'S ACCESS TO 3651, AND INSTEAD ONLY LET THEM HAVE ACCESS TO RO REVIEW. THIS WILL LIMIT OPPORTUNITY ON ONE FROMT. IF YOU USE MANUAL FLAG SHEETS, THE DAILY COPIES SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM THE WORK AREA, AND STORED IN A SECURE LOCATION, SUCH AS A LOCKED CABINET, OR THE VAULT IF POSSIBLE. THAT IS WHERE WE STORE ALL OUR PAYROLL RECORDS.

[j_oneil]

Jerry
R&R has a homepage WWW.PSCESREYREY.COM they have a report generator job under monthly tips to show you effective hourly labor rate. You may be able to modify that report to give you some info on your problem.

Good luck

Jack

[D.L. BAGWELL]

You can also run a 3672 payroll exception report on R&R this is very beneficial on some cases I found a lot of booking errors you may want to run only a day or two first depending on how big your shop is and if you see problems maybe go back farther. I found several interesting things. Hope this may help a little bit.
Your truely D.L.(DAMLUCKY)

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