I've done quite a few of both of the shops for one of the MSC's, usually for decent bonuses. Had one rejected which, going back and looking at the photos, was my fault. Going through the pics now is time consuming because I have to take the first photos, then transfer them to the computer and blow them up to make sure they are in perfect focus before going on to the second set, because once you cut into the pie, there is no going back. By the time I am done with all the photos, the pie is definitely cold, and reheating it just doesn't do it justice. The bonus makes it worth it, but I wouldn't do this for the base fee plus reimbursement ever again.

I don't mind doing the "regular" PJ shops but I'm not going to get anywhere near this Slice 'n' Rise nonsense. Too much work for not enough pay.

I did both types of shops at once and got a nice bonus for it. Made it worth my time.

Ha! Just to clarify. I was supposed to cut 4 slices in half lengthwise. I did, but supposedly 1 of the slices weren't but all the way through. You can see the crust just fine, and all my bazillion other pictures were fine. Yes. Not worth the trouble. Esp., since there are way better places to get pizza for my MS dollars.

ceasesmith Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Wow. Been a while since I did one (I no longer
> qualify for them), and I didn't have to do that.
> I did have to turn 2 pieces upside-down!
>
>
>
> cease


cease, how can you no longer qualify for them? Is there a new requirement or is it that you can't take and upload pictures anymore?

(heart)

I read the other day that the garlic sauce in a cup was a "heart attack disaster"

my past two w/PJ's have been rejected. I don't know WTF is going on, but I'm losing my temper having to 'eat' their pizza AND pay for it. It is bad in my opinion, cheap on toppings. Two times ago, they gave us the wrong pizza to boot.

I get an email saying contact us within 48 hrs for 're training.' I don't happy snap - DH does for me when he wants the pizza. Call back from them? no. I even emailed a second time stating so.

THAT CO NEVER calls back. I am frustrated by So Cal!!

grrrrrrrrr

I received a call yesterday after I left a message over the weekend. She offered me to do a reshop. I explained that I did this as a favor to the person who called and it was bonused. I also explained that there are two companies in my area that shop PJ's and I could eat pizza bonused everyday of the week there are so many open shops. She said my pictures had a shadow. The pictures were taken in the exact same location as they always have been for both companies. I honestly think they are trying to get out of paying bonuses and are using the information. So not worth the hassle. I won't be doing anymore - at least for this company. My son enjoyed the $9 pizza and I didn't have to cook so I'm good. Moving on.

Gawd...the more I read about this pizza client, the more I know I won't be doing them.

Not worth the hassle. I know some of you like doing them, but each to their own, right?

Do you see a shadow in your pics?
I suspect your are right on the bonuses....

gogogirl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I received a call yesterday after I left a message
> over the weekend. She offered me to do a reshop.
> I explained that I did this as a favor to the
> person who called and it was bonused. I also
> explained that there are two companies in my area
> that shop PJ's and I could eat pizza bonused
> everyday of the week there are so many open shops.
> She said my pictures had a shadow. The pictures
> were taken in the exact same location as they
> always have been for both companies. I honestly
> think they are trying to get out of paying bonuses
> and are using the information. So not worth the
> hassle. I won't be doing anymore - at least for
> this company. My son enjoyed the $9 pizza and I
> didn't have to cook so I'm good. Moving on.

Mcreader9 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The "retrained" message is pretty standard. I had
> a problem with my first/last PJ's shop and even
> after speaking with two employees, resubmitting
> photos and multiple emails, it was still rejected.
> It was SO not worth the time and effort.
>
> I don't think I even want to attempt shops for
> this MSC's other clients.

I don't know which MSC it is, since PJ uses multiple MSCs, but from all I've heard, the persnicketyness is on the part of PJ, not the MSC.

once burned twice learned......haven't done one in years and have no plans to!

The retraining is the wording used by a specific MSC, and for some reason they had many shops rejected the last few months. I am wondering if they might have new photo editors.

I have done this shop several times lately when it is bonused. Mind you a bonus is very rare in Los Angeles where I live. What I cannot understand is how they get anyone at all to do this shop without a bonus if it is the same msc I did it for as they offer no pay, only reimbursement. I especially do not understand the people who throw the pizza away or give it to the homeless. You get no money for doing the job, only the pizza. I will be brazen and ask for a $25 bonus next time as I see someone got that much...Once they made an exception to their rule and gave me $15, or so they said.

I had one rejected and was upset, because the pizza cost me over $15 out of pocket. I have not done a PJ since and probably will not again, especially with such a high pizza price. They cost that much at all the PJs in my area.

Soon after, the MSC needed someone to do PJ in my area. They offered to reimburse me for that rejected shop, if I took their new shop. The new shop was not bonused. Obviously they felt I would be more receptive if I got that reimbursement, but I was a bit insulted.

I've had multiple emails today trying to get me to fill the shop and also at least one phone call. I ignored all.

I had one rejected last Thursday the same way. I called and they said it was rejected because I took the side view of the pizza after I did the 2 slices flipped. I was told that the crust has to look seamless. It is very rude the way they send the rejection and since it was my first one, it actually is upsetting. It does hurt even worse, because I do not like the pizza, but it was bonused.

I did several with no problems, then two in a row were rejected. I was upset but decided no more for me, the pizza isn't even very good, and there are too many other dining shops I can get as well as grocery shops. I was in the mood to treat my family to pizza the other night and had a grocery shop, saw some yummy take and bake pizzas, and voila! Bottom of basket AND a pizza shop in one, LOL That pizza was way more delicious than a PJ pizza, and no flipping of slices, garlic cup, etc...

I'll do the other shops they provide, as I had some great experiences with that MS company. I like the other company that PJ seems to have fired. They must be a very difficult client, i'd imagine.

I pride myself on performing shops to the best of my ability, and handing in quality work. I thought I did a great job with the photos, and took a ton of pictures. It wasn't good enough. It cost a lot, too, so I've cut my losses. Sad part is, Papa johns was running online specials that i could not take advantage of because you have to call. I would have gotten a free pizza if I'd used the promotion for the first pizza, which was buy one, next time it's free

I went back and checked all of my photos tonight and there isn't a shadow in any of them. The center was weird looking but that was the way the pizza was when I got it and put it in my report. I'm officially finished with them.

gogogirl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I went back and checked all of my photos tonight
> and there isn't a shadow in any of them. The
> center was weird looking but that was the way the
> pizza was when I got it and put it in my report.
> I'm officially finished with them.

Same here! I deactivated myself from them, then remembered they do have other companies I can shop as well. So I've gotten some calls and emails, too, and just tell them I can't afford the pizza due to back to back rejections and will only perform their cosmetic counter shops (I love makeup). The scheduler was super nice about it, and offered to connect me to that department. I actually feel bad for the schedulers- they seem nice over the phone. Maybe if enough of us say "we're finished" with the pizza shops, they will rethink how unreasonable they are being, and have less stringent requirements. Those shops really weren't much fun anyway. I'd have to have it delivered to my work parking lot ( and deal with a nasty, nosey spying co-worker's snarky comments) or park in a parking lot a driver could never find, even though it was on the same road as them. i was out of their delivery area from my home. It was such a hassle, then the pictures took forever, downloading, family complaining in the background that they wanted dinner,etc...

Oh boy, I took my first one for today. It was nicely bonused so I'll try it. I'll be on a route shopping and figure the photos will be taken with pie in car trunk and on car trunk. This should be interesting...or depressing...or hysterical for anyone watching. I have visions of pollen flying around and getting stuck on the cheese. This is going to be a challenge I think.

Just had a call from an MSC working desperately to fill Papa John's shops. Easiest "no" I've ever done!

The Little Caesar's shop paid $5.00 plus reimbursement. The pizza wasn't bad, and we enjoyed it. Their pizza isn't my favorite, but it's good. The store is on my way home from work, so I got a free meal.

I'm just trying to get a little experience and learn about mystery shopping, so I'm only taking a few jobs here and there.

Regarding the time it takes to upload pictures and view them on your computer: I use an Android phone (Samsung Galaxy S4), and the photo gallery on my phone is tied to my Google Photos account. My pictures upload to my Google account automatically, and I get astronomical upload speeds with the 4G LTE data service from T-Mobile.

After I took the pictures of the pizza and bread sticks, I sat down with my laptop. The pictures were already in my Google account by the time I sat down. One of the pictures was blurry, and I took it again. The whole process of taking the photos and looking at them on my PC took less than 10 minutes.

If you use a regular camera (instead of a smartphone) to take pictures, I recommend buying an SD memory card that has a built-in WiFi radio. They allow you to take pictures and have them instantly available on your computer (assuming that there is a WiFi network in the area where you take the pictures EDIT: Actually, it turns out that some of the WiFi SD cards can transmit directly to your laptop, even when there is no WiFi network nearby... as long as your PC has a WiFi network adapter in it). You can find SD memory cards that have this capability at the following links (and I highly recommend NewEgg):

[www.newegg.com]

[www.newegg.com]

[www.newegg.com]

EDIT: Before purchasing one of those cards based on price alone, I suggest reading the following review:

[www.dpreview.com]

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/23/2014 08:24PM by barnabas1969.

just emailed.

I have NOW emailed TWICE, called TWICE, w/out a C/B

I think I want to speak to the mgr or the company OWNER.

Sandi, just a friendly heads-up: I didn't actually accept the $25, and the circumstances were rather unusual. I accepted the first PJ shop on a $15 bonus since the day they proposed was a day the cook in our house happened to be at work and, hey, free pizza, right?

I'd never actually eaten Papa John's in my entire life--I'm a Pizza Hut girl, Domino's as a grudging second choice--so this was quite literally a blank slate shop. The pizza arrived cold. The crust was like cardboard, the cheese bland and tasteless, the sauce tasted like nothing but vinegar with some tomatoes thrown in. It was supposed to have some peppers and onions on, but the amount was disappointing and they, too, were pretty much tasteless (HOW DO YOU SCREW UP FRESH VEGETABLES ON A PIZZA???). An hour after we ate, I was getting sharp pains in my stomach and my brother-in-law (sorry for confusing folks earlier!) was complaining that he didn't feel well. By midnight, I'd been . . . . gastronomically inconvenienced, let's say, for politeness' sake. The next morning I woke up feeling hungover even though I'd not actually touched a drop of alcohol the night before, and the smell of real cheese on my sister's omelette made me feel ill. Between us we'd eaten four pieces of pizza (compare: I can easily put away four pieces from Pizza Hut by myself) and without having to say a word we decided to bin the rest.


When the scheduler asked me to pinch-hit after someone else dropped the shop last-minute, I said no. He pushed, I gave the statement from above--that you literally could not pay me to eat there again. His response: "Well, but that was only one time." After my third or fourth "no" in this conversation he offered me the $25, which I didn't accept. You COULD pay me to eat Papa John's again--but the price would be about 30 grand, and if the CEO won't pay a few measely grand to give his employees health coverage he sure ain't paying my student loans off.

For me, doing these shops for $5 + reimbursement is ludicrous. I used to do them for $20 (or more) + reimbursement. I never had one rejected, but if I had, I was way ahead of the game. Those big bonuses don't happen around here any more, though. Apparently the shopper pool has gotten large enough that I'm not needed.

Okay, so I did it. Who does those for $5.00? I pulled into a desserted parking lot for photo taking. Well, there was one car next to mine. Of course while I was taking photos of my trunk a guy walked by and said, "How ya doing?" I said, "Oh, don't mind me. I'm just taking photos of a pizza in my trunk." What a jerk thing to say. OMG, you had to see me trying to get the side view photo with the wind blowing. I didn't bring tape for the little form and it was flying around too. Ended up on the front car seat. Inside the trunk worked well for the overhead views. I'll see what happens. I thought my photos were good, but I don't know what they'll think since I've not done one before. The disgusting pizza repeated on me all night. I gave Buckley (my dog) a piece and threw the rest away. It paid well and I'll get my tolls reimbursed too, but I won't be looking to do another soon. With their strict requirements for the shop, you'd think the service would be exceptional. It was terrible. They didn't do 3/4 of what was asked and the pizza was not so good. I was expecting a higher level of service since the shop seemed so stringent. HA

Geez, what did your poor dog ever do to you?

OK, maybe it's just my store, but the I kind of like the Papa John's pizza. I have never gotten sick on it anyway. The service hasn't been exceptional, but I would say about high average. The only thing I panic about is the pictures. Usually, I take a whole bunch in two different lightings, and send in 3-5 of each.

I know, KarmaKim... the store in our neighborhood does pretty good pizza, too. And, service at our store has always been good, especially the particular driver we almost always get. Occasionally we get a pizza that could've been a bit better, like it was carelessly put together; but nothing actually disgusting.

But I will never do another shop for them after what I went through with the photos.