Yup. I performed this shop last month and received the $50 pay for it. However. The shop requires you to sign a lease for a new iPhone 6 using Sprint and return the phone the following day. I performed all correctly. Here's the twist. Sprint is now billing me $760 for the cost of the phone. What?? I have contacted Best Buy where the purchase was made, Sprint ad nauseum, and now the company who offers the shop at scores of locations. So far my credit is being burned and I am very angry. I believe this shop was ill conceived and poorly run, and I - the poorly protected shopper - am paying a heavy price. Beware if you accept this shop!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2015 04:37PM by sail2sunset.

You need to pay the fee and fight to get your money refunded. If you don't pay the fee....yes your credit rating will be harmed.

If you are willing to out youself--contact TV news consumer report ....you can ask that they not show you on camera due to the nature of your job...but some won't agree to that...

I would not do anything that would result in a ding to my credit rating and that includes allowing someone to check my credit. No shop is worth that. That includes opening or closing accounts with banks. I really wish I could use an alias all the time and I try to do so when I can.

you should email every scheduler that ever emailed you
from either a [MSC name deleted] or [MSC name deleted] email address since
they still use both. Carpet bomb is most effective.

Also if you have proof of the return, it should be an easy fix.

Contact sprint and best buy's support on twitter and they will address it relatively
quickly as they do not want the bad publicity.

Mod note: Please do not link the MSC with the client. It's an ICA violation and against forum rules.

I have worked too hard for my credit score to allow it to be used in a shop. I'm not trying to tell anyone not to do that but is it really worth it?

Sprint is the worst company in America and they do absolutely everything half-assed. This does not surprise me one bit. What does surprise me is that the MSC is allowing it to happen.

Your comments are Easy to say. Not easy to do. I have been carpet-bombing for weeks. You are fortunate that I am spreading the word now to fellow shoppers. Be grateful and don't give such an easy reply from your distant armchair. The company selling this shop was reputable - just they have made a huge faux pas this time and I am paying the heavy price. Keep the messaging going so other shoppers resist the temptation to apply for this shop. I will work out the issue. It's a nuisance and totally unnecessary if the company had planned the return in a more creditable way.

Wow. Sorry this happened to you and thank you for warning the rest of us. I hope the client and/or MSC do the right thing. I hope this wasn't a competitor shop.

I ran into something sort-of similar when I did a competitor shop of a bank that required me to open a checking account. I couldn't close the account for six months without paying an "early closure fee." Because it was a competitor shop, there was no way to get it "waived." I was stuck leaving a few thousand dollars in that bank for six months to avoid monthly fees of $12 or 15.

It worked out in the long run because I got their credit card and used it enough to get a $100 cash back bonus but it was still annoying that the MSC didn't know that would happens (or didn't mention it if they did know). We were told we could close the account after 30 days.

$50.00 is way too low for this type of shop.

Whenever you sign a contract while performing a shop, you are legally bound to that contract. If the shop calls for a return, you better cover yourself and read the fine print before you sign the contract and verify that you do have the ability to return the item. If the contract does not have a return cooling off option in the contract to do the return without penalty, then don't sign it and walk out of the store empty handed.

No shop is worth putting yourself on the hook for close to $800.

I'm sorry I hate to sound dumb but what does carpet bombing mean?

@pammie8223 wrote:

I'm sorry I hate to sound dumb but what does carpet bombing mean?

Carpet bombing is the act of bombing an area very heavily, usually thought of in terms of planes in the war dropping hundreds of bombs over a small area. In the terms of emailing, it's usually meant to mean emailing everybody imaginable and/or repeatedly.

@icstars2 wrote:

@pammie8223 wrote:

I'm sorry I hate to sound dumb but what does carpet bombing mean?

Carpet bombing is the act of bombing an area very heavily, usually thought of in terms of planes in the war dropping hundreds of bombs over a small area. In the terms of emailing, it's usually meant to mean emailing everybody imaginable and/or repeatedly.

Lol oh... The wonders of CC'ing people. Even that doesn't work sometimes, based on my experiences in my career.

What I learned during my career as an engineer, if a person isn't responding to your emails or answering your calls, call them until they answer! If they still don't answer, call from a different number! Sometimes you gotta be a "bug a boo" to get some traction

If you have a credit score of 720 or above, there are multiple credit card offers that you could take advantage of that would give you $50 or more cash back (or miles, or points) just for opening the card. Same hard pull on your credit, but no report to write. :-)
I usually get at least $500-750 value (sometimes more) out of each hard pull on my credit, but I am a miles junkie. When I saw this shop all I could see was losing at least $450 worth of value for a hard pull on my credit (and a lot of hassle.)

I am sorry this happened to you. Thank you for sharing your experience with us.
Protect your credit - It holds a lot of value!

@sail2sunset wrote:

Your comments are Easy to say. Not easy to do. I have been carpet-bombing for weeks. You are fortunate that I am spreading the word now to fellow shoppers. Be grateful and don't give such an easy reply from your distant armchair. The company selling this shop was reputable - just they have made a huge faux pas this time and I am paying the heavy price. Keep the messaging going so other shoppers resist the temptation to apply for this shop. I will work out the issue. It's a nuisance and totally unnecessary if the company had planned the return in a more creditable way.

IF YOU ARE JUST GOING TO ATTACK US FOR REPLYING THAN DON'T POST ANYTHING TO BEGIN WITH.

The fact is anytime your credit is run to extend any type of credit to you...it hurts your credit rating...for that purpose alone..I will not so any shops that will affect my credit rating even if they go perfectly and everything is paid and reimbursed.

I was very interested to read this because I have seen those shops offered. What a horrible experience though I sure hope you get this resolved. Thanks for warning the rest of us.

That is terrible! I was with Sprint years ago and I dislike them because after I closed an account and the rep told me there was no balance due, I found, three months later, that Sprint had sent a past due amount to collections. I was forced to pay them $270 because I could not prove what the rep told me. I dislike Sprint like I dislike AOL.

I saw the shop referred to, and I avoid any shop that requires any hard pull on my credit. I have done the AT&T shops, and just out of interest, I ask the reps if it is a soft or hard pull. Different answers from different associates, until finally, a floor general told me that all AT&T credit checks are hard pulls.

There is another thread about this that says a federal law was passed allowing you three days to change your mind. The poster said it might not still be in effect, but you could google it and see if it gives you some ammunition with the store.

Glad so many people are reading this. The torrent of calls I'm making seem to have some traction. I've been "guaranteed" that my credit will not be adversely affected by the project director. I think I deserve a bonus for living through this nightmare and have asked for it.
Lessons learned. I won't take jobs from this company again. I will not sign a contract again. And I'm running from Sprint as fast as I can. They are a poor company on all levels.

The three day cooling off period usually applies if they solicit the sale, not if you walk into them and buy something. It was meant to protect people from high pressure door to door sales people, cold callers, etc.

Sprint has a 14-day Satisfaction Guarantee, the terms of which can be viewed at [www.sprint.com]

You returned the device to Best Buy, but did you also contact Sprint at that time? For the Satisfaction Guarantee to apply, you have to return the device to the place of purchase AND contact Sprint to deactivate service within 14 days. If you didn't make contact with Sprint until after the ETF had been placed on your account, that's where you're running into trouble.

@pammie8223 wrote:

I'm sorry I hate to sound dumb but what does carpet bombing mean?

Oh, thanks!

@Tarantado wrote:

@icstars2 wrote:

@pammie8223 wrote:

I'm sorry I hate to sound dumb but what does carpet bombing mean?

Carpet bombing is the act of bombing an area very heavily, usually thought of in terms of planes in the war dropping hundreds of bombs over a small area. In the terms of emailing, it's usually meant to mean emailing everybody imaginable and/or repeatedly.

Lol oh... The wonders of CC'ing people. Even that doesn't work sometimes, based on my experiences in my career.

What I learned during my career as an engineer, if a person isn't responding to your emails or answering your calls, call them until they answer! If they still don't answer, call from a different number! Sometimes you gotta be a "bug a boo" to get some traction

Now that song is in my head.

OK.....I have received many emails regarding this shop and I finally sent the scheduler a non-sarcastic neutral email saying that since my FICO was a good bit over 720 I jealously protect it and could not consider doing any shop for which a credit inquiry would have to be pulled for less than (get this) $12,500. I stated that this would be a starting fee and I might need to negotiate upwards from this point but never downwards. I also stated that such a fee would be reasonable due to the possibility of my having to pay higher rates on any future burrowing due to this credit inquiry, and I'd need a settlement up front to remedy this.

LOL. Guess I won't ever be assigned THAT shop in this karma. I think my email may be perceived as a bit over the top but I sent it because I wanted a scheduler to know that mystery shopper don't equal fools. I have already been assigned two other shops by this MSC since I clicked send on this $12,500 fee email so I guess I'm OK with this MSC. I wonder if the scheduler had herself a good laugh over my email? What I did will change nothing of course but I just wanted someone out there to know that shoppers do weigh the costs and benefits of any particular shop and this one is just not worth it - at least for me at the $50 fee. YMMV but I rather doubt any of us will be getting a $12,500 fee out of this.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/23/2015 12:00AM by squireparty.

@jwolpert wrote:

$50.00 is way too low for this type of shop.

Read my above post - I asked for $12,500 or a negotiation staring at this point only going upwards. LOL. Not going to happen, I get that, but you are spot on, I'd NEVER do this shop for $50 - there needs to be a much higher fee to risk any damage to shoppers FICO scores - a fee along the lines of a pre-determined settlement for any potential FICO score damage baked into it.

I think there was quite a lengthy thread on this shop when it first appeared. As I said then and will say again now. The big issue is not the ding to your credit report for the credit pull, it's signing a contract that nobody is guaranteeing you can get out of. Well, there we go.

I did this same shop, did the return and had no issue with Sprint or Best Buy. My account was credited, no questions asked. When I made the original purchase, Best Buy gave me a $200 gift card. I brought the gift card in with the return and asked 'what about the gift card - don't I need to return it also?' and they let me keep it.

Dear sail2sunset
I am so sorry that you have had this happen. I am one who posted about this subject a while ago and I thank you for willing to share your experience. I don't blame you one bit for being irritated with some replies you have received. The very least they could have done was preface their remarks with sympathy for your situation.
If bad fortune befalls me on a shop I am going to think twice now before I post my story because if I got some snotty smartass reply I know I would be angry.

I did this shop which would have been fairly easy if it didn't take 45 minutes to return the phone. I don't deal with Best Buy since I had to pull teeth to receive a refund. I'm sure they had something to do with not allowing you out of the contract.

I returned the gift card. I didn't want to tempt fate. Hah!