In reading this thread my concern is that the communication between you and the MSC company was not handled. If i had a complaint or comment I wanted to make about a scheduler or something that I felt was important the MSC should not be turning a blind ear or eye to you. You should expect a call or email back. IMO that is poor performance on the MSC's part and a red flag of things to come or mishandling's to come.

The topic of misleading emails is a whole different thing entirely and happens all too often with desperate schedulers.

After this, are they really a MSC you want to continue to work with? This is a error on their end and they are not budging or returning your calls so they are showing who they are in this instance and I would believe them. Hopefully someone from the company will read this and investigate if it was their company or not since no names has been disclosed so you can be compensated. 100 miles round trip? That was like $.50 a mile.
Where can you park in NYC for $10 anyway? Just saying.. It was misleading and now they are showing they don't value you as a committed shopper.

I am getting tired of the plethora of misleading pay being bundled in with reimbursements....I hate when MSC's send you an email just saying, "We have shops in your area", without any info at all, but that's preferable to what we have going on here.

If you had to travel 100 miles round trip, next time ask for extra reimbursement for the mileage figured, during the negotiation phase, by sending an email to requestor. This hasn't happened often, but when I do shops that are about 30 miles from me, I have asked for a $30 bonus, on top of said fee and existing bonus, and twice they granted it. Especially the hard to fill shops. So you should have probably gotten at least a $50.00 transportation bonus, in the future. I am still pretty new, but if I am highway driving over 30 miles one way, it is $30.00 extra bonus just in my opinion. And that was a strange way to offer it, in the email subject line, yes.

I think you are owed the whole $50. I have noticed that I am getting an inordinate amount of solicitation emails from "contract schedulers" lately, that is, schedulers who are with third party companies that are scheduling for the MSCs. I have done five or six shops that I was assigned through outside schedulers and all of them have had hitches. The third party scheduling companies often provide unclear shop instructions and the schedulers are unable to answer questions or clarify instructions. When payment is delayed by the MSC the contract scheduler doesn't give a rat's patootie. As such, I only accept shops from the company that has been hired by the client to perform the shop itself.

FYI, most schedulers are ICs like us. You may also be working with schedulers who have email addresses including the MSC domain name yet they are still independent schedulers who work with many companies. I don't agree an independent scheduler is more likely to offer confusing shop instructions (those come from the MSC) and then be unable to clarify. And I really don't agree the IC schedulers don't give a rat's ass about our payments.

I agree that the majority of MSC's are great, that is why I love being a MS. I even teach a MS class at an Adult learning center.
I have mystery shopping for several years and I have only had 2 negative experiences.
Both were for assignments with a specific company that works with one of my favorite MSC's. I completed both assignments but when I arrvied at each location I was unable to meet with the assigned contact even though when I scheduled the appointments it was with the assigned contact and the reason I was unable to meet with them was on the company. I still accept assignments with the MSC but I do not even look at assignments they post from that particular company even though they usually pay more.
I had a situation where I accepted an assignment because a bonus was offered but when I logged in to read the shop specs I noticed it only showed the regular pay without the bonus. I contacted the scheduler and said I accepted because of the bonus and asked why it wasn't showing the bonus when I logged in.
The shop scheduler was not the person that posted the email with the bonus so she asked me to forward it her and once I did she immediately added the bonus to the shop.

@LisaSTL wrote:

FYI, most schedulers are ICs like us. You may also be working with schedulers who have email addresses including the MSC domain name yet they are still independent schedulers who work with many companies. I don't agree an independent scheduler is more likely to offer confusing shop instructions (those come from the MSC) and then be unable to clarify. And I really don't agree the IC schedulers don't give a rat's ass about our payments.

Lisa, it's true that many schedulers are ICs and I am sure that many of them care about the shoppers with whom they partner. I tend to work with a handful of MSCs that employ their schedulers, so my experience with contract schedulers is limited. I can say, however, that when I have accepted shops from a contract scheduler more issues regarding payment and/or clarification of shop instructions arose than when dealing with an MSC directly. The last shop I took from a scheduler who was an IC was a nightmare. The shop was performed well and graded a 10 by the MSC, but payment never came. I contacted the MSC and they referred me back to the scheduler. The scheduler then referred me back to the MSC. It took over eleven months to get paid. During this lengthy process the scheduler did nothing to support my repeated requests for payment. At one point it suggested by the scheduler that I simply let it go. This was an MSC I had worked with before, but it was the first time I had done a shop for them through an independent scheduler. Perhaps my situation was anomalous; I still prefer to accept assignments directly from the MSC.

It makes no sense for the MSC to refer you back to the scheduler for payment issues. To me that is on the MSC as much as the scheduler even if her suggestion of "let it go" was downright stupid.

This is the old and famous "bait and switch" fraud. You were induced by an advertisement (the email invitation) to $50 deal. You got email clarification--if I understand what you wrote--that the assignment paid $50. That's a contract.

Legally, you, as the independent contractor accepting as assignment, are a "consumer." You get all the consumer protection, such as it is, in your jurisdiction for accepting a business opportunity. See the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 16, sec. 238. [http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=59cfb9cbb9ff1d719627a6b202059812&mc=true&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title16/16cfr238_main_02.tpl]

I wouldn't waste your time with the FTC. They'll brush you off. Your "damages" are $10. But if you can find just one other victim in, say, Florida, Little RICO will empower you to sue for treble damages or $200, whichever is greater plus "reasonable attorney's fees." The false advertising "bait" went out by email, which is wire fraud, and they are paying you through the mail or PayPal which is mail fraud. These are "predicate acts" of a Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization.

If it happened to you, it has happened to others. You still sound reluctant to make a stink, and it's probably not worth it for $200. But if you ask an attorney like Gerard Gibbs, [http://www.girardgibbs.com/deceptive-advertising/], they might be quite interested in the Class Action implications of your complaint. Class Actions earn a fortune for the attorneys; not so much for the plaintiffs; and are extremely painful for the defendants.

It's up to you of course, but a basic rule of democracy, Constitutionalism, and the law is that you have NO rights whatsoever unless you are willing to stand up for them and have them vindicated BY the law.

I feel that I was baited & switched last month by a scheduler who sent an email ostensibly to me alone, with my name in the message, showing no other addressees or copies, begging for help on a list of 14 jobs. That came Thursday, Christmas eve at 5:12 PM. I replied that I would be happy to do five of them in Chattanooga (120 miles away); two in Johnson City (95 miles away in the opposite direction) on the next day; one up the road (10 miles away). Four of those jobs were advertised at $30 with a $30 bonus. That reply went to her at 5:37 PM EST (she's likely in California) on Thursday Christmas Eve.. Her reply came at 11 AM Monday saying "You are scheduled."

When I opened the roster, she had scheduled me only for three $30 jobs in Chattanooga. None of the $60 jobs. That got my Irish up and I told her that I reject those three jobs, spending 4 hours on the road, plus the time for the rather detailed shops, all for $90 when the IRS business mileage rate alone is $142! That to me is bait & switch, an unfair and deceptive business practice. I intend to pursue it and have the offending scheduler "corrected."

Good luck and your mileage may vary.
OldFox