@Cettie wrote:

...the MS company rejected the report and didn't pay me that the report was used anyway and sent to the location.

That is how the shop gets rejected. Your shop is first forwarded to the store location and then the store manager can dispute the shop if they can find any reason to do so.

My one rejected arches shop was do to changing lines to an empty register that actually shaved seconds off the timing, when the real reason was due to negative observations made in the dining room. The manager got my shop tossed before it was passed up to corporate on a technicality.

Do order that salt or pepper in the morning and order the catchup at lunch and dinner shops. They are looking for that on the drive thru receipt when they grade your report for following the shop guidelines.

Except for the location that I can walk to, I don't do them at base pay. Only when the call me and I can work them up to a reasonable rate (Should be almost double the base pay if close or more if in the hood). About 50% of the time that they decline my counter offer. This works out best for me as I eat less arches and get paid properly when I do eat it.

@iblessyah wrote:

Now the only thing you can order for a chicken/fish meal for a special order shop is the filet of fish and you have to leave off the tartar sauce. How awful is to begin with and then to try and eat it dry is worse. There are no "regular" McChicken sandwiches available here...I'm in Phoenix area and everything here is spicy which is no longer allowed.

Not true according to this months shop instructions.
You do have to read them each month as they do change a bit.

@ wrote:

HOT AND SPICY CHICKEN IS NOW A VALID MENU ITEM. SOME LOCATIONS CARRY THE REGULAR CHICKEN OR THE HOT AND SPICY. LOOK AT THE MENU BOARD TO KNOW WHAT TYPE THEY HAVE.
&
Hot and Spicy Chicken or regular chicken without lettuce and/or mayo can be ordered for a special order menu item #1.

If you do a special order, you could walk back up to the counter and ask a different person other than your cashier for the missing condiment for both your dine in as well as the drive thru.

I have always worked hard to follow guidelines. My decision to not do Arches anymore is because the guidelines began depending more on the employee getting it right for me to get paid. I did not get paid even though I followed the guidelines up to the employee shoving a large drink in my hand. Then it became too awkward and or rude for me to shove it back in the window. If I had lied and said I had it corrected I would have gotten paid. Instead I told the truth and got stiffed. I still say that I will not work where I have to pay the boss or where my paycheck depends on some teenager who's hardest task in life is to remember what size drink to put out the window. Also, a medium drink automatically comes with a medium meal. Wouldn't you think the client would want to know that they ALWAYS send out a large? That little detail is NEVER addressed on the report.

Using the word "dine" with these places is definitely oxymoronic. Try the word "eat" which is more like it.

@msimon-2000 wrote:

I've often wondered if a shop that was rejected could still be packaged up and sent on to the client essentially leaving the shopper out in the cold. Great way to maximize profits, especially on bonused shops.

My question is why can't half the shop be salvaged and the shopper paid as this is essentially two shops at one location? If the drive-thru shop was deemed invalid (rightly or wrongly) then still use the walk-in shop and forward on to the client. At least this way, the shopper gets to recoup half the reimbursement and half the shop fee/bonus. Makes a bad shop a little easier to swallow.

I think the problem with this idea is that the client has specified what report it wants. If the client received only half, there would be no payment to the MSC. Now, the company could elect to accept half the shop and pay half the fee. And what reimbursement would the shopper receive - half expenses? But then the company would have to send another shopper to correctly complete the other half. How many shoppers would agree to make the trip to that fast food to do only half the assignment and be paid half? It already is not much money for the time spent and I sure wouldn't agree to do a half-shop for half price. And if the company used two shoppers to complete one assignment, paying each half, it would still be expensive on their end because it would cost as much in their resources as two separate shops - double scheduling costs, double editing, etc.

@AustinMom wrote:

@msimon-2000 wrote:

I've often wondered if a shop that was rejected could still be packaged up and sent on to the client essentially leaving the shopper out in the cold. Great way to maximize profits, especially on bonused shops.

My question is why can't half the shop be salvaged and the shopper paid as this is essentially two shops at one location? If the drive-thru shop was deemed invalid (rightly or wrongly) then still use the walk-in shop and forward on to the client. At least this way, the shopper gets to recoup half the reimbursement and half the shop fee/bonus. Makes a bad shop a little easier to swallow.

I think the problem with this idea is that the client has specified what report it wants. If the client received only half, there would be no payment to the MSC. Now, the company could elect to accept half the shop and pay half the fee. And what reimbursement would the shopper receive - half expenses? But then the company would have to send another shopper to correctly complete the other half. How many shoppers would agree to make the trip to that fast food to do only half the assignment and be paid half? It already is not much money for the time spent and I sure wouldn't agree to do a half-shop for half price. And if the company used two shoppers to complete one assignment, paying each half, it would still be expensive on their end because it would cost as much in their resources as two separate shops - double scheduling costs, double editing, etc.

There lies the rub with these shops. If we look outside the MSC world and into the "real" world this would never happen. Say, for instance, that you hire a contractor (IC) to install a deck and refinish your driveway. The contractor does a fantastic job on the driveway, but messes up an element of your deck. Your first course of action would be to work with the contractor to fix the things that were wrong. If after attempting several times to correct the issue, you could refuse to pay for the deck, but you are still obligated to pay for the driveway. If you decided not to pay the contractor anything because the whole job was incomplete, you'd promptly be sued by the contractor and the judge would make you pay for the driveway and likely part of the deck as well.

As IC's, we aren't offered the chance to go back and correct the part of the shop that was invalid. Secondly, it wouldn't be that hard to separate the two shops and at least get paid for the walk-in portion. You already have two receipts, the reports are fairly segmented, and the shop fee/bonus could be split in half.

In reality, the home improvement contractor is going to sue because thousands are at stake. Us mystery shoppers are dealing with $20 or so and won't go through the hassle to use a legal remedy. In most cases, there are projects with this MSC we still want to do and raising a fuss would result in 'cutting off our nose, despite our face'.

Combining both shops into one visit makes sense on many levels, but it also doubles the risk financially to us shoppers as we have double the cash outlay and double the chances for something to invalidate our entire shop. I try to stay away from this particular shop, even though I actually liked doing them...just not worth the hassle for me personally. I respect those folks who are able to make these work for them.

That's exactly what I would say... as it is true... My cup holder WILL NOT hold a large size cup...

In addition, these Arches shops are really just a pain in the behind in general. Even without this stupid Medium issue, the reports are quite long for fast food. I do multiple other restaurants with this company that all pay just as good and have much shorter reports and easier requirements. I am at the point now where I won't do one of these unless it is very highly bonused.

@Sybil2 wrote:

Have you guys been to a movie theater lately? A small drink is the size of a large drink at other places. And the large drink is the size of a hot tub!

At the end of any day I've done 3-4 standee installs, I'm glad for that!

you could ask and tell them the large cup doesn't fit well in your cup holder. I've done it.

@reneelec wrote:

you could ask and tell them the large cup doesn't fit well in your cup holder. I've done it.

Jeez, not to be toooo terribly snarky, reneelec, but........take the friggin' time (all of a few minutes) to kinda/sorta read through this topic and you shall find your well-meaning post to have been suggested numerous times.

I don't know if it's New York area slang or not, but when talking about sizes of drinks or such, we often say "regular" instead of "medium." I'll go in and like, order a "regular big mac meal" which could, in theory, be ambiguous enough to sound like natural language and not peg me as a shopper. So far I haven't had an issue.

I got dumped by this MSC after about three years and never offered an explanation I tried to get three times. The dump came several days after receiving a citation for doing over 250 shops. I have asked to be reinstated twice, but I guess they are done with me. I don't miss the lousy fast food and indifferent help.

There are much better MSC out there!

@Connecticut Annie wrote:

I got dumped by this MSC after about three years and never offered an explanation I tried to get three times. The dump came several days after receiving a citation for doing over 250 shops. I have asked to be reinstated twice, but I guess they are done with me. I don't miss the lousy fast food and indifferent help.

There are much better MSC out there!

Amen, sister and the last sentence is the cherry on top (of their chemically-laced offerings).

Smart move.....that company is a pile of you know what.

I had a special order shop and ordered no pickles. The receipt said "Light Pickles" and thus, my shop was rejected. So, an error on the order taker can invalidate your shop. Nothing screams mystery shopper like telling them, "Hey, I don't care what you made, my receipt needs to say NO PICKLES!" But, in the future, that is what I will do, outing myself so that I can get paid...

@guanadu wrote:

I had a special order shop and ordered no pickles. The receipt said "Light Pickles" and thus, my shop was rejected. So, an error on the order taker can invalidate your shop. Nothing screams mystery shopper like telling them, "Hey, I don't care what you made, my receipt needs to say NO PICKLES!" But, in the future, that is what I will do, outing myself so that I can get paid...

That has happened to me but I have always been paid. I always look at the receipt before doing the report to be sure it is correct. If the receipt is not correct, I state in the report that the receipt is NOT CORRECT and I explain what is not correct. There have been a couple of times when the receipt said "lite pickles" and a couple of times when I order NO PICKLE and the receipt did not say that but the sandwich was served without pickles. I usually take a photo of the sandwich, opened, or the little serving receipt, if there is one, that shows, no pickles. Every time I have been paid. Only once was I even contacted by Quality Assurance. The one time, they e-mailed and asked if I "was sure" I requested the sandwich with no pickle and that it was served with no pickle. I responded that I was very sure and offered to send photos of the serving receipt and the sandwich. They declined, stating it was not necessary, they were "just double checking."

I've found that if I identify immediately and very definitely and clearly on the report that a receipt is wrong for any reason (wrong date, wrong time, wrong item, wrong drink size, wrong anything, even wrong receipt provided), my report is accepted and there are not even any questions. It is much more difficult to explain (and it is much less believable to them) if the MSC identifies that a receipt does not match the report and comes back with questions.

Since they are super stingy on the toppings anyway and you are darn lucky with one pickle wonder if light means they cut one in half! Teasing!

@guanadu wrote:

I had a special order shop and ordered no pickles. The receipt said "Light Pickles" and thus, my shop was rejected. So, an error on the order taker can invalidate your shop. Nothing screams mystery shopper like telling them, "Hey, I don't care what you made, my receipt needs to say NO PICKLES!" But, in the future, that is what I will do, outing myself so that I can get paid...

@scanman1 wrote:

@Cettie wrote:

...the MS company rejected the report and didn't pay me that the report was used anyway and sent to the location.

That is how the shop gets rejected. Your shop is first forwarded to the store location and then the store manager can dispute the shop if they can find any reason to do so.

My one rejected arches shop was do to changing lines to an empty register that actually shaved seconds off the timing, when the real reason was due to negative observations made in the dining room. The manager got my shop tossed before it was passed up to corporate on a technicality.

Do order that salt or pepper in the morning and order the catchup at lunch and dinner shops. They are looking for that on the drive thru receipt when they grade your report for following the shop guidelines.

Except for the location that I can walk to, I don't do them at base pay. Only when the call me and I can work them up to a reasonable rate (Should be almost double the base pay if close or more if in the hood). About 50% of the time that they decline my counter offer. This works out best for me as I eat less arches and get paid properly when I do eat it.

Mine keep slipping through then (at least 100 receipts).

Whenever I do a special order I always say "Spicy McChicken, plain, nothing on it," or "McDoulbe, plain, nothing on it. The receipt always lists "plain" and the staff never gets it wrong. My thinking was that by making it simple for the staff I decrease the liklihood that my shop will be rejected, leaving me holding the bill.

@jilummer wrote:

Whenever I do a special order I always say "Spicy McChicken, plain, nothing on it," or "McDoulbe, plain, nothing on it. The receipt always lists "plain" and the staff never gets it wrong. My thinking was that by making it simple for the staff I decrease the liklihood that my shop will be rejected, leaving me holding the bill.

Your not following the shop instructions. It clearly says to leave one item off. By removing all items, you are opening yourself up to a rejected shop. If the timing is very long or the dining room was trashed and the report will be negative, they will use this as a reason to reject the report.

@scanman1 wrote:

@jilummer wrote:

Whenever I do a special order I always say "Spicy McChicken, plain, nothing on it," or "McDoulbe, plain, nothing on it. The receipt always lists "plain" and the staff never gets it wrong. My thinking was that by making it simple for the staff I decrease the liklihood that my shop will be rejected, leaving me holding the bill.

Your not following the shop instructions. It clearly says to leave one item off. By removing all items, you are opening yourself up to a rejected shop. If the timing is very long or the dining room was trashed and the report will be negative, they will use this as a reason to reject the report.

Agreed. The instructions tell you exactly what to omit to make it a special order shop. You don't get to choose.

my thoughts: I have 2 walk in stores only near me. They pay the same as the ones with drive in. Not that I do either much anymore but would it not serve corporate better if they asked for "real world" evaluations.

Customer service should be evaluated at all times, not just between the hours of... And the "food" should be acceptable at 10:45 as well as 9. Split the walk thru and drive in. There is one Arch near me that does a good job all day, but the manager is inside and outside and quite active with all the customers and I am sure she knows who the shoppers are.

and most of all - let me order Iced Tea!

I always order iced tea, breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Is iced tea not available in your area?

I asked the scheduler and since it wasn't listed in their instructions, I was told I could not order it. It is available and listed on the choices. I shall give it a try if you have not had any problems.

On the report, you are asked to specify what drink you had. Coke, Dr. Pepper, Sweet Tea, Iced Tea, and other available beverages are listed.

iblessyah ~ good for you, literally and figuratively. Never look back.

Good call. The MSC for them is staffed by liars anyway.

@weatherman2111 wrote:

Good call. The MSC for them is staffed by liars anyway.

Jeez...glad you're not in my area (at least hopefully you aren't) because the anger is palpable and just seems to ooze from every pore.

I am angry. They screwed me over and lied to me.