I used to do a lot of work for them an usually got a 9/10. Lately I haven't gotten anything with them. I used to have one scheduler I worked closely with but he has since left the company and I find their current crop of schedulers difficult to deal with.

Intelli-shop is a horrible company. The absolute worst company to do mystery shops for. They used to be okay when they first started but not for the last several years. I've had schedulers tell me that they consider getting an 8 a good score and it's almost impossible. Not only are their grading scale unecessarily hard, they lie and cheat. They pay is way below industry standard. They have Mercedes shops in the low 20's. Other sites have the same shops starting at $50, less work and less hassle dealing with their horrible editors. Don't ever shop with Intelli-shop.

I completely agree that Intelli-shop editors are getting paid my making up things wrong with reports to get more. Today, I had a perfectly fine shop get sent back asking for a blow by blow commentary of the entire shop. I had it in the last comment box in the end, along with an explaination of any "no" responses. I had no idea what they were talking about. I had 6 paragraphs. I went to my report and the editor deleted all of those comments. I'm not entering it twice when it was perfect the first time. They are prentending they weren't there in the first place. The shop form doesn't allow you to submit until that box has an answer. Once again, I fell as if I am being cheated by them. I hadn't done shops for a while but thought I'd try again. Wrong. same unethical company that they are turing into. I am a seasoned shoppers with hundreds of thousands of shops under my belt. I've been doing this for 13 years plus and am cerified. I will complain to the BBB, MSPA and anyone else until they change.

@jjk3995 wrote:

I completely agree that Intelli-shop editors are getting paid my making up things wrong with reports to get more. Today, I had a perfectly fine shop get sent back asking for a blow by blow commentary of the entire shop. I had it in the last comment box in the end, along with an explaination of any "no" responses. I had no idea what they were talking about. I had 6 paragraphs. I went to my report and the editor deleted all of those comments. I'm not entering it twice when it was perfect the first time. They are prentending they weren't there in the first place. The shop form doesn't allow you to submit until that box has an answer. Once again, I fell as if I am being cheated by them. I hadn't done shops for a while but thought I'd try again. Wrong. same unethical company that they are turing into. I am a seasoned shoppers with hundreds of thousands of shops under my belt. I've been doing this for 13 years plus and am cerified. I will complain to the BBB, MSPA and anyone else until they change.

oy vey...I don't even know where/how to start with this. Guidance anyone? LisaSTL....H E L P !!!!!

I'm in the midst of enough controversy for one day. You are on your own with this one

@LisaSTL wrote:

I'm in the midst of enough controversy for one day. You are on your own with this one

Dang it I miss all the good stuff.

I've only done two shops for Intellishop. First one got a 10, and the second where I didn't explain a no to their satisfaction got an 8. I fail to see what the problem is, frankly.

The thing I dislike about I-Shop other than the low pay and sloppy editing is the schedulers and all other employees seem to think shoppers are simpletons.

Intellishop has treated me really well. I understand some of us have problems and I don't mean to make light of those problems at all, but in my case so far so good for five years or so.

jjk3995, sorry you lost part of that report, whatever happened to it. Do you think they accidentally deleted it during editing somehow, or do you think it didn't transmit in the first place? I can't think right now for sure how their reports are, but don't you have to save periodically as you go along? Maybe one of those "save" notices got by you and that's how you lost it. You know, once we press that submit button, we don't know what goes and what doesn't go. I get into in over pics and receipts all the time. I know I attached them, but I have to send them again if I want to be paid.

bestofbothworlds, I'm afraid it may be true that Intellishop thinks I'm a simpleton. I shopped a shop last week that deadlined at 8:00 am. Went there, did my thing, did a great report, I am such a special shopper. Found out today I went after 8:00 am (NO Mary that shop does NOT run 'til nine) and that didn't work very well. I'm afraid I took shopper rep down a notch. Sorry. Wouldn't it be fun to read what they write about our screw-ups? I'll bet, yeah.

I just received this from an Intelli-shop editor moments ago...

Please reply to: proofreader1@intelli-shop.com. Do not reply to the FROM address INSITE@insite.intelli-shop.com.

"Your evaluation of (I deleted the name) for IntelliShop has been reviewed.

Comments: Thank you for your report. Some changes for grammar and sentence structure were made in the narrative comments. Please double check the comments before submitting future reports. Your score is 9, keep up the good work!

Thanks for using IntelliShop's INSITE system!"

I definitely appreciate proofreader1's comment and I don't dispute his criticism but...it would be nice to know what grammar and sentence structure needed work as it would be of benefit to both of us.

No, I did not delete my 6 paragraphs of work. The section that it was under would not let me submit my shop without comments in that box. It shows up as incomplete and an error. The editor deleted it.

jjk3995 Wow, you got a 9, that is an outstanding rating from IntelliShop after going through that terrible experience. Be glad that they did not take an additional AUTOMATIC point off just because they had to contact you. I had hoped that they did away with that unfair practice.

I agree that many times their editing skills are suspect, the forum is filled with IntelliShop examples spanning several months, if not years! It is a PITA but filling out one's report in a word processing program then use copy and paste is a suggestion. Not only will you have a copy of your remarks but also a spell checker and word counter. And in the case of some platforms who do not offer a final .pdf copy of report (&/or notes), you will have a spot to copy/paste a confirmation code, if they at least give that. I think my main flaws are that I run on or overuse/misuse commas. Excuuuuuuuse me..! Grammar police! Ugh!

Many times IntelliShop has taken the average 9/10 or even 10/10 Shopper down a couple of pegs as they seem to be hypercritical or in this case inflict problems. It has been posted that their staff have literacy issues, language comprehension, are just plain immature or newbies. They're just not as respectful or responsive as most other MSCs and many MSCs do not harshly rate Shopper's for minor grammar or spelling errors. Other MSCs perhaps take into account all the super hard work we do to accomplish that assignment and do not whack severely. But many Shoppers swear they double checked and had no spelling/grammar errors.

But I understand your concern because very frequently seasoned Shoppers will be chopped to a 7 or 8 which when averaged may cause them to lose self-assigning buttons. It is not clear whether Schedulers can see Shopper's ratings across SASSIE board. But I am wondering if this affects self-assigning elsewhere and willingness of other MSC Schedulers to offer certain shops. It is annoying when they do not provide insight and use canned responses. Let us know if you still get paid, I would suspect that since you held their feet to the fire, you will. Be glad you got a 9...it could have been a undeserved 7. It seems they give out a lot of 8's because of the insane automatic ding just because they had to ask for clarification. I have had them ask for something that was right there. I just rearranged the same paragraph with a synonym and it passed muster. It had no spelling errors yet their canned response says it did.

Some folks say take deep breath, move on, scream into a bag, take a break from them. I haven't shopped for them in a few weeks and plan on nailing them for a bonus, as I am basically their only Shopper in this hard to place area. This is a dish best served cold!

I agree 100% about intellishop! They are very inconsistent in their grading. I could submit 2 reports of the exact same quality and one will receive a 10 and the other will be sent back requiring more info and then given an 8. They are ridiculous. The only company that I've found that is worse is International Service Check. They are horrible and they treat their shoppers horribly!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2015 04:43PM by dobsgirl.

Let me take a polite attempt at addressing this....

@curiousone wrote:

jjk3995 Wow, you got a 9, that is an outstanding rating from IntelliShop after going through that terrible experience.

I believe it was Brian that got the 9, but your advice about screaming into a bag and moving on is a fine idea. Many shoppers are too hung up on scores, IMHO. As long as you continue to get the assignments you want, why does it matter?

@jjk3995 wrote:

I am a seasoned shoppers with hundreds of thousands of shops under my belt. I've been doing this for 13 years plus and am cerified. I will complain to the BBB, MSPA and anyone else until they change.

jjk3995, I also feel your pain about data being lost, have had that happen myself and agree that the experience with I-Shop is not as good as it was in the past. That said, expecting them to change based on complaints you make to the MSPA or BBB or post here may not be the best use of your time and energy. There have been numerous complaints and little change over the past few years. They are free to pay what they wish and only continue to do business because shoppers are willing to take the assignments. I would suggest taking a break from working with them.

If there's any positive to be gained from your story, it's the reminder to ALWAYS save a copy of your narratives. I would expect someone with your experience to know that.

...and as to your experience; in 15 years there are approximately 5,475 days, with a few added for leap years. If a shopper were to complete just one hundred thousand shops during a 15 year period, they would have to average more than 18 shops per day, every single day, for 15 years. When you make a claim that you have completed hundreds of thousand of shops, it then brings many of the other things you claim into question.

Intellishop is now the only MSC where I save the PDF of my report after submitting. Good to have that backup. I got an 8 last week because they had to contact me about my receipt. For some reason, it only half uploaded and the other half was just grey. It wasn't really my fault, probably some glitch as I always make sure it's done uploading. I know they had to contact me to reupload it, but they had no comments on my report, so why an 8? I still feel I deserved a 10.

But I don't get too hung up on my score, especially with them. I know 8, 9, or 10 is still good. I want to have as high an average as possible and their scoring is frustrating, but what can you do about it?! I still shop with them because they have more shops in my area than anyone and that's all that matters to me!

@mkkp wrote:

Intellishop is now the only MSC where I save the PDF of my report after submitting. Good to have that backup. I got an 8 last week because they had to contact me about my receipt. For some reason, it only half uploaded and the other half was just grey. It wasn't really my fault, probably some glitch as I always make sure it's done uploading. I know they had to contact me to reupload it, but they had no comments on my report, so why an 8? I still feel I deserved a 10.

But I don't get too hung up on my score, especially with them. I know 8, 9, or 10 is still good. I want to have as high an average as possible and their scoring is frustrating, but what can you do about it?! I still shop with them because they have more shops in my area than anyone and that's all that matters to me!

exactly...some things never change and as long as they pay decently and on time then roll with the 8's,9's & rare 10's.

@parkcitybrian I've only done about 8 shops with them so far, but ONE of them was a 10. I almost did a happy dance, haha! My average now is a 9 so I'm good with that.

So far, after three years of shopping with IntelliShop, I have not had any problems with the exception of one brake inspection. Still a bit miffed about that one since the mechanic broke a pin and had to replace the part before he could put the wheel back on. The shop was refused because I had "additional services performed". Well, if they had not repaired the broken pin, I would be driving around with three tires. Took more than three hours to do the shop because they had to order the part and I had to wait for it to be delivered. No one at the MSC seems to understand that.

Payment has always been received within 4-6 weeks and I usually enjoy the shops I accept. With the exception of 4 shops, I have received 10s and those shops were 2 9s and 2 8s.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2015 09:01PM by nslowry.

JJK3995, I didn't suggest you deleted it. I suggested they may have accidentally deleted it during editing.

@MDavisnowell wrote:

Do you think they accidentally deleted it during editing somehow, or do you think it didn't transmit in the first place?

Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.

I shopped them a lot last Summer when they were doing these fast food comparison shops and also menu audits. They kept calling me with obscene bonuses, so I took all kinds of shops. I had good experiences, I was paid for all of my shops. Now, I live in a different area where there are a lot of Travel Center shops. The pay used to be $5 with no bonus, but they have dropped it to $3. One of the shops at $3 has both dine in and drive through parts, for a $3 fee... Big. Dumb. Shop.

I have not experienced the problems I am reading about with Intellishop but I pick and choose which shops I do and have learned to wait for the bonuses. In my experience, they pay on time and I have had few problems with editing. If a scheduler contacts you to do a shop that you have done before or is in your area, don't be afraid to ask for a few extra dollars. I do their pizza shops and although I don't like that particular brand of pizza, the bonus makes it worth it. Good luck!

I have done four shops for Intellishop in the past month. Three were 10's and one was an 9. It was a 9 because the sticker prices did not match up with what I entered. They did but it was a store that regularly discounts their books. Where there is 3 different prices. Price on book, regular price on sticker, and store price. lol. Their form did not allow for three prices. So I went with my best judgement. I probably should have messaged the scheduler.

Well.... let me add this to the mix.

There are a half dozen (not self-assign) shops in one big city that needed to be done only on Fri - Sat from 5-10 pm. I applied for one on Thursday morning. My application was pending, and at 5 pm Friday, I had to cancel the application, since I knew that they were not going to be assigning it that night (8 PM EST). I was in the city for one night only.

I just checked now, none of the shops were assigned. There is ZERO chance that there were no applications with the hefty fee on these. It is now 4 pm on the last Saturday of the month. These won't get filled. I guess the scheduler went home at 5 pm Friday. So sad.

@SoCalMama wrote:

Well.... let me add this to the mix.

There are a half dozen (not self-assign) shops in one big city that needed to be done only on Fri - Sat from 5-10 pm. I applied for one on Thursday morning. My application was pending, and at 5 pm Friday, I had to cancel the application, since I knew that they were not going to be assigning it that night (8 PM EST). I was in the city for one night only.

I just checked now, none of the shops were assigned. There is ZERO chance that there were no applications with the hefty fee on these. It is now 4 pm on the last Saturday of the month. These won't get filled. I guess the scheduler went home at 5 pm Friday. So sad.

sad, indeed

jjk3995, you stated "I had 6 paragraphs. I went to my report and the editor deleted all of those comments."

When you went to your report, was it a pdf of what you submitted? It's been a while since I completed a shop for Intelli. As I recall, upon submitting a report, the site provided an option to save a pdf of it. I don't know if Intelli still does that, but I really appreciate the opportunity to save reports in pdf, just in case. . .