Been there, done that. I avoid those shops anymore. Not worth my time.

Maybe should have started a new thread for this, but this one is what I've been asked about. Which MSCs offer upscale casual and fine dining assignments, and pay a fee plus reimbursement sufficient enough so I am not limited to a specific portion of the menu.

MCG, Coyle, Customer Impact are the first ones that come to my mind.

I don't mind doing there shops. I have a professional job and make excellent money. Mystery shopping allows me to do things I probably would not spend time on. Their reports can be tedious and redundant but I go to the high-end restaurant shops. I do not waste my time for a $35 casual dining when I am going to spend around $45-50. No, thank you. I will do a reimbursement of $80-150, even if I go over. Hey, I just had dinner at my favorite restaurant, spent $200 and was reimbursed $150. That was not working for free. Even though we still paid $50 out of pocket, I would have eaten at some mediocre restaurant that night (and still paid $50) and not have experienced this restaurant.
I do not like their 12 hour submission time though. I always request a 24-27 hour ;-)

@Mert wrote:

Which MSCs offer upscale casual and fine dining assignments, and pay a fee plus reimbursement sufficient enough so I am not limited to a specific portion of the menu.

I generally agree with Merts list, but it varies with almost all companies. A lot of Coyle shops recently have made it difficult to come in under budget, but then I had an amazing dinner over the weekend with them that had no budget limitations; just ordering guidelines. Had an amazing $295 meal with a heft fee attached!

I've been coming down recently on ACL, but also had a really easy bar/dinner shop with them this week that was enough to get 2 drinks and an entree each for my guest and me. No pics, no reservation. Simple reporting.

I would add that NSite also has some nice dining shops near me, and like ACL, if you hold out you can usually arrange for a fee to be included.

Viewpoint Consumer Reporting has good assignments that pay a generous fee. They work a lot with an outside scheduler, Frances Massengale

Guest Check also pays well and has some really nice outlets.

I also thought that the reports are a bit lengthy, but I do enjoy getting those free dinners.

True there are other restaurants that show up, however try to get a shop with them. It seems that somehow they're grabbed as soon as they show up on the boards. The breastaurant I mentioned does have age restrictions of 21-55 thus cancelling me out.

RE: Here's a HUGE timesaving tip for those of you who regularly shop one of ACL's clients: take the 30-45 minutes required to write the excruciating detail for each section and...dum da dum dum DUM...save it in a Word doc!

Then, cut-n-paste the next time you shop the same client, and you only have to tweak your lengthy narrative a bit here and there, depending what happened during that particular shop.

Dear ACL Shoppers:

First and foremost, thank you to all the readers of this forum who complete shops for us. We appreciate your hard work, great reports and everything you do that enables us to do what we do at ACL.

We were made aware of the above comments and wanted to address them. We do not condone this type of report preparation, either by copying and pasting sentences/narratives from previous shops or working from a base template of a report/comments, as it can amount to fraudulent reporting. When we find out about such activity, we are forced to exercise the full extent of penalties as outlined in our Independent Contractor Agreement.

Each shopping report should be unique to the specific assignment being completed. We owe our clients the best possible and most accurate data from our shoppers that pertains to their visit, at the time they visit. If a shopper takes shortcuts and does not accurately report on their experience, it jeopardizes their shopper status with us, as happened in this case. During our quality control process, if we find that shoppers are cutting and pasting from templates or past reports, they will be deactivated and will forfeit any pending reimbursements.

We want to again thank the thousands of wonderful shoppers who complete great reports for us and do an outstanding job on a regular basis. We sincerely value what you do and appreciate it.

A Closer Look

I agree copy/paste is ridiculous and find it hard to believe two different shops could be that similar anyway. I'm not sure about templates. Many MSCs provide sample narratives. When I use those to gauge the level of detail required and the preferred format, the report is not only easier the quality is much higher.

@shopsatacl wrote:

First and foremost, thank you to all the readers of this forum who complete shops for us. We appreciate your hard work, great reports and everything you do that enables us to do what we do at ACL.

Sorry, ACL, but you bring about this sort of attitude toward your assignments by remodeling the standard for restaurant and hotel assignments when you do not pay a fee, and then require that sort of extreme detail in the reports.

If you truly do appreciate shoppers, then pay us an industry standard fee that is commensurate with the work we do, rather than waiting until the end of the month an adding a small fee as a bonus to untaken assignments. Your appreciation for our work and your ability to make a larger profit from it pales in comparison to simply paying a us a fee to start with.

@LisaSTL wrote:

I agree copy/paste is ridiculous and find it hard to believe two different shops could be that similar anyway.

Actually, the nature of the ACL reporting structure with having timings in one section, service in another, etc. make for a lot of repetition when reporting details and the narratives do all start to look alike after a while. I can see a case for wanting to use a template, since when you are generally not paid a fee, the time involved in reporting starts to feel like a nuisance.

For me, I'm a fast enough typist that it's quicker and easier for me to simply generate the detail from scratch than than to hunt and peck through a template, but I stand by my above statement that ACL generates this poor attitude toward creating original content with their poor fee structure.

I've never completed any food or lodging shops for ACL, only those that pay a fee. Since they are few and far between it has amounted to just two shops. In those cases the pay was commensurate with the work. IMHO, reimbursing a meal only is ridiculous. Even if the shopper can receive some sort of enjoyment, and how likely is that with multiple timings, ordering restrictions, etc., facing a long, tedious report for no additional compensation just doesn't cut it in my world.

I would be interested in seeing @shopsatacl comment on the ACL Rating thread.

Don't hold your breath for that....

I'm not, but by commenting here they have opened themselves up for the discussion. Are they going to discuss what their shoppers would like them to discuss or are they only going to discuss the things they want to? Shows you what type of company they are if it's the latter.

I expect the latter. ACL may believe they are okay with status quo, and perhaps they are.

Interesting that whoever posted is apparently speaking for A Closer Look and felt comfortable to sign "A Closer Look" but did not identify him or herself as the individual who is speaking for A Closer Look. I would expect someone in a managerial position with A Closer Look to sign their name and stand behind the post if they felt the need to post it. I'm disappointed in them.

Having been a teacher who had to write "individualized" report cards for my students, I recognize the value of saving comments in a Word document. Just as no two students are exactly the same, no two customer service representatives for companies are exactly the same. That being said, there are similarities. I save all of my comments in Word documents. When I am writing a report for a company that I have shopped before, I can look at my previous comments to help me with vocabulary and descriptions, etc. Let's face it, after the fifth visit to a chain of cell phone shops, some of the results are going to be the same. I will paste a paragraph from a previous shop into the Word document for the new shop and tweak it so that it is accurate for that experience. Really, how many different ways can one describe the interior of one of those bill paying stores or the menu board at a FF chain! Some of the basic information is going to be pretty similar. When it comes to the actual events and interactions with employees, that's where I write from scratch.

I would never just copy and paste from an old report into a new one. But it certainly makes sense not to reinvent the wheel in order to save some time and mental stress.

I've been shopping with them for a while. I'm going to Hawaii for free. Taking a cruise for free. Going to Ireland next year for free. All because I got a whole bunch of different credit cards with these amazing perks when you spend so much money in a certain amount of time. This company offers me the ability to meet that goal by doing the higher-end hotels and restaurants. I enjoy this company a lot.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/2015 08:01PM by hackwid.

They care. It goes on your internal report card, believe me.

@nstudent wrote:

I've noticed that if I submit them within 24 hours, they don't seem to care. I've never been told my report is late, and I don't think I have ever gotten in within the 12 hr mark

@JASFLALMT wrote:

They care. It goes on your internal report card, believe me.

@nstudent wrote:

I've noticed that if I submit them within 24 hours, they don't seem to care. I've never been told my report is late, and I don't think I have ever gotten in within the 12 hr mark

Absolutely correct. Although you get the standard canned thank-you and they don't address your lateness, it goes on your scorecard and, after a few late reports, you will see fewer assignments. You may not even notice, because you may continue to see exactly the same assignments. But here's a clue: as shoppers successfully complete assignments, the number of assignments visible to them usually increases. Shoppers with lower scores do not move to the next level and don't see more.

Creating your report in Word, spell checking, proofreading, and then cutting and pasting the segments helps to create quality reports. Some of the reporting platforms will make you cross-eyed and prone to missing errors.

@SteveSoCal wrote:

@shopsatacl wrote:

First and foremost, thank you to all the readers of this forum who complete shops for us. We appreciate your hard work, great reports and everything you do that enables us to do what we do at ACL.

Sorry, ACL, but you bring about this sort of attitude toward your assignments by remodeling the standard for restaurant and hotel assignments when you do not pay a fee, and then require that sort of extreme detail in the reports.

If you truly do appreciate shoppers, then pay us an industry standard fee that is commensurate with the work we do, rather than waiting until the end of the month an adding a small fee as a bonus to untaken assignments. Your appreciation for our work and your ability to make a larger profit from it pales in comparison to simply paying a us a fee to start with.

And this is why I don't work with ACL. Completely ridiculous. What's that? You'd like me to do sandwich shop with a $15.00 reimbursement fee and no payment for my time and effort? You have upwards of ten of these shops? Good luck with that.

@MDavisnowell wrote:

How is getting an expensive meal working for free? I don't do shops for expensive meals but I wouldn't consider a report in exchange for a meal to be "free".

Did you ever have to go elsewhere for a meal because the meal was not edible and you did not get good service and you did not get reimbursed because the manager comped it? It was expensive on the menu but it was garbage on the plate. All you got was abused and you got no value and you still had to eat so you took money out of your pocket to eat elsewhere. That is worse than working for free.

I simply pick and choose exactly what suits me among ACL's shops and leave the rest to others. They have enough easy hotel shops within 45 minutes of me to produce a ton of rewards points each year that I use to fund vacations and subsidise lucrative routes. I have always been granted extensions just by asking for that. I take out several test shops a year for them, with a fee, and get first crack at flaked hotel shops in my area. When I do their hotels that are close to my regular local routes, I can/do use those to extend those routes without havig to double back home overnight. It's sort of like finding a parking shop and building a set of other shops around it, thus avoiding paying high center city parking costs. That gives me easy access to shops I might otherwise choose not to drive to.

Like eveything else, it depends what you select and what you want to make from that. I don'tdo evening restaurant shops or fine dining, by choice, so have little knowledge of what those reports look like. But, my sister and BiL do a ton of those for ACL and always get an extension on the deadline, with no problems. To each his own, etc.

I would not consider copying and pasting narratives from past shops. Much easier, faster, and more relevant for me to compose each report on its own.

Regarding ACL's casual and fine dinings that pay no fees, I have tried and tired of them. These restaurants may overall be considered wonderful. But what if my shop experience was not wonderful? It cannot be considered a discount on a tab that I would willingly pay out of pocket. If on my own, and my out of pocket experience was stinky, I could and would raise a stink. On assignment, my avenues are limited. Examples of when my experiences have gone south - there's a bone in my fileted fish, chef came to the table and disputed that the bone, saved for posterity, was a bone . . . entrees were served at off-times, by several minutes, for me and my companion . . . pasta sauce was spilled onto my suede heels. . . Reimbursement only is sucky, especially when the experience is sucky. Doing the onsite, spending an hour or so on a report, for reimbursement only of a sucky meal? I agree with Steve, ACL has brought this upon themselves.

As long as shoppers feel grateful to work for reimbursement only, ACL will be more than willing to maintain status quo. You think they do not realize a fee?

Overall, I like ACL but I do wish they would pay more. I had a fine dining where the meal was not prepared correctly. I have a food allergy and my entrée arrived with the ingredient I'm allergic to. I mentioned it to the server, I was comped. ACL said I can't do that location for a year since I'm now memorable. I'm fine with that. What's annoying is that I spent an hour on the report, plus had to pay for parking (downtown) which they would not reimburse me for...all for a meal that I couldn't even enjoy.

Wow, Phoebe, that stinks. I am really surprised that the restaurant did not offer to get you a meal that you could enjoy in addition to comping your meal...but I get why you would not want to do any restaurant shops for ACL anymore.

@hackwid wrote:

I've been shopping with them for a while. I'm going to Hawaii for free. Taking a cruise for free. Going to Ireland next year for free. All because I got a whole bunch of different credit cards with these amazing perks when you spend so much money in a certain amount of time. This company offers me the ability to meet that goal by doing the higher-end hotels and restaurants. I enjoy this company a lot.

At first, I thought you meant that THEY were paying your way to Hawaii or shopping the cruise lines. I do get what you're saying, though. I recently took a job with them for exactly that reason -- trying to meet a credit card $ goal that will get me a substantial number of free flights. I'm then going to turn those free flights into lower travel bids for premium shops with Coyle and others. My experience with ACL has been positive; yet we all know things are good with an MSC until they aren't.

@MrEToomey wrote:

@hackwid wrote:

I've been shopping with them for a while. I'm going to Hawaii for free. Taking a cruise for free. Going to Ireland next year for free. All because I got a whole bunch of different credit cards with these amazing perks when you spend so much money in a certain amount of time. This company offers me the ability to meet that goal by doing the higher-end hotels and restaurants. I enjoy this company a lot.

At first, I thought you meant that THEY were paying your way to Hawaii or shopping the cruise lines. I do get what you're saying, though. I recently took a job with them for exactly that reason -- trying to meet a credit card $ goal that will get me a substantial number of free flights. I'm then going to turn those free flights into lower travel bids for premium shops with Coyle and others. My experience with ACL has been positive; yet we all know things are good with an MSC until they aren't.

Putting in an unreasonably low travel bid hurts everyone... Sheesh

@SoCalMama wrote:

Putting in an unreasonably low travel bid hurts everyone...

Agreed. It's the same as taking the "free" meal with no fee. It sets up an expectation with the MSC and their clients that they don't have to pay fees or travel expenses. The clients never let that go and wonder why they have to pay for the next evaluator!

Case in point; the current cruise shops posted on the Coyle board. A few years ago they were paying upwards of a thousand dollars or so in travel for the right evaluators to get them on a cruise. Now they are selecting cruises from popular domestic ports and asking for evaluators that don't require travel.

At that point, the client just gets the cheapest evaluator and not necessarily the best one....and you have set a standard that will hurt your ability to ever get good travel incentives from that MSC in the future.