Sights on Service dba Secret Shopper

Sights on Service dba Secret Shopper - doesn't pay gratuity?

I've been shorted gratuity on 4 restaurant shops last month and they say they don't pay gratuity. There is no agreement on their website to review and all other companies pay gratuity to me if it falls below the max reimbursement. Has anyone else worked with this company who also does not get paid for gratuity?

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Read the fine print in the amount to be paid for the shop. It should say exactly.

That's the thing it doesn't. It just says "Reimbursement up to "$XX.XX"

On its valet shops it only reimbursed $2. So how much are you really expecting them to pay on restaurants?

BTW why didn't you not eat so much after the first shop? Some restuarants shops will be invalided if you don't tip

It is up to you to make your up to "reimbursed" to include the tip.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/08/2016 11:33PM by sojo917.

Not sure I'm following what you said. Here's my example of 1 of 4 assignments with them"
"Reimbursement up to $70.00"
Ticket $52.56
Gratuity $10.00 (19%)
Total $62.56
This is below the "Reimbursement up to" amount so $62.56 should be reimbursed not $52.56

I've done a bunch of restaurant shops for them. They have never reimbursed gratuities. The guidelines usually only show the total reimbursement, but the payment and no-tip notation was always shown on the Assignment Sheet.

My last assignment sheet showed:

Payment: Reimbursement up to $30.00, not including tip. I'm not sure about the shops you are doing for them. Have you checked the Assignment Sheet?

Severall companies I have worked with do not reimburse tip. I don't particularly like it, but it hasn't stopped me from working for them if I like the restaurant.

I have done assignments for them that do not reimburse tips and the assignment notes clearly state tips are not reimbursed. These shops they have in my area are walk up to the counter and put in your order shops. There is a tip jar standing there but lots and lots of people do not tip in that situation. I am fully aware the tips are not reimbursed so I decide whether or not I want to tip out of pocket. No where does it say I have to leave a tip.
I do not remember ever doing a sit down table service restaurant for them.

@m00nsafari wrote:

Not sure I'm following what you said. Here's my example of 1 of 4 assignments with them"
"Reimbursement up to $70.00"
Ticket $52.56
Gratuity $10.00 (19%)
Total $62.56
This is below the "Reimbursement up to" amount so $62.56 should be reimbursed not $52.56

Was it a sit-down restauarant or a pizza place?

I would be royally pissed if it was a full-service restaurant, and I had to pay the tip and write a report.

"Up to reimburse"-------maybe I would have eaten $70, cause the tip was not going to be included.

SOS generally informs the Shopper up front.

The restaurants I did for them were all sit-down and order restaurants. I did tip, although it was very clear by the Assignment Sheet that the gratuity was not reimbursed.

The assignment sheets only state "Reimbursement up to "$XX.XX" I have read them 10 times over seeing if I am missing anything and I am not. There is no mention of gratuity being excluded but they said they are sending me an agreement showing this but will not be another day he says (because they need to type it up) Honestly 4 assignment sheets don't say excluding gratuity. I got my answer then that they don't pay gratuity. Thanks

All 4 were full service sit down restaurants, 2 at a Brewery and 2 at a Pub requiring appetizer, cocktail & 2 entrees. The company said "you aren't required to tip the waiter" I told him he didn't have a heart if you wouldn't tip a service worker who did a great job.

They seriously want their shoppers to stiff waitstaff?? That's a crazy response!

Doing what I can to enhance the life of my family! I LOVE what I do

I've never shop for this company, but I do have other companies that do not offer reimbursement on taxes and tip. It's usually international companies, because apparently tipping isn't standard in Europe and Asia.

@m00nsafari wrote:

All 4 were full service sit down restaurants, 2 at a Brewery and 2 at a Pub requiring appetizer, cocktail & 2 entrees. The company said "you aren't required to tip the waiter" I told him he didn't have a heart if you wouldn't tip a service worker who did a great job.

Well if there's nothing more to the story, I 100% agree with you. I'm sorry they screwed you.

There are a few MSC's with this policy. It's heartless, unfair and NOT an industry standard. I recommend that no shopper take an assignment where they are forced to either put out money on their own or subject an employee who relies on tips to not receiving one.

Not sure if it was SoS, but a few years back a took a table service assignment for an MSC and was declined the tip reimbursement, even though it was within the reimbursement limits.

I argued my point and explained that the policy of not covering tips was not mentioned in the assignment instructions. They paid me the $6 they owed me and changed the instructions to say that tips were not covered.

I no longer work with companies that have that policy, but my point is that you should push back if the tipping policy was not clearly covered and you do not plan on taking assignments with them in the future.

I was burned once on this, and consider it to be so over the line I won't shop for companies that won't cover a tip and a decent reimbursement. They seem to have no problem getting shoppers, but they're not getting me.

Kona Kathie

@m00nsafari wrote:

All 4 were full service sit down restaurants, 2 at a Brewery and 2 at a Pub requiring appetizer, cocktail & 2 entrees. The company said "you aren't required to tip the waiter" I told him he didn't have a heart if you wouldn't tip a service worker who did a great job.

That's infuriating. Are they based in another country or something? In Europe diners don't tip because the wait staff makes really great wages. In the US, most everyone knows that servers are making about a third of the minimum wage, and servers get taxed 8% of the total bill regardless of whether they get a tip or not.

UPDATE----After countless aeguments with the Accounting Manager (who should be fired), demanding to speak to the President, being hung up on from the Accounting Manager and not returning my calls, I went through the schedulers who said they would handle it. Finally the President wrote me a personal check and made right of the situation. Hopefully they update their assignment sheets because these 4 from Seattle locations said "Up to: $xx.xx" nothing about minus gratuity. Thanks gain you guys/gals for helping me be persistent and not get screwed over.

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Sights on Service dba Secret Shopper - doesn't pay gratuity?

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