I have been reading several of the reviews from all of you out there regarding the IntelliShop mystery shopping company. I have completed 98 shops with them, and have an average rating of 10. I have read many of the same aggravations that some of you have documented, such as the recent lower grades that have been given for the same quality of reports. I have come to the conclusion that many of the proofreaders feel that they HAVE to give a lower than perfect score, even if the quality of the report is in fact perfect. This only serves to justify the reason for their employment so that their bosses can justify their existence.

I completed a shop at a car dealership for IntelliShop in July, and have still not been paid for it. I "boiled over" in anger when dealing with the Field Staff Coordinator, who said that I "falsified" my report, because the dealership was not offering a $2,500 gas card if I purchased the Mercedes today. This gas card was NOT my idea, but was something that the dealership sales representative offered me as an incentive. So naturally, since ALL dealership salespeople tell the whole truth when attempting to make a sale, I was accused of lying on my report. I told him to check my record and tell me if that is the record of a shopper who falsifies reports. I was given a 1 on the report, and was told that they couldn't use my report and couldn't (wouldn't) pay me for it. My guess is that they took that part off my report, and submitted the report so that they could get paid and would not have to pay me.

I have had it with this company, and will not perform any more reports for them. I suggest that you really watch your shops and reports, because this is obviously not an honest and legitimate company. I am just sorry that it took so long for me to find this out, as I have invested five years working for them!

Shopper beware,

PennyRobert

Penny, just like shoppers have good days/periods and bad ones, companies do this as well. I wouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater and terminate, just step away for a while and then try them again. I currently have a half dozen companies I am avoiding and hope that next year they will get their act together so we can continue a collegial relationship.

I try to avoid them because of the longggggg reports. But, I haven't had any trouble with them yet.If I can get a big enough bonus then I will consider doing a shop for them but they are on my NOT favorite list because of the report length.The last one I did was at a national truck stop chain and their were 78 questions on the report with dialog boxes!

Hi Penny - Not having a report accepted is disappointing, but you and Intellishop did have 97 consecutive successful shops over a five year period. That's a solid, long term record on both sides of the fence. Disagreements are going to happen from time to time. It's not a question of who is right or who is wrong. After a disagreement of this nature, it's a question of whether each party wants to go forward with a business relationship. I know you're done with Intellishop, but they paid you 97 times and the odds they would deliberately mistreat you are slim. This situation is probably the result of everything that could go wrong going wrong. I'm hoping you can reconsider and make up. It never hurts to leave the bridge across the creek even if you're not going that way again.

The 'he said/she said' shops that are questioned are tough, and can leave us feeling hopeless. We don't know what is happening among client, location and MSP, as it plays out. When the verdict comes down, it's generally final. Any appeal from the shopper is likely to fall on deaf ears.

So. Put a cool down period in place, where you make no rash decisions and don't communicate with the involved. A rejected shop can leave a bad taste in your mouth, especially when it's disagreeable. After a couple of weeks, or even a month, decide if the rejected report is a relationship-breaker.

Going forward, consider developing the habit of carrying a DVR. Save the wav files to the shop, just in case.