As the year comes to a close, I'm curious to see what everyone's favorite and least favorite shops were in 2014.

OK. I'll start. My favorite: the Platinum Hotel in Vegas (It was a great location and included dinner, bar, breakfast and room service)

My least favorite: a Papa John's shop (not only do I hate having to take all those specific photos, but I didn't get paid for one of them!)

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Shopping the greater Los Angeles area and beyond

Too funny!

Looking back I can't say I've had a best or worst shop. I started this adventure in March and it has been a huge learning experience.

The worst run was during the wildflower and tree pollinating season. I had the dogs with me that day. I couldn't breathe or see. I had to constantly pull over to rest my eyes. All I wanted was a dog friendly hotel and I was in the boonies. If cell phone service was available I would've had called someone to come get me. A 2 hour ride was almost 6 hours and I still had to write reports.

One of my favorite shops is a store that the employees have decided to really have fun with greeting customers as they enter requirement. It's hysterical. Not sure the corporation approves, but their approach makes all the customers giggle and smile from ear to ear. Unless you're a huge twerp, there is no reason to walk out of this particular location without feeling better about your day.

The best part of this year has been I finally saw the diversity of TX. It really is a beautiful state. I'll admit I get tired of 12 hour road days, but I never tire of how everything changes from week to week. It's the reason I get started at 3:30 am most days.

Favorite: Neuhaus Chocolatiers, easy and delicious!
Least Favorite: BJ's Brewpub, hated the report form

Least Favorite is very easy:
Happened in November. It was supposed to be a quick 1 and half day trip to a Casino. Due to flight cancellations, turned into a 3 day nightmare with a 7 hour layover in an airport on way out, 2 nights in hotel, and 5 hour layover on way back. The only saving grace was I was able to pick up a few shops while sitting in the airport.

Favorite is also easy to remember:
Group of shops late this summer that had me fly out and back on same day from my local airport. Simple forms and fantastic pay.

Great thread!

Most favourite was The Body Shop, very easy reporting and scenario.

Least favourite were the gym shops. Articles and reviews for magazines took less time to write..

The 7/11 cinnabon that doesn't have pics. In and out in a minute, 2 tops. M-a-y-b-e 4 whole responses on the report.

Favorite: The 7/6 Caribbean Cruise I took late summer.

Least Favorite: Some restaurant I took on a lark. Recruiter wouldn't let me see the report until I accepted (Flag 1). Then I saw the report and I wish I could decline. The report itself was close to 25 pages of what to look for, what to evaluate, and what to do. Then the MS wanted the synopsis complete by midnight that night. No biggie, but I got at the restaurant at 7:00pm (which was the earliest I could get there), but didn't leave until 10:45. Each question needed a minimum of 300 characters, regardless of Yes/No. I submitted the form a few minutes before midnight (local time).

Recruiter called me the next day at 7:00 am (local time) to ask me why I was late with my report. Apparently, her version of midnight was one hour earlier than mine. Then she made me edit the report five times because it was not "opinionated" enough for the client, and I needed to identify the correct Pantone color of red on the napkins (no kidding).

After five days, and countless edits, I finally got my report figured out. Then I got my reimbursement, $5. I am done with that company.

Most Memorable: The Blue Hedgehog shop where a customer ran over a carhop.

Favourite shops were a bonused gas station, and a heavily bonused dine-in only McD's.
Least favourite were any shops that I applied for, and didn't get!! There were no shops I did that I absolutely hated.

I liked the Hot Legs and Hot Tan shops. Easy and fun. I didn't do any I hated.

This might be the first year I haven't had a single shop worth complaining about. I suppose my least favorite were 2 phone shops as I simply don't like talking on the phone, but these were fairly compensated.

Favorites were Yardhouse (I'm a sucker for beer) and a couple hotel shops.

My favorite are going away because First Citizens Bank is merging and the MSC is changing. I won't be able to do the 40-50 banks per route in 3 days anymore.

You won't be able to get them through the new MSC?

Favorite: Any with a shop fee over $30

Least Favorite: Smashburger

Favorite - highly bonused cell phone audit.
Least favorite - the first highly bonused cell phone audit that took me 2 hours.

Favorite - 10 really easy purchase and return cell phone shops that paid $50 apiece with a very simple and quick form. There were many independent shops that were not honoring the corporate policies and stuffing the bills and forced up sells. They cleaned up their act due to this shop.

Worst - The longest cell phone display audit I have seen where the shop instructions didn't give me a timed "out" if the customer wanted to make phone calls and page people before accepting the LOA. I had to wait almost 40 minutes before I could start and then the manager followed me around the store and tried to read the audit form over my shoulder the entire time I was there. She knew her displays were not updated and did everything she could to delay and attempt to prevent me from doing the audit.

I did another one a day later and it went just fine.

Most Memorable - I love dining shops. They don't usually pay much more than a few pounds weight gain and carpel tunnel in my wrists, but I still can't resist the reimbursement shops at several restaurants that are out of my current budget several times a month.

Favorite: Exxon audits. I can do them in 20 minutes now since I have memorized the required photos and not having to remember alot gives my brain downtime.
Least favorite: McDonalds. For some reason having to do all those timings without getting caughts gives me major anxiety.

The new MSC has a limit of four shops per day.

kimmiemae Wrote:
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> You won't be able to get them through the new MSC?

Yes - Boot Barn - I picked up a bonused one and was able to buy my favorite socks. The first verizon audit will still remain as the worst. If I had not had info from forum members it probably would have taken 4 hours instead of 2. But by the third I had them down to 45 minutes - still was a major PIA.

Favorite shop was bar shops pay 30 and 25 for food, I did 3 in one day and had to order coffee at the last one bartender was really great. I said she should be training the other bartenders.

Worst was a wine bar where the bartender was in the back when I arrived and during my 1 hour visit was up front for less than 15 minutes total time. No customers came in that stayed since it seemed no one was working there. Difficult to write a narrative and answer questions for things that didn't happen. I have learned to always time when they come and go, 3 wine bar shops and all 3 the same for some reason they just leave the bar and hang out in the back, but there does not seem to have a monitor in the back so that they can see who comes in. Also it is a wine bar but you can't order wine or beer!

I don't have a favorite to share but my worst experience was an integrity bar shop. The two bartenders I evaluated kept flirting. Now, there is nothing against the law with flirting, by all means, love is love! However, it is quite uncomfortable to write a narrative about the female bartender grabbing the male bartender's 'goods' ALL night long. In front of guests, in front of me, and it literally went on all night. For almost every drink she served, she was playing with her co-wokers' frontal region. I had to contact the scheduler to see how she wanted me to include this into the report. Let's just say, it took quite a few hours to write up with the extensive questions the scheduler sent back to me. As I wrote the report, I kept thinking, "Why does this happen to me?"

Favorite: Fine Dining
Least Favorite: Pizza with a zillion pictures
Most Profitable: Business Banking Shops

Favorite shop: it's a tie between a fast food Greek place where the food was delicious and the report was a breeze to write; and an eyeglasses shop that took less than 15 minutes and had a short report with a high shopper fee.

Worse shop: a price audit for three grocery stores which took me almost a month to complete. The MSC's instructions were vague to begin with and the client kept asking for more details. So my report was kicked back to me several times and I had to return to the stores to re-check the information on some of the products. The MSC ended up paying me $450, but that fee was not worth it considering all the hours I spent working on the assignment.

No more highly bonused treat shops were not so terrific.


Breaking into new companies doing anything were the best shops for me!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/27/2014 04:37AM by MelanieOR.

I don't have a particular favorite, but I did like all of the shops that worked out to $25/hour or more and didn't require a purchase.

My least favorite was the one and only competitive price audit I did at a competitor of whole paycheck. It was my first shop for the MSC and my first price audit. Even keeping in mind that it was my first such audit, it took w-a-y too long in the store, it was extremely hard to stay under the radar, and the report and subsequent questions from the MSC took almost as long as the shop. The pay would've been awful even if I'd had a lot of experience with that type of shop. I did it mainly to get my feet wet with the MSC. The experience served its purpose, and now I can say that I will not do that particular audit again.

I don't have a particular "favorite" shop but rather a favorite new kind of shop I started doing more of and that is casual dining. I did a few more than normal this year and have found them a great way to go out, treat my mom or friends, and get paid for it. Sure there might be a bit of extra work involved, but all in all its not too bad. I found a new vegan/vegetarian restaurant that is pretty good (a bit on the expensive side though....and I am by no means a vegetarian!) and a BBQ place that I've seen but never had tried.

Worst shop (that I ultimately got out of): We have a chain of specialty grocery stores in the Chicagoland area that are a bit more higher priced. The pay was OK but when I went in there, it was hard trying to find help to get the shop done.

Good morning, new friends! First-time poster here, but just HAD to just into the mix on this thread... I started MSing about 7 years ago when I traveled alone a LOT, and it gave me something to do in the evenings. I burned out quickly, and had a negative experience, so hung it up until this fall.

In October, I somehow came across a MS which became my FAVORITE and got me back into the business. It was a $40 shop to take a proctored exam, fail it BADLY, then attempt to bribe the test administrator. She got so upset, I thought she was about to call the cops! I quickly left the facility, and was hooked.

Since I've only been back for 4 months, I really don't feel qualified to comment on a "Least Favorite" because, at this point, every shop I can complete is another bit of experience.

Now, with all of that said........... I'll go introduce myself in the proper forum! =0)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/01/2015 07:50PM by jodycarter.

If it is not fun I am not going to do it! I do not have to, therefore no bad shops this year.

Historically I did the Pizza shop where the pictures are never acceptable and the Swedish furniture shop where you walk all over the show room and answer far too many questions and not get paid. I will not drop my camera in a toilet bowl attempting to take a picture of a cleanliness issue. I will not attempt to take a picture of gas pumps when the guy in the turban is yelling something I can not understand.

I like new challenges but when you have been Mystery Shopping a few years there are few "new" challenges.

For Nostalgia I might take a shop in the inter-city when begged by a desperate scheduler who got flaked buy a suburban shopper who had no business going to a location but when they got there had the sense enough to keep on driving and live another day. I can not tell you how many times I was asked if I was buying or selling drugs. I can not tell you how many times "homeless" people asked me for "change" or offered to pleasure me for the price of a fix of drugs. I declined diplomatically both solicitations. I get paid well when I take these shops but it is always a risk and an adventure. I like that I can still pull it off. I would not do it after dark and would not send my wife on that shop that can occur at several locations in different towns.

On the other side of the coin I play wealthy very well test driving $70,000 vehicles like I had the money to buy one for cash. I like the $150 lunches in the high end department store cafeteria. People actually frequent this very expensive lunch shop. You have to listen to the conversations on the other tables. You read the menu from left to right considering what you might like for lunch and not concerned with the cost on the right side of the menu. The client wants you to spend over $100 for two people. The wives of professionals enjoy the lifestyle while the husbands are eating in a hospital cafeteria or ordering lunch to be delivered to their office.

Favorite: Orange Leaf - love getting FroYo and getting paid for it

Worst: Revealed Gas Station Audits - just seems like all the pictures and so many pages to the report just never worth what they are offering.

Favorite - Another Broken Egg
Least Favorite - The Shell audit. Never again.