Has anyone tried these? Since they check your credit, does it affect your overall credit score? Thanks so much in advance! I saw a number of these nearby and was thinking of trying them out.

Of course affects your credit score.

OP: Why would you want to repeatedly ding your credit?

Thanks so much. I will pass on them. :p

not to mention the shop is time intensive. They want you to go thru the whole process
of purchasing a phone and keep it for a couple of days then return and cancel it.
You know what kind of hassle it will be to return it? All for only 50 bucks. Should
pay at least 250. Some of these authorized dealer locations will charge you a restocking fee. Are
they going to reimburse you for it? Don't see it mentioned anywhere. Plus your credit takes
a hit for a hard inquiry

Having the experience of being a real customer switching carriers and then switching back...I don't care if they ding my credit rating. I wouldn't touch these shops with a 10 foot pole. It was 9 months of getting things straight and I stll havent received all of the cash I that was supposed to be refunded.
Verizon was the culprit in my case. They threatened me when I had proof they received the phone. Trust me, it's a bloody nightmare.

There is no amount of money that could bribe me to do these suckers.

I've been considering these, too. The $$ just isn't there to compensate for the time, risk, and pain in the neck factor. If they go up to $150 and they will let me take 5 of them, I may consider it. I like working with Beyond Hello, and I trust them. Unfortunately, it's the cell phone companies I don't trust to get it right - just like MA Smith was talking about. I guess that is why they need some solid mystery shoppers to help them out!!

I won't do any buy return shops they don't pay well enough for 2 trips to the store plus gas money.

So I can't help but notice a ton of these are still sitting on the job boards. What do you all think - will they eventually offer a reasonable fee?

I don't see that any have been taken in my area. $50 is simply not enough for the stress. No where on the guidelines does it state that you will be reimbursed for any "stocking fee" or other fees that the cell phone company may assess after returning the phone and terminating the lease two days later. Plus you get dinged on your credit score.

This is on my 10' pole list, unless the fee increases significantly.

Hi DonnashoppingCA.
I performed one of these shops. I did exactly what they said to do. I returned the phone in the box, unopened and unactivated on Mar 6. On Apr 4 I received a bill from S****t for $716. I was in shock. Took me 3 hours on the phone with S****t before they "guaranteed" that the charges would be removed from my bill before its due date.

I notified Beyond Hello, they said that they had told me in the shop information that I would receive a bill, but that S****t would take care of it. Still waiting to see if my credit score will take a hit from NOT paying a bill for a phone I don't have and never activated, although I don't think that my credit score took a hit from the one check. It seems that it would be difficult to do more than one of these, since S****t will have your name in their system after the first one.

I gotta say, after this experience with S****t, I would NEVER use them for my cell service provider.

One other worrisome thing - I got a 10/10 on my report from the Beyond Hello evaluators, but in the comments they say that PAYMENT DEPENDS ON S****T ACCEPTING MY REPORT. There was never anything about that in the shop explanation. Holding my breath and waiting until the end of April to see if they will pay me for the shop at S****t that I completed in March.

AFAIK it is general operating procedure that payment for all shops from all MSC's are dependent on the client accepting the report. I know there are times when the shopper gets paid even though the client didn't accept the report but this is the exception and not the rule.

@vicvee, welcome to the Forum, and thanks for a very informative first post! We have been wondering about these shops. They have been sitting around for a long time, and the MSC has done nothing to make them more attractive, except for adding a reimbursement for the restocking fee. Sorry you had to spend three hours on the phone. What a nightmare!

I also want to thank and welcome vicvee. Your experience was even worse than I feared it would. I hope that you have now overcome all of the issues. I do have one question out of curiousity - how do you manage to leave the store with the phone still in the box and unactivated? Every time I have bought a new cell phone, they want to open the box, but it together, and activiate it for me.

Tell them it is a gift, the person who is to receive the gift already has an older/other phone, and don't want her to know that I have bought her this new phone for her birthday - so want to wait and activate it until AFTER she has opened it on her birthday. It was suggested by Beyond Hello - and it worked! :-)

While I appreciate you not actually naming the client, using the first and last letters with stars is almost the same thing. There is a blue edit link. You could change all of those to just client or carrier. Anything generic.

Now offering a $5 bonus.

Yippee!

These shops remain on the job board in my area. I, personally, will not apply for these assignments. Will affect credit reports and $50.00 is not enough for the time and expenses associated with this purchase and return shop. $5.00 bonus? Still not enough.

I will eat up the pre pay phone shops, but never do a shop that has a contract. You are at the whim of the company to remove a LEGAL contract. Then a credit hit...hells no!

After reading all these posts, I would NEVER, ever, never do this shop!

Just an FYI there was a federal rule that any written and signed contract can be broken within 3 days. This was put in place to make sure consumers did not get pressured into something they could not then back out of after leaving the location where the high pressure salesperson was. I am not sure if that rule has changed so do not take my word for it. But just in case anyone wants to do these jobs you will be backed by the federal govt on the contract cancellation. I would think not touching the phone in the box by saying it is a gift like vicvee suggested would be ideal so that they cannot come back and say...but you already did this or that......

I see these shops in my area. The shopper's fee is $50, special expense is $35 and the bonus is $5 or $10 (depending if you go to a stand alone store or a Mall store). These are from the Zorro wireless company. I was wondering about them but after reading the different posts and concerns I will still wonder.

I don't believe the $35 is part of the re-stocking fee even the guidelines do not state this. If you are leaving the store with the phone in the box as a gift, would not that $35 be more of an activation fee or fee for the company running a credit check? I have done plenty, cell phone(no buy) shops, where the retailor always included an activation fee in my first hypothetical bill.

So the special expenses would mostly be something paid for at the time of purchase. One does not find out about a re-stock fee until you return the phone, unless you ask in the beginning. Thereby, invalidating your report, if the retail believes you have intentions on returning the phone.

It used to say $35 restocking fee, payable only if you are charged for it.

That is what the instruction I read said. A restocking fee is just what it sounds like. It is a fee to restock the item that you are returning. It is becoming quite popular especially in electronics and appliance stores. The instructions I read said if you are charged a restocking fee when you return the item and cancel the contract they will reimburse the fee up to $35. I assume the $35 is the standard fee but not all locations will charge the fee. If they do you will be reimbursed. Why would you ask about the fee when you first negotiate the contract?

If it is a 'hard inquiry' it would definitely hit your credit score.

There is another thread where the shopper reported getting charged by the cell phone company for the full cost of the phone and is having real problems. I suggest looking at it. Despite what anyone at the MSC may promise you, 1) you are signing a legally binding contract and 2) you are going to have a credit hit (and the MSC can deny that all they want, but you are not going to be allowed to sign that legally binding contract without them checking your credit and once done, it is done).

@tjr wrote:

Now offering a $5 bonus.

LOL Like that's enough to get anyone to so this shop. Nope!