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Bad Review - Shop Disqualified

March 17, 2015 09:21PM
Two weeks I did restaurant shop, the same one I've been doing for months now. I've never had a problem with the restaurant or my reports. Three months ago, they changed what had to be ordered. I can't eat it because of allergies, but asked the scheduler reached out to me because I've been doing so well on the shops. I ordered something similar, followed all the other rules and my reports were accepted. The same thing happened this month except the staff gave really horrible service so I detailed it in my report. My report was disqualified because "I didn't follow the rules," but I feel like it was because I called out the employees. I had already decided to take a break from the restaurant shops, but this just kind makes me mad.

Has this happened with anyone else? How do you deal with it?
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March 17, 2015 09:33PM
Did you also get permission for this round to order something different?
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March 17, 2015 09:33PM
some companies dont use mystery shopping to improve themselves
and want only positive reports. this is so they can say look, we have
98% satisfaction rate, customers love us to whoever they need to
satisfy, whether it's banks loaning them money or an investor round.

= + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = +
There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots
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When you try to please everybody, you end up pleasing nobody
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March 18, 2015 12:33AM
Did you try to appeal? I doubt they remember that they gave you permission to order something different the last time. Is there any chance they said it via email and you still have the email? You can point out that they did agree to it the last time and your report was accepted.

They may have previously noted that you had permission for the variation the 1st time, but that didn't carry over to future shops. You would probably need to notify them everytime beforehand.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2015 12:35AM by jmitw.
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March 18, 2015 02:42AM
Yes, I was banned from McDonald's shops because I honestly reported the wait was 6 minutes. It didn't bother me, I was in no hurry. Then I got the dreaded "what were you wearing" email, then I "no longer fit the profile for these shops".

There's nothing you can do, just err on the positive in future. Tell them what they want to hear.
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March 18, 2015 03:18AM
If you are honest, follow instructions, and properly document everything, your shop will not be rejected. If you follow any bad advice given here then you'll end up one less person taking jobs away from the honest shoppers.

My posts are solely based on my opinions and for my entertainment, contact a professional if you need real advice.

When you get in debt you become a slave. - Andrew Jackson
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March 18, 2015 04:25AM
@mistry wrote:

Yes, I was banned from McDonald's shops because I honestly reported the wait was 6 minutes. It didn't bother me, I was in no hurry. Then I got the dreaded "what were you wearing" email, then I "no longer fit the profile for these shops".

There's nothing you can do, just err on the positive in future. Tell them what they want to hear.

Oh my, my wait tonight was 13 minutes to get my entire meal, they had to make fries. I do these shops when I get a craving for a big mac or the fee gets high enough. I hope they don't ban me from these shops.
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March 18, 2015 01:18PM
@isaiah58 wrote:

If you are honest, follow instructions, and properly document everything, your shop will not be rejected. If you follow any bad advice given here then you'll end up one less person taking jobs away from the honest shoppers.

Not true. Many of us have had shops rejected for not being positive enough. It doesn't make us "dishonest shoppers".
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March 18, 2015 01:45PM
Just be honest-and do not second guess if they are looking for a positive review. If they decide they do not care for the honesty, then do you really want to work for them? Any questions on the report should be answered honestly in the manner directed in the guidelines. For example, many will tell you to judge food based on a specific guideline,like crunchy or soft, and not on personal taste. The report rejection could be due to something else, but if not, why would an honest person change their integrity standards to work for a dishonest company? Smile and move on. You don't need to second guess your own standards.
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March 18, 2015 02:53PM
I am making an assumption here. I suspect the OP requested an exception one time and then thought it was okay again the second time s/he did the shop without asking again for the food ordering exception.
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March 18, 2015 10:22PM
I've had McDonalds shops that took 20 minutes to get the food, and have not been banned from those locations. They must have found something in the report that they were able to argue was inaccurate.
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March 18, 2015 11:59PM
@paperORplastic wrote:

Two weeks I did restaurant shop, the same one I've been doing for months now. I've never had a problem with the restaurant or my reports. Three months ago, they changed what had to be ordered. I can't eat it because of allergies, but asked the scheduler reached out to me because I've been doing so well on the shops. I ordered something similar, followed all the other rules and my reports were accepted. The same thing happened this month except the staff gave really horrible service so I detailed it in my report. My report was disqualified because "I didn't follow the rules," but I feel like it was because I called out the employees. I had already decided to take a break from the restaurant shops, but this just kind makes me mad.

Has this happened with anyone else? How do you deal with it?

Back to the OP.

I would consider following up with your scheduler to see if 'the rules' were those that you agreed to break. Hopefully they can straighten it out. If you have written documentation from your scheduler you can send that to the editor.

Either way, if I feel I had permission to order something different and did everything else correctly, I would followup in some manner and insist on getting paid.

Good luck!

Happily shopping Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut
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March 19, 2015 02:18AM
One McDonalds I go to, I have waited over 8 minutes several times. I've never been questioned. The last time I went there, they were a bit faster! All you can do is report what happens.

@siamese5555 wrote:

@mistry wrote:

Yes, I was banned from McDonald's shops because I honestly reported the wait was 6 minutes. It didn't bother me, I was in no hurry. Then I got the dreaded "what were you wearing" email, then I "no longer fit the profile for these shops".

There's nothing you can do, just err on the positive in future. Tell them what they want to hear.

Oh my, my wait tonight was 13 minutes to get my entire meal, they had to make fries. I do these shops when I get a craving for a big mac or the fee gets high enough. I hope they don't ban me from these shops.

When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.
Alexander Den Heijer
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March 19, 2015 05:40AM
I suspect when the restaurant receives a bad review, the manager gets involved and scrutinizes the video and will attempt to descredit the shopper to lessen the bad mark. I don't do MacDonalds but fine dining restaurants also do not want a bad review and will do everything they can to clean that record. I know because I use to do mostly restaurants when I was a rookie and sensed that fact. I was naive then and just reported exactly what happened. Luckily, I have not had the chance to report a real bad review nowadays. They must have cleaned up their act since.
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