Obviously there's not much I can do as an independent contractor, but I had a job with a company that works with financial institutions, and I am extremely frustrated at what transpired. I had a job where I was to go into a store and purchase a large ticket item (at least 200 dollars), and get financing from a certain company, who had a financing offer with a certain brand of equipment in the store. The understanding of this job is that where it was a large ticket item, it would be returned after the credit line was established and the statement was sent to the shopper. In the instructions, it explicitly stated that I should know their return policy of the store, so I would not be surprised by fees etc. when I came in to return the item. During the job, I asked about the return policy, because it wasn't posted on the company's website or at the store. This caused the owner to delay putting the purchase on the credit opened, because in his words, "returns were a paperwork nightmare to put through". He told me he was going to wait 2 weeks to put the purchase through, because I had used the scenario that I was buying a gift for my husband. this caused the secret shopping company to immediately cancel my job, and left me sitting with a 500 dollar piece of equipment (the smallest purchase I could have made with this financing offer), that I may or may not be able to return without incurring a 20% restocking fee, not to mention my credit goign down by additional credit being opened in my name. I tried to come up with a scenario whereby I would be able to get them to run the credit by the deadline (saying that we had definitely decided to keep the item), but they still wouldn't let me complete the job. I spent 3+ hours doing this first portion of the job, and I just feel powerless and used by a company who wasn't willing to work with me whatsoever, and for something that is no fault of my own. Any feedback on what I should do? Other then request to no longer be affiliated with this company?

I think when the manager said that, I would have said, excuse me, maybe I'd better just call hubby and double check with him. Then I would have stepped out and called the scheduler.

I stay away from these high-ticket shops because of personal experience; if something goes wrong, it's the shopper left holding the bag.

I know the MSC, and they are reputable. But you earn every penny of the fee, and then some.

You always have the recourse of not shopping for them any more. Not much solace, I'm afraid.

I do hope you'll be able to return the item; since the shop was cancelled, and you're within the 2 weeks, can't you just take the item back? And apologize profusely to the manager?

Good luck.

The invoice states "14 days returns, 20% restocking fee". I am going to go in and be extremely apologetic tomorrow morning. I'm hoping where the sale wasn't completed it won't be enough of a hassle for them to charge me. I've just never had anything like this happen, and I've been doing this for 15 years

I agree, I would have aborted the shop then and there. Better to miss a shop fee than be out $100 restocking fee.

I've never had problems with this company either, I've worked with them quite a bit over the past few years. I'm definitely not going to do another job like this one, if I choose to work with them again at all

I don't know what company you're talking about, but I don't think they are in error. You were unable to complete the shop. Was it your fault? No, but sometimes that happens in this industry. That's why I said you should have just declined the purchase and let them know it was a failed shop. Sometimes shops just go bad. This is one of those times.

I don't necessarily blame the secret shopper company for what happened, I'm just frustrated at the situation. I think it's a symptom of a bigger problem. These secret shopper companies work with extremely fussy clients who want very exact scenarios, that rarely work out the way the execs think the jobs will work out. I always get a kick out of jobs (retail, whatever), where they have this list of, oh, about 20 or so things that the employee you're evaluating should be doing, and they end up saying 2 words to you during the entire interaction.

I love those. He said "blah blah" and then just regurgitate the list of things he didn't do that he was supposed to and you're done!

I also do not understand why shoppers get upset (at the MSC, client, employee, whoever) when someone doesn't do things the way they're supposed to. That's why were here. Observe and report. Doesn't make a bit of difference to me if they do what they're supposed to or not. Couldn't care less, I just want whatever makes the report easiest to write.

Candace, I hate that happened and I hope you can clear this up without a loss. I've always been wary of accepting any shop that required spending money I wouldn't be willing to give up in exchange for what I got out of it. Only one time did I violate that principal and I sweated bullets until I was paid and reimbursed for $120.00 I spent on something totally useless to me that couldn't be returned for a refund.

My scenario was as crazy as yours. I was to rent three blue ray DVDs from a kiosk rental and then keep them until my credit card was billed for the "lost" DVDs. For the shop, I was to report all correspondence from the rental company trying to collect their money. Lucky for dumb me, that worked out. Never again, though. It could just as easily gone another way. We have to realize not every shop works out and there's always risk involved. I'm keeping my fingers crossed this turns out okay for you.

Wow. I know exactly which MSC this is and the scenario. Personally, I would have looked at the 20% restocking fee as a reduction in the fee, so that $200 would really only be $100. I am not sure that I would have proceeded at that point. When this appeared the last time, you had to buy an item priced at $1500 or above and agree not to return it. I imagine that they found few people who happened to want to buy such an item, so the new scenario appeared. They seem to be just sitting there.

I wasn't really aware of what the restocking fee, or the return policy was when i agreed to do the shop. I should have noticed the information in BOLD on the sheet that stated that I should make sure I knew the restocking fee, and that they DID NOT REIMBURSE FOR RESTOCKING FEES. It was an almost comical job, I had to go into a place that had large equipment, and I didn't know what the credit was to be used for, so I started out wanting to buy a chainsaw, and when they said there was no credit available on chainsaws, switched to wanting to buy a generator, which has financing but from another company. I finally figured out it was the snowblower that I was supposed to buy, so suddenly I wanted to buy a snowblower. I'm sure the guy I was interacting with thought I was crazy or something. The whole job was just a complete disaster, but the whole thing will be pretty comical after I return the stupid snowblower and (hopefully) don't get charged the fee to return it

That sounds like a nightmare job. I would hate to do anything that resulted in late fees, that sort of thing just gets crazy fast!

I wonder if this is a rare example where you would reveal yourself as a shopper. Personally I am not planning to lose $100 when a shop goes wrong.

I had that exact same thought! I'm hoping that the 20% restocking fee they typically charge is to recoup credit card processing fees, as well as restoring the equipment to showroom condition. It's in the same shape as when I bought it, and they didn't actually put the transaction through, so I'm crossing my fingers...

Or even though the job was cancelled, could the MSC intervene? You said that you have done work with the MSC before. I would explain the situation and see if they can offer any advice.

I did a shop where I had to purchase event tickets where no refund is allowed ever, no exceptions. This is part of the scenario to see how it is handled by the associate. Once the shop was reviewed and graded, I was to call the business and let them know that I performed a mystery shop and then the refund was processed.

I saw the job you are referring to on the boards and after I saw it was for rec vehicles I figured it was not for me.

The secret shopper company has made it very clear that they are not interested in helping me out with any fees I incur, or to intervene so I'm not left in the lurch. I'm definitely on my own to figure this mess out.

@CandaceHart wrote:

I had that exact same thought! I'm hoping that the 20% restocking fee they typically charge is to recoup credit card processing fees, as well as restoring the equipment to showroom condition. It's in the same shape as when I bought it, and they didn't actually put the transaction through, so I'm crossing my fingers...

There's a 72 hour return on a credit card for major purchases. Not sure what the bottom limit is, but it might be worth checking into.

I read this one and put it on the 10-ft pole list immediately.

If nothing else positive comes out of this, I just want to thank you for sharing your experience with us. I feel that this is what this forum is really all about, helping others, and you are doing that by sharing your experience. I am disheartened to hear that the MSC is not willing to help you out, regardless if it was in the shop instructions or not.

Wow! So sorry this happened to you. Personally, I think you should get a partial payment on this job. What happened with the store owner was part of your experience in performing and evaluating the specific transaction (the credit process). You asked the questions about the return policy because it wasn't posted, as you were supposed to. After selecting three different products to meet the requirement (financing with a certain company), if you'd said "Oh, never mind, then," your fear about outing yourself as a shopper was (imo) founded.

Sounds like you did everything correctly. You had no control over the store owner's actions.

My guess is that the store owner wasn't following proper procedure with the credit-issuing company in holding the paperwork for two weeks. That doesn't sound kosher to me. I would think that your shop, as it occurred and if you'd been allowed to complete it, would be useful and valid information for the end client to have.

It's easy for people to say, post facto, they would have left and not completed the transaction or would have made an excuse to go outside and make a call (ostensibly to your husband, but to your scheduler), but in reality, when on the spot like that and faced with something totally unexpected and out of context with the MSC's assumed situation, not everybody can come up with the "right" way to handle it.

In any event, I hope you can get the store to waive the re-stocking fee. But this is why I won't do any shops that could potentially end up costing me money! The MSCs won't assume risk in the event the shop doesn't happen as it's "supposed to." Even when not the shopper's fault, as in your case, apparently many, if not most, won't lift a finger to assist. But I know that's not true with all MSCs. I guess the key is to find those who will stand behind their shoppers to a certain extent. And stay away from jobs and MSCs like this!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/2015 05:57PM by BirdyC.

I almost feel like i have a breach of contract case against this company...but I don't know anything about that sort of thing. It was a job that paid 200, if i had it completed by the end of this week. I was very anxious to get the job done, and probably was rushing things a little too much. I didn't take the fact into consideration that people sometimes take a while to buy a big-ticket item like this. I should have excused myself and called the scheduler. I didn't think about something like this happening, and I've never been thrown under the bus by a secret shopper company like this. Certainly not doing business with them again

@CandaceHart wrote:

I should have excused myself and called the scheduler.

In hindsight, that would have been best, but, again, when one is in the middle of a high-stress situation (which this probably was by that point), it's not always possible to think on one's feet.

I think mystery shopping is a lot like gambling--don't bet more than you can afford to lose....Still doesn't excuse the MSC from not at least trying to assist you in this.

@CandaceHart wrote:

During the job, I asked about the return policy, because it wasn't posted on the company's website or at the store.

While preparing for this shop, if I could not find the return policy on their website, I would have blocked my phone number and called the store ahead of time and asked what their return policy was. It the person gave me this convoluted scenario like the person at the store gave you, I would have contacted my scheduler right then and there and explained the situation. Then I most likely would have cancelled the shop unless I got revised guidelines in writing confirming that I could return without any penalties and restocking fees.

Before hindsight posts are posted, I have cancelled a shop or two after doing the prep research ahead of time and contacting my scheduler. I have never been penalized for doing so.

I have also done what many posters above have mentioned. When something starts to go majorly awry, I pretend that one of my imaginary kids just sent me an urgent text message and I excuse myself so I can "make the call."

I'm afraid I"m not much of a 'think on your feet' sort of person. I tend to go with the flow and then figure things out after the fact. If I do another job similar to this (doubtful), I will have a contingency plan. In the 15 years I've been doing secret shopping, I've never had a job go awry like this

Thank you for sharing this! I too, find it easy to talk about what we "should" have done AFTER a situation happens, but it is much harder to think during the evaluation. I think you handled it well.

I am very disappointed in the way the MSC is handling this and will avoid this shop like the plague. I think you should have at least received a partial shop fee and they should have shared your experience or report to the end client. Again, thank you for sharing this with us, so we can be prepared in advance.

Just to update...the store took back the snow blower without incident. He was actually the kindest person I've dealt with through this nightmare. Lesson learned!

Glad that that part of it worked out for you!

@CandaceHart wrote:

Just to update...the store took back the snow blower without incident. He was actually the kindest person I've dealt with through this nightmare. Lesson learned!

What "scenario" did you use to return it? Just that you changed your mind?

This has been an informative story and I'm glad it ended well for you but it's too bad the shopping company couldn't pay you something.

Since sale was never completed why are you having to pay anything? When returning a item you can simply say it does not work right, makes funny noise, ir somethibg else then its nit yoyr fault and theres no restocking fee since merchandise does not work as promised. But. If sale was never completed there dhould be no issue. Also i never do any shop with such high risk monies. And i know the company your refering to. They never back up or help there shoppers, so dont work for them.