I did a shop for ACL, so it was reimbursement only. It was a take-out lunch shop. I got a chicken sandwich. I came home and started to eat it and thought the texture was weird. I examined the chicken and saw that it was completely raw inside. I was mortified and thought I was going to get food poisoning. I called the restaurant because I felt they should know the chicken was raw. The manager refunded my money. Of course I had to still submit the report. I feel like I did all that work for free. I got nothing except an upset stomach and no desire to ever eat at the restaurant again. I could not even touch chicken for a few weeks after that. Anyway, I was frustrated because I felt ACL should have given me something( not that I asked). Has this ever happened to you?

It happened to me at a Five Guys. They gave my order to another customer and I just had to sit and wait since I was at a shop. After about 20 minutes I approached the counter for my order and they realized their mistake. The manager came out and gave me a full refund with my order. What to do? I just reported what happened and I did get paid. Kind of a win-win for me.

Since you could not consume the expected compensation, yes you should have asked for a fee. ACL should have a process in place to address this, would be nice if it was automatically and voluntarily enforced.

calicakes, I hear your frustration. I probably would have rescheduled my shop, returned for a take out of something other than a chicken item and reported that visit.

ACL does want to hear how a manager handled a problem, but I probably would not be willing to enter a shop where I got zero benefit of any sort.

@Flash wrote:

calicakes, I hear your frustration. I probably would have rescheduled my shop, returned for a take out of something other than a chicken item and reported that visit.

ACL does want to hear how a manager handled a problem, but I probably would not be willing to enter a shop where I got zero benefit of any sort.

I was fairly new at the time and I didnt know what to do. The entire time I was writing it up I was pissed off because I knew I was doing it for free. Then when I got the check for other jobs, I saw the 0.00 under the client. Another crappy thing is that I could not even write about it on Yelp.LOL. I'd eaten at the restaurant a few times before I shopped them but I have not been back since this happened.

I'll chalk it up to a learning experience. I have a good relationship with a lot of the schedulers from ACL and I'm usually offered jobs before they show up on the board. Its funny though. I have not seen that particular client since this happened.

With ACL, always ask for a bonus.

Sine the manager refunded your money, your reimbursement will be profit.

@HonnyBrown wrote:

With ACL, always ask for a bonus.

Sine the manager refunded your money, your reimbursement will be profit.

Yeah, but ACL did not reimburse me because the meal was comped.

They have a button in their report that asks if the entire meal was comped. I've never clicked on it since I've never had it happen before. I guess I always thought that it triggered some sort of compensation to be provided. I probably would have rescheduled however since doing the report for nothing would make me mad too!

That being said, I remember there was a cute (I'm assuming) lady on here or maybe in a fb group who posts that she sometimes has random men at the location buy her meals and ACL always reschedules for her to return! So she gets free meals for being cute and another free meal later for doing the report.

Some reports say not to report anything to the manager at all but sometimes the manager is alerted by the server themselves. I always tell them comping is unnecessary but sometimes they will throw in an entree or dessert at no charge. I've always been told to just go with the flow and report what happens.

Rescheduling would be the only saving grace to a reimbursement only shop. Understandably though, not wanting to ever eat at that place again, there's no saving grace. Reimbursement only shops when there's zero value in the reimbursement, are the pits. Best case scenario, a quid pro quo relationship with the scheduler may be born, if there's a desire to shop with a company offering a zero fee on the vast majority of their shops.

@calicakes wrote:

Yeah, but ACL did not reimburse me because the meal was comped.

If a meal is comped, there is nothing to reimburse. You are not out-of-pocket since your meal was comped.

But the report is still due if it was assigned to you. Your options are to flake, ask to reschedule and get a second "free" meal, or spend the time on the report to keep your relationship with the MSC good.

I had this happen once with the MSC that used to give out gift certificates in lieu of payment and I still got the gift certificate....and another time it happened on a fine dining shop I ended up spending 3 hours on the report anyway

@Mert wrote:

Rescheduling would be the only saving grace to a reimbursement only shop. Understandably though, not wanting to ever eat at that place again, there's no saving grace. Reimbursement only shops when there's zero value in the reimbursement, are the pits. Best case scenario, a quid pro quo relationship with the scheduler may be born, if there's a desire to shop with a company offering a zero fee on the vast majority of their shops.

True, but I'm in the process of doing a shop for them that is a 40,00 fee with no out of pocket. So far its been a PITA, so I hope it goes well when I meet with the person I'm supposed to evaluate. I like to think I got that shop because of my record. Yeah, I can only hope.

Unless it was required to report a problem to the manager, I would have just reported how your carry out meal was served and got my reimbursement, and made myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to eat, and avoided that place from now on. If it was required to report any problems to the manager, you should be compensated as the manager's only solution is to comp the meal. Why reschedule to a place that serves raw chicken? Really a no-win situation for you. Myself, I never do reimbursement only shops, no matter how enticing the venue. My reporting time is always worth something.

@PaulinMI wrote:

Unless it was required to report a problem to the manager, I would have just reported how your carry out meal was served and got my reimbursement, and made myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to eat, and avoided that place from now on. If it was required to report any problems to the manager, you should be compensated as the manager's only solution is to comp the meal. Why reschedule to a place that serves raw chicken? Really a no-win situation for you. Myself, I never do reimbursement only shops, no matter how enticing the venue. My reporting time is always worth something.

Really? Even fine dining restaurants? I'm doing a shop this week that has a 140.00 reimbursement. I can usually bang out the report in an hour.

@calicakes wrote:

Really? Even fine dining restaurants? I'm doing a shop this week that has a 140.00 reimbursement. I can usually bang out the report in an hour.

For me yes. I admit those shops are enticing, but a shopper has to invest their time and money and follow specific guidelines to make an evaluation. Who knows what can happen? You could have a crappy experience, and all you got was a waste of time and a crappy experience. The time to report should be compensated. If the MSC or the client isn't willing to pay for a professional and detailed report, they should be willing to just rely on Yelp for their reviews. I'd rather enjoy myself and my companions at a fine restaurant on my own dime without restrictions than report for free.

Since it was a take-out meal couldn't you have taken a picture of your receipt before speaking to the manager and then just reported that the meal wasn't cooked properly?

@calicakes wrote:

I did a shop for ACL, so it was reimbursement only. It was a take-out lunch shop. I got a chicken sandwich. I came home and started to eat it and thought the texture was weird. I examined the chicken and saw that it was completely raw inside. I was mortified and thought I was going to get food poisoning. I called the restaurant because I felt they should know the chicken was raw. The manager refunded my money. Of course I had to still submit the report. I feel like I did all that work for free. I got nothing except an upset stomach and no desire to ever eat at the restaurant again. I could not even touch chicken for a few weeks after that. Anyway, I was frustrated because I felt ACL should have given me something( not that I asked). Has this ever happened to you?

That is going to be the same problem--no edible meal and still a report to write.

It sounded like they didn't get reimbursed by ACL since the meal had been comped. I've been writing reports for hours so I'm probably a little ditzy.

As I see it, if all had gone well, they would have gotten a meal to eat and ACL would have paid for it in exchange for a report. Since the meal was inedible, the restaurant refunded the money. No meal was eaten, and since no money was spent, ACL reimbursed the full cost = $0 but a report still had to be written. No meal was eaten, but the report was still due so the OP truly worked for nothing. A better deal would have been to have gotten a coupon good on a future visit. Assuming the coupon was eventually used the OP would have eventually gotten a meal in exchange for writing a report.

@ValG wrote:

It sounded like they didn't get reimbursed by ACL since the meal had been comped. I've been writing reports for hours so I'm probably a little ditzy.

Correct. When I noticed the raw chicken, I called because I wanted to tell the restaurant they were undercooking the chicken( it was so pink). I still wrote the report and did not get any reimbursement because the restaurant refunded by credit card charges( I was at home when I called).

Something similar happened to me with a different company but also a different twist. I had a pick up at the restaurant. I had to wait a very long time to get my meal, over an hour in fact. When I got home part of the meal was missing. I had checked but I was in a hurry since I had an appointment after the meal pick up that I was by then very late for . I tasted the items and then wrote my report later on and then realized I had no soup. The soup was not a separate item I had asked for but came with the special I had ordered so it was not on the receipt. I called the restaurant and they said I should not come in to get the soup but the manager said he was sending me a gift card. I really could not say no as when I tried he insisted. Since I had already filed the report it could not be changed to reflect comped. Actually it was not comped since I got a gift card. I was in fact reimbursed for the shop but the manager "recognized" me due to the info in the report about the hour wait out in my car for my meal. He never saw my face. I was barred from ever doing that assignment again including at other locations. I still work for the msc company and am eligible for all their jobs but that one from what I can tell. After two years I called to ask if I could be reinstated for that restaurant and they said I could not.
Personally I feel bad for you. It is a bad situation when you cannot enjoy the meal you worked so hard for. I have been comped for one or two items on a check such as a dessert but never for the full cost of the meal. If any readers have checked with ACL on their policy in this type of case, please let us know.
Since I am on the west coast by the time I would get back from a dinner the msc would be closed and the report would be due before they opened the next day. How does one reschedule in a case like this? Wait until the next day, call them and tell them the truth? Tell them you flaked the day before and ask to be rescheduled?
It seems very tricky to me. And even if rescheduling would they really want you to go back the very next day when you had a bad meal there the day before? My shops with this msc usually have only one date to perform the shop, not a range of dates.

@ShopSouthTexas wrote:

So she gets free meals for being cute and another free meal later for doing the report.

That's so not fair. I'm cute and I never get free meals.

I did a shop for ACL where something similar happened. Not only did a pretty much do a report for $0, but ACL then informed me that I could no longer do that shop since the situation made me memorable.

@DareWright wrote:

I did a shop for ACL where something similar happened. Not only did a pretty much do a report for $0, but ACL then informed me that I could no longer do that shop since the situation made me memorable.

Haha, they never told me that, but I would have said " Gladly". I have not been to that restaurant since this happened last year. I have not seen any shops for the restaurant either.

@bgriffin wrote:

@ShopSouthTexas wrote:

So she gets free meals for being cute and another free meal later for doing the report.

That's so not fair. I'm cute and I never get free meals.

Awwww, your day will come. I just know it! Never say never!

@sandyf wrote:

I called the restaurant and they said I should not come in to get the soup but the manager said he was sending me a gift card. I really could not say no as when I tried he insisted. . . . I was barred from ever doing that assignment again including at other locations. I still work for the msc company and am eligible for all their jobs but that one from what I can tell. After two years I called to ask if I could be reinstated for that restaurant and they said I could not.

Thank you for pointing out that shoppers are never to contact the client.

I did not get yelled at for contacting the client. Raw chicken is a health hazard and I wanted to report it in case I got sick.

One restaurant shop I do has guidelines prohibiting making any complaint on site, unless it is a health hazard. This is a protection against being outed as the shopper, which is appreciated. If there is a health hazard, guidelines dictate that the complaint be made to the server. Not the client. By and large, that's a no-no.

Of course this was a take out shop so raw chicken would not be discovered until the sandwich was opened at home. Thus bringing it to the attention of the server is not in the cards. A health hazard warning to the manager at the location is the most reasonable option.