I'm tired..

between the crap I've had to go through this past week with Intelli-shop, and See Level I'm not sure if it isn't time to give up on mystery shopping after all these years. I guess 4 years, almost 5 actually, isn't very long really but I'm getting tired of being lied to and ignored. And with Intelli-shop, always wondering IF i'm going to get paid.

I know I'm whining, and it's for a company I wouldn't normally accept a job from, but the pay was good for the time involved, and I was going to be in the city anyway. Why not. Will someone just shoot me, please..

Of course I read the guidelines, and I read through the entire questionnaire before I left. But I apparently missed something and I did the shop incorrectly and couldn't file my report. I was going to have them remove the shop, but I have to be back in the same city for other shops today, so I asked if an extension was possible. But, as usual, I got no response. And, yes, I did check my shopper log to see if the dates had been updated, and they hadn't.

So I sent another inquiry today, asking for a quick response, because I need to leave soon to get my shops done today. I got a response, with a copied email dated yesterday, telling me that he told me to go ahead and get the shop done today. I've checked my email, my spam folder, and the email trash folder (in case I accidentally deleted it), I never got the email he claims to have sent me and conveniently copied into his response today.

This is me grumbling and whining.. but now I have to put myself together and go get my work done.

I feel your pain. I changed careers when I just started to not love what I did. Now I have renewed energy and loved my job again. I'm talking about my full-time job. I just mystery shop for food and entertainment money. No one should have to do a job he doesn't love.

Why not take a break from mystery shopping and look for another way to pick up the money you now make mystery shopping. In 6 months or a year, you might find you make more money for less work. You might find something you can be passionate about. Or you might find you miss mystery shopping and come back to it.

Sounds like it's time to take a break. Have you read "How Stella Got her Groove Back?" Sometimes a change of pace makes all the difference.

I'm sorry to hear of your problems with Intelli-Shop. Have you tried to call them and figure things out? I'd be interested to hear what they said. I hope it all gets straightened out for you soon.

Sounds like it was a good thing I got rejected by Intelli-shop hahaha

oh well, THEIR loss!

I was feeling something like you yesterday and today. In my case it was all my own fault. Two days, two trips to the same town to do what amounted to barely enough work to warrant one trip to that town. Some days are like that. I too, got myself together and got it done.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/2016 01:09AM by prince.

How did you get rejected by Intelli-Shop?

Ya know that stupid picture thingy they make you look at during their test? It wouldn't load on my computer and so I guessed at what the items were... I tried to tell 'em what happened but they weren't having it. In fact one of the managers or whomever was a total beech about it.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/2016 05:55PM by MysteriousLurker.

I ended up asking for the See Level (HS brands) shop to be removed. I am apparently not smart enough, or not coordinated enough to take pictures, talk, pay for stuff at the same time without being outed as a shopper. I shop at this location for another company quite often, I don't want to blow my cover if I can avoid it.

@MysteriousLurker wrote:

Ya know that stupid picture thingy they make you look at during their test? It wouldn't load on my computer and so I guessed at what the items were... I tried to tell 'em what happened but they weren't having it. In fact one of the managers or whomever was a total beech about it.

I don't like Intellishop and I quit working for them after a couple of shops, although I haven't deactivated myself just in case they get a client I really want to shop. So Intellishop is nowhere near my favorite and no way would I defend that MSC.

That said, I totally understand why they rejected you. The Intellishop New Shopper Test is not a very good one. It's designed to be way too easy to determine if someone would be a good shopper or not, but it does have a couple of areas that give a glimpse of how a potential shopper will perform on a shop. By "guessing what the items were" on the test because you could not see the image, it told Intellishop that they would not be able to count on the accuracy of your reports. They made a good decision. I would have rejected you, too, especially after you explained that you deliberately guessed when you couldn't see something. No offense or criticism intended, just meaning this to be a comment that in my opinion Intellishop was correct in rejecting you as an applicant.

However, you're right, you are probably better off having been rejected. Having worked for them, I can say you are not missing much. There are better MSCs to work for.

Yeah well... the @#$%& thing flat out wouldn't load. And there wasn't an option to check off, "The picture wouldn't load." It's not like you can just dump the test and start over because it won't LET you. That's why I guessed, I guess.

It's rigged. Just like the elections, the lottery and pretty much everything else in life.

Go figure.

Sorry. I'm disgruntled today.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/2016 07:34PM by MysteriousLurker.

@Morledzep wrote:

I ended up asking for the See Level (HS brands) shop to be removed. I am apparently not smart enough, or not coordinated enough to take pictures, talk, pay for stuff at the same time without being outed as a shopper. I shop at this location for another company quite often, I don't want to blow my cover if I can avoid it.

As far as I know. SeeLevel HX is a different MSC than HS Brands. Even with all the the somewhat recent mergers, I don't believe that these two companies are related. Correct me if I am wrong.

Just for future reference to others, the Intelllishop tests do allow you to save your work and exit and come back at a later time to complete the test. So, by exiting and saving, you could wait a day to see the problem cleared up, you could change browsers and re-enter the test, or you could telephone or e-mail for help before attempting to move forward. There is a limit to the number of times you can take and submit the test, but there is no limit to the number of times you can enter, answer a question or two, and save it for later. When you save and exit, the test merely shows In Progress. I still have an uncompleted test sitting in my Shopper Test Center that I started in June of 2013 for a burger place. I got bored with the test, saved and exited. I could still go back and finish the test - I just checked - but now, since they no longer have the client, there would be no point in finishing the test.

@Sybil2 wrote:

As far as I know. SeeLevel HX is a different MSC than HS Brands. Even with all the the somewhat recent mergers, I don't believe that these two companies are related. Correct me if I am wrong.

I'm sorry, you are absolutely right.. I've seen their names together somewhere..I wondered why working for SeeLevel was so much easier.. lol Of course the scheduler still lied about sending me an email, He told me that he sent the email on Friday, telling me to go ahead and do the shop on Saturday, he never sent it. The time and date on the "forwarded" email was 40 minutes AFTER the time I received the email he sent yesterday (Saturday).

@MysteriousLurker wrote:

It's rigged. Just like the elections, the lottery and pretty much everything else in life.

Hey now. I couldn't agree more that everything about the American political system is an absolute sham (in my mind it's comparable to the WWE in many ways), but I'll not stand idly by while you impugn the Powerball. That shining beacon of integrity gives millions of workaday saps hope that not all is lost in this world.

@pinchers81 wrote:

...but I'll not stand idly by while you impugn the Powerball. That shining beacon of integrity gives millions of workaday saps hope that not all is lost in this world.

Especially when you can do a mystery shop for the company that reimburses you for the purchase of the required lottery ticket.....PLUS says that any winnings (realistically, I won't be the one with the winnings) are the shopper's to keep!!!

I don't remember taking a test for Intellishop. But so far, knock on wood, have been getting '10s' but I seldom shop for them if I could help it.
One of my pet peeves is taking pictures of the interior area.

@MysteriousLurker wrote:

Yeah well... the thing flat out wouldn't load. And there wasn't an option to check off, "The picture wouldn't load." It's not like you can just dump the test and start over because it won't LET you. That's why I guessed, I guess.

It's rigged. Just like the elections, the lottery and pretty much everything else in life.

Go figure.

Sorry. I'm disgruntled today.

You do sound disgruntled. I hope you feel better today. I don't think it's rigged. I don't think the elections or the lottery are rigged either. I actually don't think everything in life is rigged.

I think you just dropped the ball. Getting potential mystery shoppers to look at a picture and describe it shows the MSC if the applicant is detail-oriented and can describe what he has seen. If you couldn't see the picture, you couldn't complete the exercise. While it might have seemed like the easiest thing to do to not ask for help and to just guess, that told the MSC you will guess when you don't see or know something.

To explain my thinking, let's say I am a mystery shopping company. You apply, I accept you and I assign you a mystery shop. You read the guidelines but you don't look at the report form in advance. Based on the guidelines, you do the shop. When filling out the report, you realize there are four observations you were required to make. Since you had not read the report form in advance, you didn't know. You cannot submit the report without answering the 4 questions about observations you did not make. What will you do? Guess?

Most mystery shopping companies want honest, ethical reports. Guessing is a bad thing.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/26/2016 02:40PM by Jay C.