I wasn't exactly a brand new shopper, but had just reactivated myself into MSing right before Christmas 2016, when this happened on my VERY FIRST shop since reactivating... This is a true story from an email I sent to my scheduler, only some of the names have been changed to honor my ICA.
"When I texted you on the evening of Dec 20th to tell you I hadn't completed the XXX Pizza shop, I called it a shop from hell. Anything that could go wrong did go wrong. This is not the way I normally run my life and my mystery shopping business. I can only apologize for letting you down by not completing the shop. This is the story of my evening...
To start off with, you need to know I left home in plenty of time to get to XXX Pizza about 6:30pm.
1. Your assignment and the XXX Pizza website BOTH had the wrong address. It is given as XXX Lower [City name] Road. The actual address is XXX SOUTH Lower [City name] Road. The Google map their website links to when you click "Get Directions" takes you to Lower [City name] Rd and not SOUTH Lower [City name] Rd. The word South makes a big difference as it's the opposite end of the city from the other location. I called to verify the pizza place was open before leaving home, but originally did not ask for directions since I'd gotten them from XXX Pizza's own website. Now I had to call and get directions plus had additional travel time to find it.
2. It was located in a huge WalMart parking lot. I had to cruise the parking lot to find XXX Pizza among the several strip malls there. While I was driving down an aisle near WalMart, a woman backed out of her parking space and hit my car. She was talking on the phone and admitted she never looked behind her before moving. Her Jeep Wagoneer wasn't even scratched, but she crumpled my right front fender and broke my headlight. She didn't have a proof of insurance, but said she had insurance. She gave a company name and said her husband takes care of that kind of stuff, but they were separated so he just hadn't given her the card yet. I sure hope she was telling the truth. A few minutes to exchange info and take photos. By then it was about 7:10pm when I parked by XXX Pizza.
3. I had plugged my phone into the car charger for the drive. When I left home, I had about half charge, which was plenty to do the shop. When I unplugged the phone from the charger to go inside, the phone shut off. When I tried to turn it on, it would stay on for about 2 seconds then shut off again. I plugged it back into the charger and everything looked normal -- it said it was charging and it was cycling through the battery bars. I left it on the charger about 10 minutes, but it never added to the battery's charge. The phone would work while it was connected to the charger, but would turn off as soon as I unplugged the charger. I took the battery out and cleaned the battery and phone contact points and tried charging it again for a few minutes. Still the same - it would shut off as soon as I unplugged it. Somehow the charger had drained the charge it previously had instead of adding to the charge.
I wanted to cry because I knew the time measurements were critical for this shop. My phone was my watch, plus it had a lap timer/stopwatch for doing up to 20 time measurements. No phone = no time measurements.
4. By now it was 7:30pm. I just had to get in the door of XXX Pizza to start the shop by 8:00pm. Hmmm, I was in front of a WalMart. Maybe I could get a stopwatch and save the shop. WRONG!!! I drove back to WalMart and I really tried, but trying to find an item in a new WalMart SuperStore just 5 days before Christmas is a Herculean task. Employees directed me to Electronics then Sporting Goods, where I found a stopwatch and got an employee to cut open the blister pack so I could check if it could time multiple events, but it would display only one laptime. Then I was directed to Jewelry, where there were no employees but I found a watch that had a stopwatch with 10 lap memory. Success! I had to wait in line and go through the front checkouts since there was no employee in Jewelry. By then I had no idea what time it was. My receipt was timed as 20:16:44, which is 8:16pm. Aw, crap!!! I went to my car, and this time I did cry, out of pure frustration. Then I texted you.
I did not go inside XXX Pizza, and I did not park directly in front, so no employees ever saw me. If you will allow me to do so, I can go back either Wed 12/21 or Thurs 12/22 to do the dinner shop.
At this point, I really hope you'll let me have a do-over. I need the money, LOL. It was an expensive evening -- gas and time, I had to buy my dinner (at a different restaurant) with no hope of reimbursement, I spent $31.23 for a Timex watch, I'll have to get a new phone, plus there's probably a couple grand in damage on my car. I really hope the other driver has insurance as I don't have comprehensive on my policy. Also, I had hoped the phone problem was a bad car cord, but no such luck; it's doing the same thing on the wall charger. <sigh>
I almost asked, "What else can go wrong?" but I was afraid I'd get a demonstration for an answer. At least I made it home in one piece.
Reading this email over, I realize that this whole evening is kind of hard to believe. I've attached a copy of the receipt for the watch and for my dinner. I'm sorry I didn't think to take a photo of the exterior of XXX Pizza to prove I was there. I'm going to take photos in the daylight of the damage to my car and I can send you copies if you'd like. [Note sent later to my scheduler: The other driver did NOT have insurance and she did over $2,100 worth of damage to my car. The damage was NOT covered by my insurance as I have only liability coverage due to the age of the car. I did get the satisfaction of reporting her to the Dept of Motor Vehicles, who will hit her with a $1,000 penalty for driving without insurance. but I won't see a penny of it.]
Let me know if you're willing to have me redo the shop, and if so, whether you would prefer Wed or Thurs evening. Again, my apologies for letting you down."
Her response:
"That is quite the story. After that I might have stayed in bed this morning just in case the evening from hell was continuing into today. You certainly may reshop, just let me know when you're going. .
I am passing your story onto the higher ups to show them what the shoppers go through but still are willing to complete the shop. Thank you for your hard work."
IF THAT DIDN'T MAKE ME QUIT, AIN'T NOTHIN' GONNA MAKE ME QUIT!!! LOL