What Would You Do?

He does understand mystery shopping, but doesn't deal with it as part of his job. But contract law is contract law, and mystery shopping doesn't have a different set of contract laws attached to it. This attorney wouldn't be working for this firm if he weren't a crackerjack lawyer, with more than 30 years of experience in finance. BTW, this lawyer also said that if the contract in the dispute that came up last year wasn't written correctly, that the shopper should be paid the $75 or however much it was. But not for the reasons many people here think.

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/2018 01:56AM by BirdyC.

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@plmccut wrote:

...After she left I asked for my bill and was told that the "nice lady" had paid for my dinner and drink. So I'm thinking, now what? I asked for a copy of the receipt and after looking at it, verified with the bartender, what the woman's first name was and told the bartender the woman had told me where she worked. It was another restaurant and I said I'd go by one day for lunch, ask for her and thank her. Now the problem is the report. She ordered 1 mixed drink and a couple glasses of wine. I had 1 drink so our drinks are over the instruction limit. I emailed my scheduler to ask if when I do my report, I explain what happened, would it be accepted?

What would you do?

Hi, pimcut. Wondering if you ever received a response from the scheduler and what the result of this was?

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

I'll start off by saying I'm for the little guy in almost all situations. Regarding those restaurant meals, it's not like you get to relax and enjoy the meal. You have to gather names, constantly observe, time everything, and in many cases, you order what they tell you. And...you better not forget anything or you'll be paying for the meal yourself. How many people got home, sat down to do your report, and then saw a detail you missed? Then you go ahead and fill out the report, check it, and submit it Then you can look forward to a possibly condescending email, reiterating what you know you did wrong, with some advice to improve in the future. Note that I'm new to this and I'm still learning, and in many cases, the hard way.

So, in my non-legal opinion, from a plain human to human standpoint, the shopper should get reimbursed.

@lorijordan wrote:

So, in my non-legal opinion, from a plain human to human standpoint, the shopper should get reimbursed.

I'm not disagreeing that there's an argument to be made as to whether or not the shopper should receive compensation. (I don't think so, based on the wording of the contract between MSC and shopper, but it depends on the contract.) But in this case, it's not a reimbursement. It's payment for services (because the shopper did the work) and is taxable income. A reimbursement would be made to the person who incurred the expense.

Reimbursement literally and in practice means "back in the purse." Money can't be "back" in a purse unless it came out of that purse to begin with. Reimbursement is REpayment, not payment. If a person doesn't incur an expense, there can't be a reimbursement to THAT person. People are giving an interpretation to "reimbursement" that's in opposition to all standard business practice.

Mystery shopping doesn't change the meaning of the word "reimbursement."

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/10/2018 04:11PM by BirdyC.

I feel like we've had this exact roundabout argument/conversation before. Kinda went the same way the last time around too.

Extreme thinking, trying to make a case out of nothing....but what do i know, i'm not an Attorney. Putting this into effect Birdy, if that's what you want to do, it looks like you don't have the shoppers rights in mind, why stir the pot?

Live consciously....

@Irene_L.A. wrote:

Extreme thinking, trying to make a case out of nothing....but what do i know, i'm not an Attorney. Putting this into effect Birdy, if that's what you want to do, it looks like you don't have the shoppers rights in mind, why stir the pot?

Shopper here. What rights? Shoppers do not have a right to receive payments wrongfully, such as a reimbursement that is not correlated with a specific and identifiable payment that was made with a specific shopper's funds as per a specific contract.

You go, Birdy!

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. - Lao-Tzu

Seems to me the OP's post was asking for advice regarding the drink limitations. Side bar to reimbursement. She/he should be reimbursed for the meal. Drinks? I think the explanation should take care of that but who knows?

This is so not what's actually happening....BJ's (we all know) gives a 10.00 off coupon for purchasing 35.00, it's accepted by the MSC, who says, coupons are fine, same as a gift card, and.since many companies don't pay much of a fee if any, should we do the work for no pay....I take a good friend that has me over for Thanksgiving, and my repayment is inviting her to dinner. The bill is paid, if she/he says please your doing the work, I'm enjoying, I insist on paying....why not, who loses? I dated a man who said he feels embarrassed letting me pay, many different reasons, and why make a federal case out of it......giving in to your way takes away from the shopper, why do that, aren't fee's low enough? I'll fight for shoppers rights, and this is not one!!!!

Live consciously....

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/12/2018 02:13AM by Irene_L.A..

@bgriffin wrote:

A gift card is cash. It's been my experience more allow gift cards than not. And it's treated just like I paid with cash or card. Why wouldn't it be?

Let me guess, you probably think that I should have told them I got them at a 20% discount so they could deduct that from my reimbursement.

Oh my, I am in trouble now. No more Costco gift cards for my restaurant shops. And most of the restaurant shops I do allow gift cards. And the free Blaze Pizza we all got when we bought our $25 gift cards in December...I guess I should have used the free Pizza card they gave me to pay when I did the Blaze job instead of using the gift card and getting reimbursed. What about the points I received when I used my loyalty card...should I take their value off the bill? And what, I would like to know, would happen if I take my adult child as my dinner guest and they pay the bill. Does the spouse okay thing apply to children, aunts and uncles, grandparents etc paying the bill. Inquiring minds do not want to know. I have never had a receipt rejected because I did not pay with my personal credit card. I guess if the pay is with cash they will check the cash to see whose fingerprints are on it. Will I run into trouble if I do a flat fee job and someone else pays the bill? It may look as though I personally did not order the required food items.

I am with B Griffin and all the others who "like" his posts on this one.

@Sandy, Brilliant post, now maybe we can end this nonsense.

Live consciously....

@bgriffin wrote:

I'm curious, does this lawyer understand mystery shopping and how reimbursements are handled for it?
In my opinion, if they look at reimbursement the same way as a company reimbursing you for your meal when travelling for work then they are not understanding reimbursement in the context of mystery shopping. They are two different things.

Otherwise, I'm just gonna flat out say it. This lawyer is wrong. It wouldn't be the first time lawyers gave poor advice.

Asking 10 different lawyers the same question ,gives you ten different answers......

Live consciously....

Or 20. Honestly if you went to each of those 3 lawyers and presented them with the case as the opposite of what their opinion is and asked them to defend you they would all be able to go to court and present an effective case for you.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

Yep, so what was the purpose of all this, aside from being a debate?

Live consciously....

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/12/2018 02:38AM by Irene_L.A..

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