This sounds very frustrating. If this particular shop didn't state what to do if the shopper was denied a pass, and the shopper had to go back and forth with the scheduler -- which, in turn, caused the report to be late -- I think the shopper is due the fee, or at least part of it. Not her fault the place wouldn't let her have the pass nor that the shop guidelines didn't address this possibility.
This is part of why shopping can be so frustrating! Instructions that aren't thought through and are incomplete. Shoppers should get the benefit of a doubt in these cases, imo. Better yet, MSCs should send guidelines for new shops (or significantly updated guidelines) out to focus groups of shoppers for review and comment.
I had a situation once where I was to call the location first to make sure the presentation I was supposed to shop was still being held. I did, and it wasn't. I called and e-mailed the scheduler, the company's main contact info, etc. Nobody got back to me, so I didn't go. The guidelines said if you couldn't reach someone or were told the presentation was still on, you were to go. Once you got there, if the presentation had been cancelled, you had to take a picture of the place and submit your report. Nowhere did they say what to do if you called and were told ahead of time it had been cancelled. I wasn't going to drive almost 30 miles, knowing it wasn't being held. I went back and forth with them. They kept saying I should have gone to the location. I kept telling them that their instructions said to call first, but didn't say what to do if you were told it was cancelled, plus I'd tried numerous times over a couple of hours to reach them. Logic would say not to go. The MSC just ignored my references to that. They weren't going to pay me. I said I should have ignored the instructions and not made the call. In essence, I was being "punished" for following directions! I asked for a partial fee, and I think they ended up paying me the entire one as a "courtesy." But I suspect that once the company owner got involved, he must have realized that their instructions were flawed.
I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.