New Kind of Pizza Shops Repeated Denial of Payment

Anyone else having problems with these new pizza shops that only have one size of pizza? I have had 2 of 3 declined for stupid stuff that wasn't in the guidelines. I'm just wondering how to handle it, as I've never had one declined!

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Can you be more specific as to why they were declined?

Which new pizza? I know of Blaze and Papa Johns.

I know of MOD Pizza.

"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton

Yes. MOD. I have done probably eight of those. Do those if you can. The pizza is good and the report is easy and straight forward.

I had one declined due to I cut the pizza again AFTER I did the timings, but before I took the pic, which it did not say I couldn't do. The other was declined due to I could not answer the timing questions again without looking at my original form. I took them from my phone and put them in and didn't save them, not expecting to be asked to do it over again. Both these shops were NEGATIVE, but when I did a positive one, I was asked no further, compared to 25 on the others. I get they want to be sure on a negative report, but they either trust me or they don't. I noticed the companies have a hard time getting people to do these shops, at least in my area.

Save your notes. You need to be able to confirm or provide any details asked, such as timings. This is a general rule that mystery shoppers should follow. You should always expect to be questioned on your information and should be able to completely recreate your report from your notes.

You also generally cannot disturb food before taking a photo. I would suggest reading guidelines really carefully and always saving your notes in order to have less trouble.

The reason they ask for a photo is to see in what condition it was delivered to you (and maybe to make sure you ordered the right thing). For example, MOD pizza expects that the pizza will be cut into four equal (roughly) pieces, so they need to see that. They want to see how your toppings were distributed, what the crust looked like, etc. If you alter the pizza in any way, they can't see its condition "as delivered." If you handle it to cut it, for example, you could disturb toppings, push some sauce or a couple of mushrooms over onto the edge of the crust, etc.

And, like everyone says, keep your notes. I'm pretty sure most guidelines will tell you to save your notes or filled-out paper surveys for a certain period of time after the shop. Even for a very well-done shop, editors will sometimes come back with questions. I'm really surprised you would delete your notes so soon after a shop.

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 09/14/2018 06:36PM by BirdyC.

Wow. I can't IMAGINE deleting shop info. I print out ONE SHEET of something for each shop; I transfer any notes to that one sheet, staple any relevant receipts to that one sheet, and file it in a box for that year. If I'm ever audited, I'll have substantiated each and every expense I've deducted on my taxes. So each shop has ONE SHEET OF PAPER, and a receipt.

Transcribing my notes to that sheet helps me keep shops straight, especially so I won't get confused if I've done 4 or 5 shops today, and haven't reported any of them yet.

That one sheet shows what I was paid for the job, all my timings and descriptions, etc. So if 3 months later the MSC comes back with questions, I can answer each and every one of them honestly -- even if I can't even recall doing the shop!

I cannot begin to comprehend doing this as a self employed person without record keeping.

"Save your notes. You need to be able to confirm or provide any details asked, such as timings."

And I did confirm the timings from my notes.
And I was told the timings were not possible; thus the shop was rejected. I spoke to employees at a later date and was told my timings were possible Hmmmmmmmm

@Iriegirl wrote:

I had one declined due to I cut the pizza again AFTER I did the timings, but before I took the pic, which it did not say I couldn't do.

The reason they want you to take a photo of the food is so they can see EXACTLY how the food was presented to you. So, it is imperative you do not do ANYTHING(move stuff around, make additional cuts, etc.) to the food before you take the picture. I know I'm overstating things, but if you make additional cuts to the pizza and then take the picture, the company won't know what it looked like when it was given to you. And this goes for all companies, even if you can't find the sentence stating this in the guidelines. If they want a picture of the food, it is the very first thing you do after receiving it. before moving it, cutting it, eating any part of it.

You "cut" your pizza before you took the picture? That is a big no-no. BIG!

"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton

I had one editor that questioned me about the timings when I received my pizza. I entered something like 12:41:17 PM when I received my pizza but my camera showed the time at 12:41 PM when I took the pizza picture. I explained that I returned to my table quickly, took the photo immediately and that my camera does not have a second timings feature.

I had a shop where the toppings had shifted to one side of the pizza while it was baking. The editor asked me if the person who made my pizza had placed the toppings on one side before it was placed in the oven. That's why it's important for the MSC to see how the pizza was presented.

Hahaaa! I had to order a small pizza as part of a larger shop. I forgot to take a photo and ate it. So, I went back and bought another one. Lolol

Trying to learn from all of these rockstars.

If you forget to take your pic before the food is disturbed it is always better to do it with some food you love and is not very expensive. I did that once on a dessert. My waistline complained but my taste buds did not. And my wallet did not complain too much.
I have not done MOD but if it is Blaze they definitely tell you to take the pic before disturbing it. And for Blaze they are very careful on timings. There have been several times recently when they have asked again. My pizza is almost always beyond the time allotted. I think they need different standards for when there is a long line of people and few servers. On a recent shop they checked the time again and asked me twice why it took so long. I was there late for lunch...2:00 ish but a whole busload of high school kids arrived just before me and many of the team were on their after lunch lunch break. The msc told me they are always supposed to have enough staff....but who knew 40 kids were coming just when the team was having lunch next door at Chipotle? 2PM is usually very quiet. They just need to get the story from us to tell the clien and have it make sense.

I did a pizza shop a couple years ago. I had a brain fart and forgot to take the required photo of pizza. I ate two slices when I realized I didn't take that photo. I went ahead and ordered another pizza to replace that first pizza. Yes, I took the photo of the second pizza.

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New Kind of Pizza Shops Repeated Denial of Payment

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