It is a sinking feeling when the email arrives stating that a shop has been rejected....Loss of time, money, and energy. When I first started mystery shopping I had a Church's Chicken rejected because I did not buy the right size drink. At first I was angry, devastated, and swore off mystery shopping. What is your worst experience?

I remember the rejections I got turned around more than the others. While there have probably been more, three come to mind.

Ordered the wrong wash at an upscale car wash. Lucky for me it's a place I go whether on a shop or not.

Missed the part about no Sundays for a gas station shop on a route. It was near the beginning of 10 day route so there was no way to reshop. The good thing is the location was closed so I only lost the $40 shop fee and the five minutes it took to get there and take a few quick pics.

The last is the one that just pissed me off. A video shop was rejected for not having the rep in the frame enough. I was stuck in a chair while she kept wheeling back in forth in her desk chair like a damn kid. Had it been for any other video company, it probably would have been accepted.

I also did a Church's Chicken once, while travelling, and the only time I'd ever been in one of their restaurants. We don't have them where I live. I was waiting for the upsell, which never happened. But I forgot to order the drink because they didn't offer it. Never even filled out the report. I just cancelled it.

I forgot to visit the restroom at Aldi's and didn't get the $3 shop fee.

After spending over thirty minutes there abd at least that long on the report, being near something does not make it worth doing. I learned my lesson.

It took me over two hours to get to Dior because of the weather. I completed the visit, but was told not to write the report, since it was not more than an hour before closing- it was 50 minutes before closing, and I was the only customer. That was $40 gone.

I went to 5 Guys on the wrong day. And submitted the report with the disclosure. That was a moron day, to say the least. They didn't deactivate me.

I used the wrong scenario on a phone shop. Rejected.

A number of times I have received incorrect clarification from schedulers. Shops rejected, overturned and paid for.

I just did a targeted apartment shop, and was dodged by the target. I have a feeling that one is going to get rejected due to a dishonest target.

I got a reject doing my first Five Guys recently, because I ordered a shake and not a drink, in my mind a shake was a drink, but I didn't really read instructions as I do these burger places and have never been rejected. I'm waiting on one where instructions say to wait three weeks to see if Agent calls or email, however, instructions say to use an alias and not give out your info...so. how can they call. I'll fight this one.

I did not know that Church's Chicken was shopped.

I had a phone shop rejected because I said Please at the beginning and Thank you at the end

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/2018 04:20AM by Isaiah4031a.

The personal pizza shop where I was asked to re-verify the timing for assembling and baking the pizza. No one else was in line and the pizza was baked in record time. I was told there was no way pizza could have baked so fast. I went back and spoke with manager who confirmed my timings could have been correct. I was not blowing any cover because I will never return there even on my own dime. Pizza is overpriced and not so tasty.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/01/2018 05:30AM by Rho*.

My rejections come from the same MSC now that I think about it. The first was a compare and contrast phone shop. I messed up the script by hitting a back button on the report. When I went to call the second recorded location, it was actually the first location again. So I hung up and called the second store directly without being recorded and completed the report. My shop was rejected.

The second was only a few months ago where the MSC alleged I went to a hardware store for a paint shop at the wrong time. However, I am 99% sure that was incorrect.
They had listed the wrong schedule, but passed on the error to me. I could not prove it and my complaint fell on deaf ears. My shop was rejected.

Had shops rejected because I didn't ask for a business card and nowhere in the guidelines did it say get a business card..

Went to the wrong Five Guys once a few years ago. I've also had some issues when I put a timing for a different shop in wrong and MF wouldn't let me fix it. For some reason they're the only ones that won't.

I had a rejection when I did a shop at Best Buy, the big store in the mall parking lot area, when the shop was supposed to be done at the small store inside the mall that I didn't even know was there...The addresses were nearly the same. I suggested that a clarification was necessary in the guidelines, which was subsequently added.

My third video shop, back in 2006 was rejected because the MSC's loaner equipment failed by "pixelizing" the entire video. Later, I had a video refused by an MSC that is now famous for not paying schedulers or shoppers. Their loaned equipment froze during the shop. I was told by the owner that I was the only shopper who had ever experienced that. (Later proved to be a lie.) Back before 2010, when video was done with a pre-PV-500 rig, I, like a lot of shoppers, had several shops rejected due to multiple equipment failures. This was to the point where I was ready to abandon video altogether. In addition, I had shops rejected for bad camera angles. Those old recorder units heated up the button cam to the point where it melted the stabilizing tapes and tilted the camera every which way! Recently, I had reduced pay when one of the two video cameras (the in-car one, of course) did not capture the face of the valet. My fault, of course.

I have shopped the wrong address once, screwed up a scenario at least once, had three shops that were rejected by the client but paid by the MSC because they thought the client was in the wrong or had not supplied the MSC with the guideline that I was said to have "ignored." (Gotta love an MSC that will do that.) But, I have also had the great good luck to have schedulers who would see that I had shopped the wrong location and then managed to get other shoppers to switch assignments so that I got credit and they got my original assignment. The only "closed location" failures were for MSCs that then said, "Sorry, we will assign you a new location with a nice bonus for your trouble." So, all-in-all I have led a mostly charmed life when it comes to rejections.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/2018 02:09PM by walesmaven.

I had a McD shop rejected because I went at the wrong time on the wrong day and ordered the wrong item, but in my defense I was sick as a dog!
Also had an airport shop rejected because I forgot to ask an airport question of the server. The shop provided great customer service opportunities, long wait to order, out of menu items etc. I called immediately when I realized I had forgotten and owned up to it but the shop was still rejected.
Huh, both were from the same MSC.

I've had a few I was worried would be rejected, but I was saved by great schedulers.

My favorite was when I had a supermarket shop rejected because I did not evaluate one of the departments (seafood.) The instructions state that if you are at the counter for a specified time period (usually 2-4 minutes) and are not helped, you skip that section. Well, all the employees were clustered around a sample table (Boar's Head had some cheese cubes and deli meats on display) and they all ignored me when I asked if someone could help me in seafood. So I put this in the report, and I get rejected ( I did the rest of the shop perfectly.)

Wouldn't you think the client would want to know that the staff was so busy eating samples meant for customers that an actual shopper was being ignored? Think again, apparently.

I did a grocery shop that was a hot mess. I was supposed to conclude a transaction at the customer service desk ("buy a stamp, a local newspaper, or a money order" ). The customer service desk had: dry cleaning drop-off/pick up, bus tickets, and money orders. I didn't have any dry cleaning, don't take buses -- so I bought a money order. The MSC questioned the purchase of the M.O., even though I explained no newspapers or stamps were available. After going around and around with the MSC, I finally told them to cancel the shop. The money order only cost $1, and was the only possible purchase for me to make.

To add insult to injury, it was my THIRD attempt to shop that location. The first try, the store was in the middle of a "pallet" sale, with pallets of goods stacked head-high in every aisle. I could not FIND any of the required purchases, and I could not SEE any employees (I'm a short person, and could not see over the pallets). I spent an hour and a half in the store on that first effort, and left in tears (it was 100 miles from home).

I was given an opportunity to re-shop the location, which led to the second effort. The second effort, the customer service desk was closed. Guidelines did not address what to do if the customer service desk was closed. I went out to the parking lot and e-mailed the scheduler, but got no response. I did everything else required, purchases and interactions and everything, but no customer service interaction.

Report rejected. I was given the opportunity to re-shop, which led to the 3rd effort (and rewritten guidelines, that stated if customer service was closed, to have someone page an employee to customer service, LOL!).

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/2018 04:20PM by ceasesmith.

For crying out loud. Is it me, my computer, what? I can't edit my previous post.

Anyway, after the 3rd attempt was rejected, I told them to just cancel the shop. I put 600 miles on my car and spent over $40 on required purchases, none of which was repaid by MSC.

Unfortunately, I do not remember the MSC. Throughout, they impressed me with their professionalism, cooperation, patience -- everything. I just wish they had accepted one of my reports! This was the only shop I ever did for that MSC.

Postal shop a year or two ago, I went to the wrong location. The one I was supposed to shop was about a block away and I had never noticed the facility. They even had different zip codes but I completely missed that as well. I apologized profusely and reshopped it. Come to think of it, the two locations I mixed up are the locations of the 2 shops stuck in limbo the last 60 days that MSC won't return my inquires about.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/2018 05:14PM by wwin.

@nslinhar wrote:

A number of times I have received incorrect clarification from schedulers. Shops rejected, overturned and paid for.

This happened to me recently and it was not overturned but the wonderful scheduler gave me a similar shop to do and added the $$ I lost for the first shop to a bonus on the next one.
A high layout shop was rejected on a Friday night. The skeleton staff for the weekend insisted it could not be accepted. I chewed my nails down all weekend until the Monday staff reinstated pay and reimbursement.
I was once rejected on a shop I never even applied for. I did not discover it until 6 months later when I applied for my first shop through that msc. They told me I could never work for them due to the flaked shop I had 6 months before. No great loss as the owner had a real attitude. Other than that all my msc seem to be flexible with small issues.

"I was once rejected on a shop I never even applied for."

@sandyf Unbelievable. But believable. SMH

At a DQ I went inside when I was supposed to drive through. I am sure there may be a couple others. I have done some longish drives to do what was required to get jobs accepted after I messed up.

I found out three months after I completed a dealership shop for Maritz that it was rejected because it was on hold for some length of time without resolution and eventually cancelled, But it never showed back up on the holds list after I submitted the initial hold inquiries the first time, so I never knew it was on hold again. I check the site nearly every day and only found out about the rejection when I called to ask where the money was.

The largest value shop ever rejected was a $20+ reimbursement of fast food to check promotional advertising. The reasoning was an issue beyond my control so I have chosen to never work further for that MSC. Their loss.

Beyond that my rejections have been 100% my error and more shops that could have been rejected have been accepted by MSCs (at least provisionally) than have been actually rejected. I have had greater losses from MSCs that suddenly went out of business owing shoppers than from rejections.

My first, and worst, rejected shop was for Ikea - probably around 10 years ago. It was one of my earliest shops (FIRST mistake), and I ended up crying 3/4 of the way through in my car because I was just SO overwhelmed. I did my best, spent HOURS trying to piece together the information into a report (this was pre-cell phone as we know it today) and so all I had were scribbled notes on the Ikea list paper.

It came back with a big red REJECTED stamp on it - no pay, nothing. I swore off MSing at that time!

I do a lot of cell phone shops. One area has a Verizon and ATT next to each other. I have done these two stores many times. I submitted my report and got an e-mail back, the shop was for Verizon, I went into the ATT store. LOL

I was rejected because they said I did a shop before the start date. Totally bogus but I couldn't prove it because none of the emails I had showed the date. They only put the date on-line which, of course, was not on-line two months later. I asked what the start date was and never got a response. Good thing they don't have hardly anything in my area so I won't be tempted to try them again.

My saddest rejection was a McDonalds that got rejected because I bought a coffee instead of a fountain beverage and it had a $30 bonus on it.

I had the same problem. They thought the timings were wrong but I had video hidden for my own purple and proved it and they StiLL said I was wrong.Same pizza shop I am sure.....

@Rho* wrote:

The personal pizza shop where I was asked to re-verify the timing for putting assembling and baking the pizza. No one else was in line and the pizza was baked in record time. I was told there was no way pizza could have baked so fast. I went back and spoke with manager who confirmed my timings could have been correct. I was not blowing any cover because I will never return there even on my own dime. Pizza is overpriced and not so tasty.

I know exactly what company and NO they do not want to know! You would think they would! Gave up on them.

@FrugalCat wrote:

My favorite was when I had a supermarket shop rejected because I did not evaluate one of the departments (seafood.) The instructions state that if you are at the counter for a specified time period (usually 2-4 minutes) and are not helped, you skip that section. Well, all the employees were clustered around a sample table (Boar's Head had some cheese cubes and deli meats on display) and they all ignored me when I asked if someone could help me in seafood. So I put this in the report, and I get rejected ( I did the rest of the shop perfectly.)

Wouldn't you think the client would want to know that the staff was so busy eating samples meant for customers that an actual shopper was being ignored? Think again, apparently.

Curb shots of the big grocery store chain. So aggravating.