@janalou wrote:

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

One shop guideline said, "DO NOT TAKE PICTURES OF THE CURB" LOL I guess some shoppers did.

I has two shops rejected this month (November). Both were for shopping the wrong locations.

I had one when I first started where I was supposed to evaluate a specific “free samples” tent inside a huge club store. That brand of samples was not being handed out anywhere in the store. I took photos and submitted the report. Rejected. I should have been paid for my effort and it left a bad taste in my mouth about the MSC.

I did 2 nicely bonused cell phone shops where I had to ask a specific question; “how much would I have to pay today to sign up for service?” Both stores told me the same thing, which was apparently not the quote they were supposed to give. Both rejected. I went back and forth with the editor, but she didn’t believe they had given me that answer. I gave up arguing because I didn’t want to burn bridges.

Like 2 weeks ago I had a gas station shop rejected. The employee told me they were no longer that brand, and had just recently switched to a new brand. I submitted as “no longer this brand” but was rejected and told I should have still evaluated because they still had signage for the old brand up.

Earlier this month, I had a fast-food shop that required pictures taken of the menu board, order board, drive-through area, and drive-through window. All pictures had to be taken in "portrait right," and I had just gotten the one of the drive-through area and was trying to pull up to the window slowly enough to get an angled view of the window after the car ahead of me pulled away. As this is happening, I get a call, and it made the camera go away, and I wasn't able to reject it one-handed because of how I was holding the phone. I had to scramble to maneuver the car safely, reject the bloody call, and then get the camera function back up. There had been a long line as it was, and just as I got the camera back up, the cashier hung their head out the window to find out what the hold up was. I had to abandon that photo or risk exposure. Once I completed the other immediate requirements, I drove around the side of the building, thinking that perhaps I could discretely get a zoomed-in photo of the window from a distance. I was route shopping, so I wasn't familiar with the layout, and it turned out that there was about a 9-foot drop between the fast-food restaurant and the adjacent lot. I had a fantastic view of a retaining wall. Not to mention that it was a bare concrete lot, and if I had attempted something nutty like standing on top of my running boards or tires to get the shot, I would have stuck out like a sore thumb. I explained all of this with the report and got no reply. I had submitted the partially obscured view of the window with a truck at it, as it was the best I could do without exposing myself. The shop was rejected within a day and I was given a 1/10 and the only comment was that I didn't get a picture of the window. I did the same chain on the same day and still have zero feedback on that one. This was weeks ago. I had just started with this particular MSC and decided that I was done with them, especially considering that I have read some things on here that reinforced my feelings. Well, I happened to peek at their job board anyway and saw a juicy auto service shop for one of my car brands that I can never use for anything and I jumped at the chance. I was a little shocked when I was assigned the shop, given that my rating with them was an embarrassing 1, and that was over a simple FF shop. Well, I did the shop 2 days ago, it was moderately involved with some intense bits, I submitted the report, and just over an hour later I received confirmation that it had been approved, granted a 10/10 rating, and the editor thanked me because it was able to be sent right to the client! I was shocked! I guess I won't give up on them just yet, but I'm going to proceed cautiously!

The only shop I had rejected was a bank shop. The banker did everything wrong. I wrote an accurate report. The banker said I lied. The MSC rejected the shop. The MSC lost the client shortly thereafter. I now complete the same bank's shop with a different MSC.

I had 2 shops rejected, both completely my fault. The first one was a payday loan place. There were two almost right next to each other and I did the wrong one. The other one was a credit card application for Target. When I was stating my annual income, I accidentally didn’t add the three trailing zeros on my income. I was not approved for the card and the shop was rejected.

CANADAMOMMY Same pizza shop I am sure.....
Groovy ;~)

My first rejection was a nicely bonused McD breakfast shop. Also happened to be the first McD shop I had done. Got to the window and placed my order. The employee says, "We're having a BOGO on the egg mcmuffin with cheese today so I'll order you two." I said, "No, one will be fine." The employee said, "Why not take your free sandwich, you can always give it to someone..." This went back and forth for what seemed an eternity. Finally, not wanting to draw any more attention to myself than I already had, I agreed...REJECTED!

Second was a post office shop and everything went perfectly until I went outside. It was a very windy day and the receipt got swept away in the wind. Of course I gave chase, but each time I got close, a gust of wind would lift the receipt out of reach. Finally, the wind let up momentarily and the receipt began floating back towards my outstretched arm. When it was almost within reach, a big gust carried it up, up, and over the roof of the post office. No amount of pleading would stave off the REJECTION!

Did a Five Guys, walked-in and ordered. Another perfect shop, until I began inputting the report and remembered that it was a phone ahead shop. Fighting off the sinking feeling growing in my stomach area, I quickly checked to see if any reschedule dates were available. Lucked out and was able to reschedule for the next day to avoid this rejection.

Different Post Office shop. Had a mental lapse and began the second shop 27 minutes after completing the first. Was able to complete the location later during the scheduled shop date window to narrowly avoid this rejection.

Mamma always said that mistakes will cost ya...lol!

I have often wondered if the MSC still uses the report for the rejected shop...and if so, that sort of burns me

Here are my two rejections and why I think the MSC may still have used the report (not sure, but it seems like it's still a "good" report)

1. This one was my fault. Had to call and order pizza to go. Had to also order a salad, "with no onions." I forgot to ask for the salad "with no onions...." the salad doesn't come with onions anyway...and it was a recorded call. Shop was rejected, but that is the ONLY thing that was wrong...the rest of the report/the photos/etc were all great. I've made other similar mistakes since then (diff shops/diff companies) and have gotten paid

2. This one was NOT my fault. I had another pizza shop. It was a take out order. I did the shop on Thursday evening before Labor Day weekend. I took a gazillion photos of my pizza, as I always do. When I submitted the report, I just picked one photo and sent the report in

Didn't hear anything back on Fri. Nothing on Sat/Sun. Nothing on Mon. Silence most of Tues. I suppose my editor and/or scheduler were taking a long weekend. On Tues evening, I got an email that there was a thumb over a smidgen of the pizza. I emailed back within a couple hours saying I had other photos. Got an email back the next morning saying that the shop was due to the client the day before and that there was no time to get my other photos.

I was so pissed. It was someone who slacked on their job and passed it off on me.

So far (knock on wood) those are the only two that I've had rejected

But one time I got an oil change done on my Nissan Passenger Van. This van was originally a commercial use type of vehicle and in 2012 (I think)Nissan started to make them into passenger vans. I used it for an oil change and almost got rejected because the MSC thought I was taking a commercial vehicle in for an oil change. I said that it was a PASSENGER van and got paid. It needs an oil change again and I keep wondering if I should attempt to do it as a shop or just go get the work done on my own dime...it's not listed as one of the "non allowed" vehicles...but a Sprinter Van is not allowed, so most likely they wouldn't want my van to be used, either (it's even less common than a Sprinter)

My Cane's shop was rejected b/c the registers had a different time than my mobile device (which is synched to the universal atomic clock!). This skewed the timing report, even though I explained the issue in my initial survey report. You have to explain all the times/timing issues to this MSC, because there is also mall surveillance, which probably picks up another time altogether. I found this MSC's clients tended to use wrong times on registers regularly; I also had another FF shop rejected by them a few years earlier, b/c my timing didn't match with the time on the receipt...which I explained, too. I haven't shopped for them in a couple years.

I think these posts are really helpful, especially to newbies. We ALL make mistakes, regardless of how long we have been MSing. There are posts here by both newbies and veterans. So newbies, DON'T GIVE UP!

Anyhow, I ALMOST had a shop rejected, but I caught my mistake in time and did a re-shop, at my expense. It was a casual fast food, and tomatoes WERE NOT allowed on the burger. When asked if I wanted tomato, I said SURE! When I was re-reading my guidelines at home before reporting, I realized my boo-boo. Fortunately, I had another day to shop, so I re-shopped the next day, at my expense, and did it correctly. And it got approved! Phew!

Papa Johns. Piks were not right and by the time I was done turning the slices upside down it was not really edible. No pizza, no pay and I never did another Papa Johns.

My first Five Guys (my fault) for ordering a shake and thinking I didn't (also) need a drink....not working for them anymore, to top it off, I gained 2 pds with that one, but enjoyed it in the moment....didn't even me a chance to re-do, but that's fine.

You need to switch to Popeye's...better chicken, better pay.

@snarf47 wrote:

You need to switch to Popeye's...better chicken, better pay.

I tried Popeye's twice. El Pollo Loco is much better.

@teriraia wrote:

Papa Johns. Piks were not right and by the time I was done turning the slices upside down it was not really edible. No pizza, no pay and I never did another Papa Johns.

Papa John's seems to be notorious for rejections on photos. I had a rejection on my very first Papa John's because I took the pics on my phone, not a camera. They asked me to re-shop and doubled the fee. This was the company that is now out of business and offered good bonuses for Papa John's. Haven't done any since they went under. I had a sub shop rejected because I forgot one of the photos, I re-shopped that one also.

Goodwin rejected a painting class shop because they said I shopped the wrong type of class even though I asked them first about that specific class and they approved it. Weird thing was they still paid and paid the max reimbursement plus fee even though they said it was rejected. It was the second shop I had done for them and I had a lot of trouble getting paid for my first so I deleted my account. I count myself super lucky that those were the only ones, but I also don't do a lot of shops.

I recently had my first REJECTED shop! I took it personally, too. It was with a company I had not worked for before. The guidelines said to take a photo of the entire window of the shop. There was a sample photo. At the store, there is no window, no door, only a large opening at which was stationed a security person. The sign indicating the name of the store is on a blank wall on the other side of the security person. I took a photo of the name and a photo of the opening. When I got home, I emailed the scheduler telling her what happened. She responded saying I emailed the wrong person, that she was just the scheduler and could not help me. I emailed the contact info @ address and received a form response that said, basically, that they wanted a photo of the entire window. I emailed again, explaining that there was no window. But I went BACK to the store and took a wider angle photo of the entire store entrance, with the security person standing in it. I received an email saying that because the guidelines specifically stated that the photo needed to have the entire window, they were rejecting the shop. The upside is that I know never to work with that company again.

I had a gas station shop that was quite a distance away but occasionally go near the city so I grabbed it. The address didn't exist, like physically wasn't there. Funny part this was an app shop so every the app said the place want there. There was a landmark location but again nothing there. I took pictures of the physical location called the MSC and got no response, emailed them and no response. I got rejected, which I contested since I didn't want it to impact my relationship with them. No response.

Eventually I'm able to figure out that the actual location of the gas station is like 8 miles away in a different city and different Zip code. The MSC freaking calls me up to ask me to do the shop but apparently they forgot it got rejected. I was a little ticked off so I said sure thing for "ridiculous shop fee". HaHa, revenge!

Nope, they said sure thing. Easiest one of those shops I did at that location. I stressed heavily on the form that the location was wrong but definitely the right gas station.

I had a shop rejected as I didn't take a photo of the gas station sign that showed the poles going into the ground. The instructions said to take a photo of the main sign with poles. Well, I didn't get the very bottom of the poles and it was rejected. However, if the poles are behind trees or shrubs, then you apparently don't have to get the bottom of the poles. I told the company I took a picture of the poles and to please fix their instructions to note people need to take a photo of the ENTIRE poles.

I had one gas station that got rejected as it was physically out of business and I didn't get a receipt or restroom photos. I argued that one and did get paid but seriously?

Have had two ...your spoon was IN the serving dish pic. Yes they handed it to me like that.
And your knife was under the steak. Yes it was handed to me that way..

I recently had two shops rejected in the same week, which is a total shock to me. I've never had shops rejected except when I first started and was green. They were both phone shops, ones I've done numerous times before. The first shop was denied because I didn't include a specific word in my recorded call; I could not believe it was rejected for this but oh well you live and learn. (it was a cremation shop, where I ask for pricing regarding a loved one). The second shop was the one that pissed me off, not at the MSP but the client that rejected it. It was an online inquiry and phone follow up, not recorded. I completed the shop, submitted it, got approved, and then two weeks later was notified the shop approval was reversed and denied. The MSP stated that the client did not have records of my phone number calling them. However, when I asked the MSP for what number of mine they couldn't locate, she said that they didn't give them a number. I had proof from my call log. Didn't matter, shop denied. That was some BS. So now I record my calls by myself if they aren't through a recorded line so it won't happen again.

Hearing about some of the shops that are rejected makes me a little nervous about shopping overall; and shopping a lot.

It seems like so many things are the fault of the MSC, client, or other things that couldn't be avoided. I know some of it is truly shopper error.

I once had a bonused pizza shop rejected because they put pepperonis on my cheese pizza even though the printed receipt on the box clearly showed that it was supposed to be a cheese pizza. I appealed the rejection by pointing out that it was beyond my control what the store put on my pizza. The rejection was reversed.

@Jill_L says "It seems like so many things are the fault of the MSC, client, or other things that couldn't be avoided. I know some of it is truly shopper error."

It does seem that way, however you are reading about MSC errors from a miniscule part of the shopper pool. There are many more shoppers than forum members who are shoppers. Some shoppers may not want to admit fault. Some simply lie and pass the buck to the MSC. Geoverify and time and date stamped receipts and photos are required in part due to the mass number of dishonest shoppers. Some of whom are a part of this forum.

Thanks to a big project this year I'll probably end up doing somewhere around 750-1000 shops. Three have been rejected: 1. Papa John's because of the "angle." 2. A bowling shop because I stupidly didn't notice the guidelines had changed and a flatbread pizza was no longer allowed. 3. I was on the road and picked up a Five Guys to kill some time and didn't notice it was a call-in shop. You can bet I'm a lot more careful about the scenarios that led to 2 and 3. I don't do many PJ shops anymore (although I've had some approved since then).

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/2018 04:56AM by NinS.

I had a web inquiry (it was a request for an oil change appointment) shop rejected. I had a similar one the day before and accidentally attached the wrong screenshot. They were very nice about it and just asked for the correct screenshot, but I couldn't find it- maybe already deleted it. I was busy with paperwork for my regular job, so I just let it go and apologized. I don't do those web inquiries anymore. I wasn't blacklisted or anything dramatic.

A post office shop mailed to same zone my fault

A bowling shop as they keep changing the requirements and I missed one of the stupid changes.

a gas station shop as the overall shot did not have the convenince store in it.

Papa John's Pizza - three times I did it and three times 'your photo wasn't clear enough'. No more Papa John's at ANY price.

Same thing! The bathroom was so out of the way that I had no idea it even existed. And to add insult to injury they blacklisted me from doing that shop at that location (Or that's my assumption since I'll see other locations but not that location). I busted my bum recording everything that was out of stock (and there was a TON of it - I was like - never again. I'm not being paid enough for an audit) and then this happened. But there's a reason I only do one shop for that MSC anymore.

@Niner wrote:

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.