I recently saw a gentleman that I had mystery shopped a few weeks back at a restaurant. I do not believe he recognized me but I recognized him because his store was in the same parking lot as where were we were dining. It was a good shop and he did a great job so he wasn't my concern.... however I had just come from a very unpleasant automotive shop. It made me wonder if a person I reviewed could find my information. It was a local car dealership and the car VIN links to my personal info so I would think once the shop gets reviewed with the adviser there possibly could be an issue. The report was 100% truthful and factual but they did ask my opinion (if I would return and why or why not). Anyone have any sort of backlash after an assignment? Or am I being way to paranoid? Thanks!

There have been some posts about that but I don't remember exactly what happened (to other people). You could probably do a search and find some stories. Maybe some forum members who had bad experiences will chime in and refresh our memories, LOL.

I completed an oil change shop recently. The drive home was about one hour long and my car sat in my driveway for a few hours. I noticed that oil was leaking onto my driveway. I returned to a location nearby (same chain) the following morning and informed them that I had an oil change done and oil was leaking. The staff refilled my oil (which was down a whole quart) and informed me that the oil plug was not tightened properly. I had already submitted my report and therefore did not include these details. I informed the MS company of what happened and was informed they would look into the matter. Several weeks went by and I eventually cleaned up the area myself however oil causes damage. I never disclosed to anyone that I was completing a mystery shop. I just acted like a regular customer would. I was left with a mess to clean up and eventually was informed by the MS company that the area would be cleaned by the client. I informed the MS company that several weeks had gone by and the mess was already cleaned up. The owner of the company called me as the MS company provided him with my information. (without my consent) I was informed that I could not negotiate any other type of compensation with him. Long story short, I never called him back and chalked it up to a lesson learned. Obviously the MS does not want to make any waves with the client. Shoppers are easily replaced. I am an experienced shopper and have never run into this before. Luckily there was no damage to my vehicle but if there was I know the MS company would not have stood behind mind. I am staying away from any automotive shops in the future.

It is for your story that I stay away from auto service shops. I know people swear by them and that is fine since it works for them. But I do not want to take a chance on having my car damaged and no recourse or responsibility taken by the auto shop.

Similarly, I believe the MSC that is notorious for bundling the pizza shop has in their shopper agreement that neither they nor their client can be held accountable for any damages. It is for that reason that I don't do their dining shops anymore. What if I get severe food poisoning or something else happens with the food ? I do not have any recourse. To me that is not worth it for the benefit of a meal or a small fee.

@shoppinggirl wrote:

I am staying away from any automotive shops in the future.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/2019 01:06AM by 7star.

I did a fine dinning shop with the MSC that does the build your own pizza shops. We had to get an appetizer and my husband got the raw oysters and I’m pretty sure he got food poisoning from them. I did include it in the report but nothing came of it. If it was not a mystery shop we probably would have called the restaurant, but we just chalked it up as a lesson to never get oysters again.

When my son got food poisoning after being served a nearly raw burger at a nice restaurant, the MSC notified the client and gave me permission to call and let the manager know.

To answer the question posed:

Only with the @#&$# reports!!!!!