Today I did a shop where the cashier is supposed to ask for and offer a rewards card. If I have one (I don't have one of these), I'm not to use it during the shop.

I realized once I got home that rewards were scanned on my receipt, AND it is several hundred dollars of transactions (my transaction earned 15 points, and there are over 700 points on the card). Big time no-no, if not straight up illegal. My SO said employees at his store were fired over scanning their personal cards on customer transactions.

I will definitely be reporting the fact that I don't have a card and I was not provided with one at the store. This just made me curious what others have witnessed that you had to report.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/2019 11:15PM by Kakita987.

I've heard of this employee scam where they swipe their own rewards cards and get the points.

I have had this done to me twice years ago. Target with huge purchases right before Christmas. From what I understand, this scanning was to benefit educational institutions. I let it slide. It still annoyed me.

In this case you have no choice to report it otherwise you are not doing the job correctly and in addition your report would be rejected once they see the receipt. Fraud and poor customer service are frequent things we are checking for. Most of my stories of fraud come from clients I still continue to shop on my own dime after the ms program is done. I see all sorts of shortcomings on my after mystery shop visits.

I have observed, and reported a few cases of on-the-job sexual harassment, cash drawers left open and unattended, cash sales being done under the table and pocketed by employees, employees sleeping on-the-job, discrimination in housing, and failure to make truth in savings and truth in credit disclosures. But the most frequent promlem I have encountered is gross incompetence.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/10/2019 11:59AM by Rousseau.

I did a valet parking integrity shop in a very upscale shopping area. The valets were parking Lamborghinis, Porsches, Ferraris, Bentleys, and more. When I returned the pick up my vehicle, the valet left the cabinet with folks' keys wide open and completely unattended. I literally could have walked off with the keys for some very pricey cars in just a matter of seconds. He also left the key in the cash drawer.

I have had all sorts of other interesting experiences.... I have had an apartment tour with a drunken manager.. While being driven recklessly in a golf cart, I nearly had a head-on collision with an F-250... I had a manager use some heavily sexualized and profane language regarding construction workers while touring an apartment..... A new home salesman recently told me that I should not purchase a home in his community as I would be much happier purchasing from the competition... I was refused service in a bank because I didn't speak English - the bank had a huge interpretation service only a phone call away.

I did a valet parking shop where I had to claim that I had lost my claim check. The "prize" went to the valet who asked What make of my vehicle and then put all of the Honda keys on the stand and asked me which key was mine! (The rule was that he was to ask for photo ID, bring my vehicle, and then ask to see the insurance card or vehicle registration card (both of which are to be carried IN the vehicle here.)

Sandyf, my Target experience was not while MS'ing.

My SO and I were doing an integrity fine dining shop. Incidental to dining, we had to use the valet parking. When we went to pick up the car, they had trouble finding it. They asked for the make and the color. I told them. Two minutes later, a huge SVU arrived instead of our sedan. Right make and color. They insisted that it was our car and were upset when we wouldn't take the keys. We eventually got our car. The report didn't ask about the valet service. Two weeks later, the scheduler called and offered me another integrity fine dining shop at a different location. I mentioned our valet experience two weeks earlier. She said that she would tell the client.

I once overheard a salesperson arranging a marijuana handoff while browsing the floor during a retail shop. I reported it as a "personal conversation not appropriate for the workplace", but didn't explicitly point out the illegal activity.

I was doing an alcohol compliance theater shop, and the bartender asked for my ID. I said I didn't have mine, just a credit card. He had me hold up the credit card like an ID, and he looked around to make sure no one was paying attention. He didn't last long after my report.

Did a high end burger shop. Off duty associate was asking for food for her guests which they received. I would have not reported it, but another associate was giving free food to 5 guests. I struggled whether to write this in the report, but I figured this is what the owner would want to know. The manager was one of the people giving the food away for free. One manager refused and I praised her work ethic.

On one of my first mystery shop experiences, I took a series of integrity shops at a hotel bar and breakfast buffet. Midway through the second round I realized that my receipts for the breakfast buffets always had the incorrect time on it, but the bar evening shops had the correct times—but they used the same register for both. I had a theory that one employee was ringing up his one and two customer buffets for his first customers of the day (the buffet was the only option at this hotel for breakfast so the bill was just a matter of the set price times the amount of patrons—mostly hotel guests one or two at a time). He was reprinting the same two receipts throughout most of breakfast instead of ringing them up with each table and pocketing the money. When I first came up with the theory the mystery shopping company, and the hotel were in denial. After two more rounds my theory was proven. The employee was fired and ultimately arrested after they realized the thousands of dollars he had stolen from them. That was my introduction to mystery shopping!!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/10/2019 03:21PM by Jsn1019.

The week before last I had to visit a health club & Gym and ask for a tour. I was given a tour card to fill in and given a seat in the cafe. At the adjacent table two other members of staff seemed to be compiling swimming teams of children. I first pricked my ears up when one them said the F word loudly; it only got worse when her colleague mentioned putting a particular child on the team and she enquired if that was the ****** [Very racist terminology] looking one. I was terribly shocked, to be honest.

When I observe things on a shop that management ought to know, but there's no place on the form for it, I send a message to the scheduler and tell her what I observed. She can use it or not, as she sees fit, but I frequently get a notice that she forwarded it to the client and thanks for telling. An observant shopper is one they want to use!

Wow. Just wow! What stories!

Makes my experience downright pale in comparison. On a FF shop, saw an employee look around, slip her cell phone out of her pocket, text someone, slip it back in her pocket -- and continue preparing meals without washing her hands or changing her gloves. I could not eat the meal (well, I had just read the Consumer Reports' article on e coli and other disgusting stuff found on cell phones, LOL!), and reported truthfully on why.

I hated reporting it, but the company policy is employees are to put their cell phones in their lockers while they are on the clock.

Your stories make me feel naive. I guess I wouldn't know if someone were ripping me off.

When I owned a retail store, there was a disparity between purchases and inventory. I thought I knew who it was, 3 teenagers who came in regularly; one would distract me, and the others would steal booze. However, I didn't have security cameras or anything, so I couldn't prove it. I did call their parents, and they quit coming in the store entirely. The disparity was well within industry norms, so I wasn't terribly concerned ("shrinkage", LOL).

Years later, my daughter came to me and confessed she had stolen the liquor. She'd come after school to do homework, and just load up her backpack and leave with the liquor. I never, ever suspected her.

After all, it's the ones you trust with everything that have the knowledge and access to rip you off.

The MAIN reason tat buffet breakfasts are shopped so intensively is that early timed guest check get re-used later and the server pockets the cash. The same is one way that valet associates reuse claim checks. My very first valet integrity "catch" was with a picture of a claim check that was time/date stamped for 2 hours before my arrival and with different make and model of vehicle and plate number than mine. You may also find valets at hotels issuing what are really baggage claim checks instead of parking claim checks, since the former are not stamped. That scam is VERY lucrative unless intensive MSing for integrity is in place.

I shopped a high-end men's clothing store, and the employee told me just to take the item that I brought to the register. I said that I didn't want him to get in trouble and asked him to please let me pay. He insisted that I take it because his manager said he had to move the merchandise, so that's what he was doing, and that there were no cameras so no one could ever find out. Yeah? Guess again, buddy. I ended up taking the item, but wish that I hadn't because that made me feel like I was the one guilty of theft. My scheduler said that I did the right thing though. Amazingly, he still works there...

I paid in cash at the bar, but the tab was forwarded and added to the dinner check. This could be a mistake, or the bartender pocketed the cash. I did not see clearly what he did with the cash I gave him, but the change was surely questionable. Maybe that's all the personal money he had, so he gave that as change?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/10/2019 04:38PM by BetteL.

There used to be shops at a grocery store chain that had several stores near my home. On one shop there was a teenage cashier and also a teenage bagger. After I got home, I found two snacks listed on my receipt that I had not purchased, and the snacks were not in my bag. The items had been scanned when I was not looking and hidden behind the counter. I reported it in a text box in the report. The scheduling manager called to thank me, and she reported it to the company. Then I was excluded from MS'ing there for a while. I went to the store a couple of weeks later for regular shopping, and those employees were not there.

I completed a paint night in Miami. I left my guest at the location (I got snacks) while we waited for instructor to get started. Last class ran late & we were the only 2 students for new class. Guest from last class offered instructor a pen that had more than cbd oil. The instructor actually offered it to my guest. I di not report it. I did report that he was on his phone during class and friends stopped by to visit him.

I have had employees scan their personal cards at movie theaters when I stated that I did not have a card and I did report it. I generally report all the egregious violations since that is what we are being paid for. I try to be fair, but if the corporate offices want certain standards - it is up to us to report when things fall short, even if it not a big deal to us.

Wow! Just WOW! The stories so far in this topic. I can add a few that have happened in just several of the last days: One luxury vehicle shop where the guy approached me and "pretended" to be a sales person (I found out later he was not). It took me pushing very hard to finally get to just sit in the vehicle. He could not tell me much about it - but he did push, over and over for me to go back to his private office. He finally confessed he was there to train sales people. Funny - because he couldn't tell me one thing about the features of the vehicle. Another luxury vehicle shop (owned by the same group that owns the above, but different brand) I specifically asked for a special vehicle (and I wrote down the VIN). Salesperson and sales manager told me the lease price was almost 200 more per month than what was on their own website. They would both pocket more in commission and the manufacturer finance unit would have made significantly more money, as would the dealership. This would be many thousands of dollars. One mom and pop store who sold very high end appliances: sales person is to never discount specific very expensive, high end brands (he did) but then he refused to give me a written estimate/bid. I had to scan in each piece of paper he wrote the discount price on (but it was supposed to be on his business card. Business card was covered with graphics, name, address, phone, etc and was the shiny kind you cannot write on; no place to write even if it was paper). I still did the report and have not heard if I will get paid for all that work. Sales man said he didn't have time to do the written estimate because he was going to be busy in the "back". When I left, he was in the back parking lot with another male employee, smoking. In this case the client was the appliance company, not the mom and pop store - so employees do not have to cooperate, really. I was supposed to get the written estimate or write it on the business card (impossible), and I was also supposed to get a picture of the front of the business that showed clearly the store, store name and address - sure, I can do that with 8 lanes of traffic going constantly - because I would have to stand across the street to get that photo.

The most disgusting: Restaurant, at the bar. I took the end seat which was right by where the garnish is for alcoholic beverages are and where the bartender puts the beverages for servers to pick up for guests. One server had brought her personal very large thermos water jug. Everytime a male employee was at this area, she ran over, took one sip and slammed the jug on the bartop (annoying as heck) to get his attention and try to flirt with him. The guys would walk away. Then another server brought homemade cookies in and put them in the same area - so employees are touching baggies that were in her purse and brought from home to eat cookies - no one washed hands or used sanitizer - and neither did the chick with the water jug. Then bartender got a salad, was eating it in the back part of the bar, then took it into the walk in cooler (at the bar) and ate in there, then left the open salad in there and went back a few times to get more bites. And to top it off, two managers were at this area off and on and saw it/heard it. We had a massive Hepatitis and E.Coli outbreak here in the restaurant industry just recently. So these actions just made me so nauseous. The thought of being contaminated with Hepatitis (any form of it), E. Coli, Salmonella, C. Diff, MRSA (the super bug) and respiratory ick.... I ended up throwing away what could have been an amazing meal. I know all these actions do not seem like much, but they are not minor infractions/violations...they are critical violations - who knows what these people are bringing in from home, their car, their purse and their dirty hands (child poo from changing diapers, animal droppings from cleaning up after them, their own poo from wiping and not cleansing hands) and that is just the E.Coli and could be combined with hepatitis. Most folks do not know that Hepatitis can live for over a week on surfaces and can contaminate during all that time. All of those bacteria can live for at least hours - some as long as 5 months outside the human body. I did not see one single person ever wash their hands or use sanitizer; nor did I see that part of the counter top cleaned. I could not get out of there soon enough. Had I been a health inspector - they would certainly be hurting with well over a dozen critical health violations.

Sadly, when I have reported behaviors like those above, I usually get down scored on my report - which is sad. We are there to be the eyes and ears of upper management of the client.

Two of these shops are still in limbo...don't know if I will get paid. I always get so anxious when things like this go wrong, because those who review our shops seem to not understand that upper management and executives want to know when something is amiss or unethical is happening. Every employee at every workplace is not perfect every second of every day.

These are my fun times mystery shopping just in just 4 days. I think I should take a vacation

The unsanitary handling of food is a turn-off and a health hazard. I don't know that I would've reported all the things I saw but if the report had room I probably would put in as much as I could. It's for that reason I try to frequent restaurants that seem to have clean procedures such as workers wearing gloves, washing hands etc.

FrostyBubbles - re: bar visit. And that's just the stuff you saw! There is so much more, I promise. Even in upscale. Lifelong waitress here and have seen way worse. You just don't even want to know, trust me. Example: cook takes dead rat out of trap with bare hands and goes right back to cooking. No washing. No lie.

This one really takes the cake. I was at a very high class restaurant in a classy hotel. This was a hotel shop, and I had been instructed to pay for everything with cash. I had to partake in the breakfast buffet. The buffet was all they served on Sunday so everyone in the restaurant was paying the same amount of money, $25.00, for their breakfast.

When the waiter gave me the bill, I waited until he left and took a photograph of it. I put the bill back on the tray with the cash payment and he collected it. Then, my friend who was to have met me there and had been delayed on account of an accident on the highway, finally showed up. He ordered the breakfast buffet as well, and, of course, I was paying for his meal, too.

When the waiter brought the bill for my friend's meal, I photographed it and put the cash down with the bill as payment. The waiter collected it.

When I got home I was wondering where on the form I would be able to upload the photos of the two bills. There was only space to upload one photo of one bill. I was peering closely at both photographs and that was when I noticed that they were exactly the same. These were photos of the same bill. The only thing that was different was the time stamp on the photo! The check number on the bill in both photos was the same.

The waiter had never put the second purchase through and he had never printed out a bill for the second purchase. He had probably never put the second purchase into the computer system. He had used the bill from the first purchase and pretended it was the bill for the second purchase, and he had, most likely, stolen the cash that had been intended as payment for the second purchase!

It took a lot of communication between me and Dataquest in order to convince them that this really happened! Just think! I would not have caught this scamp if there had not been an accident on the highway. Had there been no accident, my friend would have arrived on time. We would have ordered at the same time, and there would have been only one bill for fifty dollars.

@sestrahelena wrote:

FrostyBubbles - re: bar visit. And that's just the stuff you saw! There is so much more, I promise. Even in upscale. Lifelong waitress here and have seen way worse. You just don't even want to know, trust me. Example: cook takes dead rat out of trap with bare hands and goes right back to cooking. No washing. No lie.

Oh gosh - I know it has to be nasty. That rat story is making me gag right now. For my career as an RN (retired from) we had to take nutrition, bionutrition, microbiology, pathophysiology, etc. And most people have no idea the nasty that is on a gas pump handle, any door handle, soda fountain button or pull thingy, money (change or bills), dropping your keys and picking them back up. I constantly carry hand sanitizer for these reasons.

Oh gosh - the rat story makes me never want to go out to eat ever again.

@alannajm wrote:

It took a lot of communication between me and Dataquest in order to convince them that this really happened! Just think! I would not have caught this scamp if there had not been an accident on the highway. Had there been no accident, my friend would have arrived on time. We would have ordered at the same time, and there would have been only one bill for fifty dollars.

No doubt they wanted to be absolutely clear about what happened. I have found that when someone messes up, you can't provide too many details. I witnessed a bartender probably re-serving a drink instead of dumping it. All I reported is that I saw him take a drink back and then later he pulled a very similar drink from under the bar already made. Maybe he's a magician. Probably he's gross. I just reported the facts of what I saw.

I hope you figured out how to put two pics together into one file.

I can just say "same" to so many of these. That's why mystery shopping is a job. We show up once a month or once a week. That means that we have a very small chance to catch any bad behavior. So much goes unchecked.

I also think other shoppers are not always paying attention. I have gone to places that were filthy in ways that take time to build up. I reported it and the next time I visited, everything was so shiny. Service was only slightly improved.

The real killer for me is when there is an open kitchen. I don't mind refusing food that I saw was made after the cook was touching floor mats or garbage or his nose. I report the full time for me to receive the meal remade and also make a note of the earlier completion time. These guys always try to tell me that they washed their hands. I think they really don't remember. People think gloved hands = clean. After that, it's ok to outright stare while they work. That's what a normal customer would do.

I was conducting a shop in a retail store when I observed a customer shoplifting. I reported it to the first employee I could find and they didn't seem interested in acting on it. I also mentioned it to a CSM, and they took down some basic information, including my name. I never did find out if they caught the thief, but I definitely put both employees reactions into my report, including THEIR names.