K-12 phone shop.

I accepted the same shop. The requirements include turning off features in the browser that I wasn't sure that I even know how to do. It got much worse from there, as Quovatis noted. I wasn't convinced that I could do it regardless of time spent. I asked the Scheduler to cancel it. My request was honored. It went off the Job Board, then on again 2 days later. Then off, then on. I think other shoppers are having the same reaction. I felt bad admitting that I didn't think that I could actually do it. I have done tens of thousands of screenshots (in my job, not for MSing) and never had to worry about exact pixel counts. I have done other shops for Intellishop. this one is beyond crazy.

@quovatis wrote:

The first and maybe last assignment I accepted for intellishop. Usually their fees are way lower than I would accept, but I saw one for $15 that was for an online bank. Didn't think it would be that bad so I signed up, as that's a good fee. I should have seen the red flag in that the guidelines were well-hidden and not available until you accepted, unlike all their other shops. After reading the guidelines, I immediately emailed them to cancel. The instructions were ridiculous. They wanted close to 100 screenshots of the website, including EVERY drop down menu, every roll-over menu, etc. And not just any screen shot, they had to be precisely a set number of pixels wide and high. That would have taken me at least 2 hours, so I ran away from that. I should do myself a favor and just deactivate my intellishop account. I've never taken a shop from them and doesn't look like there will ever be a shop that's worth it.

A banking shop where I had to request information about accounts for businesses that bring in $200k+ a year. This was a branch in a "higher end" part of town. As soon as the teller asked me questions about how much I made per year, she immediately called the regional president of the bank who just so happened to have an office at the branch.

He asked me questions regarding the nature of my business, asked for a business card, asked for a website, etc. He made a comment about how he'd never met a business owner who not only had no digital footprint, but also didn't have business cards on them.

I know this isn't the same for everything/state, but signing an agreement that they won't be held accountable most often can't be enforced. I found this out when I signed the cruise ship paper that said they wouldn't be accountable for injury/sickness on one of their sponsored excursions. I ended up almost dead in a 3rd world country and thought "oh well, I signed an agreement" until I got back and lawyers (ambulance chasers, in this case, really) were calling me to sue them. After a lot of back and forth (and them ultimately being held responsible), it turns out that a majority of those agreements are just scare tacticts and will never hold up.

@7star wrote:

I won't do any more ACL food shops. They have in their shopper agreement that neither them nor their client can be held accountable if you get injured or sick during the shops. To me it isn't worth it for a few bucks.

Sorry to hear you got sick.

@eodermatt wrote:

Shopping the South Jersey Shore

I respect your viewpoint on the agreements. I personally won't do anymore shops with them. I don't see why I have to take that chance, especially when they have the shoppers sign the agreement stating they're not liable. If something happens, to get an attorney and all the hassle for a $100 or so meal isn't worth it.

Not sure if they still do them, but the $17 Bestmark car sales shops. Way too much time involved in sitting down with a salesperson and then the report had quite a bit of narrative required. But I did quite a few of them years ago when I was first getting started in MS. Live and learn...

I hate the Scheels shops. You have to get an interaction with a manager. The only problem is that the managers are supposed to walk...FAST (!!) through the store. They are also supposed to limit their conversations with a customer to a minute or something like that. When they aren't walking FAST (!!) they disappear into the back room. Tracking down a manager to ask my "scenario" question took me over half an hour and ended up being a major plot/strategy thing having my husband stop a manager while I weaved through clothing racks to get to him. Problem was, I wasn't fast enough, so he left my husband after briefly handling his question and walked away. FAST (!!) (it even says in guidelines that the managers do this). So then we had to regroup and let my 14 year old son ask a question and I just sort of "butted in" on the "juvenile customer" to get his attention. My husb was with me, as I was supposed to get names, as well. I tried so hard to see his name tag, but he was turned to the wrong side, and his name wasn't easy like "John" or "Mike." It was a foreign name. I was docked points for not getting his name, even though I knew it started with "Iqa....."

Then, when I asked my "scenario question," when I FINALLY got him to stop, it just so happened that my "scenario area" was right there to my left....pretty awkward, and he couldn't "walk me" to it. So I switched it up and asked for the restroom; and explained this in the report...and got docked points for that, too. My score on that shop was a 7, which is dreadful to me.

I feel like if I can't be more successful on a shop, I don't want to do them. It was a tough one!

I also hate to do reveal shops.

@sandyf wrote:

@teriraia wrote:

Gas station audits when there are 20 pumps and it is busy with customers. If Jamba Juice paid more it would be worth it but too much effort for too little pay where I live. Same with Sbarro. Ikea was a no brainer once I read about it on this forum.

I agree with both...Jamba Juice has menus that stretch all across the top. In order to get all of the menu you need to take it from far away but you need to be able to read the prices etc. Will Jamba accept only part of hte menu in the pic? Sbarro counter pic is illegal to take per my local Sbarro.

Sbarro is definitely lying to you. Lol.

@bestofbothworlds wrote:

K-12 phone shop.

Omg. I've done a few of them but the last one I did lasted nearly 30 minutes, 26 to be exact.

Any reimbursement-only hotel shop, unless I am literally away from home and driving through the exact town. The number of interactions and the months of chasing charge reversals is so not worth it.

@eyelove2shop wrote:

@sandyf wrote:

@teriraia wrote:

Gas station audits when there are 20 pumps and it is busy with customers. If Jamba Juice paid more it would be worth it but too much effort for too little pay where I live. Same with Sbarro. Ikea was a no brainer once I read about it on this forum.

I agree with both...Jamba Juice has menus that stretch all across the top. In order to get all of the menu you need to take it from far away but you need to be able to read the prices etc. Will Jamba accept only part of hte menu in the pic? Sbarro counter pic is illegal to take per my local Sbarro.

Sbarro is definitely lying to you. Lol.

I actually don't mind doing these ones, because I have four kids who are home educated, so it's realistic for me to be calling K12 and I also always learn something. The last time I did one, though, instead of saying my child was in school and having problems, I said that my child was home schooled. I didn't think the company would accept that, since it's not a "scenario..." but they did

The first one .......

Re -----> The ones where you click on it and it says 'up to 80 pics' for $6...not so much.

I was also hesitant about this one. The pics they are looking for are of out of stock inventory. The gig that I completed a few days ago took me no longer than 5 min. I only had to take 6 or 7 pics total for that particular requirement. I kind of wish that I had jumped on those sooner.

When I started MShopping, I took some big box electronics store shops to get my foot in the door with an MS company. The guidelines were to evaluate a sales person in each of 2 departments: for example, GPS and TV. Wait for a salesperson FROM THAT DEPARTMENT, ask questions, act interested, wait till they close the sale, then turn it down. Same for the next department. Then buy something unreimbursed, all for $12. After I drove 45 minutes, spent close to 2 hours in the store each time I did the shops, bought gum I would not chew at my own expense, and written reports for another hour, my pay was ludicrous. I regretted doing those. Lesson learned!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/2019 06:46PM by kdahlface.

I will never do any apartment shops-takes to long to get paid. I will never do any amusement shops either- way to much information to gather, and though it is supposed to be fun, its not.

Scavenger Hunt jobs in the Field Agent app

I was curious about the apartment shops. Thanks for posting so I have an idea about them.

Apartment shops where they pay you 3.5 months later!

Apartment shops where they pay you 3.5 months later!

Apartment shops where you don’t get paid until 3.5-4 months later!!

I feel certain that the scavenger hunt shops are looking for items that are NOT suppsed to be on the shelf any longer. I tried finding a few and never succeeded.

There are many MSC's that offer apartment shops. My favorite pays very quickly (The 22nd of the month for all shops completed through the 7th of that month) - though the reports are very long. Others have reports that take 20 minutes and pay with a pretty standard "pay the end of the following month."

@tsc84124 wrote:

I will never do any apartment shops-takes to long to get paid. I will never do any amusement shops either- way to much information to gather, and though it is supposed to be fun, its not.

I personally love the apartment shops, especially if I can line up 2-3 in the same general area, then get a Panda Express lunch. They pay well and the work is relatively easy. I think it really all depends on the MSC as I’ve never waited 90 days to get paid.

However, I have seen some apartment shops come across one Msc recently that was targeted, but woefully underpaid for a two part shop. Wouldn’t touch that.

I also won’t do five guys, mimi’s, or another locally owned sandwich shop in my area. Tons of questions, very little pay.

MOD Pizza, never again. It’s worse than Blaze.

@funwoman wrote:

I do not like the " free meal thing" any more. Pictures, receipts, timings, names, and a 3 month wait for pay which is reimbursement and if it is not perfect they can choose not to pay. It is a 0 interest loan if you pay with credit card you are losing money. A 100 - 200 meal isnt as fun when you are constantly timing when the water bread meal dessert etc came... and then worrying about reimbursement nope I'll pass with rare exception.

I never liked the idea of not being able to enjoy your meal for the timings you have to keep track of. And no pay! I'd rather pay for a meal where I want to go (their restaurants are never my choice).

@CashieNess wrote:

I also won’t do five guys, mimi’s, or another locally owned sandwich shop in my area. Tons of questions, very little pay.

You think Five Guys has a ton of questions for little pay? Alright then I guess......

I'm usually done with the report when I walk out the door.

@tlin wrote:

MOD Pizza, never again. It’s worse than Blaze.

Really? I love MOD shops. I do them whenever I can. I refuse to do Blaze unless it's the carryout. What do you dislike about MOD shops?

What's wrong with the MOD shop ? Sure, there are some observations and timings but it isn't that difficult if one knows exactly what they need to do.

@tlin wrote:

MOD Pizza, never again. It’s worse than Blaze.

The 5 guys IMO is easier than the Panda shop. The burger shop is higher pay usually too.

I dunno they're both realllllllllly easy.