Same here with an audit of a cookie place in the mall. Had the LOA and everything. Manager denied me. I called the contact number on the sheet. Got FULL payment for it (they apologized for having me go twice, I told them it was right across from my 9-5 job so it was no big deal). They got a forced closure for a week (during the busiest time in the mall) as a punishment.

@Jenny Cassada wrote:

I was doing a retail shop in a casino. It was by the valet, so it was tiny and had very little to browse while waiting for the associate to engage so I could ask a question. I was in that store for 15 minutes (I had walked the entire store half a dozen times while three employees spoke about company business and not one was paying any attention to anyone in the store. I was afraid they were going to think I was casing the joint, so I decided to just get my purchase and headed to the register to start the interaction myself. As soon as I got there, the phone rang and he was on it for the entire time. I tried to pull my item off the counter and he grabbed it from me and rang it up. I fumbled with my wallet a bit to try to waste time and for him to get off the phone. He never spoke to me once, no thank you, nothing. I stood there after so I could salvage the shop, but there was no inclination that he'd be getting off the phone anytime soon. I couldn't report any interactions because there weren't any. I thought for sure the shop would be rejected, and it was, but the editor actually paid for my reimbursement and half of the payment, which I thought was very generous.

That is horrible that your shop was rejected. You tried everything in your power to interact with the employee. He was the one in the wrong and you were the one that got screwed. They could look at the video for proof.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/2019 03:03PM by pegleg2000.

I wrote a similar report and the bank disputed the facts, Report was tossed and I was banned from that location. And our job is to do what??? MSC acknowledged that it’s not in my best interests to fabricate facts but it was easier to ban me than fight with the client,

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/2019 03:53PM by nmary.

I sit here with mouth agape at these incidents!!! My stars!!!

@nmary wrote:

I wrote a similar wrote and the bank disputed the facts, Report was tossed and I was banned from that location. And our job is to do what??? MSC acknowledged that it’s not in my best interests to fabricate facts but it was easier to ban me than fight with the client,

It's unfortunate when we do nothing wrong and get banned from a location. I had the same thing happen after spectacularly bad service at the restaurant I wrote about here.

Wow. Guess they'd rather keep the client than the messenger. Incidentally a couple of days ago a different Scheduler begged me to go back to the location where I had my incident - offered bonuses and everything. I declined

@nmary wrote:

I wrote a similar wrote and the bank disputed the facts, Report was tossed and I was banned from that location. And our job is to do what??? MSC acknowledged that it’s not in my best interests to fabricate facts but it was easier to ban me than fight with the client,

The gas station employee who become so enraged when I asked for the receipt for my $1.39 purchase that he crumpled it up and threw it at me, hitting me on the forehead. (Yes, he was stealing from the company by not ringing up fountain drinks.)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/2019 06:16PM by whiterosie.

It actually turned out to be a lose, lose, and win. Lose - the mystery shopping company because this in a very hard to fill area and now they pay really big bonuses to get it completed. Lose - I’ve evaluated this bank a lot and always wrote glowing reports. Their loss, Win - I get excellent service ever time I go in now. I see the whispers and pokes and am sure there is picture of me as the mystery shopper in the back room. HA!

@jshoppermont wrote:

That is so crazy, Jill. No manager in their right mind would want you to contact corporate!

? I didn't contact corporate...

@sandyf wrote:

Last night I had one of those nice server, did a job I did not mind but missed 90% of what he was supposed to do points at a chain sit down restaurant shop. I did not look forward to writing it up but hopefully put enough good words for his personal charm and delivery style in that they will not get rid of him. Aside from not really wanting to paint such a terrible picture in my report of someone I suspect was rather new to the job I also had to explain about 40 no's in those small paragraph spaces that expand. All the while I was writing explanations for the numerous no and n/a answers I was dreading trying to submit at the end for fear I was going to get a message telling me I can only type in 150 characters. Turned out this msc report was okay with more than a few words.

Yeah, I hate it when they don't do what they are "supposed to do," but they are great/give great service regardless of that....makes it tough

Apartment shop in a pretty bad neighborhood. The leasing agent (a man) closed the door of the apartment he was showing me, then proceeded to offer bonuses, discounts, and a deal on the rent, if I put in a deposit that day. Very high pressure. When I said I had to think about it after I looked at another apartment, he stood in front of the door and said I wasn't leaving until I signed the paperwork, but I had 24 hours to change my mind. I was definitely concerned about my safety at that point, and told him he really didn't want to block the way out, and started to take out my phone. He let me go, but I reported that conversation. I got paid, but I never heard back from the msc, nor do I know if the leasing agent was fired.

Fine dining. Provided payment at the bar. Bartender runs around all over the place and comes back finally to tell us they were experiencing POS CC problems. We informed him we were going to be seated in the dining room and to look for us there. We get up and then are chased down by a female who came out of nowhere. Drink and dash? We had a lot of internal giggles over that one. Still going to this delicious restaurant.

Years ago, my mom tried out her first and ONLY mystery shop. She didnt get paid for it though because she didnt adhear to the guidelines which stated she couldnt bring any children with her and she brought my daughter who was almost 2 at the time. Anyways, a sales person was right out by her vehicle basically as soon as she put it in park. He started talking to her as she was getting my daughter out of her car. My daughter grabbed ahold of my moms shirt and pulled it down accidently showing a good portion of her bra. The sales person from there on out wouldnt take his eyes off her chest and kept making advances with taking her out.

- an employee at a dealership asked me why the f&$? I came there with a Honda for an oil change when it’s not a Honda dealership. (I was able to bring any vehicle) He swore many times during the shop.

- an employee at a hardware store, while cashing me out, told another employee how much she hated her job and couldn’t wait to quit.

I did one of the Wells Fargo shops where you had to go in and say that you didn't authorize an opening of an account. The banker called over the manager (who did open my account over an year ago) to take a look. The manager then proceeded to yell at me and swear at me and insisted that she remembered that she opened the account with me. Called me a liar and had the security guard escort me out.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/20/2019 06:54PM by azncollege.

Oh my! I was mulling over doing one of those, not so sure now. lol

The phone provider shop where every time I asked a required question the employee responded " I told you that LAST time you were here".

I observed a manager feeling up a subordinate behind the sales counter.

My worse interaction was a few years back at a compliance shop where my 15 year old child had to purchase an R-rated video game. The store associate should have asked for an ID and refused the sale. Instead, she told him "you look OK to me and these rules are really F**** stupid" and then gave him change from her pocket because he was short a quarter. I hope she didn't get fired! She should have hung onto that quarter!

@Jill_L wrote:

@jshoppermont wrote:

That is so crazy, Jill. No manager in their right mind would want you to contact corporate!

? I didn't contact corporate...

I just thought it was crazy that the manager wanted you to do that rather than resolve the issue themselves.

I did an inquiry shop at a regional bank. I asked about interest bearing checking accounts.The banker ignored my request assuming I would not qualify for this account. She told me about the free account, and asked if I had a job. She was condescending on all levels.

I was equally condescending in my report.

Oh yeah. I did a hotel dinner shop at the bar (for 2 people). We ate dinner and paid in cash, around $60. Bartender dropped the $70 (including tip) right into her tip jar. It was clear glass, so I shot a photo of it when she was not looking. I'm fairly certain she got fired for that.

It wasn't a shop but I wished it was...I was checking out at a grocery store a few months back. Context, I live in an area that has a large, diverse population including many Muslims who wear obvious religious garb and Jews who often wear religious garb as well, and the cashier one aisle over was wearing a hijab. My cashier loudly and obviously was prostelytizing the customer before me and the bagger. My daughter and I were so uncomfortable, not only for ourselves (because he was not ringing us up so we were having to wait) but also for his coworkers. The cashier told the bagger that he had a duty to do this so that others would be assured of going to Heaven! I cannot even imagine what it must be like for that one cashier to have to work in that environment every day.

Worst one that was a shop: Tuxedo shop around Prom season, clerk spent a bunch of time first hinting that the HS kid was going to "get lucky" in that tux then outright stating it. He also went into detail about his antics after Prom. The kid was visibly uncomfortable and I bet he was happy that he came in alone rather than with his Mom. I ended up sending all the details separately to the scheduler because I really didn't know how to write it up. After several back-and-forth emails with her the report was finalized and she thanked me for the observations. As this particular chain is huge in this area, or at least it was at the time, I can't imagine they would want one of their stores to get a bad reputation.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/2019 06:06AM by KarenMSW.

I did a money transfer shop, to try and make an illegal money transfer. I told the agent my company scenario. She said it was ok. I repeated my story and she said, "What you do with your business is your business. I have nothing to do with that" I cringed when she said this. The next time I did the shop, she did it correctly.

Wow, there are some really awful experiences listed here. Best reasons ever for companies to have a mystery shopping program. I did a series of shops a while back that were convenience stores. I was required to purchase $5 worth of items at the store, so I usually had several food items. One clerk automatically asked for my EBT (food stamp) card. I said I was paying cash, and the cashier proceeded to go off on a rant about users who came in all the time to spend their welfare on sodas and chips. He then went on to disparage the entire state, complaining that HE couldn't get food stamps, and "they" wouldn't even give him a license for a gun! I'm thinking the whole world is better off for that!

@spiralofsilence wrote:

For me, it was during an apartment shop. While discussing pest control, the consultant said she wondered why bed bugs are more common in the US now than they were a few decades ago. Then she said, "I bet it's because of people from other countries." Yikes!

Science agrees with her, sort of. Due to cheap air travel to other countries where the bugs are present combined with the banning of DDT:
[www.thoughtco.com]
[news.psu.edu]
[www.americanpest.net]
and a hundred more...