I promised one of the VIP schedulers that I would write on the forum when I was de-activated from the Platform two months ago, that I would let other shoppers know that I was released from all other shops and all companies. I did a purchase and return for a Lighting Shop in Southern California.
The MSC was okay with the recorded shop; yet the platform was not from what they heard on my recording. I was punished severly by being deactivated from the whole platform. I am keeping my promise as I was not paid for four hours of work and the loss of $45.00. I had driving time involved with this shop as well, so gas was spent for a one half hour drive one way on two trips.
Shoppers, be it known that the Platform still mistakenly sends notices to do shops in the future, yet I cannot get into the platform.
So you know, I am an eighteen year professional shopper with many shops done in both California and Nevada as a Licensed PLB Shopper there.
My advise is to be aware of the very low pay for grocery stores, phone calls, route shops fast food, etc. If you want to be paid less than minimum wage for this Platform, then imagine that you cannot even shop with the minimal amount of money that you are paid from this Platform. For those of you who accept low pay, you make it difficult for those that depend upon mystery shopping for monthly income..

Some of this does not make sense...
* Why would iSS folks even be listening to your recording? They have nothing to do with your report. They are simply a platform that lets MSC's hook up with shoppers...
* If the MSC approved your shop, you should be paid?
* One transgression got you removed from the entire platform?

Low pay on iSS: I have not done a shop on iSS for quite a while - for that very reason. Their gimmicky badge system seems to inspire some shoppers to work for virtual badges with no discernible value, rather than cash. I like money, so it is hard for me to compete with folks who just like to have little icons next to their names.

The iSS platform has a myriad of MSCs, and some don't pay well. I just don't take those jobs. I DGARA about badges or whatever, LOL.

However low paying some of their shops may be, at the end of last year I did a $150 car dealership shop that took me a total of 3 hours including drive time and report time (the dealership was 30 miles away which is further than I normally drive to do shops). Last summer I did several gardening center shops that paid $15 with a $10 reimbursement, and I got nice plants and payment from those.

Sometimes I go months without finding anything on their sites that suits me, so I don't do them, but in the past I have done some breakfast restaurant shops that reimbursed $25 each that I liked, and others. It's just like any of the MSCs who offer shops on their own websites: you pick and choose, and only do the shops that suit your needs.

I am confused about what it is you did to get deactivated. I have been with the platform since it first came out, so I don't know what the problem was. Hopefully you are signed up with a lot of MSCs so this shouldn't affect you much (especially if you were taking the low paying shops you mentioned). AND if you completed a shop that took you four hours and only paid $45, wow. I would NEVER take a shop like that, SMH.

I should add, in fairness: There is one MSC on iSS that I like a lot. I've done quite a bit of work for them in the past.... It's just been a while.... If I did more restaurants, they would have some viable options.

I don’t understand what you did wrong

I appreciate your replying as to what I wrote about the shop I did in December 2019 with regard to the lighting shop. Till this day I do not know how someone on the platform listened to the recorded shop. It seems that I was supposed to wait for the sales associate to reply to me with several choices of lighting and lamps. She never did this, and I had to give her a stock number of what I was interested in. I was told that the SKU number was introduced too early in the transaction.
I am grateful to be done with ISS because they did not like my response, and I told them that I would put this on the internet because the pay was denied. I believe shoppers need to have an awareness how I believe I was bullied by the platform rep. As to the badge system, this had no value either.

I like iSS it takes a while but the shops and report are easy and I use them as fillers like I did a gym shop today with 2 c.c shops in the same area made $60 for 1.5 of shops and reporting time is less than 30 minutes!

I do there shops because they occasionally have free groceries, bra shops and clothing. I got a blouse, and 2 pants last year alone from their clothing shop. The fee is not great but it is worth it.

I almost never do their food shops. I do their gas station shops every month and make 100-300 a month with many of the shops as fillers.

I have had mediocre experiences with their phone shops but phone shops often pay very poorly.

Hope you get reactivated.

I do regret doing their phone shop audits it was not worth the money and the time spent vs paid. I pretty much lost $ since they changed the rules.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/05/2020 09:33AM by Mysteriousways.

This is all very confusing. I don't understand why the platform would get involved unless you did something against TOS and needed to be removed for a violation. Payments are processed by the MSC, so if they approved a shop, you should be paid for it. This is a bad situation, indeed.

I do hope you realize though, that everyone shops for their own reasons. Some people mystery shop as a full time job and some shop to make ends meet. There's also a dozen other types of shoppers in between and we all have our value and right to work how they choose. If they want to take shops at a low rate, it's their prerogative, it's not on them to make sure you can make a living at it.

For the follow-up, not to confuse you. I told the scheduler that if I was not paid, that I would put that information on the Internet for other shoppers to see. They decided if I did that, prior to even doing this, they would de-activate. Mind you, I am only doing this now, not mentioning the MSC nor the client. Hope this clears up your confusion. The timeline now is more than 60 days later.

Are you sure you were banned by the ISS plat8and not one of their MSC 'S?

Ohhh sorry I didn't read your last reply.