I finished a USPS Reg shop a week ago and carefully filled out the report. I saw that the receipt looked different, but I made a guess that this particular USPS must give shipping options at the top of the receipt. I didn't really know what all that information was. The cashier had taken his pen and drawn three lines through it, also. I took the photo and sent it in. The next thing I know, I have an email saying the shop was denied. A quote from the guidelines was included that said something about shoppers not being allowed to send other packages or buy another product. I went to my photo of the receipt and looked at the top again. It appeared that the cashier had put in information for someone before me, but he did not charge me anything for it. That was what he crossed out. My box was the only thing that was charged on the receipt. Once I figured out what had happened, I quickly emailed the person who sent the first email and explained that I had not sent any other packages or purchased anything. I explained that the cashier had made a mistake when entering my transaction and I said that if the video was looked at, they would see that I only sent the one box and they would also see the cashier crossing out the info at the top. Since this was cashier error, I should have been paid for this shop. Wasn't I there to seek out errors? Anyway, I never got a response to my email. The next day I emailed my scheduler, who told me to let them know when I did get a response from that person. At the end of the week, I emailed my scheduler to let them know that I never got an answer to my email. I also saw that the shop is posted, again. What is my next step? Or, should I just let it go? At least it was a package I would have mailed, anyway.

I learned the hard way that there is a place to appeal the denial. I don't remember now exactly where it was. Maybe it was on the email saying it was denied? Anyway, there is a time limit to it and it is not very long. I just know that if I ever get another notice of denied visit, I'll look and find the appeal button.

I looked at the new website, the app and the denial email and I do not see anything about appeals. I used the search on the website to search words like appeal and denied and nothing came up.

I have found that when I notice something like that (and I don’t always), if you explain it in the comments before submission they will likely accept it. I have had it occur several times where I missed it but an editor always sent it back for an explanation instead of denying it right away.

Talk to a manager or supervisor.

How do I get in touch with anyone? I have sent emails to "the team" email and gotten nothing in response. I sent an email to the scheduler telling him I did not get a response from the editor in over a week and he did not respond. I have sent another email over a different matter to mystery.shopping and had no response about it, either. I am telling myself that maybe COVID is the cause and they are short handed, but how do I know? Another business day has come and gone and no response from anyone.

I would try calling the number on the website.

Normally anything like the OP stated should be noted in the shop itself under anything out of ordinary or something along those lines. I believe it is one of the last questions. It is there where I would explain it. This is a reminder to everyone to look out for anything out of the ordinary and be proactive by mentioning it either on the survey or in an email before submitting shop to the scheduler. Often once stuff goes to editing it can't be remedied and you can be out reimbursement and/or pay. Crossed out items on a receipt qualifies. As a veteran shopper I have learned to CYA.

Okay, I get it. I should have somehow included the out of the ordinary receipt in the report. BUT. Shouldn't I get at least ONE reply? It has been 10 days since the first email was sent to me. A simple, "Sorry, but we cannot do anything about this denied report. Thank you for for your effort." would do.

Something very similar once happened to me. In my case, the editor contacted me for clarification. I had not to that point even noticed the extra entry on my receipt.

As I reviewed the receipt I found that there was a scan of another package on there at the top of the receipt listed at $0.00. It looked like someone else had dropped off a prepaid package that did not require a new sale or any new cash, and the clerk had never finished out the transaction. They scanned the package for that other customer and never bothered to close the "sale" out since no money changed hands. So when I arrived in the empty PO and they started my transaction, both ended up on my receipt.

I'd bet that isn't how it's supposed to be done.

In my case, the earlier entry had a time stamp that clearly was about an hour earlier. And I could easily prove where I was (and where I was not) at the time of that goofy timestamp. I was at another post office on a shop. i had a receipt for a location 35 miles away that was within minutes of the earlier time stamp. .I replied to the inquiry with all this and got a reply a day or so later saying thank you it's all approved.

I also use a mileage / vehicle tracker at all times when on a shop, so I would have been able to prove I was not there at the time of that timestamp even if I had not been on another shop. From time to time it comes in handy to be able to independently prove the arrival and departure times from a shop.

Is there a readable timestamp on that earlier entry on you receipt?

@kimmysue wrote:

I finished a USPS Reg shop a week ago and carefully filled out the report. I saw that the receipt looked different, but I made a guess that this particular USPS must give shipping options at the top of the receipt. I didn't really know what all that information was. The cashier had taken his pen and drawn three lines through it, also. I took the photo and sent it in. The next thing I know, I have an email saying the shop was denied. A quote from the guidelines was included that said something about shoppers not being allowed to send other packages or buy another product. I went to my photo of the receipt and looked at the top again. It appeared that the cashier had put in information for someone before me, but he did not charge me anything for it. That was what he crossed out. My box was the only thing that was charged on the receipt. Once I figured out what had happened, I quickly emailed the person who sent the first email and explained that I had not sent any other packages or purchased anything. I explained that the cashier had made a mistake when entering my transaction and I said that if the video was looked at, they would see that I only sent the one box and they would also see the cashier crossing out the info at the top. Since this was cashier error, I should have been paid for this shop. Wasn't I there to seek out errors? Anyway, I never got a response to my email. The next day I emailed my scheduler, who told me to let them know when I did get a response from that person. At the end of the week, I emailed my scheduler to let them know that I never got an answer to my email. I also saw that the shop is posted, again. What is my next step? Or, should I just let it go? At least it was a package I would have mailed, anyway.

Yes, your receipt sounds very much like my receipt. But, I have now emailed everyone I can find on the website and not one of them has answered me. I figure they are just ignoring me because the decision has been made that I am not going to be paid for this shop. Even the scheduler is not answering emails about this shop. So, lesson learned. Thank you for sharing your experience. I really wish someone had bothered to contact me, but that did not happen and life moves on.

Keep emailing and calling. Persistence is the key!!!

Okay, audrialyn30. I just saw in another post that they just had some layoffs. Things just aren't as they usually are with this virus, I guess.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/17/2020 01:39AM by kimmysue.

Had this happen before but it was someone who asked for directions. I'm guessing it's a timing thing. Fortunately, I remembered what the person in front of me had asked, so when the editor came back denying it, I was able to get it overruled. Can you look up (via tracking) the package information?