Well, that was a first! I was doing a steakhouse bar shop and there was a large party of younger people next to me. When I asked for my check, I was told that they paid it for me when they had left some 15 minutes prior!

I contacted the scheduler, but submitted the report anyway (with a placeholder image where the receipt would have gone) in case they want to use it. I told them there was no need to reimburse me, or that alternatively I could go back another night this week.

Not a terrible problem to have!

The best option in this case is to reschedule, so you can get two free meals! No sense writing a report for no pay or reimbursement.

This has happened to me before, too! It was a McDonald's drive-thru. I didn't get "reimbursed" for that portion of the shop as I did not have an outlay of money to be reimbursed for. I did the report, as this was a dine-in followed by the drive-thru; I did get reimbursed for my dine-in portion. I would agree with mjt9598 - you can't do it this time as you've already submitted the report, but reschedule if at all possible and get TWO meals - one free and the other in exchange for the report.

On a side note, I've twice done hotels shops where the cost of the room was reduced to zero by the hotel manager because of a bad experience (first one, key wouldn't let me back into the hotel in the middle of winter, middle of the night, and I had to walk the long way around in the freezing cold and snow to get back in the front door, and second, the clerk did not set up or explain how to use the hearing accessible kit that was just handed to me at check-in - a requirement of the shop). I did the reports for "free" (they were reimbursement only and there was nothing to be reimbursed) because of the rotation (I couldn't go back the next weekend as they would have remembered me) and I didn't want the black mark of being labeled a "flake" on my record. Besides, the hotel is interested in how bad experiences are handled. Would have been nice to have been paid something for my work, but I consoled myself with the thought that I didn't have to wait over a month for the reimbursement check from the MSC.

I wonder how many "bad" reports don't happen because the tab is comped. If I was a facility manager and something went wildly sideways with a guest, if I thought for even one minute they might be a shopper I would cancel their tab in hopes that a reimbursement-only report was not written. (Hmmm... a guest sat at the bar for drinks before the meal even though there were plenty of empty tables.... might be a shopper. The folks staying in Room 804 needed an extra pillow, got locked out without a key, needed new batteries for the remote, then caught me in the morning to ask about booking an event. Might be a shopper...)

I always felt that if I got comped on a reimbursement only shop I just got reimbursed early. I have never been fully comped on a reimbursement only shop, though frequently I have gotten partially comped, sometimes in the form of coupons for a future visit freebies.

In the situation where someone else paid your bill as in the OP's situation there was not anything bad to report. In those situations rescheduling would not avoid a bad report and give you another chance for a second dinner. I often am doing these shops on a tight schedule for the scheduler and have never tried to reschedule a shop so don't know how often you can do that. Most of the sit down nicer restaurants I have done I have chosen from a very small open window of dates. Since I am on the west coast most schedulers are not available to let me know if I can reschedule as it is midnight where they are when I get home and the report is soon due. I am also wondering what reason you would use to re schedule. Would you tell the scheduler something came up or would you tell them what actually happened? I worry about black marks for re scheduling. Some of the msc's I work with frown on rescheduling.
Anyone who has done a rescheduling due to a paid bill please chime in.

I would snap a photo of something that would prove I was there. I would include the photo with the shop submission. I habitually snap photos of my food whether it is required or not. It's habit, and lots of customers do it, so I will not forget to snap the photo when it IS required.

Haven't had this happen to me, however here are a couple of reasons why a reschedule would be needed:

1. The shopper won't be able to report on when the check was presented, the timeliness of the check being processed, whether the server thanked the shopper and called them by name, etc.

2. The shopper agreed to exchange several hours of their time for a comped meal. If someone else pays for the meal, the shopper would not be receiving that comped meal.

@sandyf wrote:

I am also wondering what reason you would use to re schedule. Would you tell the scheduler something came up or would you tell them what actually happened? I worry about black marks for re scheduling. Some of the msc's I work with frown on rescheduling.
Anyone who has done a rescheduling due to a paid bill please chime in.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/26/2021 04:14PM by MSF.

When it happened to me (my boyfriend's boss paid our bill), I just emailed the scheduler and told them what happened, and they were happy to reschedule.