Mystery shopping is a Gamble if you do the assignment wrong you're not going to get paid. And that's for all mystery shopping companies. They don't care that you drove around for an hour trying to find the location. They are paying you to do an assignment if you don't do it for any reason you won't get paid. If that sounds unfair to you then you shouldn't do mystery shopping.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/09/2022 03:27PM by Greenn25.

Imagine applying this to doctors -whoopsie, you're still sick. Or teachers -oh no, you're still dumb. Or mechanics -gee, we couldn't figure it out but the diagnosis is $250.00. Or lawyers, "I paid to win this case, not lose it!

Mystery shoppers are warned that they will not get paid if they mess up.

But MSCs sometimes give unclear directions, and clients sometimes create variables beyond the IC's control.

People are really struggling right now. If a job is done in earnest, then the IC should be encouraged to keep completing jobs in earnest.

Imagine complaining that people aren't doing a good job, and then reducing payments and tossing more experienced people in the trash to be replaced by inexperienced people.

Maybe they could have some base pay for your expenses and a mediation process, or, you know, clear instructions not written by committee.

.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/09/2022 05:36PM by Shop-et-al.

I don't know if its really a "gamble" as to if you are going to get paid or not. If you read the assignments and it doesn't make sense, you email and ask clarifying questions. If there's a guideline you missed, there's normally a spot to note that when you are submitting the report. Being organized and doing research/planning beforehand helps a lot with things like this!

If an IC performs a pick-up fast food shop instead of an online order (per the guidelines), totally agree, the shop was done wrong and you won't/shouldn't be paid. However, it sometimes depends on how big the "wrong" was. I have conducted a few shops where I did something wrong (or maybe its a mistake). The item was highlighted in editor feedback and the MSC still paid.

What tends to irk me more is when you attempt to complete a shop, but the location is closed, out of business or not the brand anymore. Of course if reimbursement was involved, I would not expect to receive any if I could not make a purchase. However, reducing the shopper fee to $0 - $3 is not fair in my opinion. They should know the status of where they are sending us and not penalize the IC when no fault of their own. $3 doesn't even pay for a 1/2 gallon of gas where I live. .

This little story pertains only to some people. If you are in sunny, temperate somewhere, you will not need to know this. On a similar thread, someone mentioned weather that cannot be predicted two weeks in advance. How can anyone schedule that far in advance for a fixed shop date? Nor can anyone predict how many traffic delays will be the result of weather conditions. Where I live, it really is a crap shoot. If I schedule today and scurry to distant city before snowfall and blizzard winds, will I get back home before they close the roads? This little tidbit works better for merchandising gigs that usually have a range of dates than it does for shops, which less often have a range of dates per shopper.


One partial solution is to work with schedulers who may experience something similar or believe you when you explain just how and why weather might impact on your work. Of course you can do the work! You are reliable! You are brilliant, even! You, yourself, are not the issue. The relevant question is: Will any crashes, whiteouts, rollovers, or other reasons to close roads or slow traffic affect the timing of your travel? If your travel is slowed, how much will this delay affect your arrival at gig locations? I became a bit bold recently and explained my weird winter world to a scheduler. This scheduler provided a broader range of dates and permitted me to work as weather permitted my travels. I finished early in the time frame, but I felt fabulous because I knew that I would not incur a demerit (or whatever) for working past the initially stated due date. I also did not get bonuses that sometimes appear as time passes and gigs go unclaimed. That was not so important. It only mattered that I was able to work a flexible schedule around the regional weather conditions. This was the win win!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/09/2022 07:37PM by Shop-et-al.

I live in an area with very erratic weather that makes me very nervous on some of the scheduling as well. Most of the companies used to give you a couple days leeway. Now, they mostly want it down to the day. I had a scheduler having conniption fits one time because I wouldn't go out in a flash flood for a hamburger drive-through when they were literally telling people in our area to stay off the roads unless it was an emergency. Sorry, but no.

As to the original issue of not getting paid though: Some of my worst experiences on this were with those MSCs or schedulers where everything is okay until it isn't, meaning an anomalous situation with a company being shopped and a scheduler who doesn't answer emails much less the little report a problem form on the various MSC sites. I've been burned a couple times on such, which is why I am very wary of anything I pick up with certain schedulers.

The other that makes me nervous is when an editor suddenly comes back and tells you that you didn't answer such and such that wasn't listed in the questions, much less the guidelines. On the one, I was supposed to telepathically know that I should have also included whatever detail under a comment box that was clearly for something else. I was able to handle it on the cases where this came up, but such came up a couple times with this one particular company that does a whole lot of high expense shops that frequently involve travel distance, and I am just plain nervous about going out on a limb with such. It is one thing to not get paid, but I am really wary of not getting paid on high expense shops. For anything other than not doing the shop at all, complete can be relative. Trust absolutely has to go both ways on that one. If I don't trust an MSC, its editors, or any particular scheduler, I am not pulling out my wallet.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/10/2022 09:54PM by GinnyLynn.

As it applies to time frames, in 2003 I am relatively positive shoppers were given a window to complete work that far exceeded a single day. I do not, though, recall when the change occurred. It is my opinion, that had shoppers refused the tight windows of today, they would not exist. That would also be true of gas shops that require 25 pics, when 16 yrs. ago I was paid an extra $5 for one optional pic.