Last night I was assigned a restaurant for Coyle. I've only done one shop for Coyle in the past and it was a little tedious, but not bad. This restaurant shop though...oh my. It involved calling the restaurant ahead of time, going to the bar before or after dinner and staying there for at least 20 minutes, asking to speak to a manager, observing how OTHER TABLES were served, asking numerous menu questions and ordering entrees without an item. Commenting on the cleanliness of the kitchen (and the kitchen is not even in view of the guests). And then there's weird things like: No doggie-bags allowed, cannot order steak, cannot order lobster, etc. The shop must be done after 6:00 PM, so after the 20 minute bar visit and then dinner, I'd be there until probably 8:00 PM and then have to spend hours on the report. Unfortunately I did not have the detailed requirements and sample report (15 pages!) until I accepted the assignment. I decided to cancel this assignment early this morning, which was only a few hours after accepting it. Some shops are not worth $100 reimbursement of food and $10 shop fee. I've been a shopper for 12 years and rarely cancel a shop, so I feel a little bad. I now know not to apply for any Coyle shops in the future.

Don't feel bad about cancelling. Coyle SUCKS!!! All their reports are like that. You did the right thing..

I agree, when you get a copy of the guidelines and it looks like much more work than you thought or much more work than was advertised, I don't feel bad about canceling as long as it's not a regular thing and you do it fairly quickly once you get assigned. It's usually not an issue.

Coyle is known for their difficult and long reports.

Don't feel bad. Now you know.

Why are you feeling bad about cancelling? I rarely cancel. In the beginning 20 years ago, I would "suck it up" and do it because I requested it. Now I ask first before committing if I am unsure of the effort/length of the report.

But remember, they are not feeling bad for you spending a great deal of your time filling out the form.

It's always awful to cancel a shop. However, you know what your time is worth and Coyle did not seem to be a good fit.

After years of not being very active, I have been back for over a year now. I just did my first Coyle after all that time. When I shopped before, Coyle was pretty close to my favorite MSC. I seriously liked them for the hotel assignments, and they had a lot that were just right for little road-trips. I'd snag every one I could manage.

I didn't even think about them being difficult. I had a lot of good times doing those assignments, but it also could be that I didn't have a point of comparison. This time around, MS is more a side hustle and I am in it for the money. I just took a simple little Coyle assignment to see what they were like these days. It could be that I had heard so much about their nightmare narratives that I may have overdone it. I am not ready to write Coyle off, mostly because I still love a good road-trip, but different assignments have very different values to us at different times.

The dining assignment mentioned in the original post sounded like a nightmare. I used to do a good amount of fine dining as well, but a lot of such that I am seeing now, not just Coyle, doesn't dependably cover the cost of the meal, much less a token payment, and then you have to write a monster report. As much as I love a good meal, I've been passing on a lot of such that I would have taken before. The ordering requirements are frequently so strict, you can't honestly enjoy the meal, and good luck if you think you are going to stay in the reimbursement amount. They are just plain not worth the effort, and likely as not, you are not going to come close to breaking even. So no, I don't blame the OP for canceling when they saw the requirements. My gut feeling is that they would have been even less happy after they paid the final bill.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2022 11:46AM by GinnyLynn.

@Phoebe70 wrote:

Last night I was assigned a restaurant for Coyle. I've only done one shop for Coyle in the past and it was a little tedious, but not bad. This restaurant shop though...oh my. It involved calling the restaurant ahead of time, going to the bar before or after dinner and staying there for at least 20 minutes, asking to speak to a manager, observing how OTHER TABLES were served, asking numerous menu questions and ordering entrees without an item. Commenting on the cleanliness of the kitchen (and the kitchen is not even in view of the guests). And then there's weird things like: No doggie-bags allowed, cannot order steak, cannot order lobster, etc. The shop must be done after 6:00 PM, so after the 20 minute bar visit and then dinner, I'd be there until probably 8:00 PM and then have to spend hours on the report. Unfortunately I did not have the detailed requirements and sample report (15 pages!) until I accepted the assignment. I decided to cancel this assignment early this morning, which was only a few hours after accepting it. Some shops are not worth $100 reimbursement of food and $10 shop fee. I've been a shopper for 12 years and rarely cancel a shop, so I feel a little bad. I now know not to apply for any Coyle shops in the future.

FWIW if you see something that says "condensed report" that's a good one. I don't know if that client is in your area though.

Otherwise, don't feel bad. Coyle is notorious for insane restaurant reports. You're better off without the stress.

Any MSC that doesn't make it easy for you to assess the job beforehand is just asking for cancellations. When I'm suspicious I'll email the scheduler before applying. But a case like this where you had some expectation and then the requirement was totally different - I could see myself cancelling that too.

I have done these and gotten lucky -the lunch didn't require a bar visit, and their pay was $40 not $10.

They never got mad that I couldn't find a manager.

They really didn't have any menu items that would be off limits, and you really couldn't approach the maximum reimbursement.

The call -I made same day, because they really don't need reservations most days. And they didn't trip on me calling the same day instead of in advance.

The most tedious thing is writing it after dining, and spending one to two hours on that. $20 an hour and a free meal isn't bad.