This provider is notorious for demanding nearly impossible to take photos without being noticed. Still, prior to the merger with the other provider I had received good shopper support and been paid for all work.

You are correct the app is screwed up, I spent four hours emailing them about this and for my trouble I got accused of lying deactivated and threatened to have my whole career ruined. This was by support staff from the acquiring company in the merger that I had not worked for very much in the past. This is the worst I've ever been treated and talked down to by "support staff."

I have people calling and texting me everyday to take better shops. (And better food.). Just got back into the game after a long absence.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/2022 01:27AM by ShopperGirly.

@Gitarshop wrote:

I had the same issue exactly. This company was recently acquired by another. I spent about four hours emailing explaining what you just said. I listened to a scheduler condescend to me and belittle me, After telling me that all the photos I loaded up were duplicates when they were distinct, as there is a glitch in the report system used. She told me that I would be paid for the jobs, but then she got offended and said she was going to ruin my mystery shopping career. I never had any problems with this company before the merger and had done 120 shops for them.

This is the worst I have been treated after doing about 5000 mystery shops.

wow, that sucks! sorry that happened! Hoping they clean up the app soon.

I just did a kiosk shop. Never, never, never will I do another one! I easily spent 40 minutes standing conspicuously in front of the kiosk taking picture after picture of screens for pricing. So awkward and not worth it for $20.

My pictures are not good tried taking them then download to the app.They didn't like them so I went back and took the pictures through the app those were even worse.Guess they can keep the 10.Never had this issue before.

@Carolforreal Same thing here. They asked me to send better pictures. They look fine on my phone and when I email them to myself when I zoom in and the prices are clear. When you upload them into the app they become grainy or pixelated and it is hard to read the text. Others here have mentioned the same thing.

I asked the editor for tips on what to do so that the pics are clear the first time. Of course they did not send any hints or help. Seems like it is an app issue because I have not had this problem with other pics when using the app for other jobs like the Visa Debit (last few weeks) and Circle K (last month). Even though I am home bound today and watching football, I am still committing time to finish the shop.

Well, my son gets around the questions about taking pictures by telling folks that he is a Google local guide. He posts all of the pictures he takes to Google Maps with reviews, both good and bad. I made it clear that he can't post the same pics for the shops, he has to take different pics for Google. So there should be no proprietary conflicts. And it works, all kinds of places give him free drinks for taking and posting the pics, some even offer meals or discounted meals. And no one ever suspects he's also a shopper.

I would need $50 for another one.

@marnette wrote:

I just did a kiosk shop. Never, never, never will I do another one! I easily spent 40 minutes standing conspicuously in front of the kiosk taking picture after picture of screens for pricing. So awkward and not worth it for $20.

I did my first one, and my total time was about 40 mins+, mostly because I had to go back for photos I missed. But I learned, and have a clearer understanding of what is needed now, so I am sure I can go do my next 2 shops without a problem. fingers crossed! Although, any one else thought the shop input was such a pain?!?! My photos keeps failing to upload. aaargg

@OEShopper Are you saying it took 40+ minutes just in the restaurant taking pictures of the kiosk? How much time did it take entering pricing info? What would you say your total time with this one job if you didn't have to go back?

I am thinking about dropping the ones I have. I have had issues with the photos submitted for the first wave. They asked for better photos, but the pics are clear on my phone. The issue lies with the app where it messes up the pics. I have made a good faith effort by emailing myself, resizing using a program, and re-uploading into the app. I even sent the editor the resized pics.

I have spent way more time that I should have on this.

I had originally picked up two, but after I spent over 40 minutes at the first one taking pictures *and* having issues with the images loading on the app, I dropped the second one.

Heads up the instructions do not tell you you need a specific number of photos for each section ahead of time or you'll get an hour. For example treat drinks you can get them all on 2 shots you'll get an error without 4 uploads and will get a duplicate photo warning. I was over it. Too much work for $20. Then questions about how you like the order kiosk, demographics, etc ridiculous.

@heywave wrote:

@OEShopper Are you saying it took 40+ minutes just in the restaurant taking pictures of the kiosk? How much time did it take entering pricing info? What would you say your total time with this one job if you didn't have to go back?

I am thinking about dropping the ones I have. I have had issues with the photos submitted for the first wave. They asked for better photos, but the pics are clear on my phone. The issue lies with the app where it messes up the pics. I have made a good faith effort by emailing myself, resizing using a program, and re-uploading into the app. I even sent the editor the resized pics.

I have spent way more time that I should have on this.

It was 40mins of taking the pics, entering them in when I got home, and then taking the pics a second time, and troubleshoot while trying to upload photos. So frustrating!

I did not mind having to stand at the kiosk to take pics. Employees nor customers were paying
any attention to me. But I did mind how long it took to snap the pictures. Never again. I do other Presto shops with no problem. Answering the q's and uploading the pics on this one was a nightmare and unforgiving.

@Zek wrote:

I did not mind having to stand at the kiosk to take pics. Employees nor customers were paying
any attention to me. But I did mind how long it took to snap the pictures. Never again. I do other Presto shops with no problem. Answering the q's and uploading the pics on this one was a nightmare and unforgiving.

Were you taking pics and then attaching them right into the app or taking pics into your camera roll and attaching them from file? I was doing the latter, which makes taking the pics faster, but harder to attached as there were so many pics to look through. the worst part is that these prices are available on the app, which we could have done with more leisure from the comfort of the home couch, but nooo, had to be done from the kiosk. so ridiculous.

I think the idea is to make sure the menu prices are accurate. If they didn't update the menu then the prices won't match the app. You would be surprised how many time I have seen prices out of date on menu boards. Sonic is one of the worst.

I’m glad I came here for answers. The drive thru shops were complicated enough. I’ll skip the kiosk shops because the inside of my local McDonald’s are too empty for me to remain inconspicuous and it sounds like a nightmare with the photos

There are a TON of these in my area for drive thru and inside kiosk for all three dinning time sitting on the board for $20.00 + $7.00 re-imbursement. So far I've passed. Maybe if the fee increase. $30.00 Sonic's makes these hard to take.

Making this whole mess worse is that Presto counts down against us over the weekend, even though no one there feels like doing anything on those days.

1) Day of shop: Presto automatically downscales my high-resolution images without indicating they're doing so.
2) Saturday at 4am: Editor rejects the shop for "unreadable" images.
3) Later Saturday: I figure out what happened after attempting more uploads that are also downscaled. I email the editor and support@prestomobilesurveys attaching the original images and requests for alternatives.
4) Also later Saturday: I open a support ticket with Presto's Tech Support.
5) Sunday at 4am: My shop is automatically rejected. The email says I can fill out a survey to appeal the rejection.
6) Later Sunday: I fill out the form with all the details.
7) Monday: I get a reply back from Tech Support saying "There will be an adjustment on the form shortly. Please try again in a bit." Which I can't do on an auto-rejected report.
8) Wednesday (today): Having heard nothing, I'm getting a little pissed that this was a lot of work for negative 10 dollars.

And of course Presto's server doesn't feel like doing a good job loading today either. They really need to get their @#$%& together.

(I feel confident that it's OK to mention Presto in this thread because their automated replies insist they are not the MSC. They all say "Please do not contact our support team with questions about shop requirements, requests for extensions, or other non-technical issues – these must be addressed to the mystery shopping company." So if Presto insists they're not the MSC then there can't be anything wrong with mentioning them here.)

Thank you for sharing this.

They sent back 3 of the shops I did with the first wave for unreadable images. I resized them and sent them back. I think I still have two shops from the first wave that are awaiting review. At least that was the case Monday and more than a week had passed since they were done.

Why don't they test their app to make sure it will work for each project? I doubt they tested it for McDonald's. It seems like everyone that did the first wave had grainy/pixelated pics. If you were lucky the editor accepted them.

I wasted so much time with trying to resize the pics and put off by the reported 40 minutes to do this wave that I sent back the 2nd wave that I claimed. I also had a strong suspicion that I would have those pics returned as well.

How is it that all the other pics for other jobs like the gas station and the credit card jobs work with the app and McDonald's doesn't? Somebody messed up.

It is frustrating that not only do they reject the shop, so you don't get your fee, but you are also out the money you spent on that "food" and out the time wasted on the shop + corrections.

Looks like they added mobile app shops monday, which somehow all disappeared tuesday, and is available again today! Hopefully these shops are easier.

@OEShopper wrote:

Looks like they added mobile app shops monday, which somehow all disappeared tuesday, and is available again today! Hopefully these shops are easier.

They are only slightly better. A ton of questions screenshots and counting from the preview. Think I will attend one today. I have free time after an Agent observation and McD is next door. Hope it's worth the $20.00 fee.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/17/2022 11:46AM by ShoppingDad.

What's up with demographics questions on this shop?

Could they be to see if old people will/can use the kiosk?

Anyone done the 23 pictures of beverages? How go you hold up the line doing that?

@big_sky_thunder wrote:

Anyone done the 23 pictures of beverages? How go you hold up the line doing that?

In the 2 i've been in, there's been no line at the kiosks. I find that people still prefer waiting in line for an actual human cashier. i personally prefer the quickness of the kiosks, but whatever floats their boat...

Checked out the guidelines for the app ordering shops. I noticed the example screenshot photo was grainy. I'm returning it to them for a better photo.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/17/2022 04:29PM by JulieC.

I took the pics on camera roll and then uploaded. I did upload a few instantly to make sure I was at the right distance and picture quality was good. No issues with the test. But for whatever reason, standing in the exact spot taking the remaining pics, when I later went to upload the app kept telling me it could not upload many of the pics. I thought it would save time this way but became a nightmare. The app was sluggish and had to keep reloading.

If I were ever to do one again, which I'm not sure I will, I would def take the pic while in the report and upload instantly to know if the pics work or not. Can retake the pic right there on the spot as needed.

So frustrated I decided to not complete the shop.

@OEShopper wrote:

@Zek wrote:

I did not mind having to stand at the kiosk to take pics. Employees nor customers were paying
any attention to me. But I did mind how long it took to snap the pictures. Never again. I do other Presto shops with no problem. Answering the q's and uploading the pics on this one was a nightmare and unforgiving.

Were you taking pics and then attaching them right into the app or taking pics into your camera roll and attaching them from file? I was doing the latter, which makes taking the pics faster, but harder to attached as there were so many pics to look through. the worst part is that these prices are available on the app, which we could have done with more leisure from the comfort of the home couch, but nooo, had to be done from the kiosk. so ridiculous.

Has anyone completed a mobile app shop? I did one today for the large sizes, and it wants the large prices for every drink, but as far as I can tell, the McD app only lists them with the medium price. To see the large price, you have to click on each drink individually, and then select large. It would be over 50 screenshots to list them individually. Has anyone encountered this issue?

I sent a message to the point of contacts, to see if they can clarify.

I did the medium just because I knew that it's a default size in the app for all the beverages and made it faster to screenshot. For large or small, you still have to choose the individual drink (Coke, Smoothie, Coffee) and select the size you need then screenshot. You really only need a screenshot of the size that you need in Coke for the soft drinks.