Hard Rock Cafe Lunch & Dinner Shops?

December 24, 2022 02:56AM

Have just seen these pop up on the board. The nearest one is almost an hour away, but we enjoy that area and wouldn't mind at all driving down. The description makes them seem fairly detailed, but $100 reimbursement for lunch sounds like it might warrant some detail. Are these shops difficult, with extremely detailed reports? Or fairly standard for this price point?

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

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December 24, 2022 03:29AM

It’s similar to the MSC that previously had this client.

It’s OK if you want to experience Hard Rock Cafe for little pay.

Having said that, once you’ve experienced it, I don’t find myself wanting to work for my meal and a couple of drinks.

Very infrequently shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado these days.

December 24, 2022 04:41AM

I did one maybe 5 years ago with the old MSC. Horrible experience but I think it had to do with the location. One hr. wait regardless. Many empty tables. They gave us a pager and had us wait at the bar. Exactly one hr. Later, pager sets off and you may be seated. Horrible service and food. Never again.

December 24, 2022 12:33PM

I never saw them with whoever the old MSC is. I wouldn't mind having "the experience," but not if it's that much of a PITA. For this one, you have to make a reservation, so maybe the wait time isn't a problem any longer.

The last dining shop I did with a reimbursement about the same and in a better-than-casual restaurant was easy. This sounds more complex.

Guess I'll think on this a bit....

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

December 24, 2022 03:52PM

It's a fairly simple and straightforward shop - there's a bar portion to do before or after the shop, where you pay cash. There's also a purchase to be made at the store (at least in LA). You might not be able to stay within the reimbursement limit, but it's a fun shop overall. If you do the LA location, there's another company that has tone of shops at the parking structure where the restaurant is located, so that can help offset the parking cost.

December 24, 2022 05:51PM

@Tarantado wrote:

It’s similar to the MSC that previously had this client.

It’s OK if you want to experience Hard Rock Cafe for little pay.

Having said that, once you’ve experienced it, I don’t find myself wanting to work for my meal and a couple of drinks.

I did one of these at Hard Rock several years ago. The main issue was that the background noise in the restaurant was so loud that it was next to impossible to hear what I needed to hear in order to fill out the report. As with most dine-in shops, it was way too much work for the job fee offered. I never did another, although I have shopped Hard Rock casino/resorts since then.

December 24, 2022 06:45PM

@AZwolfman wrote:

@Tarantado wrote:

It’s similar to the MSC that previously had this client.

It’s OK if you want to experience Hard Rock Cafe for little pay.

Having said that, once you’ve experienced it, I don’t find myself wanting to work for my meal and a couple of drinks.
I did one of these at Hard Rock several years ago. The main issue was that the background noise in the restaurant was so loud that it was next to impossible to hear what I needed to hear in order to fill out the report. As with most dine-in shops, it was way too much work for the job fee offered. I never did another, although I have shopped Hard Rock casino/resorts since then.

How are these? I get offers for Hard Rock often and I’ve shied away from them out of fear they’ll be quite involved.

December 24, 2022 10:16PM

Then I think you are justified in shying away. Most dine-in shops are quite involved for the amount they pay. That's why I rarely do one unless it is required as part of a larger resort shop.

December 24, 2022 11:17PM

@AZwolfman wrote:

Then I think you are justified in shying away. Most dine-in shops are quite involved for the amount they pay. That's why I rarely do one unless it is required as part of a larger resort shop.

Definitely involves lots of attention and work for little pay (but some can justify high reimbursement limits).

With that being said, some people genuinely like experiencing chain restaurants in exchange for a couple hours work plus restrictions. I did at one point, but after a while, things got really stale for me as I moved away from the lifestyle way of mystery shopping.

Very infrequently shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado these days.

December 25, 2022 12:55PM

I did this with the old MSC and it was fine. The new MSC takes forever to pay, so I am not willing to lay out $120. They also have caused me grief bringing up issues that were impossible- i.e. they wanted to know why I did not do something that did not exist. I will not work for them.

December 25, 2022 07:11PM

In addition to the amount of time invested relative to the small pay; there is a risk to reward ratio to consider. If I am fronting $120 for a future payment of only $15, I am laying 8 to 1 odds that I will successfully complete the shop and get paid. If the shop goes sour for whatever reason, I am out $135 for eating in a restaurant that I would never patronize or afford on my own mystery shopper salary.

Now, if I were getting paid $40 for that same shop, I would be laying only 3 to 1 odds that nothing would go wrong and invalidate the shop. I might go for those odds if the time required was not too extensive. Each shopper has to decide what odds he/she would accept.

The homeless may work for food; I work for cash.

December 25, 2022 09:09PM

@AZwolfman wrote:

In addition to the amount of time invested relative to the small pay; there is a risk to reward ratio to consider. If I am fronting $120 for a future payment of only $15, I am laying 8 to 1 odds that I will successfully complete the shop and get paid. If the shop goes sour for whatever reason, I am out $135 for eating in a restaurant that I would never patronize or afford on my own mystery shopper salary.

Now, if I were getting paid $40 for that same shop, I would be laying only 3 to 1 odds that nothing would go wrong and invalidate the shop. I might go for those odds if the time required was not too extensive. Each shopper has to decide what odds he/she would accept.

The homeless may work for food; I work for cash.

You have the same chance of being out the reimbursement and payment no matter what you are paid.

It all depends on how skilled you are at writing reports for the particular MSC. Just because they are paying you more doesn't mean they are any more likely to approve the shop.

December 25, 2022 09:20PM

I would not be interested in a shop where I had to lay $8 to get $1, but laying laying only $3 to get $1 might be more enticing. There would be greater reward for the risk.

December 25, 2022 09:33PM

I did one with the old mystery shop company. The food was average....

December 25, 2022 09:46PM

@AZwolfman wrote:

I would not be interested in a shop where I had to lay $8 to get $1, but laying laying only $3 to get $1 might be more enticing. There would be greater reward for the risk.

We’ll have to agree to disagree on this one lol.

I have an on-going program where some of my items I can pick to purchase even as expensive as $50 for a bottle of liquor in exchange for $5 and reimbursement for the item.

That’s $10:$1 in that case, but for me, TOTALLY worth it. So I guess it depends on your view, and I def wouldn’t consider myself “homeless working for food” by any means.

Very infrequently shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado these days.

December 25, 2022 10:25PM

I work for food when I can't afford or don't want to afford a meal at a particular restaurant, but would like to try the food at least once. Or when I really, really like the food and would eat there anyway. Even though I stress about a report before and while I'm doing it, at the same time I generally feel pretty good about it being accepted. And if it's not, then I messed up and it's my fault. So I'm OK with being out $100 (if the food was good), but wouldn't be if I were out $200. I need to work my way up from one to the other!

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/26/2022 01:56AM by BirdyC.

December 29, 2022 08:54PM

I'm surprised this shop has a negative feeling for some of you. I've spent all last year signing up to get this shop every time it was offered, but was finally accepted for the first time to complete one in a few days. Guess where I'm in, it's highly in demand.

February 25, 2023 06:14PM

Hi! I´ve done a couple of visits in the past and I enjoyed it! The reinbursement is fair and had a good experience. The report was nothing too difficult, it required lots of details though. The company was mysterydining, but they stopped having Hard Rock.
What is the company that you saw on your board?
Thanks.

February 25, 2023 07:21PM

I have done several. The food is OK but the requirements are the same for both lunch and dinner. They only pay $80 for lunch and $100 for dinner. I did pay with a credit card at the bar rather than cash and was reimbursed, .

February 25, 2023 10:42PM

@Almudenaplr wrote:

Hi! I´ve done a couple of visits in the past and I enjoyed it! The reinbursement is fair and had a good experience. The report was nothing too difficult, it required lots of details though. The company was xxxxxx but they stopped having Hard Rock.
What is the company that you saw on your board?
Thanks.

Edit your post. You can't name the company & the client even if they are no longer shopped by that company.

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Hard Rock Cafe Lunch & Dinner Shops?

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