Here are some of the opinions of Kroger employees from Reddit. I couldn’t find any positive opinions.

1. Not me, but we got a bad shop once, describing a coworker and naming him, but he was off that day.

Reply: We were able to get one of the shoppers fired because of that. They submitted bad shops multiple stores in my area the same day and all of them had specific employees mentioned that were off.

2. My coworker that didn’t turn around or answer the person failed his mystery shop, but he’s hearing impaired

3. Said I was 6’5” 300 lbs European Male, probably French, black hair with an accent.

I’m 6’0 225 lbs white guy from the northern states, shaved head, with no obvious accent or street slang usage.

All these secret shoppers do is lie.

4. I have two:
mine saying 45-50 when I am in my 20s
a coworker: He was 6'6'', shared the name with a 5'10'' Starbucks Barista. They caught Barista walking through our Produce department and gave us a bad score until I pointed out, there's no way they got our Produce guys height wrong. And that it was Barista they had encountered as their produce shop and failed all the questions.

5. Waste of money. They used to use them all of the time in the hotel business. Such a waste. That’s what reviews are for.

6. What’s a secret shopper ?

7. I had 2 name tags at one time and let another coworker wear one as a joke. He was like 6'4 200+ lbs and in his early twenties. I am a female 5'5 150lbs and they used his description with my name. He aced the shop and we both died laughing at the description


8. They said I was 25-29 years old. I’m 19.
EDITED: I’ve came to the conclusion that we need to abolish secret shoppers.

They said I was in my 50s. I'm in my 30s
Not me, but we got a bad shop once, describing a coworker and naming him, but he was off that day.

11. The big issue was how badly our scores dropped in the area. There were some good some bad, but for like 3 months, the front end failed consistently. So they started to check on it, and sure enough, they were putting down a couple people and saying they werent friendly. They found the pattern and then the shopper messed up and put down a person that didn't work that day, and it was the same person they kept failing.

12. I was described as a woman in her 40s, about 5'5" black hair. I'm 6'2" rather large male with a beard most of the time.

13. I had three over the course of a little more than a year that said I wasn’t wearing a mask when I was. Getting something like that wrong should permanently disqualify someone from being a mystery shopper.

14. When I owned a sandwich franchise, a secret shopper gave us a bad review. We were closed on Sundays, but she claimed to have eaten at my store on a Sunday. I guess some secret shoppers do the reports from home.

15. Thirties, and I’m my fifties

16. They said I was 35-45 years old. I’m 22.

17. Middle aged man with a heavy limp, I was 18 and had just come back to work from a broken leg

18. Mine said I was a guy. I am not masculine at all. I also had a 30-35 when I was in my early 20s

19. They reported that I was eating a sandwich behind the counter. I worked in the Murray's cheese shop, where you're supposed to sample the cheeses, and that's what I was doing. Not sure where they saw a sandwich.

20. Server 1 looked side to side and then whispered something in server 2’s ear. Server 2 laughed animatedly

21. I just turned 30. They said I was 40-44. They also said we had bad strawberries. Which is pretty incredible when the warehouse scratched them and we were out well before the shop time.

22. I was very nice and answered questions about when a floral load was coming while I worked on the floral department... I work at money services and in drug/gm. I have never talked to ANYONE about a floral load, but at least their made up story was a good one.

23. im 18, 5’8, and have pink hair. they said i was 30’s, 6’2, with black hair

24. Secret shoppers are just another arm of the routine employee surveillance apparatus. Anathema to a healthy work environment and toxic af

25. I was a 50 year old man named Britney one time. I was the only one working my department and my names not Britney. I am 30 and female.

26. Said that someone in our department was like 6 foot, medium blonde hair, curly beard, and 25-30... we have no one in the entire store that fits that description. Still got in trouble for it too, even though our supervisor and everyone even said the same thing... lol

27. I was described as 5’11, I am 5’2.

28. I’ve never been on one, but I do see some hilariously wrong ones. Which makes me wonder how inaccurate the actual report is, since the information that we can verify is often incorrect.

6 ft tall 20 year old blonde. I was a 5'2" 40 year old Asian.

My name was BJJJJ once.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/2023 10:45AM by Book.

I love reddit for the self depreciative humor. it amuses me how many of the threads turn into full blown "news" articles on Buzzfeed and Yahoo. the whole basis for mystery shopping is that most of these "reviews"/surveys dont catch the whole picture.

Companies that use it for training and give employees rewards probably get totally different feedback in their shopping program.
I also think it's not to get employees in trouble but some places by me ask to make sure things like emergency exits are accessible. I've heard of a lot of stores getting shut down for fire code type violations so shoppers might help get some of this info to corporate, not to get people in trouble but to prevent incidents.

I’ve been shopping for a while and I’ll admit I cut corners. When I do, I always get a correct name and always err on the side of the employee, giving great remarks and high scores.

I only got “busted” once by a sharp editor that said 99.9% of people at Kroger fail this part of the shop and they were amazed that the person I shopped didn’t. Ooops.

I noticed many of the issues were with the age of the employee. I can see missing a 19 saying they are in their early 20s, but not some of what was said above. Seems like some people were pencil whipping the reports instead of doing them, using past visit names and departments.

Makes us all look bad.

I will admit to not being very good at guessing ages. But I try to err on the side of saying they're younger than they appear. And yeah, I'm not going to report someone wasn't wearing a mask unless I'm positive.

I'm going to make myself very unpopular. Most of these were likely done by "walk through" shoppers who walk through through the store quickly and gather a few names. I have seen it done and it's infuriating. A shopper who cheats like that destroys all credibility for the value of mystery shopping. I once nearly lost a four figure bonus because a shopper manipulated photos to make another store's exterior look like mine. As mystery shoppers, the #1 thing we have to offer is integrity.

@Capurato wrote:

I’ve been shopping for a while and I’ll admit I cut corners. When I do, I always get a correct name and always err on the side of the employee, giving great remarks and high scores.

I only got “busted” once by a sharp editor that said 99.9% of people at Kroger fail this part of the shop and they were amazed that the person I shopped didn’t. Ooops.

And THIS is why so many MSC 'threaten' that the client checks video.... and so many people here get so mad/ annoyed with this threat...
Well, stop cutting corners. ????
As they say 'a few bad apples'.....

@luckygirl0100 wrote:

@Capurato wrote:

I’ve been shopping for a while and I’ll admit I cut corners. When I do, I always get a correct name and always err on the side of the employee, giving great remarks and high scores.

I only got “busted” once by a sharp editor that said 99.9% of people at Kroger fail this part of the shop and they were amazed that the person I shopped didn’t. Ooops.

And THIS is why so many MSC 'threaten' that the client checks video.... and so many people here get so mad/ annoyed with this threat...
Well, stop cutting corners. ????
As they say 'a few bad apples'.....

I hear you, but stores don’t check footage when a shop is good. Give them high scores, good remarks and that’s that.

Cutting corners in regards to how the question is asked (if at all). Just interact with the associate and check off that they knew the answer.

Is it the “right” thing to do? No. Is it going to happen? Yes. My point is that if you’re not going to correctly do the shop, at least do it in a manner that doesn’t get them in trouble.

So many mystery shoppers submit B.S. written reports.

Back in the day when I used to attend conferences, over cocktails I’d hear route shoppers laugh about how quickly they could blow through big box stores, grocery stores, gas stations, etc. They seemed to think it was funny and clever; I was horrified because they were not thinking at ALL about the potential ramifications for the employees.

I’m sure happier doing my video shops. It’s almost impossible to B.S. on one of those, a PV-500 file doesn’t lie.

Yes they do check footage when the shop is good. Many store managers are required to review all shops. I personally know of two good sized c-store companies and a nationwide grocery store company that has managers review shops with their field supervisors. Nearly every casino shop is reviewed. So for anyone "cutting corners", get out of mystery shopping before you screw it up for the rest of us.

catching it in house is usually much better than having a failed code fine

@Capurato wrote:

@luckygirl0100 wrote:

@Capurato wrote:

I’ve been shopping for a while and I’ll admit I cut corners. When I do, I always get a correct name and always err on the side of the employee, giving great remarks and high scores.

I only got “busted” once by a sharp editor that said 99.9% of people at Kroger fail this part of the shop and they were amazed that the person I shopped didn’t. Ooops.

And THIS is why so many MSC 'threaten' that the client checks video.... and so many people here get so mad/ annoyed with this threat...
Well, stop cutting corners. ????
As they say 'a few bad apples'.....

I hear you, but stores don’t check footage when a shop is good. Give them high scores, good remarks and that’s that.

Cutting corners in regards to how the question is asked (if at all). Just interact with the associate and check off that they knew the answer.

Is it the “right” thing to do? No. Is it going to happen? Yes. My point is that if you’re not going to correctly do the shop, at least do it in a manner that doesn’t get them in trouble.

I can tell you that they do. When I was scheduling/ editing there was a shop that came through from a shopper that had years and years of experience. This shop wasn't 100% but was close.(it was in line with previous months scores/ nothing to send up red flag) It 'appeared' like a legit shop. I sent it through to the client. A few days later the client sent video showing the shopper had lied about the employee interaction. The shopper had given the employee good scores. In reality the shopper didn't even interact with the employee.
That shopper was 'fired' and ALLLLLLLLLL of their other shops were now in question.

I think people that don't provide honest shops will ruin it for everyone else.

I am suspicious of some of these claims by Kroger employees on reddit. What are the chances that <1. Not me, but we got a bad shop once, describing a coworker and naming him, but he was off that day.

Reply: We were able to get one of the shoppers fired because of that. They submitted bad shops multiple stores in my area the same day and all of them had specific employees mentioned that were off.>

It seems that the chances are up there with winning the lottery that a shopper jotted down the names of employees that were "all: off that day for multiple stores. It seems that the part of the claim is exaggerated.

One gas station I mystery shopped told me after I had to show the letter for no nametag that the worker was new. They also shared that there are extra nametags from former employees in a drawer they can use in case they forget their nametag. So they said there wasn't an excuse to get caught for not wearing a badge. The name won't match, but they will satisfy the company nametag requirement. #7 in the claims said that they had two nametags and had a male colleague where hers for the day as a goof.

I will admit that I am spectacularly bad at pinpointing someone else's age. I can't help it folks my age look older than they are. When I see folks that look like my children I pinpoint them close to my children's ages, my children are all in their 40s now. Teens and twenties all look the same to me, but since they're working in grocery stores I assume that they are over 21, so I give them an age range over 21 and less than 30. Mostly based on their attire and their hairstyles whether it goes lower or higher. The really baby-faced ones like the young men that help us out to our vehicles generally end up in the lower range like 21 to 25 or whatever that range is there. I am also very bad at hair, I don’t know why, but hair color just flies out of my head, I can't remember it to save my life. I have gone back inside to "look" for something, or pretend to use the restroom, again, to be sure I'm guessing correctly at someone's hair color.

What I started to think when I was reading that was that some store managers are using secret shoppers as an excuse to call out bad behavior. And I doubt any shopper ever got "fired" (or deactivated, or removed from that type of shop) for an employee description, descriptions are subjective at best, and I am not the only one of us with a really bad short term memory.

And that one with the employee using other folks name tags, I report the name on the tag, and the description of the person behind the tag. That is a management issue. Not a shopper issue.

And the thing about obstructed walkways and fire departments. I have said to managers in the store that it to be in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, or fire safety laws that they should move things out of the way. But I have never included that in a report, at least not at Kroger. If I put it in a report, I don't say anything to the manager about it. They aren't supposed to be able to identify you by what you put in your report.

One of the older Krogers in the area where I shop has set up their pickup area in front of the restrooms and they have their movable racks set up so that it is difficult for somebody in a wheelchair to get into the public restrooms, and sometimes they are careless and have access to therestrooms blocked completely. This is also a store that has had an issue with customers "returning" carts in the handicapped access area between the handicap parking spots and the managers didn’t take it seriously.

I think those of us that are suspecting that those Reddit reviews are real, and that Shoppers are cutting corners have a very low opinion of other Shoppers and possibly of themselves too.

I always interact with the named employees.

I don’t always ask the required questions.

And which part of the shop is that?

@Capurato wrote:

I only got “busted” once by a sharp editor that said 99.9% of people at Kroger fail this part of the shop and they were amazed that the person I shopped didn’t. Ooops.

I always do everything required. On occasion my adult son has gone with me and he finds it infuriating as he says I "walk in circles" like an idiot looking at everything! Some of things seem a bit silly- like stand within a certain number of feet of the produce associate and see if they greet you. Often, the associates are taking out boxes of salad, bananas, fruit and are focused on their work. I stand there and seldom does anyone even look up let alone say hello to me. And to be honest I rather see a full display of a fruit or salad than some associate smiling and saying hi to everyone. I have tried to really give them a chance standing close and on occasion every making a noise shuffling produce and most of the time no response.
I am terrible at ages- I also have problems with height. I am 5'5 and despite trying to stand close to someone I cannot really say if they are 5;8 or 5'10. I am a senior citizen- nearly 70 and judging age is another issue I have. I am really bad at it- baggers also look under age to me in general. As for cashiers- unless they have grey hair I am often at a loss. If you have the name off the badge and the name matches the name on the receipt for full check why ask age, height, hair color, jewelry- As for jewelry- I wonder if wedding rings count? I often cannot catch a look at hands and most times report no jewelry. One time I did a pick up and the girl had a nose ring. I reported that as jewelery
As for hair color one store I shop in has a produce man who must have some problem with his hair- he has large white spots throughout his black short cut hair. I often cannot remember when I shopped the last time if I said he had black hair or gray as it is always changing. Poor guy has a medical issue with his hair. There is another produce guy- with an Asian name that I literally have to stare at the badge to write down correctly. It is not John or Joe or Pete- it is an unusual name and I sincerely doubt the store thinks they have more than one such employee after I describe him,
As for standing in front of the meat counter to see if someone says hello- I did that and the meat person said hello and asked me what I wanted. I said I was just looking and walked away- seems a but foolish actually.
On my last full serve a bagger was there- then right when my order was done walked away- literally to to to the next cashier- my cashier packed the order, thanked me and as I was walking out another bagger came on duty said hello and thank you to me., I was reported no bagger as the cashier bagged the order before she appeared.
In terms of the rest room I have seen paper on the floor in 1 or 2 stalls- not a lot- but unless it is a lot I do not report dirty bathroom.
I often wonder with the volume of customers in the store how they would determine who the shopper is unless they go to the register area tape and check time and date and then see who you are.
What I find a bit unfair is that in store pay a lot less than the easier pick ups and involve a LOT LESS reporting. I wish they equalized the fees as I take about 20-30 minutes in each store whereas a pick up can be as short as pulling up and on my last shop pulling away within 2 minutes.

As for marking someone as saying hello or whatever- it is unfair for a shopper to be penalized for reporting what happened. On one of my shops recently I was walking near the milk area and an employee came up to me and said hello, how are you today, ma'am? I freaked thinking he knew I was a shopper- then I saw him greeting others n the store.

My greatest fear is that I am spotted writing something like produce person description- I use an ad and keep notes in the center of the ad- I walk away and then make a note. I cannot remember every detail of every employee without writing it down.

What I think Kroger should do is allow for comments-at times doing pick ups the person had a wrong tag on or whoever picked the order left off things marking them as not available and no subs when after the items were put in my car I went into the store and FOUND EVERYTHING ON THE SHELF! I was annoyed as not only did I lose about $12 in groceries- I was charged the pick up fee of $4.95 when if properly picked I would have had everything I wanted- in one case I ordered 3 cleaning products which were literally all in a row on the same shelf. Every one as marked as not in stock and no substitutes- If the store wants to assess employee behavior then a comment about something like this would be helpful. I was VERY ANGRY when I went into the store and found all products there- the picked for that area simply was lazy and decided to hit not there- which cost me!

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/2023 10:57PM by SueW70.

@Morledzep wrote:

I will admit that I am spectacularly bad at pinpointing someone else's age… I am not the only one of us with a really bad short term memory.

Serious question: if you’re admittedly so bad at these things, why are you working as a mystery shopper?

@ColoKate63 wrote:

@Morledzep wrote:

I will admit that I am spectacularly bad at pinpointing someone else's age… I am not the only one of us with a really bad short term memory.

Serious question: if you’re admittedly so bad at these things, why are you working as a mystery shopper?

In Morledzep’s defense, few people are good at all aspects of their jobs. Perhaps, Morledzep has superior descriptive skills, great ability with grammar, is good at noticing small details and is natural at communicating with people, etc…

@ColoKate63 I have to confess that I have gone back into a shop location to confirm a name, whether the person wore glasses, or some detail that I may have missed or slipped my mind. Learning from this, I go to the section about the employee and description first to fill in that information so I don't have to go back in.

I am not going to guess because I am too lazy to walk back in and not fill in an honest report. In the past I have been thrown off because I received a phone call on my way back to the car or it was a detail that I just blanked out on. I think I was thrown by one cashier because they used readers, but had them on their head, but only used them to check another's receipt. So do they wear glasses? I put yes if they wear them for the duration of the transaction.

I can see that guessing height can be difficult for some people, especially if they are on the shorter or taller side. Some of these gas stations have raised decks so the employee have a better line of sight to the pumps and over the sales floor. Those are hard to estimate.

I once forgot to check the bathroom at a store. When I got home to do the report, I had to email the scheduler and profusely apologize and ask her to remove the job; even after I completed it, drove 30 miles to perform the job and I had to purchase a product. She moved it ahead to the next day and told me to redo it; this time not forgetting to check the bathroom. I was so happy! I will not even report a shop if I didn't do everything I agreed to do when I took the job.

How did tbe shopper get a receipt for a Sunday if the store wasn't open?

@tstewart3 wrote:

How did tbe shopper get a receipt for a Sunday if the store wasn't open?

I am sure there are ways of changing dates and other details on receipts. In fact, I am sure some people are tech savvy enough to make a receipt from scratch on their PCs.

I do not look my age nor does everyone else. I also wonder if those employees are being completely truthful. I do realize some shoppers cut corners.

@tstewart3 wrote:

How did tbe shopper get a receipt for a Sunday if the store wasn't open?

This was the comment that solidified my belief that half the comments were lying as much as they were accusing the shoppers of lying. As for ages it is so hard to tell. I once watched an entire senior hs class board a boat for a grad night cruise. Every one of them looked at least 30. I was sitting in a restaurant with my then 18 year old daughter and she looked like a baby compared to them.

Falsifying receipts is one of the easiest scams a mystery shopper can pull. I mean a lot of the receipts are difficult to read before they are even scanned.

A percentage of the general population are always looking to game the system and I’m sure a similar percentage of mystery shoppers do likewise.

It even goes without saying some mystery shoppers go through garbage cans to get receipts to submit. Never underestimate the cunning of some people.

I am about as bad as it gets at guessing people's ages. I dated this one guy for years. I knew him from around town, and had guessed he was about my age, but never even thought to ask. One day, he said something that threw me for a loop. So, I called Mama and asked how old somebody would be who was talking about such. She said that he would be old enough to be her granddaddy. I said, "Well, I am dating him." I have yet to take a certification course so I will be better at guessing people's ages, and I know I am not the only one who is brain dead when it comes to guessing ages.

There are no questions on the Kroger shops with the current MSC. Someone must be posting about jobs from 10 years ago.

I noticed that the self checkout assistant can be evaluated on whether they greet or thank anyone now. Earlier it was not that way. The managers/employees must have pushed back.

Is it just me, or are we getting more good scores this month? I had two out of two produce associates greet me. Or do they recognize me now?!!

@book This is disappointing to read. The editors seem to request a clear receipt though. They've asked for a screenshot of my card transactions when there was an issue. It was easy to provide the record.

If people do go through the trash for receipts, how would they reconcile that the time stamp on the receipt doesn't match the time they checked in. I suppose this is a reason why some shops request a geo time stamp selfie.

It seems that the subterfuge is not worth it. I guess I am narrowed focus thinking about shops that are reimbursed.

If an editor catches on, I am sure they would get rid of a shopper that is using fake receipts.

If this issue is pervasive, I would think some of the MSCs will start asking for pics of the front and back of cards showing the last four numbers like they do for the contactless card shops. Maybe they would have you send in pics of cards that you would use so that instead of uploading it for each shop, it would auto fill so that the editor knows your receipt must show the last four digits of a certain set. The cc receipts I am looking at all have the last four. Hard to find a receipt with a specific set of 4 numbers that in the trash.

I don't question that some people are looking to game the system, regardless of what the system is.

@Book wrote:

Falsifying receipts is one of the easiest scams a mystery shopper can pull. I mean a lot of the receipts are difficult to read before they are even scanned.

A percentage of the general population are always looking to game the system and I’m sure a similar percentage of mystery shoppers do likewise.

It even goes without saying some mystery shoppers go through garbage cans to get receipts to submit. Never underestimate the cunning of some people.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/30/2023 02:19AM by heywave.