How often have you needed pictures/receipts after being paid?

Most of the MSCs say that you need to save your pictures and receipts for up to 6 months after the shop has been completed. I've only been shopping for 5 years, but have *never* had to produce a receipt or picture after having been paid. I do mystery shopping about 1/2 time, and easily take 200-300 shop-related pictures per week. That's a lot of images to have to hold on to!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/2023 03:11PM by marnette.

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Never once have I been asked for photos months later.

I have been asked questions after the fact where pictures helped me but not asked for any pictures. The questions in a couple of cases were after jobs were accepted but before they were paid. I've not been contacted about jobs that were paid before.

Only had one time questioned by an MS due to a disgruntled store owner. My word was enough, they didn't need pictures. I keep them available in the cloud six months and just schedule relocation to my network server after, to conserve space there.

I have been shopping for 10+ years and never have been asked for photos or any question at all after payment

I had an MSC come back to me and ask if I had additional pictures, but I think it was after editing and before payment. I airdrop pictures from my phone to my laptop to do the reports, and I only empty the trash bin every few years, so they'll be there if I need them.

If your path dictates you walk through hell, do it as though you own the place. -unknown

I have been shopping full-time since 2008. I would estimate that I have been asked for photos/receipts in such instances fewer than once per year on average. However, I keep the actual receipts for 12 months and rotate them out at the beginning of each month. I keep digital copies forever just because I have plenty of room on my hard drive, and they are very organized.

Never after payment. I used to save everything back in the day when it was all paper but it resulted in a ton of useless clutter. Now I just go and delete photos every few months. I do use several receipt apps so I can always dig through those if necessary.

Until my computer crashed 2 years ago.. I kept every picture and receipt for 6 months. I made a tickler file in the Picture folder. shop, title, location, date for every shop. each shop into a file for that month. When that month was over, I made a new file for the new month, and when I had 7 months of files, I deleted the oldest month file.

After the computer crashed, I kept the pictures in albums by month on the tablet, but I deleted each month after I had been paid for all of the shops in that month.

No one has ever asked me for more information or pictures after I have been paid for a shop.

Never.

Teaching kids to count is fine, but teaching kids what counts is best.
Bob Talbert

20 plus years shopping mostly full time
after payment never
after acceptance less than 10 times.

Shopping Western NY, Northeast and Central PA, and parts of Ohio and West Virginia. Have car will travel anywhere if the monies right.

@BuffaloNY101 wrote:

20 plus years shopping mostly full time
after payment never
after acceptance less than 10 times.

Same. It's pretty rare. I was just asked to resubmit travel expense receipts from a route that I did a month ago. Luckily, I had them in a folder in my (full-time work) desk.

Never.

Shopping Arkansas, Louisiana, & Mississippi.

Here is my method.
Every shop that I do has a paper worksheet created specifically for it. Each worksheet has pertinent data to the particular shop and any receipts received are stapled to them. Each worksheet has a space for the score or when it was approved. It also has a space for when payment was received and how much the payment was. The worksheets are filed in a folder for the month that they were done. Each monthly file folder is put into a box labeled for the year that they were done.
I keep those hard copy boxes for a minimum of about 3 years before disposing of them.
As for my photos of those shops, I keep them on my laptop filed by type of shop, city or town and by address of the shop. I keep them there until I do the same shop again. So, for instance, some shops may have photos dating back a few years. When I do the shop again, I review the photos and then send them to my Recycle Bin. They stay there until I decide to empty the bin onto a thumb drive. Similar to my hard copies, I delete them completely from the thumb drive after 3 or more years.
It's really not that hard once you set your mind to it.
Why do I do it? I've been audited by the IRS.

I keep both on the computer hard drive until I get around to deleting everything but the receipt photos. Those I keep for the IRS required period.

Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. Eleanor Roosevelt

I keep everything 6 months stored on an external drive. I keep everything stored by date.MSP.project. That way I can search for a particular shop easier. So the file for a particular shop would be 12.01.2023.MSP.Exxon.pdf. If you use a pdf creator you can open a PDF and just drop all pics/report/notes/receipts and it will create it for you. I set the file up to automatically send to trash at 6 months 10 days. Receipts I scan automatically into my accounting program and file them as reimbursed, non reimbursed or partial reimbursement for taxes.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/01/2023 01:03AM by mmsackett.

@mmsackett wrote:

If you use a pdf creator...

Any you'd recommend for first time users?

20 year shopper here and I have never been asked for a picture after payment.

Never.

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

I was once alerted by an MSC that there was pending litigation between their client and a competitor shop which I had completed. I was asked to cooperate with the client's counsel and to preserve any notes and photos I had. I never had to submit anything; the matter was settled by the competitor in the client's favor.

Never.

Same here..I received a notice that I could possibly be called in to testify in a litigation matter due to something that occurred during one of my shops, but never heard anything further.

@Rousseau wrote:

I was once alerted by an MSC that there was pending litigation between their client and a competitor shop which I had completed. I was asked to cooperate with the client's counsel and to preserve any notes and photos I had. I never had to submit anything; the matter was settled by the competitor in the client's favor.

*****************************************************************************
The more I learn about people...the more I like my dog..

Mark Twain

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