Before y’all come at me…
Yes, I know some of you forum veterans will say, “There’s already info about this shop here!” But let’s be honest — as a true gig worker juggling multiple income streams, I don’t always have time to deep-dive through old threads or play scavenger hunt on forums just to prep for a single assignment. Half the battle is just figuring out the shop logistics in real time, not decoding a forum maze beforehand.

So, if you’ve ever driven 76 miles round trip, memorized seat charts, decoded unlabeled receipts, fought with mobile screenshots, rewritten the same report twice, then got a cheery email asking for a glowing review… yeah, this one’s for you.

———-

Just wrapped a last-minute theater check shop and… whew. I need a nap, a therapist, and maybe a neck brace from all the back-and-forth edits.

The shop itself? Easy. The movie? Actually awesome (and comfy seats I wanted to take home with me).
But the report? A bureaucratic black hole. I submitted everything, followed all the prompts, took screenshots, uploaded receipts (which required converting screenshots to PDFs—something I now know how to do forever, so yay for that), and still got flagged for edits. And I’m not talking small fixes—I’m talking “go back and rewrite whole sections because you didn’t include invisible seating categories.”

What’s wild? I got a 96% score and still got dinged on “writing quality”—and no shade, but I had literal AI help me wordsmith this thing. Apparently, Einstein needs to step it up on grammar and punctuation. LOL

Also, heads-up for newer shoppers: these shops are often advertised as quick (15–30 min), but in reality, the reporting can take 3–4 hours depending on how deep the client wants you to go.
You will get reimbursed for tickets, paid for mileage, and may even get a bonus. I earned about $175 total, which sounds great… until you factor in time, concessions (yeah, we spent $45 on snacks), and mental bandwidth. If you’re good at detailed documentation, enjoy box-checking, and thrive under heavy formatting rules, you’ll probably be fine. But if you’re wired like me and spot things that are out of place rather than remembering what should be there… this might not be your jam.

To be fair, the scheduler was kind and responsive. The editors were detailed and polite. But the overall experience reminded me why I avoid shops from that Colorado-based company that rhymes with Confusement Mismantage—had a nearly identical experience back in 2013.

So:
*Did I get paid? Yes.
*Was the experience useful? In some ways.
*Would I do it again? Not unless the pay hits $300 and includes free snacks AND therapy.

Oh and after dragging me through a mini bureaucratic Olympics and turning what should’ve been a simple theater shop into a four-hour novella with a side of tech scavenger hunt… they ask me to leave a glowing Facebook or Google review?

That’s like someone throwing glitter in your eyes and handing you a broom: “Could you clean this up and tell everyone how magical it was?”

Ugh! Anyone else had flashbacks like this?

Thanks! This is the kind of recap that I like.

Most importantly, what movie did you watch?

Thank you for your opinion and I’m happy to have pieced my experience together to where it made sense.

We watched How to Train Your Dragon (2025). The movie was pretty good, not a fan of the actor who played Astrid though as she was too nice to play the part. And they left out the funniest part where Astrid mimics Hiccup. To be 100% truthful, I could have picked better actors to play the parts of most all of the kids except Hiccup.

Basically, I prefer the cartoon over the live action.

I'm happy that you enjoyed the movie. I recently found out about live action movies. I watched this and another in theaters. I was vaguely familiar with the storyline of the other movie. The live action movie better framed and highlighted beliefs about the main character for me.

Thank you for sharing. It was helpful. I learned about this, Secret Shopper not reimbursing tips, and the CX Group CEO.

I'm giving your forum report a score of 100! It was well-written, succinct and, frankly, riveting. Bravo!

And I found nothing wrong with your grammar.

"CX Group CEO."??????? do tell what you learned

Nice write up. How many hours did you end up putting into it not including the movie run time? 76 miles sounds like an hour and a half.

@87Supra wrote:

Nice write up. How many hours did you end up putting into it not including the movie run time? 76 miles sounds like an hour and a half.

Thank you, thanks for asking — and whew, buckle up because it was a ride.

I accepted the shop on July 8th around 11:00 PM, and then the next morning (July 9th) I spent over three hours (9:08 AM to 12:32 PM) on the phone & emails with the scheduler. She was helpful, but we had to go through shop prep, and she had me reach out to support to get two accounts merged, which added an unexpected layer of admin.

Then I spent the entire afternoon studying the shop requirements, trying to navigate the theater’s mobile site, and attempting to place my ticket order — which was surprisingly difficult. There was no legend for seat colors, no clarification on what the “red” meant, and no clear direction on where the entrance was (which matters when choosing a seat). It was guesswork and stress.

Once I finally managed to buy the ticket, I searched everywhere for a receipt. Turns out there wasn’t a traditional one — the email confirmation didn’t include a timestamp or traditional formatting. So I had to take four separate screenshots of the email, convert them into a PDF, and upload that manually just to meet submission requirements.

Then came the shop itself (including a 76-mile round trip — 35 minutes each way), plus time in the theater documenting details, and navigating the report afterward. That part alone took me over four hours to write, followed by almost an hour of edits when it got flagged by the editor (even though I got a 96% score). And let’s not forget the post-report feedback form they sent afterward.

All in all? I put in over 12 hours, not counting the movie runtime. For about $175 in total compensation (including bonuses and reimbursements), minus $45 out of pocket for snacks, that broke down to something like $10/hour before taxes.

So yeah — 15–30 minutes? That’s a fantasy unless you’re some kind of mystery shop cyborg.

Wow, I admire your dedication. I imagine I would have backed out after about an hour of the shop prep, but then again 175.00 is a decent fee so who knows. I guess once you commit to getting in the car and seeing the movie, your stuck turning in a report no matter what.

I’d rather avoid the hassle and pick up a $15 reimbursement only Qdoba or JM and watch a movie at home.

@87Supra wrote:

Wow, I admire your dedication. I imagine I would have backed out after about an hour of the shop prep, but then again 175.00 is a decent fee so who knows. I guess once you commit to getting in the car and seeing the movie, your stuck turning in a report no matter what.

Totally get that — and yeah, once you’ve bought the ticket and made the drive, it’s kind of a one-way street. ????

Truth is, I accepted the shop thinking maybe it wouldn’t be as intense as it was back in 2013. The prep looked a little different this time around, so I hoped the reporting had been streamlined too. Spoiler alert: it hadn’t.

By the time I hit the “numerous narrative sections” in the report, I figured I had two options: cancel the whole thing and risk burning a bridge, or suck it up and finish strong. I chose the latter (with mild cussing and snacks for emotional support). LOL

You’re right though — once you’re in the theater seat, you’re committed. And with how much effort goes into the pre-shop prep, ticket order confusion, and receipt formatting circus… that car ride might be the easiest part.

Hopefully your dedication will allow you to pick up more of their shops that aren't so time intensive. All i get in my area are trampoline parks and how do I say this, intelligent museum shops?

They're just not near enough for the guidelines to do.

I would probably do a cinema shop but dont see them here.

@sestrahelena wrote:

I'm giving your forum report a score of 100! It was well-written, succinct and, frankly, riveting. Bravo!

Wow—thank you! That “100” just made my mystery shopper heart do a happy dance. I guess all that seat-counting, screenshot-converting, and digital cartwheeling paid off. Who knew forum venting could feel so… therapeutic?

@Rho wrote:

And I found nothing wrong with your grammar.

"CX Group CEO."??????? do tell what you learned

Right?! I’m still trying to figure out how my grammar got side-eyed when I had a digital grammar genie coaching me through it. Maybe the editor had beef with Oxford commas? LOL
Also yes—I’d love to know what juicy CX CEO tea paniconmon stumbled into. This sounds like the real summer blockbuster.

(Maybe one of these days I’ll figure out how to reply to more than one profile in the same post!)

@wrosie wrote:

Hopefully your dedication will allow you to pick up more of their shops that aren't so time intensive. All i get in my area are trampoline parks and how do I say this, intelligent museum shops?

They're just not near enough for the guidelines to do.

I would probably do a cinema shop but dont see them here.

“Intelligent museum shops” LOL I love it. At least you get to pretend to be cultured. These cinema shops are just report-writing bootcamps with popcorn.

If they ever post one where I just show up, blink twice, and get paid—I’m in.

Sometimes it just means someone needs to let you know you did a good job.sesrtalina did that for you and i agree.

Sometimes all you need is an "atta boy" and you went above and beyond.

And I didnt loose anything for acknowledging that.

I often ask my wait staff for a manager. They're worried. I tell the manager they were fantastic! Don't you think people should acknowledge after getting fantastic service from fantastic waitstaff that was aknowledged?

It costs nothing but makes someone's day. And I'm betting all their other customers will enjoy service after.

We evaluate service. But I've yet to see any shop that says you cant give immediate feedback.

CX CEO…there’s thread about it in the archives here.

@misspocos75 wrote:

@sestrahelena wrote:

I'm giving your forum report a score of 100! It was well-written, succinct and, frankly, riveting. Bravo!

Wow—thank you! That “100” just made my mystery shopper heart do a happy dance. I guess all that seat-counting, screenshot-converting, and digital cartwheeling paid off. Who knew forum venting could feel so… therapeutic?

misspocos75, Yes! IMO, the keywords here are venting and therapeutic. My take on venting is that it's a therapeutic expression and healthy release of emotions, to solve a problem or heal from something. Whereas complaining is repeated negativity with a focus on problems and not solutions.

In another thread, another member posted the contact details of the CX Group CEO to get a payment problem resolved. I thought it was nice. If I ever run into the same problem, now I know.