I just did a phone shop. he date of the shop was 12-29. The form says MUST B E SUBMITED by 12-30 which is today. Yet the body of the form as well as guidelines say that you have to wait 3 business days to report on follow up. So, I wrote the scheduler and rather than reply was told to "follow the guidelines" I submitted the report with a note that I will report on any follow up which I doubt will take place with the holiday this week. Simply put you cannot have it both ways- report due today but wait for 3 business days for follow up. I suspect this was a rush end of year report so that the time frame was compressed a bit. If it was not the last week of the year perhaps the form submission date would have been different.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/2025 05:35PM by Fatlady.

I just completed an apartment job that was like this. Since there was a place on the report to answer about the follow-up, I waited before I submitted mine. I received a follow-up over the Christmas holiday. The report was in red and said it was overdue, but after I entered the follow-up information, I was able to submit it.

My experience has been these types of shops have two parts. Submit the first part and then three days later submit the second part. Also I suggest you screenshot or whatever the guidelines to show the contradiction if anyone challenges you.

On those types, I fill in the report except the follow up, but don't submit until the required number of days have passed. They can go into the report before it is submitted, if they want. But yeah in your case the guidelines should say what to do. I think what you did was the smart move because of the end of the year, like you say. They can send it back if they want.

i know lately, ive been getting sass or unwarranted useless comments on my shops that i've historically done for a while, like being closer to the location when hitting the GPS tracker (I cannot control the tolerances on the satelite data). Its like they just put in their 2 cents to make it seem like they are doing something.

I accepted a job via the mystery shopping companies website. I was notified of the shop being given to me via email. I clicked on the link from this email to confirm. The website showed that I had confirmed. I downloaded the guidelines, printed them out and then proceeded to do the mystery shop on the following day. I went into the website to down load all 10 pictures of the pet store. The website stated that I needed to confirm. This had been done on the prior day.
I then contacted the mystery shop several different ways. The first was the companies shopper hotline phone number. Although it was 3 PM, it stated the offices were closed. Their website states their offices are open from 9 AM until 5 PM. I then emailed via the help contact section of the mystery shop. No response even though I emailed three times.
I contacted the scheduler four times as per the email stating to do so if there was an issue. The scheduler never got back to me.
I deactivated my account on their website. I spent three hours trying to make $15. The scheduler. (CD) email me back stating that it was probably for the best that I deactivated my account. Rude behavior on their part in my opinion. All of my emails gave the shop ID and my shopper number along with thank you please etc. Answering emails or phones during business hours should be standard operating procedure. I did three other mystery shops that day with three other companies and every single one of my reports went through without an issue.

The fee was five dollars for the shop and the reimbursement was to be $15. When I accepted the shop, I thought it was barely worth my time. On the other hand, I was going to be in that side of town and thought just pick up the shop for a little extra.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/2026 05:23PM by Karenhal.

Karen, I commend your patience in two areas. First, the extent with which you attempted to contact the MSC. Secondly, when you failed to receive assistance, you "kicked 'em to the curb".

What company?


1. There are very few MSC that answer the phone during business hours. Most schedulers are independent contractors like we are. They may work odd hours, be on another call, sleeping, etc!

2. Were you really contacting the scheduler because the website was making you confirm the shop again? Seriously, just confirm and then go on with it.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/2026 06:50PM by viv0412.

Thank you. I have done mystery shopping for 30 years. The older I get the less tolerance I have for the demanding expectations required of shoppers and the lack of follow through from the coordinator/scheduler. I received an email from the scheduler stating that it was probably for the best that I have no longer going to shop for them in my opinion that was not a “Intelli”gent response.

I appreciate your support and comment.

The mystery shopping companies website states to contact them via the phone number listed during their business hours, which were listed. I am very good at following directions and reading. If you put it on your website to do this that I would expect them during the hours stated on the website to answer the phone. Or have an answering service that I can leave a message.

I did try to confirm again for almost 20 times over several hours.

I really appreciate your insights

Deleted, as I posted in the wrong thread.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/09/2026 03:04PM by shopperbob.