@Isaiah4031a The most recent one that is being discussed in this thread is not dine in, but they have two versions where your assignment is order at the counter or mobile order. You are required to order a medium Steak & Cheese Melt, not a combo, and no modifications. Ordering a medium Steak & Cheese sub does not count and will result in a shop rejection. Only if the Steak & Cheese Melt sub is not available, then you can order the medium Hook & Ladder sub.

After receiving your sub you are supposed to go to your car and take the temperature of the protein twice and take pictures of the thermometer in the sandwich with the reading exposed to the camera both times. Report the average of the two readings + other observations.

@BarefootBliss wrote:

I did a shop this week and did my usual, as discretely (or discreetly) as possible - photo snapping.
I watched and heard an employee lean over to the employee next to her and say
"whenever they have their phone out and pointing in this direction, that's how you know they are a shopper"

The MSCs expect this to happen. If they hold it against you, you get to decide whether to do that shop type again.

One technique that I use is this. I point the phone toward the area where the photo needs to be taken. I then look up as if browsing the menu, then press the camera button while still looking up.

The Firehouse Subs shops I've been doing, because the reimbursement covers the cost of the required purchase plus shopper pay. Are either online order and pickup or order at the counter to go. Dine in isn't an option because of the other requirements of the shop.

@SBP wrote:

@Minime wrote:

@ozshopper wrote:

@Minime wrote:

1/. Don’t worry if you will be ‘outed’ by taking a pic in full view of the staff. If the MSC doesn’t care, why should you?
2/. Only do the bare minimum of what’s expected of you. The add on comments will be exploited and gives them a free shop - that they WILL use.
3/. Tell them that you are willing to delete those comments if they are not helpful. It’s unclear if other reporting was a requirement or not, but if it wasn’t, there shouldn’t be anything pertaining to taking pictures of other things in the guidelines either. If there is not that language, they have no case. Insist on getting paid or else you will report it to the AG’s office. This has been effective for me in the past.
4/. Terminate the MSC in writing. The chances of profiting off of them in the future is too low. Save it in your records for at least 2 decades. If you don’t get paid, follow through with the AG complaint that will take about 5 minutes online.
5/. If you don’t get paid, continue to expose them on MS forums for the heartless, cheap bastards that they are. Stroll down memory lane often about it. Accept no blame. You were just trying to be helpful.

I believe forum rules are you can badmouth the company but not the store too, so since the store has been mentioned here then they can't say the name of the company. So that gets a bit tricky.

Dang, I tend to want to badmouth both - even in the same sentence. As far as future badmouthing goes, they can always start a new thread or err on the side of caution by giving the MSC a nickname, as I do with Ipshitz. I would be happy to come up with a new pseudo name for this particular MCS, if asked.

Creating pseudonyms for MSCs and companies could be a fun new thread!

Shall we? We could vote on them and create a glossary (grin).

Ok I’ll start…. Amusement Disadvantage.

Moomoo: I didn’t say that the OP should contact the AG’s office if they did the WRONG SHOP, did I? I also stated that I DID NOT KNOW if taking pics of infractions was a requirement. If the infractions were described without pics it still doesn’t warrant rejecting the whole shop with no pay. I would say there were too many people in close proximity or another BS excuse before I let them get away with that.

The point of contacting the AG’s office is to report a scam. I believe all of them have a consumer fraud division and you can file a complaint online. Just get to the brass tacks immediately in the complaint and it will take no more than 5 mins. Essentially you were used by this company who profited off of you and reneged on their duty to pay you, with an emphasis on a ‘bait and switch scam.’ They usually respond in 48 hours or less. I capture a pic of the confirmation page that appears after the submission and include it with a warning to the violator to pay up. I’ve done it once with an MSC and once with a bank. Worked like a charm both times where they folded right away and paid without the need for future correspondence.

I find that pleading for help with other state employees who are no longer required to answer their phones or return calls within a reasonable amount of time a total waste of energy. Most are lazy, apathetic and angry about having to sit in a cube all day - if not in the comfort of their own home. They don’t want to create more work for themselves so they shoot down and rubber stamp any complaints. They don’t even know the rules and regs to begin with - such as labor laws - as most are uneducated and improperly trained. The AG’s office takes it seriously and will contact the company. The company is required to provide a response. The MSC’s hate that sh*t.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/13/2026 09:26AM by Minime.

Now that you know that the guidelines state you need to take a pic of infractions in the dining room. Are you still of the opinion that the shopper should get partial pay? If so, how much should they get? Why shouldn't the entire shop be rejected since they didn't fulfill the guidelines? If they gave partial pay, then won't they have to send someone else out to take pics of the infractions, you know do the shop correctly, and the issues might not be there at the time. Isn't it fair for the mystery shopping company to expect that a shopper does the shop correctly. If they get an incomplete report, can they still submit that to the client? What is the point of the guidelines?

Moomoo ~ I could be wrong but my guess is the blurb about taking pictures of infractions in the guidelines WAS NOT INCLUDED IN THE QUESTIONNAIRE. Otherwise the question would have a camera icon for the pics to be added. I doubt that would have been missed by the shopper. Maybe so, but it’s doubtful.

Doing things the ‘right way’ also lies on the part of the MSC. We have all been tripped up by mistakes in the surveys that are vague, worded incorrectly etc. that they can use to confuse us and trip us up. When they are alerted to these errors, they never fix them. I would ask them to fix whatever error there was that led to the pics not being added and tell them that the pay is still expected. Oftentimes those instructions are not mandatory - if not in the form of a Q on the survey - which is the main argument. I would offer to remove the ‘add on’ comments, since that is all the shopper was required to do from the start, and that’s it.

I went to a Firehouse Subs on my own dime Saturday. I used the Tmobile weekly offer with the BOGO this week. Spent $11 and got 2 sandwiches. Didn't have to write a report.

Doubt I would go back to this location. Smudges and fingerprints on glass door. Letter grade of "B" on the wall from health dept. There are a few better Firehouse in my area. This one was just convenient and I didn't know about their cleanliness issues.

@hbbigdaddy What? Are you joking or serious? "Smudges and fingerprints on glass door" and a B letter grade would most likely keep you from going to a sub place? Not sure how a busy location can keep smudges and fingerprints from appearing on a glass door during peak times. To each his own.

I'm so glad this MSC lets you see the guidelines before picking up a shop. They let you know what the mandatory sub is (yes I read it in this thread, too, but I like that the MSC lets you know before you agree to a shop). I understand the client wants a specific sub shopped and the temp, but I also have the right to not want to eat said sub. And when you are only paying reimbursement, it's a big ask to tell me what I need to but with no mods. That being said, I wish the JM shops wanted such little info (appears to primarily be pics and temps). While the JM shops are pretty simple, one gets tired of rephrasing the same thing and explaining why I would give the score I gave and reiterating in 5-7 sentences the story of my visit.

@Tiffany0921 This shop pays a fee plus reimbursement.

@Tiffany0921 wrote:

I'm so glad this MSC lets you see the guidelines before picking up a shop. They let you know what the mandatory sub is (yes I read it in this thread, too, but I like that the MSC lets you know before you agree to a shop). I understand the client wants a specific sub shopped and the temp, but I also have the right to not want to eat said sub. And when you are only paying reimbursement, it's a big ask to tell me what I need to but with no mods. That being said, I wish the JM shops wanted such little info (appears to primarily be pics and temps). While the JM shops are pretty simple, one gets tired of rephrasing the same thing and explaining why I would give the score I gave and reiterating in 5-7 sentences the story of my visit.