Can I have feedback on Secret Shopper®
[www.secretshopper.com]

I did one shop for them in December. I kind of screwed up as I was supposed to order an alcoholic drink with dinner and I had just started a new med. and couldn't. When I did my report I mentioned that someone in our party did order a drink and was carded so they accepted my report and paid me. If I remember correctly payment is a month after the shop is completed.

I haven't requested another shop because the 2 accounts. One is a fast food chain that I don't like and the other is a high end Brazilian type restaurant and they never have to search for shoppers for the latter. Everyone likes to go there.

FYI, I noticed you were looking for feedback on several companies. If you can find them on the official list at the bottom of the page it will include a note about how many discussions are ongoing and a link to those. Naturally some will not be up-to-date and you may want to ask for more recent feedback. For those that are up-to-date you will be able to get information much more quickly. I'm not known for my patience and always want answers now!

In the S.F. Bay Area the jobs are picked up quickly. I shop for them every 90 days. They pay on time and I like their shops.

I did several shops for this company and was paid as agreed upon. However, I am still waiting to be paid for three shops completed 6 months ago. I contacted the company a few months after performing the shops and was told they had sent the check and that it hadn't been cashed....(of course not, because I haven't received it). They told me to wait longer. They said they would not send a check unless I paid a stop payment fee of $25. I contacted them again a month later because I still had not received payment and was again told I had to pay a stop payment fee of $25 in order to be paid what they owed me. They suggested I wait longer. I reminded them that their checks state clearly on the front that they are void after 90 days, so even if this check had actually been sent and someone found it, it could not be cashed. I was refused payment still. I called once more a few weeks later. This time I was told the check had been cashed and was given a date that the check had been cashed that was previous to my first call to the company! I was told they cannot send another check unless I pay a stop payment fee.

Because of all of this, I began researching the company. I have read several cases of the same thing...people who completed and turned in shops on time not being paid for their work. Some of these people are owed way more than I am. I will not shop for this company again and I am filing a claim with BBB and the attorney general in the state Secret Shopper operates. As other shoppers who have been through this have said, I doubt the check was ever sent. Especially since I was given different stories when I called.

If you are smart, you will NOT shop for them and tell anyone you know who is considering it not to work with them either.

Do not confuse them with Secret Shopping Services, which is a different company.

I have never heard of an MSC asking for a stop payment fee. Are you sure that you have your correct address listed on your profile? This has happened to me and others.

I am positive my address was and is correct with this company. I went over that with them during the first call I made to them after not being paid for so long. I have never heard of a MSC asking for a stop payment fee either. This is one of the reasons I think that maybe the check was never sent in the first place.....a great way for them to make money, asking for a stop payment fee for a check that does not exist. I only began to feel this way after reading other posts regarding this company's unfair business practices. They have complaints filed against them with the Better Business Bureau. I wish I would have checked there before doing business with them.

There have been several that charge a stop payment fee. A year or so ago a shopper owed $15 by Ritter that had not been received was told the stop payment fee would be $15 to reissue the $15 check . . .

To the original poster, I have shopped several different companies for them and really like their shops and find them very fair in pay. My only complaint is that they do not have more where I live. I have always been paid and never a problem.