Thank you for getting deactivated. I would happily do one of these shops. It's not slave-labor or working for free. It's getting $600 worth of expenses for a nice hotel.

I recently did a shop for Mercantile Systems. It was a dinner shop with no fee, just reimbursement. I spent $85 on a wonderful meal that will be entirely reimbursed. I spent less than an hour on the report and got a 10. An hour worth of work for a free meal was worth it to me. However long it takes to enter the hotel report may be worth it to someone else, for a $600 stay at a hotel.

I really don't understand the indignation.

The OP is not completely off base. There are other MSCs that provide you with the same experience in addition to $$$. Companies that offer no pay lowball the entire industry and cause the other MSCs to do the same thing. It's unfortunate.

CAscotch Wrote:
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> The OP is not completely off base. There are other
> MSCs that provide you with the same experience in
> addition to $$$. Companies that offer no pay
> lowball the entire industry and cause the other
> MSCs to do the same thing. It's unfortunate.


He is completely off base about it being slave labor.
That's absurd.

Of course it's not slave labor. He is wrong about that (and why would anybody really take that comment literally anyway?). Come on, people. It's 2013. The argument he is making has some validity.

My next couple of hotels offer the same exact experiences for me and a guest, similar forms and $100+ PLUS mileage. I'm sure these MSCs will no longer be able to stay in business as usual if other MSCs come out gun-blazing promising bottom of the barrel prices at the expense of the shopper.

Don't get me wrong. Is it worth it? Perhaps, yes, under certain circumstances. Is it better to ALSO be paid on top of the reimbursements? Of course.

A problem with people who yell, become overly dramatic and belilittle others is their message gets lost. I can agree with points, but not that Merc is some evil company.

BTW, freelancer, I do not consider myself poor at all. I also will not eat at McDonalds. In fact I'm enjoying a leisurely lunch at a cafe between the only two jobs scheduled for today. Today's assignments will make my payment on the car I purchased since becoming a mystery shopper and cover lunch

FREELANCEREPORTER Wrote:
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>we would not be doing mystery shopping unless
> we were poor.


this made me laugh.

I think the problem is he's making broad statements based on his particular situation and assuming everyone else has the same situation. The fact is they will have more than enough people wanting to do these shops for just the reimbursement, so they are paying exactly what the market will bear. I don't really see any reason to get pissed that the market rate is below what you want to do it for unless you REALLY want to do this particular shop. Otherwise who cares?

Honestly. All of my experiences with mercantile have been nothing but wonderful. The schedulers are extremely easy to work with and their shop pay is always equitable to the work. I have never received a poor score or no reimbursement.

Seems to me like the OP wasn't accepted or qualified to do a high-quality shop like this and was mad so wanted to start trouble.

Mercantile pays 10.00 report fee and 25.00 reimbursement for a meal for one...that's reasonable to me, I love this and do a couple per month. What an attack on a decent company that treats shoppers well. I always leave well fed, and the report is
certainly not as rough as another MSC that comes to mind and doesn't pay any fee. I have to eat, why not utilize what's
at my fingertips and get reimbursed?

FREELANCEREPORTER Wrote:
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> .... still does not gloss over the fact
> that we would not be doing mystery shopping unless
> we were poor.......

Excuse me???????



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/26/2013 11:57PM by cubbiecat.

FREELANCEREPORTER Wrote:
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> we would not be doing mystery shopping unless
> we were poor.

I'm not poor: just trying to prevent Alzheimer's.

Freelance Reporter! I am not poor. I have two homes. I live in a resort area. I am happily retired. I am a former teacher and enjoy this forum because of the intelligence, wisdom and humor displayed by so many of the regular posters. I shop because I enjoy the acting gig and am proud that I have become a better actor since beginning. I also shop to learn inside secrets and find out about new businesses without spending a lot of money. I love a bargain.

I love the rush of the fear of getting caught. I love the freedom this job allows me. I get paid to travel and people call me with work that is right around the corner with a bonus of $50. But if I hadn't done basic McDonalds or gas shops to prove myself, I wouldn't know what I was doing or how to do it well. Consider McDonalds as a proving ground and a challenge, not a lunch. But the other day I did do a MD that was bonused $30 and reimbursed $20, and fed three people in my family.

It keeps me sharp, it keeps me interesting, and it keeps me away from the dreaded substitute teaching jobs. And because I am a shopper I can orchestrate my life and my money.

And to the OP - think of it this way: Let's say you have been saving for a trip to Hawaii for a long time. Suddenly there is an airfare sale and you can afford it, but not the hotel Now you see the hotel shop as you described. Would you take it? I would! Now you can go to Hawaii and have a wonderful time. Other wise you would just stay home. Can you now understand why someone would be stupid enough to take it? Everything has a value and a price, but the experience in total can be priceless. stop looking at the hotels in your own community and think about ones a bit farther away where you can explore. Your attitude might adjust.

Looks like I'll be signing up for Merc! I could use a getaway. Is this really two nights? 4-5 stars? For 4-5 hours of writing? Talk about a bargain!

Just to clarify any misunderstanding; These are marketed as 4-star hotels, though some I think are actually 3 star. It's my understanding this is for a 1-night stay. You will need to use bell and valet service, arrive before 7 PM and perform multiple tests while at the hotel. The time it takes each shopper to complete the report will vary, but you are on the hook for approximately 24 hours to complete this shop. The reimbursement is UP TO $600 but some of the cheaper hotels may be just $200 in value. You cannot stay over a weekend or have more that 2 people total on the shop. There is absolutely no guarantee that you will keep the hotel points when your charges are reversed. You definitely will not get any credit card points for it.

BBS offers a similar hotel shop for what I think is a nicer client and pays a $45 fee. Others will pay $75 and up, but you will probably need some experience to get those shops. I've seen people go bonkers on this forum over a $5 pay differential between MSCs, so I think there should be some upset over lack of fee being paid. I don't shop for the money, but I also don't like loosing money on shops and I usually use my shop fees to pay my pet sitter, so I would be paying money to take one of these shops. That doesn't work for me.

For those who thinks it's a good deal, try a few, get some experience and then see how you feel. I have hundreds of hotel shops under my belt and I promise you that every one of them was HARD work. It's not a vacation, and it's definitely not time off. Very few were worth the hotel experience alone. When they go bad, it's only the though of recouping my expenses that keeps me going. I dread each paragraph I have to write about hotel experiences I did not enjoy.

Thank you Steve.

I would have taken the hotel if the dates had worked out, as we'll be in San Francisco and the hotel is in Union Square,
however, missed it by one day. I am now looking for a hotel for one night (on my own). Staying with family the rest of the
time, but it would have been nice to get paid, and yes I agree with Steve, hotels are work, some harder than others. I just scheduled for their bar audit upon my return....for the OP to point out this one MSC still has me shaking my head, go after those that don't pay....

If you are going to be out of town and need a place to stay, I can see the appeal of the no-fee shop. San Francisco is probably the best value of the CA hotels they offer, but then you would also be out the full $600 if something went wrong.

While I would not have taken the approach that the OP used, the point of being upset about no pay for the shop is valid.

I will reiterste that every shopper has the right to pick and choose whatever shops they want, but understand that your actions do affect others. When you accept shops for MSC's that do not offer a fee, or are not paying shoppers in a timely manner, you support a system that I think all of us agree is not a healthy work relationship.

It's been pointed out that I may have access to higher paying hotel shops because of my experience, but do you think those high-paying shops will remain when other MSC's can compete with no fee to the shoppers? This really is the same argument I have always had with shoppers that chose to work for Freeman when it was clear that they might not get paid. Taking that assignment may possibly be beneficial to you at that specific time, but it's also paving the way to be sure you may never get to the point where hotel shops that pay a few hundred dollars exist anymore.

I have no comment on this particular company but I do have one for OP.

If you don't like a shop, what it pays (or does not pay), DON'T DO IT!! No one is holding a gun to anyone's head telling you to take the job. I personally would only take a job like that if I had to stay at a hotel for work or travel.. that makes it worthwhile IMO.

I am seriously not surprised at why you got deactivated if you conducted yourself poorly when speaking to the MSC.

elcarev68 Wrote:
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> Looks like I'll be signing up for Merc! I could
> use a getaway. Is this really two nights? 4-5
> stars? For 4-5 hours of writing? Talk about a
> bargain!


Sorry for the lame post. I was shooting for tongue-in-cheek hyperbolic positivism in the face of the ludicrously hyperbolic metaphor of comparing zero-pay shops to slavery.
Truth is, I won't do a zero-pay shop. But more power to anyone else who will.

You will not get rewards points on a hotel reveal shop. The charges are reversed at check out, so if you think that you will be getting points,
it is doubtful that this will occur. Some times, it is worth it to take a shop for "free" just for the points. But for these particular shops, I can't see how the points will be added to your account.

I did not think that we were talking about reveal shops. I never do any sort of reveal shop. Staying anonymous is my stock in trade!

walesmaven Wrote:
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> There is another form of payment that the OP just
> doesn't seem to "get." The last time that I did a
> $600+ hotel shop, it was for an MSC that has a
> very reasonable report. I had plenty of time to
> take a walking tour of the city area, visit a
> museum and use the hotel facilities. There was no
> limit on what food and wine I could order at the
> excellent restaurant.
>
> AND, I walked away with enough hotel rewards
> points to buy TWO nights at the very nice
> mid-range hotels in that "family" of hotels. Each
> year, my MS hotel shops buy me enough points for
> more than 2 weeks of free hotel stays, and not in
> low class places! Thats how "dumb" I am. Oh, and
> I can also convert my hotel rewards into air
> travel and/or Amtrak travel.


Just curious, can you redeem your points for merchandise or gift cards or amazon.com giftcode credit as well? I know this option if available would motivate me.....letting corporate America pick up the tab for some or all of my Christmas shopping works for me, lol.

I see a little bit of merit - just a smidge of merit - to the OP's post.

This June I did my first shop of an extended stay place and it had a $25 bonus to it and I was thrilled to have a reimbursed night in which I could set the thermostat down to 60F on someone else's dime and get paid $25 for it, too! Then I saw this MSC had more shops at the long term stay place that were reimbursement only and they did not seem quite as interesting.....perhaps because I had been bonused first and also because this chain does not offer any points to accumulate.

I gotta say for a $600 hotel stay if I could afford to put the cash up front and had a good working relationship with the MSC so I felt sure I could produce a report they would accept, I would go for it. Getting the points alone from one of the top or mid tier chains would motivate me as I could stay somewhere I'd like to on my time, and reduce my travelling costs. I also see that everyone is not going to see things this way, and that's as it should be. For some, reimbursement only works, for others not. I say we all find our niche within this biz and do our best with it.....

squireparty Wrote:
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> I see a little bit of merit - just a smidge of
> merit - to the OP's post.
>

Yes, but that merit is invalidated by the hyperbolic and slanderous subject line. He accused a decent company of a felony. Had he written something alone the line of, "Frustrated with Mercantile's reimbursement-only shops," I might be inclined to hear his complaints.

As written, he owes Mercantile a public apology.

All this talk of slave-work, slaves and plantations is ludicrous. There are certain msc that I won't work for again, but never have I compared them to slave-owners. How offensive. If you look at the OP's previous posts, s/he has a habit of complaining. No wonder s/he was deactivated. No one is forcing us to accept these assignments.

Definition of slave labor: persons, especially a large group, performing labor under duress or threats, as prisoners in a concentration camp; a labor force of slaves or slavelike prisoners.

So the OP is comparing an assignment at a nice hotel to being in a concentration camp? Maybe the OP needs to step down from mystery shopping.

I would say the "Extended stay hotels" are more of a drag, as no pay and a horrible place to spend a night. The reports may
not be as involved, but, my feeling is they should pay a fee. I'd feel like I'm totally working for nothing, not even enjoying
my stay....at least with Mercantile, nice place to visit, eat and people watch, and if you don't think you can do the report,
just say no....

Completely offensive and incredibly disrespectful to way more than the MSC.

Phoebe70 Wrote:
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> All this talk of slave-work, slaves and
> plantations is ludicrous. There are certain msc
> that I won't work for again, but never have I
> compared them to slave-owners. How offensive.

Squireparty,
Depending on the hotel rewards program (There is one for each big "family" of hotels.) one can convert rewards points to buy merchandise from a short list of "partners." I don't find most of the conversion rates attractive, but there are sites where communities of folks with certain rewards programs exchnage best ways to garner bonus points during special promotions and best practices for using rewards to one's advantage. I sure learned a ton about how to "work" the Amtrak Rewards system, for instance. (Like the airlines, Amtrak has its own rewards club and related credit card.)

Most of you folks are really naive. You don't get it when it comes down to stick together and stand up for sensible ethical business practices. Why work for free when you are risking your own monies to complete an assignment for a company that profits off your work? Or, don't you think that they also work for free? I don't think so.


But...some people have the nerve to try to "blame me" for calling these companies out and that I have the habit to complain and whine. Well, if protesting would not be a human right, I would probably would shut up and take it. So, I am really sorry for those that value their work so low that they like to give it away for free. Call it slave wages, indentured servitude or simply stupidity. I won't do that.

These companies can sugar coat it anyway they want, but it all boils down to this....SHOPPER PAY: $0.