I mostly lurk and read others posts but I need to rant right now. I recently did a shop where I had to complete my drive thru order then take a photo of the menu bored. Well unless they want me to drive back through (instructions said not to) that wasn't going to happen. I tried my best from their parking lot, went across the street and parked, etc. I could not even see anything but the top of it because of some cars parked and then it was angled. I even submitted a photo that clearly showed it was impossible. This is the first shop I've ever had rejected so I'm really irritated right now. I went across town to a bad area of town and now I'm out $8. I'm trying to save money for a house not waste it on junk food!

have to tried to "reason" with them??? not always easy though.

Trying to save up money for a house by Mystery Shopping for kibble and bits from Second to None is about as futile as collecting pop cans.

I just mystery shop for our grocery budget each month. One car and an infant makes it hard to do much. We aren't dealing with a bank so every penny counts. This was a fun shop so we could have a little treat. I got a "clarification" email last night and explained why my photo wasn't very good. This morning I saw it was rejected. Do I just email the scheduler and try to explain further? I've never had an issue in the past with any company so I'm not really sure what to do.

awel61 Wrote:
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> This morning I saw it was rejected. Do I just
> email the scheduler and try to explain further?


I wouldn't beg too much you already gave up enough dignity just taking their low pay no pay shop. I wouldn't make it a habit of taking jobs in known wrong sides of town either. Im not lucky myself so if I start going to the wrong side of town the boogers are going to get me quick. Now there are some people who can even live in the wrong sides of town and be alright but Im not one of them. Like I said I'm not lucky. Its bad enough for me to go to the wrong end of town and I'm a man but for a woman to do it its even more foolish. And how about the poor cops who have enough trouble with all the crime and trouble and then they got to protect or rescue some suburbanite fool like me who got mugged in the downtown Aldi's parking lot trying to make 5 dollars worth of free groceries and $4 cash.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2013 06:32PM by FREELANCEREPORTER.

FREELANCEREPORTER Wrote:
> if I start going to the wrong side of town the
> boogers are going to get me quick.

Really? Did you actually just say that?

Back to the OP. I would at least give them a call. While never about photos, I had a couple of instances where shops were unusual and the editors originally rejected them. After being able to speak with someone the decisions were reversed.

I'm used to going over there. Just not in the morning. Around here most people consider the entire town the bad part of town. It wasn't very far to go and there was a little extra left over after the cost of my order. Like I said I figured it would be a nice little treat for us that we don't get often. I've done Aldi shops (for a different company I don't know if second to none does them) before. But that was a time that $5 worth of food was amazing to us. I don't take shops like that anymore because it isn't worth my time but there really are people out there that even the low pay shops help them out a lot. I started shopping because my husband was out of work for over a year and we had a new baby. You can bet I took all those cheap fast food shops because it was supper. The ones that required ordering inside and going through the drive through were our favorite. Then I discovered that you can make more than $5 a shop and I haven't looked back. Do I think it's right that they think they can buy our services so cheap? No, I think it's ridiculous. Especially the ones that want you to get 5 associate names/ descriptions, time each interaction, etc, then expect you to just take a reimbursement.

I just got an email from a scheduler asking me to do the same exact shop. I asked them about the photo problem and what i'm supposed to do as far as that goes. I'm not going to take this shop again but maybe just maybe I can get my money from the last one.

elcarev68 Wrote:
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> FREELANCEREPORTER Wrote:
> > if I start going to the wrong side of town the
> > boogers are going to get me quick.
>
> Really? Did you actually just say that?


Yep, he did.

Unfortunately, that one ignorant comment took me from kind of admiring FREELANCEREPORTER's knack for stirring up controversy and pushing everyone's button to total disgust.

(heart)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/20/2013 10:52AM by stilllearning.

I had your shop. I could not get good pics. I had to get out of my car, make some lame excuse and snap pictures...

In the future, pull the furthest away from the menu board and pretend you are talking on the phone. Snap away!

Because this shop has awful photo angles, I refused to do it again.

I will however, go inside the do the sit down shop

Unfortunately I would have easily been made if I had gotten out. This location is ancient therefore has an itty bitty parking lot with only like 5 parking spaces and nothing next door but a fence dividing the property.

I decided to do the sit down one too when it was offered since it is right around the corner and I had to go next door to that location anyways. That one was easy. I'll probably do it again next time but no more drive thru!

I took drive thru menu photos for a covert audit not that long ago. I parked some distance away, got out, walked into the drive thru lane and took the pictures. There was almost no customer traffic at the time I did them so it was not as risky as it sounds.

I have done this shop twice for this company -both early morning and late afternoon. The afternoon time is the best choice because not many people were there in fact I was the only one. I simply did the drive thru part, made note of the times I needed on my phone and then parked around as close to the drive up as possible. I got out of the car both times. This is THE only way to get that big menu board. I used a good camera, not my phone so I could blow up the image and see all parts of the board.

You do feel a little silly standing in the drive thru lane but who cares who sees you? I took a LOT of photos in as quick a time as possible in case something was not great focus. I got back in my car and gave the images the once over real quick before leaving.

I have to tell you though, the morning one was busier. I'm snapping away and look to my left and all of a sudden 3 cars are sitting there staring at me. They were actually polite and thought I was doing something important because they were cool about it. I waved a thank you and got back in the car.

If STN is offering you another crack at it, then they are trying to help I would think.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2013 11:58PM by mleighb.