I've performed several shops for Intellishop mostly without incident, but few of them I've been shorted money. Five dollars here, four dollars there. The schedulers have not been responsive to my contact e-mails through the portal or directly and the general contact page for Intellishop has not answered my inquiries either. Has anyone else been having this trouble?

Wow Soccer_chic, that is atrocious. Intelli-shop reports are much more demanding than most and their pay is paltry for what they expect. To think that they are cheating you out of money on top of it all...unbelievable!

You can call them.

You can call me Al.

-- Paul Simon

SOCCER CHIK

I have never been cheated out of money form Intelli. Always check each shop in your log. This should tell you the exact amount you should be receiving and the date it was paid. Be sure if bonuses were offered that they were also put into your log. Do not go through Kernsscheduling.

They are good at that... reimbursement in an invisible check form. It is a pain to chase but worth it.

No, soccer_chik, I haven't been. Are you saying your contracted fees or reimbursement have been shorted? $4 or $5 is considerable. How long has this non-reply period been going on?

I was shorted once and one email to the scheduler had it straightened out quickly and payment was in the next month's payment. This happened perhaps two years ago.

Soccer_chik, is this a new thing? When has this happened to you?

Hey soccer_chik,

I'm really sorry you've had this experience, please try calling us at 866-234-1423. Just dial 0 and you'll get through to someone and we can put you through to your exact scheduler that you're having these issues with.

Please be aware that we do have max reimbursement amounts. For example, if you're doing a restaurant shop where the reimbursement is capped at $8.50, you can purchase more items at the restaurant, but we can only reimburse you up to $8.50.

Also, if we are offering a bonus through an email we send you, that bonus is only valid if you respond to the email. Also, when this happens, we have to manually change the payment. Sometimes we're just ripping through the hundreds of email responses we get and we forget to go in and add a bonus in the pay field--it's nothing malicious. We're not trying to "cheat" you out of money, we just are moving too fast and aren't paying as good as attention as we should. Just call us up or shoot us another email and we'll fix it right away.

Also, please check your shop log. We have a "shopper pay" field and a "bonus" field. We utilize both. If we are offering a shop for $15, we usually put $5 in the pay field and $10 in the bonus field, etc.

If you want, you can call in the next hour and ask for me (Sara) and we'll get this worked out.

Find the comment

we're just ripping through the hundreds of email
> responses we get and we forget to go in and add a
> bonus in the pay field..... interesting.

While I doubt you have "hundreds" replying for the jobs you forget the bonus? No you hope we will not notice.
And if we "forget" one item in the report be prepared for no pay at all.....




IntelliSara Wrote:
"-------------------------------------------------------
> Hey soccer_chik,
>
> I'm really sorry you've had this experience,
> please try calling us at 866-234-1423. Just dial 0
> and you'll get through to someone and we can put
> you through to your exact scheduler that you're
> having these issues with.
>
> Please be aware that we do have max reimbursement
> amounts. For example, if you're doing a restaurant
> shop where the reimbursement is capped at $8.50,
> you can purchase more items at the restaurant, but
> we can only reimburse you up to $8.50.
>
> Also, if we are offering a bonus through an email
> we send you, that bonus is only valid if you
> respond to the email. Also, when this happens, we
> have to manually change the payment. Sometimes
> we're just ripping through the hundreds of email
> responses we get and we forget to go in and add a
> bonus in the pay field--it's nothing malicious.
> We're not trying to "cheat" you out of money, we
> just are moving too fast and aren't paying as good
> as attention as we should. Just call us up or
> shoot us another email and we'll fix it right
> away.
>
> Also, please check your shop log. We have a
> "shopper pay" field and a "bonus" field. We
> utilize both. If we are offering a shop for $15,
> we usually put $5 in the pay field and $10 in the
> bonus field, etc.
>
> If you want, you can call in the next hour and ask
> for me (Sara) and we'll get this worked out.

CanadaMom, I applaud Sara for personally offering her help. I don't understand your negative response to her gesture. It was brave and it was genuinely generous. Is there any MSC for which you have a positive comment to offer? I would really be curious in knowing which ones you admire.

(heart)

I thought it was a nice gesture to offer help. Sara's response was pleasantly worded although the "skimming money from me" charge surely must have made her feel sensitive.

Brave and generous? NO. It was what was owed in the first place.
Why should a shopper for ANY company have to beg and plead for what is agreed upon in the first place?
There are many many honest companies out there. Many.


stilllearning Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> CanadaMom, I applaud Sara for personally offering
> her help. I don't understand your negative
> response to her gesture. It was brave and it was
> genuinely generous. Is there any MSC for which you
> have a positive comment to offer? I would really
> be curious in knowing which ones you admire.
>
> (heart)

Oh stillearning.....
try this experiment.....
I just looked at the current front page of this web forum... of the all the posts
very few are positive posts of oh I love this company. No, it is problems with this and that one. Not just me, try it see what you see. 10 posts....one could be a positive. 8 are not ..... either a question or a complaint.



How far would you drive for a $100 shop efuture1973 85
Asked to respond to Shopped Employee's Responses dmh426 57
What I would really, really like to post to my FB Page whosear 38
Hooters Shops - Creepy! jonchance 33
Most disliked shops and why BuffaloNY101 27
Can They Hear Us? new cvb42jeb 21
Re: Most liked shops and why new BuffaloNY101 19
Questions new bgriffin 18
Satisfaction results out: Mcds ranks dead last; PapaJohn's 1st new techman01 17
what would you do with this email?



All are stilllearning Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> CanadaMom, I applaud Sara for personally offering
> her help. I don't understand your negative
> response to her gesture. It was brave and it was
> genuinely generous. Is there any MSC for which you
> have a positive comment to offer? I would really
> be curious in knowing which ones you admire.
>
> (heart)

Hmmm, I thought, since she was a scheduler, not an owner, we would at least agree on "brave".

CANADAMOMMY, could you please humor me and name a few of the "many" MSCs that, in your opinion, are particularly good at what they do and are fair to shoppers?

(heart)

There is no public number posted for them that I can find.

stillearning Sorry not humoring you. I have reports to file.

Thanks all for your responses. Sara, I will call the number and try and deal with it, thanks for your offer to help.


The money that I have not received is things like explicitly saying that the shopper will be reimbursed for parking expenses and then not getting that money. Once I was told it was a mistake and I would receive a miscellaneous payment, and never did.

Additionally for one shop the instructions explicitly stated I would be reimbursed up to $40 dollars. I spent $36 dollars and was only given $30. The scheduler said she would look into it and never got back to me, even after several e-mails.

Hopefully calling will get a better response than ignoring my concerns.

I am an experienced shopper and have never had these problems with the dozens of other companies I shop for. Coyle once shorted me $10 but immediately resolved the issue and did not leave me asking for my rightful pay and reimbursement for months.

CANADAMOMMY, I am asking because, to me, it seems that you have strong negative feelings about a lot of the MSCs, including ones with which I have had only positive experiences. Since I have been doing this less than two years and you for at least seven, I am sincerely interested in which MSCs you would recommend.

(heart)

Soccer_chik, please let us know the resolution. I think many of us are interested to know exactly what went wrong and we would like to hear that it has been corrected.

stilllearning Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> CANADAMOMMY, I am asking because, to me, it seems
> that you have strong negative feelings about everything

fixed it for you.




Edited to add. NO STILLLEARNING DID NOT ACTUALLY SAY THAT I MANUPULATED HER QUOTE IN AN ATTEMPT TO BE FUNNY



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/2014 10:37PM by bgriffin.

stilllearning

My market is different than your market.
I shop at different stores than you do.
For example I love the DQ shops. Most hate them. Too cheap. No it is free lunch on the way to shop #2.
Most think they are gone. They are not gone. Far from it.
The DQ shops pay the next day or at least same week.
Never ever lost a penny on them.
I love the ham shop. Very hard to get but it is out there. Love the testing center ones on occasion. Just remember to flunk the test (as company requires). But only take them if you have a lot of time to devote.
Love the cell phone shops.
All brands. Just use a home for sale address. Easy.
I actually like the car shops with a bonus. I dislike the test drive ones for the added time. No ID needed for no test drive ones.
SO you see I have companies that are honest in paying.






stilllearning Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> CANADAMOMMY, I am asking because, to me, it seems
> that you have strong negative feelings about a lot
> of the MSCs, including ones with which I have had
> only positive experiences. Since I have been doing
> this less than two years and you for at least
> seven, I am sincerely interested in which MSCs you
> would recommend.
>
> (heart)

Thank you, CANADAMOMMY for listing the kinds of shops you like! Our market actually sounds very similar, so without associating a specific kind of shop with an MSC name, can you tell me, specifically, which MSCs you deem honest and fair?

(heart)

You are on your own for finding the companies.

stilllearning Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thank you, CANADAMOMMY for listing the kinds of
> shops you like! Our market actually sounds very
> similar, so without associating a specific kind of
> shop with an MSC name, can you tell me,
> specifically, which MSCs you deem honest and
> fair?
>
> (heart)

Called you out and you backed down. You should have at least answered her after you scolded her. Why can't you respond about companies you like and why?

Okay, I'm far off the original topic, but I decided to take a look at my records. I've been doing mystery shopping for a little more than six months now. I would say that I've been treated honestly and paid according to stated payment dates by TrendSource, Marketforce, Certified Field Associates, Bestmark, Maritz, Service Sleuth, Reality Based, Ath, Service Check, Intellishop, Service Excellence, Kinesis, JM Ridgway, DJC, GFK, Marketing Endeavors (aka White Clay), National Shopping Service, Dynamic Advantage, and Measure Consumer Perspectives.

A few of these have provided minor irritations along the way. One of these provided amazingly incomprehensible guidelines. More than one send me far too many e-mails. One seems to think that I'll be interested in any shop in California. One provides many-colored, multi-fonted and extremely threatening guidelines. On the other hand, I've provided a few minor irritations to them, in the course of my 320 shops for them. None have been rejected unjustly. The only one that even was rejected was one where I missed an extremely important point in the guidelines. The scheduler let me redo it. More than once, I've seen evidence that editors and contact people were going out of their way to help a problematic shop report be accepted.

Okay, now I'll provide the list of MSCs that have treated me badly.






That's right.

I am hoping that Sara takes care of the issue. Intellishop is one of the easiest companies I have worked for and the one I have worked for the longest. Good luck!

CanadaMommy,

There are more days of the week where I walk into work in the morning with more than 100 emails in my inbox. If I just sent out a blast with a bonus for a client where I have 300+ locations across the whole country? Yeah, there are easily 1,000+ emails we go through that day.

soccer_chik: For reimbursement, we ALWAYS need a receipt, a parking ticket, etc. We cannot reimburse you without that. Also, the reimbursement is set up what you enter in the report. It could have been a typo that we just aren't alerted to. If you haven't been able to resolve this, please give us a call again. I'm here for two more hours and I'll see what I can do.

StillLearning and AustinMom, thank you very much for your kind words. Many shoppers think of us as the "villain," when really we're just trying to do our jobs and get shops filled, keep the shopper happy and keep the client happy. It's not always an easy job to do.

Hey CanadianMommy, you have to take, "What I would really, really like to post to my FB Page whosear 38 " off the list. It is actually a tongue in cheek ode to the Anonymous Mystery Shopper.

That said, yes it is more likely we are going to post complaints here rather than complements. And as we are limited in who we can talk to about what we do.

IntelliSara, the number you gave did not lead me to a person to ask about payments. 0 was an "invalid" entrance and the prompt about payments lead to a recording and not a person. I am aware documentation is required for reimbursement and provided it and still was not reimbursed.

I called a direct number to the office that was given to me by a scheduler I work with frequently.

After speaking with two people in the Intellishop office the payment issues were resolved. Something about not having the correct parking payment fields in the shop forms. One of the shops I was calling about reimbursement discrepancies about actually ended up being my bookkeeping error.

All in all I should have $20 in my account the next time Intellishop payments roll out. Fingers crossed it works.