I recently did a shop where I was to ask if I could buy $4k in money orders. I had to wait to see if they asked for ID, then tell them that I either didn't have it or didn't want to supply it and, if they insisted, see if they would be willing to sell me $2k now and $2k later without ID. The clerk said it was ok to not have ID, that she would simply use my phone number and began ringing up the transaction. The guidelines only mentioned not giving them my photo ID or SSN, no mention of a phone number. I didn't have to ask to split the $4K into two smaller amounts because she was willing to sell them to me without ID. So the editor at Intellishop rejected my report and will not pay me because I didn't ask about splitting the order. Does that make sense to any of you? This is the second time Intellishop rejected my report without pay for something that was not made clear in the guidelines.

I agree that sounds odd. I thought the point of these was to see if they will do it without ID, which they were willing to do. To me, asking to split it seems suspicious. If they are willing to sell you $4000 without ID, I am pretty sure they would sell you $2000.

I would try to interact with both the editor and the scheduler at this point. Do you still have a copy of the guidelines?

I have seen that quideline for those shops.
as STUPID as it is, That IS the instruction

I've done some of these shops, but not the specific scenario you describe. One of my scenarios required me to ask about splitting the transaction during my initial inquiry, while another required me to ask only after they refused the initial request. If yours falls into the second category, I would definitely appeal the decision.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/27/2014 05:16PM by mystery2me.

If there are two different scenarios it would certainly be easy enough for something to have been missed in the process. If you got it right that leaves the scheduler or the editor. I would escalate the issue.

This is why I don't shop for them anymore. There QA has to be exactly as the have asked for or " We can't use your report"

I have never had a shop rejected by Intellishop and only once had a request for clarification. My scores are one 8 with the rest a mix of 9s and 10s.

Several years ago I did a card shop for Intellishop and had to contest their rejection to get them to accept it.

I was to interact with two associates during my time at the store... However, there was only ONE associate working during my time at the location. I put that into the report and then was questioned on it. I was then told they could not accept since I did not interact with two associates. How the heck am I to interact with TWO associates if only ONE is working??

I did get them to accept the report but dropped my score for that assignment to an 8/10 since I did not interact with two associates. ????????

To the OP: My interpretation of the instructions as you have described them would have led me to do exactly as you did. I would urge you to escalate.

What did the clerk say? Was there a maximum printable money order amount limit between $500 or $750 or $1000, etc? There usually is a dollar limit. Did the clerk mention anything about how many money orders you would have to purchase. Helps to ask how much the money order(s) will cost. I've done that scenario numerous times with scores of 9/10.

I would have told them I am not comfortable providing my phone number.

@iamloved1 I definitely sympathize with you when it comes to Intelli-shops editors invalidating a shop based on guidelines that just aren't clarified. I have been in the same boat a year ago on a shop and the best thing that I could do was contact my scheduler via email or phone and dispute the editor's rationale. For this particular shop that was invalidated for me, I didn't win yet there have been a couple of others that have come down the line where I disputed the editor's action with the scheduler & have the ruling overturned.

Thanks, everyone. At this point, I have emailed the scheduler (twice) and received a reply that she would send it to her manager.

To answer Swilli, I said, "I'd like to get $XK in money orders." She said "OK. They come in $500 increments, so that will be X number of $500 money orders. They are $.99 each." I said, "OK. What do you need from me?" She said, "Just a photo ID." I said I didn't have it and they didn't need one last time I got them. She said, "OK. Well, you have a phone number right? That'll do." At what point should I have asked if they could split the order in two? The guidelines specifically say, "If the employee requires an ID or an SSN, ask to split the order in two." She did not require either, so I didn't ask. I'm pretty sure the client is getting the information they need since they were willing to sell me $XK without an ID. I could have given any random set of 10 numbers for a phone.

I had another shop rejected last year because I was told to ask about a new car on a phone call. The two requirements were: "Ask about safety features and ask about incentives." This was in September when the "new" cars were 2015. The guidelines only said to ask about a new Heeby Jeeby, so I did. I was told that I should not have asked about incentives for the 2015's, I was to ask about a 2014. Silly me.

Note to Shelly: I have completed more than 100 shops for them and my average score is 10. I'm not sure what you meant by your response.

Sorry iamloved, I was not clear with my response. I was not addressing you, but tinman who was right above me and indicated that Intellishop often can't use your report.

I agree that it sounds like you should be paid,

Update: After escalating this rejection, I emailed the manager, Ian, who sent me this response:

"In our guidelines, we do note that if the FLA asks for “ID, date of birth and/or social security number,” then you should ask if there is a way around providing that information; if the FLA indicates that that information is required, it is at that point that the shopper should ask about splitting the transactions. In our guidelines, though, we did not account for other information that the FLA could request. In your situation, the additional information that was requested was a phone number. Since we did not account for this in the guidelines, we cannot rightfully place the blame on you. I have therefore reinstated payment for this shop.

I really appreciate that you brought this issue to our attention. I apologize that we initially revoked payment for this shop, and I hope that this does not negatively affect your relationship with our company."

Kudos to Intelli-shop! I just wish I didn't have to spend an additional 15 to 30 minutes emailing the scheduler and the manager with my detailed side of the story to get paid the original $10. However, I post this to let other shoppers know that you can, and should, escalate a rejection that you take issue with.

Good for you. When something unanticipated happens MSCs need to know. You can then judge them by how they handle the situation and I've found Intellishop is a company that will make it right. Your time got you paid and also made them aware so going forward it will be easier on other shoppers. Pat yourself on the back

Yay! Thanks for sharing the good news!

I have had a couple of run ins with Intelli-Shop on assignments that were not clear or questions coming up that I did not understand. I did not realize that a shopper had any recourse when they were denied payment, so I learned a valuable lesson. It has never been all that much money, but hey I put the work in and I want fair compensation.

Congrats on winning your case. But this shop had an original shop fee of only $10.00? Sounds like the actual shop itself was not worth the little pay never mind all the follow-up you had to do.

Yeah, sounds like a pain in the --- for the fee but I am happy to read everything was resolved for you! I'm actually really pleased too as it sounds like you handled it in a professional, mature way. I would encourage everyone to follow suit if should ever find themselves in a similar situation. Kudos!

Thanks, Dixie!
After I got the email from the MSC manager, I asked if I could post a portion of it on this site. He gave his permission and thanked me for asking. While I agree it wasn't a lot of money, the principle was important to me. Let's band together to remain professional. Maybe our fees will go up!

If you downloaded the guidelines it might still be in your download on your computer.

@iamloved1 wrote:

Thanks, Dixie!
After I got the email from the MSC manager, I asked if I could post a portion of it on this site. He gave his permission and thanked me for asking. While I agree it wasn't a lot of money, the principle was important to me. Let's band together to remain professional. Maybe our fees will go up!

How did you get the contact info for the manager? I am having a payment issue for a particular shop with Intelli-shop right now and after several promises of resolving it (with no results!) the scheduler has stopped responding to my emails.

The scheduler said she forwarded the inquiry to him, then, when I asked if I could follow up with him, she gave me his email addy.

Hi: I have experienced the same thing. I recently did a shop, simply for the experience. It did not pay much, probably less then $20. It was for a donation, the instructions were not real clear and when I asked the scheduler she didn't understand. Long story short, I completed the shop and they are saying that I called the wrong number. I only used the numbers that were given to me, so go figure. Now I'm out of a $12 donation and won't get paid because they said my report can't be used.

Marieclv,
Was it supposed to be recorded? Sometimes they will give the actual number, but tell you to use the 1-800 number to record the conversation. If you did not record it, it can't be used. Can you reverse the donation if you used a credit card?

I quit shopping for Intellishop about a year ago. They flake too many times on "Good" shops.

I had a similar experience with Service Scouts. The shop was a phone shop, and I was to receive an email response from the client. Yes, I did submit my report a bit late, but that was because I was waiting for the email which never came. So I submitted a report about the phone portion of the shop and I believe I did explain in the report that I never received an email. Service Scouts would not pay me. Why? Because I did not receive an email from the client. Nothing was said in the instructions about what to do if the client did not send an email. I now find that my account in their system has been disabled.

@stageangel wrote:

I quit shopping for Intellishop about a year ago. They flake too many times on "Good" shops.

Yeah, that's my feeling at this point. I have (in writing!) agreement from the scheduler that I would be reimbursed for $25 in fees for a shop. It never happened and she's not even responding to my emails at this point. I hate to walk away from $$ but probably need to realize they are not behaving ethically and I am better off not working with them any longer.

Intelli-shop is famous for non-payment