Hi everyone. I'm wondering if anyone has information on this company. I did a search, but very little came up. Their job board doesn't really give much info. So I'm wondering if the guidelines are simple to understand, if the reports are narrative heavy, and if they pay on time.

Thanks so much.

I did several restaurant shops for them last year. They always paid, it was usually around 4-6 weeks. Never had any problems with them.
They communicated a lot, one-on-one via email. The reports were normal for food shops. There was some narrative but definitely not narrative heavy. The questions were easy as long as you read the guidelines. I did not find anything difficult about the shops.
Hope that helps!

Can anyone comment on this?


"Sign up for "FREE" or pay $9.99 and Receive Rated Member Benefits, either way you will be available for our shopping assignments."

Any benefit to paying? :/

No I paid the 9.99 when I first started shopping about 7 years ago and have not see one benefit for it. Well maybe once there was something like a 10% discount off something I would never use anyway , but nothing worth 9.99.

I signed up for free and have gotten shops for years. I never saw a reason to pay the $9.99.

Thanks guys :-)

Thanks everyone. I'm not a fan of paying money to get shops, so I'm sure I won't pay that fee. Their job board looks the same all the time here. I'm wondering if it's an up-to-date board. I cannot self-assign, but that's not unusually with a new company.

I've done several for this company and my experience has been each client is very different with respect to report-expectations than another. I mention this because the guidelines don't seem that different. For example, for one client I report as needed, answering all questions and providing a story-like experience. For another client, the editor followed up with me three times about the report. As it turns out, that report was to be much more in a formatted, pre-fabricated manner. I saved that report on my computer, used it as a template for the next report, and they loved me. Go figure, that client likes the robot-narrative report. No wonder they disappeared from my local mall.

I am not a fan of the clients they have in this area and all of my guests have declined future visits. (think: microwaved entrees at 3 star prices) I think I remember them not paying tax or tip or something and that turned me off to future visits as well.

Payment has been on time. The reports I've done have mostly been telephone contact with the scheduler. Be sure and go online to confirm and accept your assignment immediately after your phone call or the assignment will not be there later (no phone calls on that though!)

I think the schedulers also have a script to read in front of them when contacting shoppers. One time the scheduler contacted and asked if I was interested in remaining on their list and being a mystery shopper for their company, with some comment which seemed like she wanted me to accept her offer. I was waiting for two payments from the company so it was not like there was a lapse in accepting assignments.

I do a couple of shops a month for them. The reports are easy, and the pay is better than for similar assignments at other companies. Never hear anything back from editors andd always get paid on time.

Scheduling is a little odd as you have to tell them you are interested in a particular shop and then they e-mail back to try and find a date that works. Also, I kind of disagree about the narrative bits. I find their shops are kinda narrative heavy, at least the fast-food ones I get are.

Yes, I have done several jobs for them over the last 23 years, and they are reputable and pay on time and have simple narratives.

I have performed at least a dozen shops for this MSC when they had the account of one national chain restaurant in my area (chicken wings) which they subsequently lost to another larger MSC (Market Force or MF) who now pays one-third what Satisfaction Services (SS) did. SS's shop report was simple with mostly yes/no and short answer questions, finished by one narrative at the end to describe the entire shop experience, beginning to end. The pay for the shop was $12 but with a generous $16 meal reimbursement allowance. MF scooped that account by cheapening the payout to shoppers (now only $4) but with the same $16 meal reimbursement. In my experience with SS, I found them easy to work with, approachable, personable, and responsive. I wished they had more clients in my area because unlike the large MSCs, SS answered their phones (without mindless Voice Response Units wasting your time, leading to dead-end recordings and messages that were never returned.) SS was high-touch versus high-tech -- and I appreciated that. I think, however, that they had some kind of personnel or management changes and may be a different company. One of their schedulers called me after having lost touch for 3 years when they lost the chicken wings account. That to me says they are RELATIONSHOP ORIENTED and are therefore, a better MSC to work with. They have my seal of approval, although my experience may be outdated if new management has significantly changed their operating practices.

I have actually done some high-end shops for them a while back which I never applied for. They contacted me and although they were urgent shops, they never offered any bonus. I was a rookie at that time.

The $9.99 fee is useless. I never bothered with it. I have not done any shop for them since I signed up with more MSCs.
My impression was their fee was not at par with the fees received for upscale shops I have done.

@Yohan wrote:

I have performed at least a dozen shops for this MSC when they had the account of one national chain restaurant in my area (chicken wings) which they subsequently lost to another larger MSC (Market Force or MF) who now pays one-third what Satisfaction Services (SS) did. SS's shop report was simple with mostly yes/no and short answer questions, finished by one narrative at the end to describe the entire shop experience, beginning to end. The pay for the shop was $12 but with a generous $16 meal reimbursement allowance. MF scooped that account by cheapening the payout to shoppers (now only $4) but with the same $16 meal reimbursement.

Hmmmmm......maybe Satisfaction Services paid more for that shop in your area than in mine. That's a possibility. That chicken wing shop moved a few years ago. I did that shop for Satisfaction Services well over a dozen times. Since the client moved to MF, I've done the shop even more often. MF pays $4 and reimburses $16. With Satisfaction Services, for the same shop, I was paid $5 and reimbursed $15. I order the same thing I've ordered for years - both with SS and with MF - and I spend about $18 and keep $2 for myself. I noticed no difference when the client changed shops except that the report with MF is considerably shorter and easier than the SS report was.

It's so funny. Today, while waiting to perform a shop, I am reading this magazine about Gatlinburg, Tennessee--(I want to go visit up there, stay in a cabin, etc)

So, I am going through the magazine and I see this: Secret Shopping: It piques my interest and it says "Satisfaction Mystery Shopping Service". I told myself when I got home, I would ask you guys if you had heard of it and I typed in search, coming up with these posts...

Not that I will be shopping down there, no way! I want to relax ....but I just saw with a post here that you have to pay? Is that true?? I refuse to pay

You definitely don't have to pay. I never have and I shop for them a couple times a month. They only seem to have one client here.

I have done several shops, and never paid the $9.99 fee, just out of principle. I have always been treated fairly by SS, although scheduling is more back-and-forth emails than it is at traditional self-assignment MSCs. It appears to me that this firm is actually a franchise system, so you may deal with more than one franchisee, even on the same job listing site. I have noticed checks from different payers, but again, never had any problems or complaints with Satisfaction Services.

That's my story, and I'm stinking with it!

@IMTrashman wrote:

I have done several shops, and never paid the $9.99 fee, just out of principle. I have always been treated fairly by SS, although scheduling is more back-and-forth emails than it is at traditional self-assignment MSCs. It appears to me that this firm is actually a franchise system, so you may deal with more than one franchisee, even on the same job listing site. I have noticed checks from different payers, but again, never had any problems or complaints with Satisfaction Services.

That's my story, and I'm stinking with it!

Trashman! Knock me over with a feather....I haven't seen you 'round these parts in a while

Hiya, Sunny D. Been very busy at my real job. Figured I should check in on ocassion just to see what's new on the boards.

Hope all is well!

There is the regular non paid membership which you can still preform shops. Then there is the yearly $9.99 paid membership which has little to no value with little walking out the door. There pay is fair for the work in my opinion. They have one detailed narrative but reports about a half hour to 45 minutes depending on how experienced you are.

I agree that Satisfaction Services is not a good company to shop with. I have performed at least 1,000 shops over the last six years and have never had a shop returned to me. I did a shop for Satisfaction Services (my second) and they wrote back a short email saying the client complained of inconsistencies and not to do any more shops for them. Very unprofessional. Satisfaction Services did not even have the professionalism to send me my report with the complaints from the client and allow me to explain if I did not answer something correctly...they just unprofessionally cut me off.

Funny thing is the first shop I did for them for another restaurant was hailed as an excellent report and I used the exact same format, level of detail, explanations, etc. as in the declined shop.

I would steer clear of this company.

steer clear. Very unprofessional and not clear on instructions.

I did one shop for them. The instructions said to be available for 12 hours after the shop, in case the editor had questions. The editor called ten days later, by which time I had forgotten any details not already in my narrative. The instructions said to dress professionally. The location was an outdoor bar on the beach. We were the only people there not in bathing suits or shorts.

I have done shops with them since 2007. No problems. Just read and understand instructions.

I have done shops with them for a few years with no problems. I like some of their clients, although I find them disorganized and time-consuming to work with. I was happy to see a couple of their clients move to Market Force a couple of years ago. Now, instead of having to get long, disorganized Satisfaction Services scheduler e-mails, reply, and wait to be assigned, I can log in to MF and self-assign. The pay is the same for the client shops with Market Force that it was with Satisfaction Services. The reports are much easier and the guidelines for the shops are essentially the same. The Satisfaction Services staff are nice but the disorganization is annoying.

I had shopped for them, mostly 2013 and 2014. They are excellent at communicating their expectations. I was always able to make contact when I needed support. I haven't heard much from them lately.

I truly hate satisfaction services. I never want to shop for them again. My shop had 30 pages to read, I had to travel 35 miles to do it, spent $57.00 and their website to submit my report had a glitch and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't submit my receipt, and every time I redid it trying to submit the receipt the entire report (which also was narrative heavy) deleted itself and had to be completely redone. Couldn't submit on time because of the tech glitches so I spent money on stuff at a high end grocery store that I would never have normally bought and never got paid.

I have shopped for them and love the places I have gone. The schedulers are awesome and worked with me with my busy schedule traveling into NY and NH and Boston area. Checks are sent timely and I have had no problems.

red-is-my-color, that is why you save your report every few minutes and/or write the narratives in Word and then just copy and paste. Traveling 35 miles is nothing. As far as the system glitches, did you contact your scheduler right away as it was happening? Best communication is by email so you have a written copy with a time stamp. Phone calls can work also.

In my area, there are some great furniture shops (I like these as no purchase is required) and some great sporting goods stores. Those sporting good stores come with a small shopper fee ($5) and $30 reimbursement. I can go to the clearance section of that store and end up with a free pair of shoes for my son or me. At the end of the season when they mark everything really low, sometimes I can get a pair each for us.

Payment is the end of the month following your shop and is by snail mail check.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/30/2015 01:56AM by lbw1000.