There's an old thread on this but is is closed to new posts.

I was assigned one and just read the instructions. Now I don't know if it is worth it. The reimbursement is $18. There is no fee. You have to get 5 timings to the second, plus the name of everyone you deal with, which seems like it is going to be at least five people. A pizza is over $10. If you bring someone else and they get a pizza, not only do they have to line up separately and get a separate bill, but you will be out of pocket.

I'm wondering if I should do it or just stay home and have a Kraft dinner.

(oops, this should be in a different folder but there doesn't seem to be a way to move it)

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/24/2015 11:50PM by mistry.

The instructions are easy to access before actually requesting the shop. Most of this MSCs restaurant shops are reimbursement only, I pick the restaurant's I either like or want to try out. I've shopped several of their clients, some multiple times, all for reimbursement.

I just read the instructions. The timings are no different than any number of fast food shops. You can add a salad and a drink. Your friend can order their own pizza or anything else separately. You can share the pizza and salad, looks like plenty for two people. I've had to remember five or more people at many casual restaurants, most do not wear name tags. I use a note app with my version of shorthand to catalog them, easy to do from the table. Most people worry about the pictures, looks like a new on is required if a certain wrapper issue is reported.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/28/2015 07:18PM by isaiah58.

If they are the MSC I think they are, they have another pizza client that offers up to $100.00 in reimbursement for eat-in and up to $70.00 for delivery and/or take-out. $18.00 in reimbursement ? I wouldn't do it.

Whether or not it is worth it, depends on what your requirements are. If you want a free meal or if you are good to go with the trade in of the shop requirements for a meal, then go for it. I love their pizza. You get a pizza, a salad (or dessert), and a drink. The reimbursement completely covers the price of the expenditures. The timings and info can be daunting if they are all working the line, but the good news is that it is very easy to sit at a table and get some of your observations after ordering if you haven't been able to remember everything required. That assumes, you are able to remember you helped you at what point in line. To be honest, the hardest part for me are their names because for some really odd reason, the names are on hats and that means it could be written on the side or the back or the front, depending on the person ... and they aren't always easy to read. "Turn your head," I sometimes want to say. They do sometimes bonus shops at the last minute so you can wait for those and get $5 or so to cover gas. It's all point of view!

Well, seeing as it's one of a handful of shops this particular company has open to new shoppers in my area, and I hear that they have some excellent opportunities for proven shoppers...yeah. I drove 12 miles one way to do it as soon as it fell on a day that I could devote the time to get there and back without having to bring my whole family. My son and I shared a pizza and salad and didn't starve. Worth doing for it's own sake? If it's in your neighborhood and you like a free build-your-pizza, sure. Worth doing for the sake of building a relationship with the company? Time will tell.

I rarely do these. They are easy, but I don't work for food. I work for food and cash.
I turned down a whole bunch of these. Instead, I got two lunches with a very generous reimbursement ($125, but I rarely go over $75) and a $75 fee on one. The other one has a $100 fee. No, it's not in BFE. The MSP just knows that I will do a great job and will throw money my way to be sure that I do their job, not somebody else's job. I don't want to tie up my day working for a personal size pizza, a tiny boxed salad and a fountain drink with no fee or a $5 fee.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/25/2015 07:31AM by SoCalMama.

I like them. It is enough for two pizzas.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/25/2015 03:13PM by audrialyn30.

@audrialyn30 wrote:

I like them. It is enough for two pizzas.

Yes, but you can only have one pizza on your receipt

And you can submit 2 receipts, which they will reimburse up to $18.

I have a more important question for you to consider. Is this your first shop for this company? If so, then you should definitely do the shop. Doing a good job on your first shop will unlock other opportunities that are not available to shoppers who have not worked with them in the past. This client is one that does not discriminate against first time shoppers, so it is a great opportunity to get started.
If you have already done shops with that company, then you should decide how much you will enjoy the product. When I did the shop, I enjoyed my meal, but felt that it was a lot of work for a reimbursement-only shop. Because you have already been assigned to the shop, you should go ahead and complete it if at all possible. Many MSC's track dropped shops and you will be less likely to be accepted for desirable shops in the future.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/26/2015 02:06AM by melijohnson.

There are, however, client requirements. This MSC has one client that I really wanted to do a shop for, but they, the client, insist that shoppers do another shop for the MSC first.

I wait for a $4-5 bonus before I accept them. At first I thought the report was tedious, but it's not that bad especially if you pick up more of these shops. The employees usually have name tags and sometimes hard to read, but I've been able to remember their names. If you can't you can just get descriptions instead. The food is good and I'll usually get a pizza, drink, and a salad. I have half of the pizza for lunch and the salad and the rest of the pizza for dinner.

@Alter_Ego wrote:

Well, seeing as it's one of a handful of shops this particular company has open to new shoppers in my area, and I hear that they have some excellent opportunities for proven shoppers...yeah.....Worth doing for the sake of building a relationship with the company? Time will tell.

Meh. Easier and cheaper to just spring for the Silver Certification and skip the line. And then every time you do a shop you have to worry about being a slave to the super secret hidden rating.

Not arguing your point that it might be a better way to go, @bgriffin, but how is paying $25 for Silver *cheaper* than being reimbursed $18 for pizza?

Your rating is evaluated every 3rd shop, so you have to do 3 of them to get a rating increase. That's $54 in expenses which are reimbursed but you have to count your driving expenses, etc. Then what if one of your shops isn't good, or there's an issue, or they just don't think you write well? $25 seems cheaper and easier.

OK. But, if they don't like the way I write, I'd rather be out $18 than $70.

I don't understand where you are getting $70 from? Silver is only $25.

I recall seeing the guidelines for the shop awhile ago. Don't you have to take photos of the pizza as well? I thought that was also a requirement.

@DareWright wrote:

I recall seeing the guidelines for the shop awhile ago. Don't you have to take photos of the pizza as well? I thought that was also a requirement.

Yea 2 pictures. One of the overall pizza and one of a portion of the crust.

This is one of my standard shops that I do and it is mainly because I love their pizza. I try to get someone else to come along for a 2nd pizza which makes it only a $ or so out of pocket. Blaze salads are not worth it to me. If you love roasted garlic you will love Blaze...unlimited toppings! I also do a famous for their pizza restaurant for the same msc. So far I have not found a pizza that I like there. The non pizza part of the menu is not bad but one pizza is a requirement I get reimbursed $75 but the job takes me hours to do and I am disappointed in their pizza every time. I was there last week chatting with the manager. We were commiserating on the state of pizza outside of New York where we are both from. I asked the manager at the sit down $75 pizza place if he had tried Blaze. He agreed with me it is one of the best pizzas around. So for me a no brainer....a great pizza with no fee or a higher end restaurant with a long report and blah pizza also with no fee.

In Canada the pizzas are $10.45 so you could only buy one without being out of pocket. I ended up not doing it. I've got a lot of paying work available now. I'd rather earn the money and buy my own food, rather than gambling $18.

It amazes me that the fees are not different in different locations where prices are high. I have found the same thing for several shops I do. One low end pizza place here reimburses $20 for delivery jobs with no fee at all and the delivery jobs cost $23+ tip in my area. Another shop I do not do without a big bonus reimburses up to $40 in New York and $20 here. I went online and looked at menu prices in NY and they are the same as here. It is impossible to eat at this place with 2 people for less then $40 in both places. They allow you to go alone but all the many times I have been there I have never seen anyone alone. It is a shared meal type of place and a shopper would really stick out eating there alone.

Sometimes I think folks are too paranoid about being discovered. I always eat alone and I know many others who do, too. One of the things the Blaze guidelines state is not to act funny about taking the required pictures. They make a really good point about the fact that these days people are always taking pictures of their food and it's not a big deal ... unless you act weird taking it. That's what makes you stand out, acting weird. Business people dine alone all the time at places. Not everyone goes shopping with a pal and they dine alone, too. A lot of people dine alone. Go! Eat! Enjoy! No one will think twice about it unless you exude that 'they all know' aura. :}

Orrymain if you are replying to my note about eating alone I was not speaking of Blaze. There is no issue eating alone there or most places for that matter if allowed. I am thinking of a Korean BBQ shop where you and a group grill your food and share it at the table. I have probably eaten there 50 times, lunch, dinner etc at three locations and have Never seen anyone eating alone. I am asked to count the number of patrons on that shop (although there seems to be the answer to a differently worded question needed for the report) so I have looked at and counted each and every table when there. I think I could get away with visiting once or twice alone but if I did it regularly they would surely start to notice pretty quickly especially since the "lunch specials" for one do not fit the requirements of the job.

I've never eaten at a Korean BBQ shop, so no clue about it, I must admit. Like you mentioned, though, if you'd like to do the shop, do it once and enjoy! :}

I get more frustrated by the insistence of their being two diners because I not only like to keep my mystery shopping to myself, but honestly, there's no one to drag along, either, so I wish they were all available as solo shops.

I dine alone quite often too and don't see the big deal. I travel alone on routes and had a job previously that I travelled extensively for and also was usually alone. Even at home during the week if I eat out it's usually alone.

I will say the reason most shops require 2 diners is NOT because of the MSC, it is the client. They get feedback on two meals without substantially increasing their costs.

I don't go reimbursement-only gigs, so haven't done this one yet. I've been tempted, though. I'll prolly take one at some point just to try Blaze Pizza. I appreciate the perspective shoppers have given here.

@bgriffin wrote:

I don't understand where you are getting $70 from? Silver is only $25.

You were saying that by paying the $25 for silver certification, I would jump the line to the $70 reimbursement shops. Then you said they might not like my writing on the $18 shop so I risk losing out on the higher end assignments. I'm saying that if they don't like my writing, I would rather find that out on the $18 reimbursement assignment, than jump into paying for a $70 meal that ends up not being reimbursed because the shop was rejected.

I'm not arguing against certification, for the record. I'm just arguing for the merits of taking the lower end shop for a highly valued company, as a way of getting to know them and their expectations when the stakes are relatively low for both parties.

@Alter_Ego wrote:

@bgriffin wrote:

I don't understand where you are getting $70 from? Silver is only $25.

You were saying that by paying the $25 for silver certification, I would jump the line to the $70 reimbursement shops. Then you said they might not like my writing on the $18 shop so I risk losing out on the higher end assignments. I'm saying that if they don't like my writing, I would rather find that out on the $18 reimbursement assignment, than jump into paying for a $70 meal that ends up not being reimbursed because the shop was rejected.

I'm not arguing against certification, for the record. I'm just arguing for the merits of taking the lower end shop for a highly valued company, as a way of getting to know them and their expectations when the stakes are relatively low for both parties.

I'm confused about the $70 shops, too. No one should get Silver Certification because they believe they will automatically jump from $18 shops to $70 shops.

I have been Silver Certified since 2008. I certified before taking my first shop, because I thought it was required. In 2009, a family member began shopping, and in 2010, another started shopping. Neither is certified.

I can't say if being Silver Certified helped me, since I never mystery shopped before getting certified. However, I can say very positively that both my un-certified relatives see exactly the same shops I do. Over the years, I have seen two advantages. One company had a client (they no longer have the client) that started to require Silver Certification, making my two relatives, who had both performed the shop many times, ineligible for that particular shop. They could see the client's shops when posted, they simply could not assign them. The second advantage is a new company I've just begun shopping for which favors Silver and Gold Certification. With Certification, I can self-assign. My un-certified relatives must request shops. But all three of us see exactly the same shops on the MSC's website.

Gold Certification may make a big difference. Silver apparently does not, based on my experience. But, Silver Certification is cheap. It takes minutes and the certification test is so easy that I think a third grader could probably pass it. Am I sorry I got it. Not really. Would I get it again? Probably not, unless a company I shop for favored it OR a client I wanted to shop for required it.

Back to the original question: is the Blaze Pizza shop worth it? No. This shop is on my 10 foot pole list. No, make that 50. The report was ridiculously long, and although I don't recall what the allowable reimbursement on my shop was or what I paid for the mediocre pizza, I do know that I lost money. The only reason I took it was because someone near and dear to me raved about the pizza (ick) and I was curious. Never ever again.