I am new to MS and have only done 13 jobs for Intelli-Shop so far and I am, of all awful things, learning to love them!
After proofreader4 telling me for the fifth time they needed more detail on a senior living shop, I thought I would NEVER-EVER do another Intelli-shop job again. But, here's what turned the curve for me: I was doing a High Net-Worth Bank job for another company and they told me - "Yes, we know you complete all these multiple choice questions, BUT, our client ONLY sees your narrative! So, please be as explicit as possible on the narrative as you can."
From that point on, I looked at Intelli-Shops jobs in a different way. Here, credit is due to another shopper that said to simply include a comment for every question in their form (I apologize if I cannot remember the name of the shopper) and be explicit in your description. Just be factual about your description.
I have gone from mostly 8/10 evaluations and my senior living crushing 6/10 to be surprised by 9/10 and 10/10 evaluations since I turned that curve.
I do wish Intelli-Shop had been more precise in their explanations. It might have saved countless hours of frustration for proofreaders and shoppers alike.

I haven't had any problems with them either and was never sure why so many others seem to. I have only completed 18 shops with them but I am proud to say my average and last shop are both reading 10 right now. I did get three 8s though in the beginning, so I could see why that may deter people as I do not believe I had ever received an 8 from any other company before or since. Even though an 80% is a passing score, I was not thrilled to see it staring back on me after completing what I felt were great reports (as all of mine are! Don't they see that?!). I guess I must have learned something about their reports because they seem to like me now. They don't see to have much available in my area though, but I am welcome to MOST of their reports.

I recently started over a week ago. I have done two so far with another this weekend. I enjoy doing them but hate being the bad guy haha. The pay is so far away but hopefully I receive it! Waiting on my second shop to come through to see my grade. I used the sister company for it called North Fork (sassie).

The reports don't scare me away it's the fact that they try to get us to work for next to nothing. For instance, right now there are a number of payday loan shops that I used to love doing for another MSC who started the pay rate at $45. Intelli-shop is doing them now and started them at $25. They just upped the comp to $28. Big deal! I am not about to take out a loan for that piddly pay amount. And I guess others feel the same way I do as they have been on the Intel Board for a few weeks and so far only one job has been taken and the others are still available. They want their shoppers to work for pennies.

I had the same attitude about the payday loan shops on IS. I'd done them for as much as $125 for the previous MSC, so the rate offered on IS was, as you say, piddly. This week was a dry spell, though, so I took one that had a small bonus. I lucked out! Store was empty, cashier was delightful. I was in and out in 13 minutes. I don't mind the IS narratives as long as they make sense. Of course the problem remains that you can't do more than about one a month. Nevertheless, I was happy that I overcame my initial reaction against the lower fee.

Well geez Im doing them for $7-15 haha. I dont go out of my way, two were right beside me. The highest I seen was a $30 to car shop.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/2015 02:08PM by 10amcruse.

@plmccut wrote:

The reports don't scare me away it's the fact that they try to get us to work for next to nothing... They want their shoppers to work for pennies.

Took the words right out of my mouth. I don't mind the schedulers or editors at all; I have a 10 rating with them, and would gladly work for them if they'd put a crowbar in their wallet and pay me what my time is worth. I've been seeing their shopper fees drop steadily... jobs that used to pay $17 are now $13, $75 became $65, and so on. Now it's $30 for TWO car lots? I don't think so. I do new car assignments for $50 each.

I like working with them and have been doing shops with bonuses, they pay pretty quickly! I have just started mystery shopping two months ago, so I have no idea what they use to pay.

Big whoop! They upped their payday loan comp to a whole $31. I note that one was taken but the rest are still hanging on the job board.

They have a Kia shop for $90, and I took one for $60 yesterday.

Intellishop is a mixed bag. Some of their staff are good and responsive. Others think they don't have to respond to shoppers. Scores are all over the place, despite the reports being similar in the way they are written. This business is a 2 way street and requires good communication on both ends and for everyone to do what they said they would do. Currently battling them now because they decided they are backed up with completed shops and don't have to pay shoppers. Completely unacceptable. I was told by the scheduler that they decided to just go ahead and pay some October shops in December because they need extra time. Um no. You are not entitled to a 4 day weekend when you haven't paid your contractors because you are supposedly backed up. Not our problem, you pay it anyway because it is due. I am getting the run around and no one in charge is contacting me as I have requested. I've contacted them on the website, facebook, and the scheduler as directed. The replies I've gotten are basically too bad and whoever manages the facebook doesn't even know their own pay policy. Am I to believe there is no person in charge I can speak to? Not a professional way to run a business. I will be contacting the owner, as that is the only person you can rely on to care about their business. I am disgusted with the way this situation has been handled. Shops from October not even scored yet, no excuse. If I decided I needed a week to turn in my report, they would not pay me. So no its not ok to pay in 60 days when your policy is 30. You know how many completed shops are due and what your capacity is. People have bills to pay, especially those who do this as their only income. They low ball their shoppers and show no respect by doing so. The bonuses are good at the end of the month sometimes, the only time I shop for them. After this poor experience, I think I will be looking elsewhere for shops, despite our long term relationship. Going downhill and their staff is poorly trained.

Wow. That's the same thing happening to me. I completed a shop in October. Per the FAQ which I was referred to by the schedular,I should have been paid in November. However, I was then advised my shop was not paid because they are backed up. I now have another shop ,which has not been reviewed for over 2 weeks.

My feelings are , we are independent contractors. We are required to complete shops on time. Therefore, MSCs should honor their contractual obligations.
It makes me wonder if they are having financial problems. I have never had a problem in the past.

And before someone asks. My rating is a 10. I just feel business is business.

@d111055 and @jessi9260, I had the same issue with slow editors in November. I completed a shop on November 5th and it wasn't reviewed and edited until almost 3 weeks later. I did contact my scheduler at the two week point who told me they had "thousands" of reports to edit and were backed up.

I have to say, they really must have been backed up and cranky because I usually get an email with my score and I didn't on this shop. The comments are usually pretty polite "You scored a 9/10 due to minor spelling/grammar edits. Keep up the good work." This time the comments in my shop log say "9/10 - please pay attention to your capitalization and punctuation." Despite the rudeness, I blew it off. I still have a good grade and I got paid, so that's all that matters.

I hope they're caught up now and you don't have to wait any further for your shops to be edited and paid.

I suspect they have taken on new projects without having the internal sources prepared for them.

This morning they emailed their request for shoppers to do the payday loans and increased the comp to $34. Same hanging on the board as there were at $25, and $28, and $31 and $34.

I do very few shops for Intelli. Their pay is so low it is an insult to all of the Mystery shoppers. If they don't have a big bonus, forget it. I have no problem with the schedulers or editors.

Payday loan compensation moving right along - today's offer:

"Shop pay: You will be paid 50.00 for a 3 part shop, or 40.00 for a 2 part shop + you will be reimbursed the fees for the loan."

The three parts are (1) a telephone call, (2) get the loan, (3) pay the loan.

I like Intellishop. I cut my teeth on them and learned about writing good narrative, quickly, due to their shops. The advice about using the questions as an outline for your narrative is great.

Their video shops pay well, but I wait until their written ones get great bonuses attached before I'll touch them.

As for their being behind...Yes! I did video work for them in October and they only contacted me a couple of days ago about a file that needed to be re-sent because it was incomplete. They hadn't looked at it to begin editing it until the first week of December? So I guess I can kiss that normal payment timeframe goodbye.