This is definitely not a dishonest company. I've worked with them since 2008 and my only complaint is that they take 2+ months to pay. And, since I know before accepting jobs that it will take them 2+ months for payment, clearly this is not a deal-breaker for me. This is a company of nice folks who go to great lengths to help their shoppers and accept reports. I have completed many shops over the years, some with very positive reports and some with very negative reports. One report was extremely negative and it concerned appalling store manager performance. I got a 10 on that report, just as the other reports, and was paid, so I would say a negative report does not influence shopper payment.
As for how long it takes for a scheduler to get back to you, yes and no. Service Sleuth tends to be scheduled by scheduling companies, and the schedulers are not employees of HS Brands. KSS does a lot of their scheduling. Some KSS schedulers are more prompt than others.
As for appealing a low score, how low is the low score? Not being nosy intentionally. But if the score is an 8 or 9,and you are getting paid, I would let it go. It's not worth the hassle to argue over it. If the score is lower than an 8 or you are not getting paid, and you are sure that you included the things the editor said were not included (and you saved a copy of your report to document that you are right), it might be worth arguing. If you did not save a copy of your report, I would forget it.