This is the most unethical company I have ever delt with. I shopped for them about three years and 70 percent of my shops were paid. The other 30 percent, they would find a reason to disqualify and not pay me. I did a car shop for them about three weeks ago; It was an outstanding evaluation and the dealership did an outstanding job; all of the required data was sent in ontime. The editor then sent one email with two questions. When I looked at the email on my IPHONE, I saw only one question and at the end of the first question it said send the data to Intellishop. I sent the data in the same day. The next day on a Friday afternoon I got an email that they could not accept the shop because all of the required data was not sent in. I emailed them and called them proving that I sent all the data in. I then discovered the second question was not answered and the proofreader would not reinstate to pay my 55 dollars. I sent a protest email to the director after calling the office and I was FIRED THE SAME DAY. The director told me in writing that they do not like shoppers questioning them in that manner. I emailed virtually every layer of management and my termination stood. This company stresses the ethics of the shopper and doing the right thing; they then Fire a shopper after they prove that they made a simple mistake and would rather the shop be late to the customer rather than taking an additional 10 minutes to allow me to answer the second question. They have some interesting work but keep one thing in mind; they are the judge, jury and executioner; if you want to keep working for them do not ever question them if they do you wrong and you will be done wrong. They have gotten away with No paying me for additional data on several occasions; so shoppers and clients beware. Intellishop does not pratice the ethical behavior that they expect you to keep. This car client was cheated out of a an outstanding shopper report.

Intellishop is not one of my favorite companies, because they are a low-paying company, so my comments are not intended as a defense of all Intellishop operations, but I think calling them unethical is incorrect and probably reflects sour grapes. I have done many shops for Intellishop since 2010 and never once has the company found a reason to not pay me. Imagine that! I think they are ethical, in addition to having low pay and inconsistent editors.

OP, you have worked for them for three years and 30% of your shops have not been paid? That doesn't sound good. I'm trying to figure out why only 70% of your shops have been approved in 3 years, while 100% of my shops have been approved and paid over 7 years. What do you think might be the cause for the difference in our track records?


edited to fix my spelling, as usual.....

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2017 03:01AM by roflwofl.

Complete affirmation of what roflwofl said and asked.
2 points off for spelling edits, though.
8/10

I have performed shops for them for two years now. I checked my dashboard and it looks like I have had 56 out of 56 shops accepted and approved for them--including locations that were closed. I did get a few 8/10's for this and that in the earlier days, but all is well with Intelli and I.

Ditto

@elcarev68 wrote:

Complete affirmation of what roflwofl said and asked.
2 points off for spelling edits, though.
8/10

@elcarev68 wrote:

Complete affirmation of what roflwofl said and asked.
2 points off for spelling edits, though.
8/10

You mean 7/10 because you had to contact roflwofl to take 2 points off for spelling edits.

OP, if Intelli did not pay for 30% of your work, you should have stopped working for them long ago. The expectation is to be paid 100% of the time. You haven't lost much by losing this MSC. Sign up with more companies and find out which ones you click with.

Also, you were not "fired" because you were never an employee of Intelli. You are an independent contractor running your own business.

Haven't had a shop rejected, but yes, they were very difficult to work with during a bonused car lot shop years ago.

I love the company, because they help me to be a better report writer, but wouldn't do another car shop for them. It was just too stressful after I had invested so much time and effort on the lot, and on the report.

That is not true. They once rejected a video shop of mine. The rejection email came from the independent scheduler used for the project. After rooting around to find the correct person to contact at Intellishop, I called, explained the situation and the rejection was reversed. Since this was at least four years ago and I've done plenty of both traditional and video shops for them since, simply questioning or asking for a review is not enough to be deactivated.

@Charlesvanzant wrote:

The director told me in writing that they do not like shoppers questioning them in that manner.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2017 02:29PM by LisaSTL.

I concur with Intelli-shop being unethical. I have not had a shop rejected. However, I had a shop assigned recently, which I had confirmed via their website that morning, before hitting the road. Sometime between when I had completed the shop and went to report the shop (all within five hour span), Intelli-shop removed the shop from my shop log. Therefore, I could not submit my report.

Over the course of three days, and many emails, I received no response. When I finally received a response the scheduler stated, "We are no longer shopping that location so all shops were immediately removed. Sorry for the inconvenience."

Explain to me how it is ethical to pull a shop midstream from a shopper and not compensate them at least partially. I drove to the location, performed the shop, spent my money on the required reimbursement item. What shopper would not expect to be compensated?

I am confident that I would likely receive the same outcome as the OP if I chose to pursue with Intelli-shop. Instead I put them back on my 1,000 foot, no freaking way, pole!

If you are going to put them on your personal do not shop list, why would you not pursue payment? I've found emails often are not read, especially if they are longer than a few lines. Perhaps, the scheduler wasn't getting the message you had completed the shop, i.e. fulfilled your contractual obligation, prior to the shop being cancelled which means you should be paid. .

It is stories like COMystery's and others on the forum that keep me from signing up with them. I don't want a company reneging on a shop when I've performed it already. The MSC supposedly has our contact information (cell phone, text, etc) so why don't they use it and contact the shopper directly BEFORE they perform the shop. The MSC seem to have no problem going after us when they want questions answered. I cannot take a chance on doing one shop which may cost me good money and risk not getting paid. Other MSC companies seem to be much more reasonable to work with.

Nine years and 72 shops later I have been paid correctly and on time for all but one. That one was a video shop on which I made a glaring mistake. My complaints about them are usually low base fees and some communication problems. While I don't doubt others have had issues, I can't speak to any major problems so will continue to shop with them when the price is right.

Lisa - I pursued as far as I could with the scheduler. She will not respond to my inquiries. I had a similar issue with Intelli-shop over a year ago (which was why I hadn't shopped them for a year). In this case (last week) the shop fee was $7.00, with $2.00 reimbursement. I found myself so angry about the situation that I decided I needed to walk away for health reasons. Intelli-shop is not going to pay me. They've made that perfectly clear. Intelli-shop does not place any value on shoppers. They've made that perfectly clear. I would only spend more of my time on the phone, raising my blood pressure, and still not be paid. I pick my wars. No loss, I did just find not working for them for a year. What kills me is the same scheduler has the balls to send me emails asking me to assist with other locations. I've began many responses to her, only to delete and move on with my day.

Admittedly, Intellishop is not my fav company, and it's rare that I receive a 10 but I've only had one shop rejected and it was completely my fault.

Edited to add: I have a difficult time trusting a poster who is new and who has only posted twice, both regarding Intellishop. YMMV....

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2017 07:00PM by Phoebe70.

Intellishop isn't my favorite either, but I wouldn't call them unethical. I'm sorry you aren't getting paid but you were the one to make the mistake. I don't know if I would have tried contacting all management based on a mistake you made. If 30% of your shops were being rejected perhaps that played in a role of you being fired, and it is probably a good thing for you. You can focus on other companies that don't reject your shops.

In 4.5 years, I have completed 67 shops for Intelli-shop, and only two were rejected - back in 2012 and 2013. Seems I went to the wrong location both times! It happens!

Removed. I conflated 2 posts.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/2017 01:06AM by ChrisCooper.

In regards to the OP, Nataliekorn nailed it. Thirty percent is not only a large number of shops rejected, it begs the question, why in the world would the OP continue to shop for the company? The only reasonable answer would be the company had valid reasons for the rejections and rather than adhere to their standards the OP chooses to bash after failing to follow guidelines and finally being deactivated.

I have challenged both an invalidated shop and a lower rating when contacting me was an error on their part AND not only had both reversed, received apologies for their error. One now has to wonder what the OP said to trigger a response like, "The director told me in writing that they do not like shoppers questioning them in that manner.." What exactly was "that manner?"

As a surprise to no one, OP has not signed in since posting his message. He wasn't even logged in long enough to read the first reply.

rofi- Intellishop IS an unethical company. There, I said it, plain and clear. They find ways to cheat shoppers and I am sure they have their own pathetic internalized excuses for doing so...but they are cheats, pure and simple If they had their headquarters anywhere near a 'city', instead of small town Ohio, the office wouldn't last a week without 24/7 security. They are THAT bad.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/2017 04:44AM by winemaker.

I've shopped for them about 9 years. Never had a report rejected, never not been paid. It hasn't been perfect, by any stretch -- I'll never forget them sending me a BLANK e-mail, with the headline that my report needed correcting, but the body of the e-mail was blank. I sent a query, got back "oh, so sorry, an error; here's the info we need to correct your report" -- then I got a 6/10 because they "had to contact me twice". I felt a BLANK e-mail shouldn't count as a "contact", LOL!!!!

I've worked for them for over 7 years and completed 231 shops. Most of those were for a ff restaurant that is no longer shopped. All of my shops were accepted and I have never had a problem with payment.

I looked on the site, and I have completed 89 shops for Intellishop. Only 3 were excluded; 2 were phone shops (which I do have problems with), and 1 was a visit to the deli at a travel center. I do not know what went wrong at the travel center. So, overall I am happy with Intellishop. Sometimes they offer good bonuses. Love to all, Signed, Night Owl at 2:29 pm

7/10 because we take 2 points off because we had to contact you.

From the tone of the lead in post, it is not hard to discern the tone and attitude. If I had overlooked a request for information and told my shop was invalidated, I would respond with hat in hand, with a mea culpa, and beg to have it accepted.

So...you overlooked the second question because you looked at the email via your iPhone? Is that where the blunder happened? I would recommend getting a larger phone and moving on to other MSC's. I've dealt with fidgety editors and/or ridiculous reporting requirements from MSC's and 1-2 shops is enough to make up my mind and hit the road.

Or ask for it to be rescheduled so that I could do the shop over!

No way could I or would I be able to make a living at this if 30% of my work failed to meet the client's requirements.

I don't think any MSC would be happy with a shopper who failed to meet requirements 30% of the time.

In over 8 years of doing this, a Marketforce client ONCE rejected my report. They even pulled the security tape and checked it, and still rejected the report. Marketforce paid me anyway, $125. I also had one gas station shop rejected that they did not pay for, but ultimately, that was my error. Too bad the gas station was 400 miles from home! That was also $125.

Now, I've had PLENTY of shops I've received requests for clarification, additional photos, additional info, "why did you do ABC instead of XYZ?", phone calls, e-mails, convoluted explanations, etc., etc., etc., but for all the companies I've worked with, these are the only 2 instances in over 8 years that I recall that my report was just not acceptable.

But I have also re-done shops where I screwed up; I have apologized. I have, um....groveled on occasion, when I KNOW I have screwed up.

Hey, Chris, thanks so much for the correct usage of "conflate".

Made my day.

Now, if I could just work "subsume" into a post......

I'm currently only at 1 for 50 on not getting paid with Intellishop.

That's 2%, and I am not sure I can take that hit when IS is already one of the lowest paying MSCs out there!