This is my personal experience with servicecheck.com. I know everyone has a different opinion about every company, but I've never been so annoyed that I've started a new thread to complain about a company as a whole.

Their editors are inconsistent. I've done a few shops with them for a major electronics chain, and in the past, I've received 9/10, with very few comments. However, most recently, I was asked for a laundry list of revisions with the same electronics chain, including confirming "Yes" answers in my narrative. The standard pay for this assignment, which requires four narratives, and two different on-site visits (one for purchase, and one for return), is $18. They wanted me to confirm the "Yes" answers but got frustrated that there wasn't enough detail. Some interactions were less than a minute. It seems the editor just wanted a bunch of fluff. I plan on never doing these shops again, and if stuck with the same editor, I would never do another shop for this company once I am done with my two scheduled shops. The pay is not worth it, and the comments from the editors are insulting.

I've done 550+ shops and this is the only company to rate me so poorly, ask for so much information, then still complain with a new list of stuff I supposedly did wrong.

Edit: The editor decided to cancel my shop coming up later this week, because I expressed frustration with her review process. I told her I don't flake on assignments simply because I don't like the editor or the way your MSC does things.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/2018 05:46PM by thefoxbox.

I've also found that they have some editors who are most strict than others when asking for a lot of detail in narratives to support "yes" answers as well as "no." I was also asked on my last report for them to make sure that I only put a single space after periods in my reports. I had about three minutes worth of revisions. I do find it mildly frustrating as it's a little tricky to know what level of detail needs to be included from report to report.

I handle it like this: I just assume that I need to include the amount of detail expected from the most strict editors and that there is a strong chance I'll be asked to correct a small detail. If the shop does not offer enough compensation for me to take the the time to do just that, I don't take the shop. I find that I do shops for Service Check about once every other week.

They pay on time and have always communicated well with me, so I don't have any complaints.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/24/2018 03:26AM by MFJohnston.

I have never shopped for this company. I don't think an Editor can cancel a shop. The scheduler can, but I would want to know why. I have complained recently about a shop that paid, $15. First and last time. Seven pages of questions, 77 questions with many narratives. I told the editor in a pleasant way that the form was awful and I would not shop the same shop with this company unless they changed the form. I had to answer about 10 questions that were sent back to me. To my surprise I got a 10! I have always been up front with the MSCs, I am also reliable, and have never canceled a shop because I didn't like the form, once I commit, I commit. I learn from experience.

@shopper8 wrote:

I have never shopped for this company. I don't think an Editor can cancel a shop. The scheduler can, but I would want to know why. /quote

In the case of this company, yes, an editor can cancel a shop. This is a fairly small company and the same employees both schedule and edit. This company as a whole is a "hard grader." One of the major editors is their Operations Manager, and she seems to be the most demanding editor.

This is one of my favorite companies. I started shopping for them a few years ago after a family member recommended it to me. I wish they had more shops in my area. If you have questions about why your shop(s) was canceled, you might call Karin Williams, 877-388-0216 x 700 or email her at Karin@servicecheck.com She is very quick to respond and very fair. Of course, if you expressed frustration with the review process, that won't change, and, since you've decided you won't do any more shops for the company anyway, there's no reason to bother.

Different folks like different companies. I love this one. Better luck to you with other companies.

I did a furniture store for Service Check when I was a brand newbie shopper. They sent it back with a request for many corrections. After that experience I did fewer shops with them. Over the years, maybe 20 shops tops.

I used to (years ago) do their furniture store, when I didn't know better. I also did many of their food warehouse jobs and did o.k. I'm not sure what happened, Karin was always good to me, then I got someone else (kate), and things went downhill. I could not do anything right, she was a stickler on one space when before 2 spaces were either changed by the editor, but never mentioned. Then I wised up and decided they don't pay enough, you wait forever for your reimbursement and I left...so not worth it, and to humiliate one even more, they give you a 7 for double spacing.....So many MSC's to choose from, all shoppers need to be treated fairly or paid fairly for the hassles.

One of them doesn't like me. I can't remember if it is Karin or Kate? I got a really low score on a shop. Then they called me to ask me to do it again. Pretty sure I'm still sore, so not yet. Geez.

ETA: did they lose a ton of accounts last month?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/24/2018 07:13AM by SoCalMama.

I like the people at this MSC but the scoring inconsistency is difficult. I'm not quite sure what score or problems will come back and that makes me reluctant to try new shops with them. My first year or so my shops generally came back as 10's with no problems. Then I hit a spat where once in a while I get a comment about my inferior reporting and a less than stellar score. I had one instance where the report was sent back repeatedly and I couldn't figure out what they wanted. I haven't had a problem lately and have been taking it shop by shop, so far things have been good. When I talk to the schedulers on the phone they seem pleasant and professional.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/24/2018 12:52PM by wwin.

I have done a lot of shops for MSC and I have found that if I answer every question completely; it goes well. On the store shops they want a step my step narrative of everything i did and saw from start to finish; so they could envision what was happening. By doing that I scored high. I have never had an issue on payment; but they do take a few months to pay, which is stated in the guidelines I believe.

The lady was extremely unprofessional. I went ahead and did one (last) shop for them at the same place, and she gave me a score of "0" because I was required to force the sales associate to interact with me. He was on his cell phone and distracted, and did not want to assist me further with looking for any products. He told me to return another day when the product was in stock. I followed their instruction as best I could. Clearly, some editors just make emotional decisions. I've never gotten a "0" before, and I doubt I ever will again.

I like this company and used to do a lot of cell-phone shops for them, but they apparently lost that client and have almost no shops in my area anymore. They have a candy shop 55 minutes away, and unless they want to offer me a gigantic bonus, I won't go that far for candy.... And I've aged out of the couple of shops they have on a regular basis around here.

I think they're fair, and any issues with my reports that have resulted in having points taken off have been fully explained in the editor's comments. Those comments were helpful in learning how to do their shops the way they want them. I had a shop where I had to take several photos of items with very reflective surfaces and the photos were terrible. I figured the shop would be rejected, but all they came back to me for was a clarification on one question, and accepted the shop with crappy pictures. I'm not sure I would have if I'd been in their shoes.