I have had TWO extremely difficult and BAD assignments for this company. I was honest and forthright with my reports (one of which I named my "car shop from hell"). However, during the second one, I was treated by an extremely rude individual. I did not take his !@#$, but reported EXACTLY what happened. I agree, I didn't keep my cool totally, but I did not blow my cover either. Unfortunately, the car shop report was edited because they did not want it to be so negative - except it did cost someone their job. The second one was not accepted because of the interaction and I told them that no one, NOT even a shopper should be talked to the way I was. I don't take anything from anyone when they initiate such treatment. They overcharged and lied to me. Oh, and the client is JUST BRAKES - do not use them.

I have been doing mystery shopping for over 3 years and these two were the ONLY bad experiences I have ever encountered. I'm sure Intellishop got paid for the visit somehow, but I didn't.

Sorry to hear about your bad experiences with Intellishop, Ragdollteddy. I have been shopping for about 2 years and have done quite a few shops for Intellishop. Their pay is not very high for most shops and they are not among the fastest payers, but their shops are pretty straight-forward and I have had no problems with them.

Well, you are one of the lucky ones. After reading the other threads on this company, I would be very leary if I were anyone else considering working for them.

I have not had any trouble with Intelli-shop either; I did a car dealership recently, and the scheduler and editor were both very nice, no problems.

I have never had issues with them either. But they generally are not willing to pay enough for my services and their long payment cycle is a nuisance.

Which threads are you talking about? I went back and did a search because I didn't really have a memory of massive complaints that would make a new shopper leary of working for Intellishop. There are a few companies discussed in detail on this forum and I would be leary of working for them and would not recommend them. But I would recommend Intellishop. In my search I found complaints that Intellishop pays slowly, and they do, and that Intellishop pay tends to be low, but I haven't found a lot of other complaints about them. In fact, they are listed several times in our recent "Best Companies to Work for" thread. Am I missing something?

I've had perfectly fine experiences with this company but no way I would do a car dealership shop for 15 bucks

I haven't had bad experiences with Intellishop, either. That said, I have never done a car dealership and am very selective about what I'll do for them. The pay most definitely does not always match the shop!

I love car dealership shops but I'm sure agreed on the price - no way for $15.

For the record, the first shop I did for Intellishop was horrible. One of those "Fun!" shops. NOT, LOL! I had a feeling going into it, but did it to get on the board. Low pay, tons of names and narrative. Think it might be my second least favorite shop of all-time. That furniture store of another MSC's, of course, still ranks top of the list!

"Super easy" turned out to have 78 questions, 3 or 4 employee interactions, 6 or so product checks, gas and diesel island inspection and of the famous pull out the brew baskets on 8 different coffee brewers. All for the princely sum of $10. I had to question "my" intelligence for taking this job.

File me with the haters on this one. I don't like Intellishop! I feel they take advantage of shoppers. The 3-month way to be paid and the low-low fees make this company a 10-foot pole for me. The icing on the cake was being offered an apartment visit for $20, having it assigned then noticing there were actually 2 shops: 1 for $20 and the other for $5. When I asked the scheduler what that was about, she said the $5 was for the "translation". Yep, apparently, they thought I would write up 2 entire reports: 1 "original" in English then $5 for the French translation.

I'm bilingual and don't mind writing reports in *either* French or English but I won't do both without being paid for it. $5 to translate an entire document is like a slap in the face.

Ever since then, I've avoided them like the plague.

You folks that take the car inspections brakes etc..... brave people.
Dealerships sure easy and fun. But the ones that deal with your personal car.... you do realize the reason we are most likely are there in the first place is that they have internal troubles and we are there to find them?
And you trust your car?
Sorry I will stick to my personal mechanic instead!

I agree totally, CANADAMOMMY, no way do I take the shops from ANY MSC that require me to take my car for brakes, oil change, etc., to the little "fastfoods of the car industry!" I get the car washes .... but the rest are so not worth it for me!

I've learned to sniff out the 'bad' IntelliShop shops from the good ones, and generally, only take higher paying jobs. They DO have some. Agree that the pay is slow, but at least they DO pay! Technically, it's the 60 days from the last day of the month the shop was completed, but absolutely, it can easily turn into 3 months.

I am very "iffy" with them. IMO if you average it out, they pay lower than the company known for paying so low because their reports can take forever and many of their shops start out at $5.

Then I love the ones that pay $8 and require you to make a certain type of purchase which is not reimbursed, but instead comes out of your $8. The absolute cheapest purchase you can make while being sure it includes the required items is just under $4 which then makes this shop actually a $4 shop and not $8.

My favorite thing that happened with them lately though was my 9 score. The reason for the 9 instead of 10: my narrative was not long enough. BUT... this is their one shop report with no narrative.....

That said, the travel shops they do are so easy and simple. Plus I usually end up with lots of free maps and guide books.

I did new car dealership evaluations forIntelleshop. Intelleshop tells you not to ask questions, just report what the salesperson had to offer. Do not ask for a test ride. You must go on a test drive if the sales person asks you to take a ride. Right away those two guidelines shout MYSTERY SHOPPER!

Then this evaluator sends in the report. The editor writes back asking for more detail. If you wanted more detail Intelleshop, you should allow me to take my muzzle off. Allow me to ask the salesperson, who is talking to a non responsive warm body without a brain, questions a normal shopper would ask.

If I did give Intelleshop more information when the editor asked I would have had to fabricate the information. The editor would have reduced my rating because I did not include the information the first time around. The editor did give me a lower rating because I did not provide more information which I was not allowed to gather. Dammed if you do, Dammed if you don't.

I am sure CRI will read this and possibly they will scratch their head and say,"Hey, maybe we should tell the client that you get what you ask for." If you want to test sales people's knowledge you must act like a knowledgeable car buyer not a sponge that cannot ask questions!

Wow. I'm surprised everyone has had so many problems with Intelle-shop! Intellli-Shop was actually the first company I've shopped for. Their pay isn't phenomenal, but it's not really THAT bad, either. I'm definitely in agreement that they take way too long to pay, but I've always gotten high ratings from them and have yet to have a rejected report.

And I can't believe people are so weary of these car shops! I LOVE them! I never have to pay for an oil change, I learned that my breaks needed new rotors (which I never would have figured out on my own)--and these are through Intelle-shop!

Ragdollteddy, I hate to say it, but you sounded horribly hostile in your posting--I can only imagine what your report must have sounded like. If you have a situation like that, type up your report and save it, but don't submit it. Give it a few hours and go back and reread your report. I bet you would even be surprised at how you sounded. I can't even begin to describe how chilling out for a few hours has saved my tail on numerous occasions.

I've done many for Intelli. The first time out of the gate I got a 10 and even when I follow the same format I get 9s because I've had to be contacted for info which was already there, ie. : the salesperson arranged for X, from the parts dept, to accompany me on test drive, X did not speak to me about the car but spent the time on his cell phone with mom, girlfriend and beer buddy and Intelli wants to know what did X say about the car? Lately the reviewers are so bad I can only conclude that they failed reading for comprehension. The best was being asked what the dealership could do to have me return. Lordy.Lordy, I'm a MS not a business analyst! Intelli does not seem to want any negatives and God forbid you don't know the street names you drove on or when did the salesman open the hood? I got contacted because I thought the salesman was well dressed and had to explain why? (Ans. his polo shirt's sleeves and tan pants were creased.I'm starting to think that it is to lower the score. Today I'm shopping Monterey, I'll see , at least the pay is more.

Haha! That's too funny. I remember a reviewer telling me to explain why the name I provided was different then the name on the receipt. The associate who helped me was new, so the receipt said "Trainer". I don't know about anyone reading this, but I sure as heck don't know anyone named Trainer...

I got in trouble with them over a phone shop of all things.It didn't work out at all according to the scenario provided. After I informed of this they asked me try it again which I did but it still didn't work out at all. After several e-mails explaining what happened I didn't hear anything from them. Foolish me thinking everything was alright. Then out of the blue I get a dire sounding e-mail informing me my report was late. I still don't know what the final outcome will be.

Intelli-shop pays $20.00 for their auto delaerships here...I have done many recently. I like this company, their pay is low and a long time coming, but, they are reliable and have plenty of work near me. Many MSC can have problems either from the editor or misunderstanding per instructions, we've all been there. I think it over the top to say they are not worthy of working for.

I just completed my 16th shop for them this year. It was a car dealership. Most of them have been car dealerships or electronic stores. They pay from $20 to $30 for the car dealerships depending on the brand; the luxury car dealerships pay at a higher rate. I have received all 9's and 10's except for one 8. I am happy with them and would highly recommend them. My only complaint is the slow pay but that is something I can live with because I know they are reliable payers.

I have also done Monterey car dealerships and their pay is a straight $25 per shop; however they pay in 1/3 of the time than Intellishop.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/2010 12:26AM by computer_man.

My only other complaint about Intelli is that they've taken as long as one month to get back to me for "additional"/ "just wanted to confirm" information and by that time I've reallocated my memory bank to other shops. Could this be a trick to delay payment or are good reviewers in short supply? Keep in mind that one is not paranoid unless one is wrong!

I submitted my fiasco of a phone shop that I talked about earlier. It was 9 days before I heard a word and then it was to tell they wanted me to try again. With the prep work involved and IF I get paid I'll make about $3 an hour.

I agree with marijaldm. I also have had them ask me for more information or a clarification close to one month after I completed the shop. It seems that some of their reviewers wait until the end of the month to start looking at the results of the shops. Luckily this has only happened a couple of times to me and I was able to satisfactorily provide the information.

My husband requites his love of cars by doing these shops. Tonight he tried to enter his findings for a luxury car dealership bonused shop due by the 8th only to find that it had been rescheduled to another date without notification!

All I can say is the cat get's fed and I get paid a little but some of the shops take a long time to do for not enough pay. I accepted a shop for JDA and between the report and the guidelines it was 55 pages long so it cost a fortune to print it all out. Same thing happened for a JDA appliance shop a couple of weeks ago. This may be my last since the narrative will take forever. It was supposed to be easyyyyyyyyyy. Four cell phone shops. At least they are close together.

Today, I got a request for clarification for a shop done on the 20th. I checked my notes found nothing that would indicate how this car was comparable to the other named luxury cars but since the statement was made after the salesman's joyous praise of its design I answered that he was refering to that. But I really don't know, do I, since I can't ask "can you elaborate?" but need for the salesman to volunteer ? "If it's not written it didn't happen" is clearly not the proof reader's motto.
Later I got an e-mail asking for step by step details to "justify" to the client the 29 minute test drive. The instructions used to ask for a more than 30 minute drive. The "demonstration" narrative already had that we were in the parking lot for several minutes just backing out so that he could explain the sonar and that later he parked the car to switch sides and again praise the sonar. Question #3 from the client was the kinds of roads and traffic conditions.Residential or highway I already had written in but traffic conditions and lights! Is that next?
I asked that they rewrite their questionnaire with care to fully address the client's needs. Give us the courtesy of being more prepared.
The company itself may be "worthy" to work for, they've been upfront about their pay day schedule but this arbitary need for clarification of what is there is nerve racking . More details to memorize is flirting with hazardous driving, enough already.