company refused to pay

Seems to be two types of shoppers on the forum lately, the innie's and the outie's...so glad Shoptastic and Spicy are outie's, as is Sybil1 (my personal favorite).

MFJ does give good advice, not his fault if he's intense...

Live consciously....

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Irene. I don’t think Spicy is an outie. I think she has been reincarnated. On the other note, I am impressed with the time and care MFJ takes to objectively evaluate and assist OPs. I know he must be busy, but his teacher genes shine through. ☺️

@MFJohnston wrote:

@KSSPete
Note: MFJ is a "he" not a "she."

I'm sorry LOL! I got caught up in typing that and didn't even realize I did that.

@Equine24 wrote:

Irene. I don’t think Spicy is an outie. I think she has been reincarnated. On the other note, I am impressed with the time and care MFJ takes to objectively evaluate and assist OPs. I know he must be busy, but his teacher genes shine through. ☺️

No I am not any of the last poor strangers you idiots gang banged and bullied and ran out of town. I'm new meat you should be glad for that. Bullies like fresh meat don't they?

Yeah, the writing on this post is pretty bad. Like...have you worked for this company a few times before? or not? If a person has a college degree (I don't), getting feedback about writing for a writing job shouldn't be so hurtful.

I understand that some companies have odd style guides, but they do provide samples. It's also pretty standard for any food (even fast food) to report how many minutes until you received your order. If you have not done much food, you may want to check out A Closer Look. They have a lot of great restaurants and give helpful guidance at every step. Not every company is working with you to accept the shop. Most will, but it depends on how close you are to a usable report.

If you want to keep shopping long term, there are plenty of simpler shops you can do to build up to a full, formal meal. I would recommend doing more casual service dining and some separate bar shops to build your skills. It comes together pretty easily but there is no substitute for practice. If you just want to work as an occasional shopper, you'll still get good value for putting in the effort.

Question to SoBroke......I see why you are SoBroke, you seem not to be able to get along with anyone, how do you keep a job with your attitude? We offer free help to newcomers, many have thanked our members, but there's always one in the crowd. Perhaps the V forum would best suit you.

Live consciously....

@Irene_L.A. wrote:

Question to SoBroke......I see why you are SoBroke, you seem not to be able to get along with anyone, how do you keep a job with your attitude? We offer free help to newcomers, many have thanked our members, but there's always one in the crowd. Perhaps the V forum would best suit you.

I would tell the person who started this thread and the people who read it to take heed and notice from this thread because these Mystery Shopping Companies are full of people like this who are not nice people and would just as soon as rip you off as look at you.

In short you do not want to do any mystery shops that cost you $200 out of your own pocket up front. When you are dealing with less then professional and honest companies like these MSC's you can't trust them with your own hard earned $200. I think $50 dollars is to much to trust them with. PROTECT yourself folks and keep the risk to yourself down to $10 or $20. Let these beggar and scammers who own and run these companies put up their own $200 dollars at risk!

McD's just raised minimum wage and no dollar output, definitely an honest living.

Live consciously....

@Sobrokeigot2dothis wrote:

@Irene_L.A. wrote:

Question to SoBroke......I see why you are SoBroke, you seem not to be able to get along with anyone, how do you keep a job with your attitude? We offer free help to newcomers, many have thanked our members, but there's always one in the crowd. Perhaps the V forum would best suit you.

I would tell the person who started this thread and the people who read it to take heed and notice from this thread because these Mystery Shopping Companies are full of people like this who are not nice people and would just as soon as rip you off as look at you.

In short you do not want to do any mystery shops that cost you $200 out of your own pocket up front. When you are dealing with less then professional and honest companies like these MSC's you can't trust them with your own hard earned $200. I think $50 dollars is to much to trust them with. PROTECT yourself folks and keep the risk to yourself down to $10 or $20. Let these beggar and scammers who own and run these companies put up their own $200 dollars at risk!

I have completed about 40 of these shops and got paid for each one of them.

Knowing how much and when the MSC companies pay takes care of one's problems...next do your job well, and you'll have no worries and see better jobs, that's how it rolls. I don't work for the lowest of low paying companies, but give who I work for a good on time honest report, 13 years later, I'm still happy. The old saying, if one keeps doing the same thing over and over without a different result, that is insanity......time to change.

Live consciously....

how did you know?

I'm not sure to what you are referring here?

@Manhattanista wrote:

how did you know?

Hard work builds character and homework is good for your soul.

SoBroke states--I would tell the person who started this thread and the people who read it to take heed and notice from this thread because these Mystery Shopping Companies are full of people like this who are not nice people and would just as soon as rip you off as look at you.

Bob's comment--An opinion is one thing, but an accusation of fraud is a "while other ballgame." In my 16+ years in this business, I have not the slightest thought that any MSC has ever attempted to defraud me. Excluding video/audio work, I have not been paid on four instances, of which two were my mistake and two were a scheduler "covering their rears." My average for non-payment currently stands at once very 1,685 shops. When you factor in that I have worked for 87 MSC's over the years, it is my opinion the above statement from SoBroke is in the grossest of errors and should absolutely be ignored by all.

This could be Coyle or really any MSC. It is ok to mention MSC name if client is not mentioned. It is a common practice to keep up with timing of food service. I feel that there is more to the story then we know.

Duplicate

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2019 11:00PM by MikiNV.

Any MSC that does not pay on a regular basis usually does not last long. The same can be said about any shopper that does not get paid on a regular basis.

I hardly ever post on this site but occasionally I come on to look around. Mystery shopping is not for everybody. For the last 20 years of shopping, I have worked with several companies, types of shops and have rarely not gotten paid. Like was stated, the companies I work with are reputable. In doing a $1000 casino/hotel/food & beverage/concert shop, I was paid with no issues. This is a lot of money to put out, but being a seasoned shopper, I understand I need to follow guidelines in order to be paid and I have worked my way up to a shop like this. There are some companies I won't work with as I have had issues. Each shopper has to decided for him/herself. Smaller paying shops I ignore as I have to travel much living in a less populated state. As a newbie, you need to move around and start out with lower paying shops so you can get your feet wet and build a reputation with the schedulers. One should not start out with a fine dining shop worth $200. Too risky! But, on the other hand, not getting paid twice on a job that I felt I have done accurately, I would not return to that company to complete other shops. We all have to decide for ourselves where our limits are, but as you grow as a mystery shopper, you will never make money if you're not willing to put some of it on the line.

I have gotten paid for every fine dining shop that I have ever done, but there is always a chance that something will go wrong and I won't be paid. That is a risk that I take. I have done at least two $100-plus fine dining shops each month this year. I have been reimbursed for each of them, and the ones over $200 each even paid for valet parking and a modest fee. I do not believe that the MSCs are dishonest. Have some MSCs gone out of business without paying shoppers? Yes. The infamous carpet cleaning MSC (not the current one) failed to pay dozens if not hundreds of shoppers. BUT - the vast majority of MSCs are legitimate and pay for shops which are properly performed.

@Sobrokeigot2dothis wrote:

@Irene_L.A. wrote:

Question to SoBroke......I see why you are SoBroke, you seem not to be able to get along with anyone, how do you keep a job with your attitude? We offer free help to newcomers, many have thanked our members, but there's always one in the crowd. Perhaps the V forum would best suit you.

I would tell the person who started this thread and the people who read it to take heed and notice from this thread because these Mystery Shopping Companies are full of people like this who are not nice people and would just as soon as rip you off as look at you.

In short you do not want to do any mystery shops that cost you $200 out of your own pocket up front. When you are dealing with less then professional and honest companies like these MSC's you can't trust them with your own hard earned $200. I think $50 dollars is to much to trust them with. PROTECT yourself folks and keep the risk to yourself down to $10 or $20. Let these beggar and scammers who own and run these companies put up their own $200 dollars at risk!

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008

I hope I can glean some info from this forum after being a short time reader - first time poster. I had to backup 2X to the 1st post as the responses went on tangents to who knows where as the""response advice" was akin to "old timer" directions - "Turn left where the old barn used to be, then ask - whats her name? - remember her? She used to teach at the high school..." No. No I don't.
Anyways some of the last posts were on point. Thank you for good advice. They might get sandwiched between the also seems to be typical braggadiousness I've seen so far by the of how many, how much, and how few - anything you can do I can do better posts - but the independent minded people and their manufactured competitiveness seems to fuel these discussions. Fascinating. Well, entertaining anyways. This forum helps put the mystery in mystery shopping. Please continue.

Welcome to the forum, Hasher!

If you just read, there's a lot of good info here (well, maybe not this particular thread, LOL!).

No. You are entirely wrong. You did not do the assignment as instructed. Also, some of your words in your explanation on here are not spelled correctly. Maybe you have the wrong college degree, since it doesn’t help you. Just follow instructions from the client and you won’t have a problem. If instructed to sit at the bar, you can’t understand that sitting at a table is not what you are instructed to do, it’s obvious what the problem is.

This is the company that everyone here talks about but rarely get shops from them. I have done a number of assignments for them. You have to tell them everything with everything time stamped. That is how they like it. There is no information that is not crucial to them. Also, you have to scout the location BEFORE asking for the assignment even though there is a very small chance of getting it. If it's a small bar or I know for a fact that that place gets packed, I won't ask for it. Check Yelp for inside pics to check out the bar area. If it looks like you can't get seated easily, don't apply for it.

Their shops that require bar and bar-lounge is a total pain in the ass. Don't do those shops on weekends. The bars will be packed and you will get screwed when you get there and there is no seating. There is nothing that sticks out like a sour thumb than 2 mystery shoppers waiting to get bar seats when lounge seats are available. And a lot of Manhattan places are packed all week.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/27/2019 10:26PM by DTrump.

You know what really sticks out? The place is pretty dead, and you move the five feet from your seat to the bar so you can do the bar shop. I don't drink, so I won't even order alcohol at the bar. I might as well have a strobe light while holding a neon sign that says "shopper."

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