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Hi Fala. Let Lori know that there is an error somewhere on their end, and you would like to know what it is. How do you know the same thing won't happen on a shop redo?

In fact, I used those exact words—"This is an error on your end"—in my second and final reply to Ms. Reuben. She replied, "I do apologize. I hope you're able to pick up the shop again."

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/25/2020 10:48AM by FalaNana.

I have experienced the same vague reasoning and/or sheer lack of communication with Ipsos on other projects during the last few months. Shops assigned for date ranges different from what was offered, shops removed from my log without notice but within shop dates, shops disappearing without a trace AFTER being submitted with money spent out of pocket. All with no notification, explanation or resolution. Their good reputation has seriously disintegrated IMO. Be very wary.

Do you want to name the client here?

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On October 22, 2020, I did a Presto Insta-Shop for IPSOS at a nationally recognized cell phone location in Stockton, California. I successfully checked in on the app, took the exterior photo via the app, and performed the shop. I was unquestionably at the right location, and I entered the information in the correct shop form (when doing multiple shops of the same type, it is possible to enter the right information in the wrong shop form; this did not happen here). Immediately after I submitted, I received a denial email signed by Lori Reuben of IPSOS. She stated, "Reason provided by the reviewer: 'This isn't the correct location, so your shop has been rejected.'" I do not know if this was a human reviewer or an automated review, and I do not know if Ms. Reuben reviewed the shop report or not. The email further stated, "Please reply to this email if you require further details."

I replied to request details of how the reviewer (who may or may not have been a human being) determined I had shopped the wrong location, and I included a copy of the contemporaneous exterior photo I had taken as well as a screen shot of the same location from Google Street View, including a map view with a pin on the location.

Ms. Reuben replied she was looking into it and would reply when she had information.

Ms. Reuben then emailed: "Sorry, but the only thing I can tell you is to see if the pin is still available, grab it and redo it if it is." She provided no information about how IPSOS had determined that this was the incorrect location. A genuine review, which should have been easy, would have found their determination was flatly in error.

The immediacy of the denial suggests this may have been an automatic process, though not necessarily so. The promised investigation, if any, after my email response was of course nonautomated.

Mystery shoppers make mistakes all the time and have shops rejected all the time, and they can certainly perceive company wrongdoing when none exists. This is absolutely not the case with IPSOS in this situation. Everyone makes mistakes, of course, but this is such a simple and glaring case of irresponsibility on the part of IPSOS and its pertinent staff. It's clear the staff did not review the photo whose time, geolocation data, and actual content clearly confirm that the correct location was shopped, which the app "check-in" also confirms.

Of all my mystery shopping experiences, this is the only one that I have found actually shocking. Of course I will no longer consider assignments from this company.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/26/2020 03:24PM by FalaNana.

Oh no! I was going to do 4 cell phone shops but I’ll skip that now! Can’t waste that much money and not get reimbursed

Ugh

I suspect it's a problem with the Insta-Shop app that IPSOS isn't taking responsibility for, since part of the purpose of the app is to make editing quicker and more cost-efficient for them. I don't really know for sure, though. These particular shops test whether the client's retail locations are following pandemic protocols and are not about the salesmanship in any way. Apart from transportation, there's no shopper money spent on these.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/26/2020 07:55PM by FalaNana.

Transportation and one's time are not nothing.

Well yeah, they messed up big time says I have a rating of 3 out of 9 shops but it only shows 8 and one the qualify for retail audit for the blue & yellow tagged big box store. The rest of the shops are for the presto app.