Well, I messed up on a Marketforce shop

Apoarently, I was supposed to buy my burger online or by calling an order in. I thought it was dine in, so that's what I did. Early on in reporting, the system asks why I didn't order by the correct method. It let me answer that I thought it was a dine-in shop. I was able to enter the rest of the shop, so I thought maybe I had a chance to be accepted. When I was done, it immediately saved as invalid. So why have me enter the full shop to just automatically invalidate it? I should have cut my loses before I continued on with the report. And dang it if it didnt cost over $18! Has anyone ever had an invalud shop approved?

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They have one where if they offer ketchup and you decline the ketchup it's invalid. I've done a couple of theirs wrong (different things wrong, I stopped declining ketchup right away - lol) and they did not reconsider. Their only "flag" question that doesn't invalidate the shop in my experience is "Why did you spend over X amount?". Sorry about your shop. I once reversed an online and drive through between two shops I was doing the same day with another MSC and managed to lose myself both fees - ugh.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/2022 10:09PM by _justjennifer_.

You are not alone! And at the rate other shoppers seem to get dumped by this MSC for little to no reason, I am totally surprised that they still allow me to shop! Well, my mess ups are spread out over 20 years and lots of shops so maybe it's a generally good average. The last one, not too long ago, I just completely forgot to enter the shop. I had become accustomed to entering the info as I ate my meal but at this place I could not get a good connection. No problem, I'll do it at home. And I never though about it again. Until the email came that I had not submitted the shop so it was assigned to someone else. I even wrote in, still sure I had completed it and, after realizing I hadn't, apologized profusely.

I always fear that I will do that and luckily have not so far. I've done hundreds of shops for them, but I think is the second one I've had declined, fortunately.

Ses,

I have done that.. i was IN BED, half asleep when I remembered... 03:00. I got up and turned the computer back on.. lol

I did this the other day. When the question came up, I knew that I had a problem. I exited and canceled the shop. I try very hard to check the scenarios because it is easy to get burned. Online, phone, milkshake. Most are "ordinary", but there are are the exceptions waiting to trap the unwary. Occasionally the unwary includes me.

@jlcarter1975 wrote:

Apoarently, I was supposed to buy my burger online or by calling an order in. I thought it was dine in, so that's what I did. Early on in reporting, the system asks why I didn't order by the correct method. It let me answer that I thought it was a dine-in shop. I was able to enter the rest of the shop, so I thought maybe I had a chance to be accepted. When I was done, it immediately saved as invalid. So why have me enter the full shop to just automatically invalidate it? I should have cut my loses before I continued on with the report. And dang it if it didnt cost over $18! Has anyone ever had an invalud shop approved?

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

That is what I'll do next time if I make another mistake. I'm really baffled as to why it let me report everything. I wish it would have stopped me and not wasted even more of my time.

One time I ordered a bottled water instead of a fountain drink. Allowed me to enter the entire report and submitted w/o any flags. Bottled water was actually one of the choices you could/can check off. Why put it on the list if you can't order it? Anyway, my shop was declined. Then during the height of COVID the client did not sell any fountain drink (in my area anyway). Had to buy a bottled drink or water. I emailed the MSC every time I completed a shop during that time when I could not purchase a fountain drink, so my shop would not get rejected.

I got burned on the Pretzel dog. Before it was allowed to be putchased.

I just pulled those up to take a look. That is one of my favorite burger places, and I jump on those assignments. However, I can see as how the directions are not clear this go around. The order online shops don't even tell you if you are to do a dine-in, a take-out or a delivery, and such as that definitely makes a difference at to what I accept at any given time. I guess you will see that detail after you sign up for the shop. The "Show More" and the "Show Less" options do not provide the same information. It is only like a line, but you have to toggle between them for different details. In my humble opinion, they need to get an editor involved before they post such. The directions are not clear even on the pre-assignment level. Although not with them, I've been burned before because of vague directions. I can see as how a mistake was easily made in completing this one.

How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg?
"Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg."
-- Abraham Lincoln

I plan on having further discussions with the scheduler. This is what the description says:

"Shoppers may self-assign shops and can adjust their shop date one time online."

I have 6 scheduled on the same date. I cannot do all 6 and if it is raining, I cannot do any.

Do not read so much, look about you and think of what you see there.
Richard Feynman-- letter to Ashok Arora, 4 January 1967, published in Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track (2005) p. 230

The Guidelines in Canada said that a bottled drink was acceptable if the location was not serving the Fountain Drinks (Drink stations were closed). I was just sure to put this fact in the report. Just as I am always sure to mention the receipt says "to-go," when doing a dine in shop. The guidelines up here changed when dine-in became impossible and they okayed the order at restaurant and take the food "to-go," shops when dining rooms were closed around here. That fact, also always went in the report.

@Zek wrote:

One time I ordered a bottled water instead of a fountain drink. Allowed me to enter the entire report and submitted w/o any flags. Bottled water was actually one of the choices you could/can check off. Why put it on the list if you can't order it? Anyway, my shop was declined. Then during the height of COVID the client did not sell any fountain drink (in my area anyway). Had to buy a bottled drink or water. I emailed the MSC every time I completed a shop during that time when I could not purchase a fountain drink, so my shop would not get rejected.

Lady Marius
Canadian Mystery Shopper

I got burned by the same company for forgetting that I needed to order a milkshake. I actually stopped shopping for them for a while after that out of anger at still submitting a useful report and getting nothing for it. I'm back shopping with them again, but I'm super careful about checking the shop before beginning it.

I did a fast food shop a couple of months ago that was deemed "Invalid". I did not receive any communication initially, but I have a habit of checking my submitted shops with all the companies I contract with multiple times per day until they reach "Approved" status. I emailed the help desk as soon as I saw that the shop was invalidated to ask for the reason. I received a fairly quick response. This particular shop requires photos. Each unique shop number must be included in the file name of every photo. I was sloppy. It was late, I was tired, and when I submitted the shop, I inserted 2 pictures from the wrong folder (I save my pictures in folders by MSC, Client, Date, and Location). One of the photos inserted was from the correct file, so the shop numbers were not aligned on every photo. I was given the opportunity to resubmit the photos and the shop was approved. Now, I check my photos, I recheck my photos, and I check them again before hitting the button to "Submit". If you haven't been in touch with them about the shop, you might consider emailing the help desk. If you explain the situation to them, they may be able to work with you. Best wishes.

@jlcarter1975 wrote:

Apoarently, I was supposed to buy my burger online or by calling an order in. I thought it was dine in, so that's what I did. Early on in reporting, the system asks why I didn't order by the correct method. It let me answer that I thought it was a dine-in shop. I was able to enter the rest of the shop, so I thought maybe I had a chance to be accepted. When I was done, it immediately saved as invalid. So why have me enter the full shop to just automatically invalidate it? I should have cut my loses before I continued on with the report. And dang it if it didnt cost over $18! Has anyone ever had an invalud shop approved?

@_justjennifer_ wrote:

They have one where if they offer ketchup and you decline the ketchup it's invalid. I've done a couple of theirs wrong (different things wrong, I stopped declining ketchup right away - lol) and they did not reconsider. Their only "flag" question that doesn't invalidate the shop in my experience is "Why did you spend over X amount?". Sorry about your shop. I once reversed an online and drive through between two shops I was doing the same day with another MSC and managed to lose myself both fees - ugh.

I wasn’t clear on this the first time, so I was panicked. I blurted out before pulling away “yes, I would like ketchup” even though they hadn’t offered. They offered their proprietary mayonnaise sauce. I’ve since accidentally ordered my meal preemptively with ketchup, haha. Even for dine in where you get it yourself. What a bizarre thing to be their most important.

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Well, I messed up on a Marketforce shop

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