OBSERVATI Secret Shopper program is a SCAM! I signed up with Observati LLC in June 2023 and paid an initial $130 to sign up for a year with double payout for reviews. My first review was declined even though I sent a nice photo of my meal and followed directions as posted; my photo submissions were thoughtfully framed, high resolution and in appropriate lighting. My review was denied. My second review was submitted and declined as well. The Observati customer rep responded that I was too late ( I never saw a hard date posted for submissions). I am also being charged $7 per month--I was lead to believe I had paid for the year. I did email the company and they were rude, condescending plus grammar/spelling was terrible. I have since cancelled and DO NOT recommend this company. They blame their rigid rules on the 'system'. They BUILT their system...I have been in IT for 40 years and know how websites plus backend dbases work. I have reported Observati LLC (secret Shopper) to (BBB,) Trustpilot and have disputed the sign up charges/recurring charges with my credit card company. I paid Observati in earnest and they have not delivered on any services as promised. I would like a refund but am sure that is out of the question. Too many rules they blame on what the system will allow negates any benefit Observati claims they give you, the Secret Shopper. I have since read reviews on various platforms and find many who have had the same problem(s) I have had. Observati also claims they give you gift cards to other restaurants; many of those places do not honour the gift cards while other businesses no longer exist. Sigh... This company has a C minus rating and is Trustpilot ranked at 58.1 out of 100. while some customers may have luck with this company many do not. The review requirements and time limits for reviews are not well-defined or posted clearly. Their customer service is slow to reply or even reply at all.

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You do not have to pay to do mystery shopping. Poor grammar/spelling is a tipoff for a scam.

Paying to earn money seems like a huge red flag to me. I can't even imagine thinking that I should pay someone so that I can work to earn gift cards that I can't use to pay my bills..

I'm sorry you were scammed, but there are a LOT of things that would scare me away from your story before it ever began.

I've fallen for scams too, well one anyway. But the only thing I lost was time, I realized I'd made a mistake and made it so they couldn't steal my money before the scam was over.

Like others have said, you should not have to pay money to earn money. I even have hesitations with paying the background check fee that some MSC required for certain shops - so I'm missing out on some shop opps, but that's fine with me, because all the other ones keep me quite busy.

I've never even heard of Obsevati LLC.

This post reeks of SPAM!

Someone on the forum tried to tell us how great it is. We knew better. The first rule of Shop Club is "Never pay to shop." Here is the thread.

[www.mysteryshopforum.com]

[www.mysteryshopforum.com]

Not to mention no one wants to be paid in restaurant.com gift certificates. They're impossible to use and require out of pocket funds.

Agreed, you should not be paying to mystery shop. It's one thing to invest in certifications after you've been doing it a while or to purchase equipment such as an undercover video camera, but to purchase access to shop is a big no-no.

Yep. Restaurant.com is pretty much a scam in itself. There may be some rare cases where it has value.