I was assigned a high-end restaurant shop with Coyle. Before this shop, I had a 90+ score. I was assigned a bar shop as part of it. We arrived a half hour early to go to the bar, and when we checked in, the host said she could seat us right then. The bar was packed, no seats available, and the restaurant and lobby were also very crowded. So we decided to take a seat and do the bar part at the end of the meal given the circumstances.

The meal dragged on forever. During the last hour, I got increasingly anxious about completing the bar shop. The restaurant had thinned out but was still at least 40% full, and the bar was empty. I was trying to hurry things along, but our server disappeared. Had I known that the bar was closing, however, I would have stood up and found a manager. However, since the restaurant was still quite bustling, I wrongly assumed the bar was still open. Finally, we were able to pay the check and get to the bar only to find out it was closed. They wouldn't even serve me a soda.

I got home and immediately contacted my scheduler to tell them what happened, and they said to go back the next night to do the bar shop, which I did. I received one email from a manager a week later, asking me exactly what time I visited the bar. I was very flustered trying to complete the shop and didn't write down what time I finally got to the bar. So I made an educated guess. The manager said they rolled the CCTV footage and I was off by 10 minutes.

I never heard from Coyle again about the shop. I didn't realize I was never paid. A year has passed and I have been applying for shops for a few months now, and haven't gotten a single one. I emailed a scheduler to ask why I wasn't getting chosen and what I could do. It was only then that I realized I was never paid for that shop. So I emailed the manager who had contacted me. I went back over all the details of that night. I explained that I understood if the company was not paid, that of course I should not be paid. But I also said it was unacceptable that there was no discussion surrounding this. I was never told the client rejected the shop, I was never told I wouldn't be paid, and I was never told I had a mark against my stellar record with the company. I asked if there was anything I could do to redeem myself. I got no response. It's been 9 days. I wasn't doing this for the money. I enjoyed trying out new restaurants with my spouse.

I am sad that it came to this. I was unaware of the widespread disdain for this company until finding this message board. Please be kind in your replies, I am very upset. Thank you.

I'm sorry that happened to you. And you probably spent hours on the rejected report, too! I've read other posts and seen their job offerings. Nothing appeals to me so this is one of the few companies with assignments in my area that I have never shopped for. Fancy food and long, redundant reports, nah, no thanks.

Thanks for sharing your experience. That is incredibly frustrating and worse that they never even shared any feedback with you. It seems like Coyle took the easy way out and just hoping that you would forget about it.

Yes, their reports take hours.

The shop is non-existent that would even slightly tempt me to consider Coyle, BUT, to paraphrase an adage, "What is one shopper's delight, is another's curse."

Meaning you would never do a shop for them??

eastwestmom inquires of Bob--Meaning you would never do a shop for them??

Bob replies--At four score & one, a bar visit to the Roadhouse provides all of the fine dining I desire. For me to accept a shop with Coyle, my requirements would be a high triple digit fee paid in advance. That being the situation, it is that they would never consider me.

I do not in any way criticize this MSC for their business plan; it simply does not meet either my needs or desires.

Most everyone who does a higher-end shop with them ends up upset at some point. I'm fairly certain they delight in torturing us. I only do a fast-casual shop for them and even those have gotten worse over time. Whoever they farm editing out to now would make a grammar Nazi blush.

I am very cautious about Coyle. No gray area - either quick and straight forward or a nightmare...I try avoid nightmares.

Hi Shopper Bob. Have you ever completed a Coyle shop?

@shopperbob wrote:

The shop is non-existent that would even slightly tempt me to consider Coyle, BUT, to paraphrase an adage, "What is one shopper's delight, is another's curse."

So you were not able to be served at the bar upon your initial visit? Contacted Coyle immediately and were instructed to go perform the bar portion on another day. Timely, the next day? Then you received an email inquiry asking what time you approached the bar on your initial visit and were informed you were 10 minutes off? That is not right. Coyle should have reached out to the client and asked what your choices were. Instead, you performed the bar shop and spent more money/time only to have them deny the shop. However, Coyle should have responded that your answer was not accurate and you would not be paid for the shop. You as well should have followed up as I imagine it was a substantial amount of money and time expended. I would have looked at my dinner receipt and reported a time close to that as I imagine you approached the bar close to receiving the dining check. I understand the hurdles one overcomes with every shop that goes awry.

Yes, there is disdain for this MSC but to each their own. I personally shop Coyle all the time due to my desire and enjoyment. You learn from experience albeit an expensive one for you. There are other fine dining shops from other MSCs although they come far and few in between. Good luck to you.

@eastwestmom wrote:

I was assigned a high-end restaurant shop with Coyle. Before this shop, I had a 90+ score. I was assigned a bar shop as part of it. We arrived a half hour early to go to the bar, and when we checked in, the host said she could seat us right then. The bar was packed, no seats available, and the restaurant and lobby were also very crowded. So we decided to take a seat and do the bar part at the end of the meal given the circumstances.

The meal dragged on forever. During the last hour, I got increasingly anxious about completing the bar shop. The restaurant had thinned out but was still at least 40% full, and the bar was empty. I was trying to hurry things along, but our server disappeared. Had I known that the bar was closing, however, I would have stood up and found a manager. However, since the restaurant was still quite bustling, I wrongly assumed the bar was still open. Finally, we were able to pay the check and get to the bar only to find out it was closed. They wouldn't even serve me a soda.

I got home and immediately contacted my scheduler to tell them what happened, and they said to go back the next night to do the bar shop, which I did. I received one email from a manager a week later, asking me exactly what time I visited the bar. I was very flustered trying to complete the shop and didn't write down what time I finally got to the bar. So I made an educated guess. The manager said they rolled the CCTV footage and I was off by 10 minutes.

I never heard from Coyle again about the shop. I didn't realize I was never paid. A year has passed and I have been applying for shops for a few months now, and haven't gotten a single one. I emailed a scheduler to ask why I wasn't getting chosen and what I could do. It was only then that I realized I was never paid for that shop. So I emailed the manager who had contacted me. I went back over all the details of that night. I explained that I understood if the company was not paid, that of course I should not be paid. But I also said it was unacceptable that there was no discussion surrounding this. I was never told the client rejected the shop, I was never told I wouldn't be paid, and I was never told I had a mark against my stellar record with the company. I asked if there was anything I could do to redeem myself. I got no response. It's been 9 days. I wasn't doing this for the money. I enjoyed trying out new restaurants with my spouse.

I am sad that it came to this. I was unaware of the widespread disdain for this company until finding this message board. Please be kind in your replies, I am very upset. Thank you.

The language that Coyle wants you to type is so stilted and unnatural. Last time I did fine dining for them, I followed their example and put 8 timings in. They complained I did not include every single thing ie water brought, bread, served, plates picked up ad nauseum. I responded that I followed their example and it was not in shop instructions. BUT- ha, I had shopped before so I knew but they failed my little test. I have other choices for fine dining. They are not worth my time on these. Also when I ask for clarifications they say, 'Read guidelines, even if I say I already read guidelines in my query. So aggravating.

Yes to to all of the above.

I am really sorry this happened to you and I agree with others, the way you were treated was not right. It was not professional and it was not okay. It probably isn't worth fighting over - but you should have been paid or told exactly why you were NOT paid - which it sounds like you were not in either case.

I absolutely understand why this is disappointing and disheartening. Coyle has some plum assignments and they can be enjoyable and worth the heartburn that their "style" causes - but I wouldn't sweat the loss of them either. There are lots of other companies out there that are just as rewarding (and many that do a much better job of working collaboratively with their shoppers).

What Coyle does is pretty simple. Often enough....They take your report, don't pay you, and then edit it and use it, and get paid by the client. That's fraud, and they have been doing it for years. Sometimes you do a perfect job, or get the "back and forth" from their editors enough so that the job is somehow acceptable to them, and then you get paid. You are usually frustrated, and like Shopper Bob says, and I paraphrase, '...there is no fee high enough (that Coyle would pay) to coerce me to take one of their shops...'

@salisburync wrote:

What Coyle does is pretty simple. Often enough....They take your report, don't pay you, and then edit it and use it, and get paid by the client. That's fraud, and they have been doing it for years.

While I agree that Coyle is in the wrong if they didn't contact the OP about the shop being rejected, what you are suggesting here is just not the case. If a shop gets rejected by Coyle, they don't send it to the client. If a shop gets rejected by the client, they don't bill for it. I worked in operations for Coyle and can assure you this was always the case during my tenure there.

What I can also tell you is that for the most part, Coyle does their best to make sure that every shop gets published, and that the shoppers get paid. It does them no good to reject a job. It takes up time and resources, which costs them money, and it often makes them look bad to the clients if they cannot get the shop done in the required time frame. They want you to turn in an accurate and publishable repot, and to get paid. That's the structure of the business.

That said, while Coyle may be at fault for not explaining the situation to the OP, there has to be some ownership on the OP's part for the issue. The scheduler gave them the opportunity to correct the issue of not being able to evaluate the bar, and they didn't take accurate timings on the return trip. Anyone who shops for Coyle regularly knows how important timings are to them.

If there's any silver lining here, it's that a lesson can be learned from this by others; Have your guest meet you at the bar before dinner! If driving, have your guest drop you off, then park the car and come meet you. If you are on foot or staying at the hotel where the restaurant is, have your guest evaluate the bathroom while you go to the bar, and then meet at the bar.

Don't check in with the host on arrival, and if they stop you on the way in, just say, "I'm meeting someone." They will not seat you that way. Learn ways to control the interactions, and you can avoid having shops go south.

Dumb question then Steve....why does Coyle not give us complete instructions with the guidelines and why are all of the reviewers so amazingly arrogant?

@weatherman2111 wrote:

Dumb question then Steve....why does Coyle not give us complete instructions with the guidelines and why are all of the reviewers so amazingly arrogant?

I'm not Steve but I've never had incomplete guidelines from Coyle. I've done hotels, fine dining, parking & casual dining.

@weatherman2111 wrote:

Why does Coyle not give us complete instructions with the guidelines?

I don't know the specific instructions you are referring to, but the short answer is this; The guidelines are generic and meant to be appropriate in the majority of circumstances. The aim is to limit the amount of customization required, and reduce the labor cost in creating said guidelines.

This long answer is that mystery shopping is not as profitable for MSCs as most shoppers think. Just like shoppers undercut one another by taking low bids, so do MSC's, so the company has seemingly noting that it takes fewer resources to periodically correct issues with incomplete guidelines than to make a custom guideline for each assignment. They are not trying set you up to fail. They are trying to set themselves up to succeed. The problems you have to deal with when taking assignments are simply byproduct of that. If it made them more money to meticulously craft instructions for every assignment, they would. They are focused on their bottom line, and not your experience (and, yes...that's somewhat ironic for a company that specializes in measuring other's experiences).

@weatherman2111 wrote:

Why are all of the reviewers so amazingly arrogant?

Short answer; Differing levels of education and experience.

Long answer; First, you have to understand that the entire industry lives in fear of it's shoppers being classified as employees, so they take rather extreme steps to ensure they can withstand an audit of their contractor resources, and that is the basis behind many of the issues you have with editors (what I assume you mean by reviewers).

One of those steps is prohibiting actual employees from being able to take assignments, in order to differentiate contractors from employees, so therefore the employees have very little information about what's involved in completing assignments in the field. They generally don't understand the struggle of being a mystery shopper, how poor the pay is, or any of the above issues about the instructions not always being accurate. Because they are employees, they are given extensive training on exactly how the narratives are to be written, and how the forms are to be filled out. They spend the majority of their work day going though narratives that are not to written to standard, and forms that are not filled out to standard. And reading about people who are dining well while they are not. In my experience, it's a miserable job, and there's a high turnover due to that.

On the other side you have the shoppers. In my experience, most shoppers don't fully comprehend their responsibility as contractors. It's the shoppers responsibility as a contractor to educate and train themselves on the projects and assignments they agree to. They often don't.

Now you have two parties. One is going to generally be better educated on the process, and frustrated when dealing with the lesser educated party. I suspect you may be mistaking misery/frustration/misunderstanding for arrogance, but try to see it from the point of view of someone who has been carefully trained to compete a form, dealing with someone who has not. All. Day. Long.

That said, I can understand how it comes across as arrogant. The editors are not accustomed to being in the wrong, or the lesser educated party. I roll my eyes at just about every email I ever get from the editorial team, but I try to temper my responses with the memory of just how miserable I was when I had their job, and my understanding of the system. I am usually the one who is the more frustrated party when dealing with editors, and they probably think I am arrogant.

That said, when dealing with editors, take solace in the fact that your job is most likely MUCH more satisfying than theirs. I rarely come across an editor who has being working for more than 5 years at a MSC, but this forum is filled with people (including myself) who have been shoppers in excess of 20 years.

I re-capped your experience and thought you affirmed. So what was it? Did they roll back the cameras on your initial visit to the bar OR your second one?

@eastwestmom wrote:

Yes to to all of the above.

I know it was a lot of information to digest. I TOOK ACCURATE TIMINGS ON MY RETURN TRIP TO DO THE BAR SHOP THE NEXT DAY. The issue they had is on the night of the shop, I wrote down that I visited the bar at 9:59 PM, and the restaurant rolled the tape and said I didn't approach the bar until 10:11. (So 12 minutes). I was scrambling to pay the check and get to the bar, so the timing was off because I was panicking.

The following night (which is when I was instructed to return and I did), all the timings were exact.

SteveSoCal, do you have any advice for getting back in their good graces? I sent a lengthy recap and an apologetic email. I have email tracking software (LOL) and it was viewed and passed around 12x but never responded to. I can't see who read it but their locations are all over the country.

Ahhhhh, that is what I interpreted. So NOT right. They should have contacted you that you would not be paid. I think you might have had recourse had it been a timely follow-up inquiry upon your part, but I do understand you had no warning. Regardless, COYLE should have informed you they were rejecting the shop and you would not be paid. At least they could have paid you for the follow-up bar shop that THEY instructed you to perform. I am angry and frustreated for you. However, I would not let this discourage you if you like the experience with Coyle shops. Learn from this. ;-)

I wouldn't say I like my experiences with Coyle, even before this. As others have stated, the narratives are ridiculous. They often come back and ask for more detail WEEKS after the shop was done, and it's usually something that wasn't in the guidelines, and I no longer remember 2 weeks later because I didn't write it down (because it wasn't in the guidelines!!!! Who's on first!!!)

@eastwestmom wrote:

SteveSoCal, do you have any advice for getting back in their good graces?

You have already done what I would suggest.....which is the 'mea cupla' email, and not the 'I'm gonna sue you' version. End result, they had do a do their own 'mea culpa' when the client checked the tapes. And I'm sure that email was also viewed by everyone at the company, so time may heal that wound, or possibly you live in an area that desperately needs shoppers, but everyone at the MSC probably knows you now as the person who gave an inaccurate timing and got called out.

Another note about process that could have avoided this issue; There is no need to mention not being able to be served at the bar on night #1 in the narrative in this instance. The client doesn't really care if the bar and dinner are done on the same night. They just need the bar shopped, and so they package it up with a dinner to keep the costs down.

I'm not sure if your timing was mentioned in the report, or an email to Coyle, but I would guess the issue from the client might have been about why the bartender stopped serving earlier than expected, so the recording was referenced.

I'm new to Coyle; I've only done 4 shops with them, with the second being a 3-star hotel (checklist, no narrative) and a 4-star (full narratives). I had a 98% score until the most recent, which knocked me down to just 92.83%.

That hotel narrative was graded at just 77, which I believe is BS. Points were taken off for it not being submitted on time with the required attachments (I was a day early...), but apparently, shopmetrics didn't keep the pictures I uploaded and hit Save on least 4 times. Points were taken off for not giving a comment for every single yes/no question on the checklist. They previously docked points for commenting on every checklist question. I just can't win with this requirement.

When they emailed me and told me I was missing photos, I replied all (as asked to) in just 1 hour and 19 minutes with both a ZIP and a cloud link. No response was ever given. I followed up the next day and heard nothing. Two days after the initial submission, they sent a more sternly written email asking for pictures that I replied to in precisely 20 minutes, explaining they had already been sent (TWICE!), and then they responded.

This made me exceptionally angry, and I almost wanted to swear off the entire company. I get missing reimbursement for a casual restaurant, but this was nearly $600 of my own money. If they had told me the photos were missing on the due day, I could've gotten it back to them in a few hours and still met the due date. Taking points off for their failure to check emails in a reasonable amount of time is just offensive. Even worse, Shopmetrics could let someone submit without the required attachments. Just a total systematic failure.

I'm over it now since the charges have been reversed, and I've scheduled a restaurant shop with them soon. So we'll see how that narrative goes.

My recommendation is to be semantically sensitive with these guys, as they can be difficult to work with.

@SteveSoCal wrote:

@weatherman2111 wrote:

Why does Coyle not give us complete instructions with the guidelines?

I don't know the specific instructions you are referring to, but the short answer is this; The guidelines are generic and meant to be appropriate in the majority of circumstances. The aim is to limit the amount of customization required, and reduce the labor cost in creating said guidelines.

This long answer is that mystery shopping is not as profitable for MSCs as most shoppers think. Just like shoppers undercut one another by taking low bids, so do MSC's, so the company has seemingly noting that it takes fewer resources to periodically correct issues with incomplete guidelines than to make a custom guideline for each assignment. They are not trying set you up to fail. They are trying to set themselves up to succeed. The problems you have to deal with when taking assignments are simply byproduct of that. If it made them more money to meticulously craft instructions for every assignment, they would. They are focused on their bottom line, and not your experience (and, yes...that's somewhat ironic for a company that specializes in measuring other's experiences).
.

I'm sorry but that is beyond ridiculous. They dock us for not following the guidelines they know are incomplete. If they want us to do something it should be spelled out in the guidelines, period. Full stop. End of discussion. Anything less than that is deliberate deception.

@weatherman2111 wrote:

I'm sorry but that is beyond ridiculous. They dock us for not following the guidelines they know are incomplete. If they want us to do something it should be spelled out in the guidelines, period. Full stop. End of discussion. Anything less than that is deliberate deception.

You still have not explained what guidelines were potentially missing, so it's hard to judge the accuracy of your claim.

In my experience, just about everything is covered in the assignment specifically guidelines or the overall guidelines they offer in Shopmetrics.

What are you being "docked"? Are they reducing your pay?

They dock my shopper rating which can affect my ability to get work.

And there are frequently dozens of items on the report form thay are not covered in the guidelines and sometimes the editors ask for things that aren't even in the report form. Coyle is legendary for this.

@weatherman2111 wrote:

They dock my shopper rating which can affect my ability to get work.

Your ability to get the work that you don't like? I'm not sure how that makes sense, but you still haven't given any specifics. If you are expecting the instruction set for the assignments to address every question on the form, it's not going to happen. The instructions almost always say specifically to reference the online form in addition to the PDF guidelines.

As far as the rating goes, it's a curve, so if they dock everyone equally, it doesn't affect your ability to get assignments unless you perform below the average on the curve. Assignments are dolled out mainly on the shoppers ability to complete assignments in the past. If you are repeatedly pushing back on questions from the editors, or accusing the company of deception, that will probably get noted in your file and affect your ability to get assignments way more than your score.

In the end, you can either accept them with the flaws we all know about, and enjoy the assignments, or elect to not work with them. I sometimes take a break for an extended period of time, to get perspective. I went through 18 months with no mystery shopping at all recently, and just starting taking assignments again. I too get questions at times that are frustrating, but I have learned it just comes with the job, and is not going to change.

Examples of frustrating questions....

Editor: You neglected to mention if the parking lot was clean
Me: The hotel does not have a parking lot. I'm pretty sure your client knows that.

Editor: You neglected to mention if the employee smiled
Me: I put in the employee description that they were wearing a mask. The mask prohibited me from seeing if they were smiling.

Editor: You neglected to mention if the drink met expectations
Me: The beer met my expectations (I mentioned that it was served cold and to the rim of the glass)

Along with this frustration, I get compensated with good meals and hotel stays. I know what I am getting into and agree to it. They have not promised to refrain from stupid questions, so there's really no deception that I see.