Ellis

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/11/2025 05:51AM by mintaj33.

Which MSC?

I was deactivated by one company and never reinstated. I can't remember the name of the company, but it no longer exists.

mintaj inquires--Has anyone been removed from a shopping company and had been able to work with them again?

Bob replies--I have been self-employed for 62 yr. Whenever a company, not only an MSC, indicates a desire to terminate our relationship, I merely move on to another pasture. It is my opinion, that should a reinstatement be possible, it would be strained. The advantage for me is that I definitely do not need any company and positively not any MSC.

Folks, as PBS has posted, when seeking advice provide as much detail as possible. There might be shoppers who could have been more targeted than my reply, but only IF they had more info.

That's unfortunately a given in this day and age with MSC.

The problem is when we see monopolies like Ipsos getting so big, getting deactivated means the shopper would lose as much as 50% of their market.

Being targeted for standing up for yourself seems to be a given with any work situation in an “at will”independent contractor economy that empowers or operates bullying and power plays.

There are still some good people working in this sector as well.

I’ve been banned from more than one MSC for the same infraction of standing in my integrity, with tact and respect. One of the companies was bought out by another that had already banned me, bringing their (lack of) ethics with them, so it was just a matter of time before they cut loose anyone they didn’t like, because they can, by the contracts we sign, and the laws in place.

I can honestly say better options have replaced them, because I believed it could be, and the wisdom and kindness shared in this forum that inspired me to keep looking.

Perhaps your experience concerns a company we’ve already had discussions about. Thank you for standing up for yourself and sharing. We may be independent contractors, but we’re not alone.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/09/2025 05:34PM by SBP.

@nabilino wrote:

That's unfortunately a given in this day and age with MSC.

The problem is when we see monopolies like Ipsos getting so big, getting deactivated means the shopper would lose as much as 50% of their market.

It’s more than Ipsos doing this. It’s a very interesting study to research the history of the marketing companies we contract with, many of which have gone belly up and regrouped, or been cannibalized by others.

@nabilino wrote:

That's unfortunately a given in this day and age with MSC.

The problem is when we see monopolies like Ipsos getting so big, getting deactivated means the shopper would lose as much as 50% of their market.

It’s quite fascinating to research the history of the companies we contract with online.

More than we may realize have either gone belly up and regrouped under a different name or been cannibalized.

I’m thinking it would be wise to do the research before signing on. Previous reputation is likely to continue.

Ellis

[www.mysteryshopforum.com]


They are mistreating shoppers and withholding pay. And when shoppers complain about issues, they just deactivate them. If you are owed any money, I hope you get paid. Based on your experience and with the experiences in the attached thread above, I'm not sure you really want to be reactivated.

Join the club, and be grateful. You’re blessed not to have to work with them anymore…or the parent company GH. Took me 6 months to figure out their ethics. They’ve canned anyone who did and still owe me a considerable some for several jobs done.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/11/2025 06:22PM by SBP.

I have not had this experience with them, as those stated above. I do not like the long, redundant forms for most of the shops, so now I skip those. Not all of the forms are that long, I have found.

Some schedulers do not read the details of my messages and quickly reply with an incorrect remedy because they did not read my message details. It wastes my time going back and forth until they see they acted with haste with their initial response.

Some have wasted time with date extension requests due to not being able to get a target. They want to know all the calls made/outcome, etc., when it is on the call log already. That wastes an extra day or so, that could have been used to make additional call attempts, as they could have readily honored the request for the due date extension.

I have had "words" with some of those that have annoyed me and wasted my time that way. Because, most are not waiting around for a day or two for the answer. We usually have something else to do during that waiting period.

That being said, I have done shops for them for more than 15 years. They have been mostly very polite and accommodating. No one ever has tried to deactivate me or not pay me. And I have been guilty quite a few times, turning in late reports because I loathed those long forms (before I discovered the easy ones). I received all the warning emails and finally I would submit the late report. (This is the only company I have done that with, due to those awful, long forms.) No one ever rejected them or said another word about them being submitted late. And even if they got them after the cut-off date for payment purposes, they still paid me on that pay cycle!

So, I cannot complain. I hope I never have to experience what some have stated happened to them. I can honestly say they have been very decent with me.

Yes, I was recently deactivated me for a reason I felt could’ve been corrected after I had done so many shops correctly for them and received high grades for them. It really hurt me because I also couldn’t access shops on another app because most shops that are considered “do-able” to me were shops listed by the same company on this app. The worst part is they’re the two quickest paying companies. But it’s ok. It’s ok i’ll move on and there’s always better for me.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/2025 09:06PM by Prosperouspiscean7.

So is this a common thing with this company?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/2025 09:19PM by Prosperouspiscean7.

You’ve been deactivated by IPSOS? And if so, would you be so kind to share what you discovered about their ethics?