Oh, there's so very much to say about these shops....
Like Okie, I had a similar assignment for a different company. I got $50 plus up to $10 reimbursement for one drink. It was not in a "sketchy" area per se BUT it was in an area where I stuck out like a sore thumb. It was for boxing, a championship title bout. I was the only single female in the place and the only person with my race/ethnicity. I was to arrive at 8 pm and see if the event was being televised. The guidelines didn't make it clear that I could leave as soon as I could get photos that an under-card fight was showing, and when I arrived I learned the title bout started at 11 pm, not 8 pm. Then, since I had already been nursing a drink for 3 hours, I felt I had to stay and watch the damn fight that went all 12 rounds. (I finally bought a second drink because it was ridiculous to have only 1 in 4 hours. No, it wasn't reimbused.) I got out of there at 12:30 a.m.
And because I'm in the habit of paying with a card to get a receipt (because who's going to ask for a receipt on a Saturday night for one $8 drink paid with cash?), I paid with a card. It was later when doing the report that I realized how easy it would be for the establishment to figure out what seat the photos were taken from, look at security footage, and/or just go back to the receipt for my name. Of course, this assumes the establishment ever sees the photos, which they may not. I'm guessing once they were fined or received a demand letter or something, they would pay up or try to negotiate (I did some googling about this). They would probably only see photos if they demanded to see the proof and/or it actually went to court, which they would be idiots to try because they would lose in a skinny second.
Anyway, I noticed that another boxing piracy audit has come up, and it's offering $10 plus the $10 drink. They're advising people to show up at 10 pm instead of 8 pm, so that's an improvement. Hopefully the detailed guidelines will advise it's prudent to pay with cash so the establishment does not have your name. Believe me, I sweated for a bit after this job, because the establishment likely got slapped with a fine of several thousand dollars, and now know they can't chance this again when they were making a buttload of money off it (they didn't charge a cover, but they had signs on their door and a clientele clearly familiar with them showing fights there). It was very possible they might be angry at the person they view as costing them a fortune.
The current $10 fee is an insult. These assignments are much higher in risk than the average mystery shopping job.
Now this new job for "Game Night" -- these are all over the country; basically they're throwing spaghetti at a wall and trying to pay little $ and hope to randomly catch one of the establishments showing the event illegally. The pay is crap. As others have said in this thread, picking a restaurant is much easier due to fewer TVs, but keep in mind the TVs may still be all over the place and you have to check all of them to see if the game is on. Plus the restaurants are less likely to show a restricted game versus a sports bar, so the restaurant jobs may be more likely to be canceled. I feel this is much less risky than the boxing match audits, but still.
Unless the guidelines say you can't, I recommend paying with cash.
I also recommend not taking these jobs unless you feel you can really blend in.
(Sorry for the length, but that was my most traumatic experience in the seven years I've been a shopper.)
P.S. I did speak extensively to the MSC about my concerns, and appreciated their responsiveness at the time. But I'm disappointed the fee is so low now (not that I would do it again), and as mentioned, I can only hope they urge people to pay cash.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/2024 07:15PM by amyann2.