Worst shop ever completed?

January 10, 2025 11:38PM

The college I work for has a food pantry and I supervised the person who managed it during Covid. That would be an interesting shop! You might end up with a case of expired jars of gefelte fish.

@boridi wrote:

Haven't done this shop but I've received emails about CustomerOptix's food bank shops. $0 pay and $0 reimbursement. Your compensation is the food that the food bank gives you.

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January 11, 2025 12:00PM

Confero never paid me for a shop, after sending multiple emails, so there's that.

Otherwise, worst was a gas station where I needed pictures of the inside and a close up picture of the cashier. The place was tiny and I did it because I did a lot of work for the MSC and did a few of these as a favor to get a better shop (some $200 steakhouse or similar). Does ACL still make shoppers take undesirable shops to get scheduled for a better shop? Never again

January 12, 2025 02:28PM

A few comments on the above:

-- ACL is now mostly self-assign. A tiny number of shops (mostly bar standards) do need approval but I think that's just to make sure the shopper is reasonably experienced or understands the guidelines, as I was not asked to take on any other shops when I applied and was approved for one. The days of "do a crappy shop to get a high-reimbursement shop" are over.

-- On dining shops few things guarantee a negative report from me more than making a reservation and then being told at the end of the meal "Sorry about the awful service but we have a private party in the backroom/large group sitting over there." If I am paying the regular menu price it is reasonable to expect regular service, and if it can't be provided I shouldn't be given a reservation or at the very least I should be warned at the outset of the meal. On one recent shop I was given a soup spoon for dessert and when I asked for a dessert utensil I was told a private party in the function room was using all of them!

-- Those casinos tales are useful because there's a casino not too far from here that always has what appears to be a reasonable shop (one meal, a few games). Remembering that some casinos still allow smoking make me much less interested in doing that shop.

-- Finally, it would be greatly appreciated if those who need to insert their political rants did so in the "General Chat" section, especially if those rants are directed at a region that is undergoing a catastrophic emergency.

January 12, 2025 05:54PM

I was doing a shop for a small market that required a ridiculous amount of photos of all areas of the store. Whenever the cashier would appear to be looking off in another direction I would snap a photo. Out of nowhere the store owner appeared behind me and asked me why I was taking pictures. I had just snapped the menu board, so I responded that I was just taking a photo of the menu to share with my husband. She said, "well that's interesting, because I was watching you from my office and saw you taking multiple pictures." I played it off that it was just such a cute store, yada yada, quickly grabbed a random can of tomatoes for my required purchase, and got out of there as fast as I could.

I submitted the report only to discover that I had shopped the wrong location, so I didn't even get paid. And as a bonus, that random can of tomatoes I had grabbed had been expired for over a year!

January 12, 2025 06:47PM

Street Corner Urban Market?

January 12, 2025 07:15PM

duplicate

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/12/2025 07:17PM by bradkcrew.

January 12, 2025 07:17PM

@bradkcrew wrote:

@BarefootBliss wrote:

Street Corner Urban Market?

Yes!

January 13, 2025 06:00PM

I was doing a gas station shop in Oakland and a man was very upset that he was photographed. I was shaking like a leaf as I attempted to quickly delete the photos. I couldn't get out of there fast enough.

January 13, 2025 09:45PM

Three words - Flower Pot Audits

January 14, 2025 06:29AM

@Morledzep wrote:

Thank you Frugal for making me remember my one and only attempt at doing casino shops.. It was a terrible smoke filled day of hell, and my shop was excluded because I didn't understand the instructions or the way the casino multipurposed their venues. And I was sick for days afterward from being stuck in that thick smoke all day. I was new to mystery shopping, and the Prophet platform was confusing at best. I haven't done another casino shops since then, and I won't in future either.

Reminds me of my first casino shop. My partner went with me and we had to go to every bar and restaurant there. He was drunk by the time the trip was over. So imagine a very expensive steak house, a sandwich place, the bakery and the pastry stand in the gift shop. We had to spend over $100 gambling and guess who wins the jackpot on their first turn of the slot. ME, I got like 5k and after it was all said and done. My partner said that's its we are leaving, you got your money back, we are out of here. Rescheduled and came up with some of kind excuse why I couldn't do it. I will be damned if that casino ratted us out. They revoked my loyalty card and I got fired from my first ever MSC.

January 14, 2025 08:44AM

@gigishopper wrote:

The college I work for has a food pantry and I supervised the person who managed it during Covid. That would be an interesting shop! You might end up with a case of expired jars of gefelte fish.

@boridi wrote:

Haven't done this shop but I've received emails about CustomerOptix's food bank shops. $0 pay and $0 reimbursement. Your compensation is the food that the food bank gives you.

So long as the jars are unopened you're good and well..make some fritters.

Worst shop for me...3-tie between redoing a display at a truck stop for almost zilch payment so bad that I said "no" halfway through and do not regret it, the picture taking shop where a customer screamed at for having in the picture, and this is not a "shop" per say but....the Black Widow movie standees......

January 14, 2025 09:54AM

@Dino29 wrote:

@Morledzep wrote:

Thank you Frugal for making me remember my one and only attempt at doing casino shops.. It was a terrible smoke filled day of hell, and my shop was excluded because I didn't understand the instructions or the way the casino multipurposed their venues. And I was sick for days afterward from being stuck in that thick smoke all day. I was new to mystery shopping, and the Prophet platform was confusing at best. I haven't done another casino shops since then, and I won't in future either.

Reminds me of my first casino shop. My partner went with me and we had to go to every bar and restaurant there. He was drunk by the time the trip was over. So imagine a very expensive steak house, a sandwich place, the bakery and the pastry stand in the gift shop. We had to spend over $100 gambling and guess who wins the jackpot on their first turn of the slot. ME, I got like 5k and after it was all said and done. My partner said that's its we are leaving, you got your money back, we are out of here. Rescheduled and came up with some of kind excuse why I couldn't do it. I will be damned if that casino ratted us out. They revoked my loyalty card and I got fired from my first ever MSC.

Bestmark? You're probably better off.

January 14, 2025 10:26AM

I’m ready to exit California too. The weather has become frightening. I live in the dry dusty desert. So many fires! It is not with the cost financially or risk wise or toll on mental health to live the California dream here. It stinks because my family has a lot of work here we like. Elsewhere though, we might not be living check to check. Exit eta is no sooner than September.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/2025 10:32AM by rargirl.

January 14, 2025 08:04PM

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

There are better reasons to leave CA and that is the taxes and mindset of the voters. Single party rule by either party is problematic.

Hate to leave the stable weather, but so glad to have house 2x the size and half the property taxes.

It’s unfortunate that some people are always looking for a way to pry politics into the conversation.

Fun, Money Savings, Money Making -DustyzDealz Dot Com

January 14, 2025 11:43PM

It's definitely not my worst but uppermost in my mind because it happened TODAY! I was doing a de-brand in a location that was very sparse and difficult to take covert photos. When I was outside doing the front-of-store shot, one of the employees ran out to take a pic of me and my car and then pulled out a gun! I got out of there fast.

Shopping domestic and international locations since 2003.

January 15, 2025 01:08AM

That wasn't the worst?

When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.
Alexander Den Heijer

January 15, 2025 03:50AM

@pambam wrote:

....one of the employees ran out to take a pic of me and my car and then pulled out a gun! I got out of there fast.

Yikes! I am afraid to hear about your worse shop! I've never thought mystery shopping could be so dangerous. Now that would be an interesting report ..

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2025 03:55AM by AmandaCA.

January 15, 2025 04:50AM

If you do a casino shop and win like 5K, do you get to keep your earnings?

January 15, 2025 06:04AM

@NinS wrote:

partial quote from NinS

-- On dining shops few things guarantee a negative report from me more than making a reservation and then being told at the end of the meal "Sorry about the awful service but we have a private party in the backroom/large group sitting over there."

SandyF says: I thought i did not have a worst shop to report until I read the above and a repressed memory shop was remembered.
It was a restaurant order online for pick up. I was to park in the designated pick up spots and call in. By no means was i supposed to enter the restaurant. I got there and the pick up spots were all full. I was told to pull up in the one car wide circular drive. I stopped behind another car which was blocking my exit. I called in about every 10 minutes for my order and they kept saying it would be out soon. It was earlier days of cell phones and there were no unlimited calls or minutes. I was worried my pre purchased minutes would run out before the job was done. After many calls my final call was picked up by the manager. He explained to me that there was an impromptu wedding rehearsal group who showed up without reservations and took over half the restaurant so they were having trouble keeping up. I explained to him how many times I had called and told him what my pick up time was supposed to be. He promised to get my order out to me. He did not personally bring it out but I finally got it about an hour late. The manager never saw me in person. I rushed home to drop dinner off in my fridge as we had reservations to go elsewhere and it was then time to leave. But I opened the bag and saw my soup was missing too.
I filed my report and the MSC got in touch with me and told me the manager knew who I, the shopper , was so I could no longer do those jobs. It was about 4 years before another msc took over that restaurant and I was finally able to do them again.

January 15, 2025 07:06AM

@pambam wrote:

It's definitely not my worst but uppermost in my mind because it happened TODAY! I was doing a de-brand in a location that was very sparse and difficult to take covert photos. When I was outside doing the front-of-store shot, one of the employees ran out to take a pic of me and my car and then pulled out a gun! I got out of there fast.

If this was not the worst, then what was.

January 15, 2025 07:07AM

@Equine24 wrote:

If you do a casino shop and win like 5K, do you get to keep your earnings?

No you do not. At least not with this MSC. Hence the casino ratting me out.

January 15, 2025 07:09AM

@AmandaCA wrote:

@pambam wrote:

....one of the employees ran out to take a pic of me and my car and then pulled out a gun! I got out of there fast.

Yikes! I am afraid to hear about your worse shop! I've never thought mystery shopping could be so dangerous. Now that would be an interesting report ..

All my negative experiences have been with those pesky customers. Station attendants have only told me to leave a handful of times.

January 15, 2025 07:56AM

@Equine24 wrote:

If you do a casino shop and win like 5K, do you get to keep your earnings?

Well.. If you're going to report the shop, no. But none of those jobs pay $5K. Most of them you only get a payment for the job, and no reimbursement for the required purchases. So if I was told to go to a casino and gamble and I won $5K I'd cash out and go home. Tell the MSC that something came up and I didn't make it. Since my big casino debacle I haven't set foot in another casino.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2025 07:58AM by Morledzep.

January 15, 2025 11:34AM

@Dino29 wrote:

@Equine24 wrote:

If you do a casino shop and win like 5K, do you get to keep your earnings?

No you do not. At least not with this MSC. Hence the casino ratting me out.

And that's why I quit casinos. Usually use of a players' card is required so the casino and MSC will know exactly your every move. Years ago there were OTB shops where we were allowed to keep winnings which made the shop worth my time.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2025 11:34AM by sestrahelena.

January 15, 2025 02:23PM

Having a gun pulled on me would be the tipping point...oh my god, glad you are ok.
I was once in a Facebook group for shoppers and one day, a shopper posted and apologized for being absent for so long - she had just gotten out of the hospital.
She was well known for her efficient and lucrative gas station routes between Atlanta and Birmingham, along I- 20.
She was a short and older lady. At one of the gas pumps, as she reached for it, a man came up behind in her - in broad daylight and pulled her to the ground and robbed her at gunpoint. There were two men and they roughed her up pretty good. Gas station attendant called the cops and an ambulance. Cops said yeah these gas station hold ups have been going on around here.
Anyway, broke her arm and multiple bruises.
She gave up shopping after that.
That group was all full time MSers so always posting something incredible.
Even though she was robbed during the daytime - it made me think - I've never done a night time gas station shop.

January 15, 2025 04:00PM

Gas station shopping does give me pause. I've seen several of my stations on the news or online reports of having been robbed at gunpoint. Mostly it happens at night. But for whatever reason, I never feel unsafe while doing them. I do stick to mostly highly visible and well lit places, but it still can happen...Nothing like coming home and hearing the news of what happened at a place you were just at this morning or yesterday. Same with banks and robberies...been there just after one.

*****************************************************************************
The more I learn about people...the more I like my dog..

Mark Twain

January 15, 2025 06:07PM

The worst for me was a route of bars for pirating of boxing events being shown w.o licenses.

I was assigned to three locations that were in areas that were not great so I took my husband along. I didn't realize that these were mostly latin places and we stood out like a sore thumb. This was a while ago with a different MSC that does it now.

We were to go in and videotape some of the TVs that were showing the event. The MSC did not tell us that most of these places charge a cover charge that was not reimbursable.

Get to the first one and we're able to complete the shop but it cost us almost a hundred bucks. Thankfully they were paying us well.

Get to the second location and there is a ton of cops outside. Have no idea what's going on but clearly cannot enter and attempting to try and talk to the employees did not help because we didn't speak Spanish. Took pictures and was told by the MSC to go ahead and try anyway because she said that they were able to confirm that they were showing the event. I'm like they probably were before whatever happened with all the cops. Took pictures but did not get paid for that location.

Get to the third location and they're selling drugs out of the parking lot and we take off.

Got paid for one out of three and was out for hours. Never again!

January 16, 2025 06:27PM

I appreciate all the stories being told here. Some wild stuff.

I have no such interesting tales. All my completed shops were pretty straightforward with no weird / bad stuff occurring. I mostly do account inqueries at banks. I've passed on gas stations cause 1) they seem tedious and not worth the money, and 2) not wanting to encounter some of the bad shiate others here have mentioned.

I don't think there are any Russians / And there ain't no Yanks
Just corporate criminals\ / Playin' with tanks

January 16, 2025 06:35PM

@foodluvr wrote:

The worst for me was a route of bars for pirating of boxing events being shown w.o licenses.

I was assigned to three locations that were in areas that were not great so I took my husband along. I didn't realize that these were mostly latin places and we stood out like a sore thumb. This was a while ago with a different MSC that does it now.

We were to go in and videotape some of the TVs that were showing the event. The MSC did not tell us that most of these places charge a cover charge that was not reimbursable.

Get to the first one and we're able to complete the shop but it cost us almost a hundred bucks. Thankfully they were paying us well.

Get to the second location and there is a ton of cops outside. Have no idea what's going on but clearly cannot enter and attempting to try and talk to the employees did not help because we didn't speak Spanish. Took pictures and was told by the MSC to go ahead and try anyway because she said that they were able to confirm that they were showing the event. I'm like they probably were before whatever happened with all the cops. Took pictures but did not get paid for that location.

Get to the third location and they're selling drugs out of the parking lot and we take off.

Got paid for one out of three and was out for hours. Never again!

Wow.

Kudos to you for taking on these shops and doing as well as you did. They would be a hard pass even without knowing your experiences. Being caught documenting illegal activity could possibly result in an a$$kicking. No thanks.

I don't think there are any Russians / And there ain't no Yanks
Just corporate criminals\ / Playin' with tanks

January 17, 2025 04:59PM

@retrodaddy wrote:

@foodluvr wrote:

The worst for me was a route of bars for pirating of boxing events being shown w.o licenses.

I was assigned to three locations that were in areas that were not great so I took my husband along. I didn't realize that these were mostly latin places and we stood out like a sore thumb. This was a while ago with a different MSC that does it now.

We were to go in and videotape some of the TVs that were showing the event. The MSC did not tell us that most of these places charge a cover charge that was not reimbursable.

Get to the first one and we're able to complete the shop but it cost us almost a hundred bucks. Thankfully they were paying us well.

Get to the second location and there is a ton of cops outside. Have no idea what's going on but clearly cannot enter and attempting to try and talk to the employees did not help because we didn't speak Spanish. Took pictures and was told by the MSC to go ahead and try anyway because she said that they were able to confirm that they were showing the event. I'm like they probably were before whatever happened with all the cops. Took pictures but did not get paid for that location.

Get to the third location and they're selling drugs out of the parking lot and we take off.

Got paid for one out of three and was out for hours. Never again!

Wow.

Kudos to you for taking on these shops and doing as well as you did. They would be a hard pass even without knowing your experiences. Being caught documenting illegal activity could possibly result in an a$$kicking. No thanks.

Probably why it paid so well. But we didn't have any problems because they weren't looking at what we were doing at the bar. They have changed their policy but they used to also pay you if you turned in businesses that illegally showing copyrighted material that didn't have licenses. Think local nail salons showing movies and TV etc. And those paid about $200 a piece if they could verify. Those were super easy and I made a fortune.

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