Grassroots - Now closed

Has anybody had any issues with them?

Two months ago I did a shop for them, but when I went to their website there was no link to fill out the report. I checked again the following day and same thing. I called and left a voice mail, but it was never returned.

A month later they called me and asked me if I could do the same shop again. The scheduler commented how I "flaked" last time and I explained what happened. The scheduler apologized and said they had been changing their system around and it had caused some issues. She assured me it was fixed, so I accepted the new shop. The scheduler game me her extension and told me to call her directly with any issues.

I completed the shop but got home and it wasn't listed on my assignments page. I immediately called the scheduler and left her a voice mail. It was a Saturday and she had mentioned they didn't check messages over the weekend, so I wasn't too worried when I didn't hear back on Monday, thinking they had a backlog of calls from over the weekend and were likely returning them in the order they were received. After no call back was received on Tuesday I left another message.

Its been about a month and still no word. Which means this is the second shop in a row I did without pay and without any communication.

Any suggestions?

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This is getting expensive. I would not have left only one phone message and let it go. And, if I were unable to report and get paid for the first shop, I would not have accepted a second. My advice is that this is not working for you. Drop them. If you continue to work for them, you should be more assertive. A voicemail is fine, but I would also e-mail - and more than once. I'd phone more than twice, too.After a month, it's too late to report the shop.

That said, I have worked for them since 2008 with no unresolved problems. Once I noticed I had been unassigned from a project that I had self assigned. A glitch. I always check before I go. I've noticed I get a faster response to e-mail than phone messages.

I have shopped for MysteryGuest/Grass Roots for years. I have never had a problem.

Do you have any experience with their system?

Before you shop for them you must go into your log, click on OB#, view visit date, read Guidelines (Is a must.)
Print out the shop, you need to call ahead, see shop outline.
When you return, follow though with the same. Click on OB#.
A month is way to long. I would not shop again until you know how to get all of the information. If their is no OB# to follow-thru, you did not get the shop. Hope this helps.

@AustinMom wrote:

I've noticed I get a faster response to e-mail than phone messages.

They are superspeedy with the email. I emailed earlier asking to move the date of a to-go shop and had a reply that it had been changed for me less than 5 minutes later. I hate their system as I travel a lot and it's really hard to find shops outside of one area, but love them otherwise.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

I haven't had any problems with them.

I just finished writing a report for them at a most enjoyable local owned non-franchise $60 lunch place. I would not have gone if the Observation # was not assigned to me on the website right before I left. I read the actual report right before I left the house as well as the shop instructions to make sure I didn't miss any observations.

They have well designed reports and do not ask you the same thing three different ways.

OMG, I just had the best fresh blackened Mahi Mahi sandwich ever, and they impressed with all local sourced items and everything was made in house from scratch. I have called them during business hours and always got a very friendly person on the other end of the phone that was more than happy to answer any questions I had.

I ran over by a small amount, but the food was well worth it.

Thanks for all the info. I had done shops with them previously without any issues, so maybe the first time was indeed a glitch and the second time I should have checked I was assigned before.

I just did my first shop with them. I got email confirmation about the report being sbmitted.
I checked the site and can not find any information about completed shop, like shop history or something...
How it works on their website? Tnx

You will probbly get no feedback. I've done over a hundred of their shops and have only once heard from them after reporting. In that case, they asked me to e-mail a copy of the receipt (they usually do not want the receipt, only the transaction number), because I reported that my server introduced himself with one name, wore a nametag with a different name, and the receipt showed a third name, although the same server provided all my service. I sent the receipt and heard nothing more.

After you submit the report, it "disappears." After your report is reviewed, it will be listed under "Previious Observations" visible on the main page when you log in.

Thank you. As it was my first shop, thats why so far I do not have Previous Observations tab.
I did their Happy shop LOL

I had a shop scheduled tomorrow, but received an email saying they had to cancel. Now I don't see any available shops. There were tons when I checked a few hours ago. I know they didn't all get assigned. Can anyone else see shops?

Mod note: Borrowing this post since this is the first in the thread. This thread has been updated to reflect that there is a note on Grass Root's website that they are now closed. Below is the quote:

Notice: Grass Roots America has ceased operations as of March 31, 2015. If you have any questions, please call (305) 674-7677 and leave us a detailed message and we will do our best to respond to your inquiry as soon as practicable.

I had one scheduled for Thursday. Mine was canceled, too. I don't see any shops posted anywhere nearby.

Same here! It was for the restaurant named after a dessert. I wrote back and asked them why, haven't had a response. I'm relieved that it wasn't just me. On their website they still have assignments for the seafood restaurant that reimburses a gift card.

I don't see those either.

No seafoods posted here but there were several dessert company shops. I had not checked e-mail until I saw geauxcj's post and I had a sinking feeling. I logged in to find my e-mail. Then I logged in and looked for shops. None. All the desserts gone and nothing else posted. Not even the Mickey store and those seem to sit on the board all month here.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/01/2015 01:25AM by AustinMom.

Oh good, it wasn't just mine that got cancelled. i thought maybe I got blocked or something.

I'm wondering if they lost the restaurant to another msc. I remember when they used to do the Garlic Cheddar Biscuit fish restaurant years ago and then stopped.

I hope I'm wrong.

Ok, this is just weird. I logged back into their website and their seafood restaurants are off the board. Just an hour ago their were on the board, with at least 10 different locations available.

Nothing in Louisiana anymore either. This isn't looking good for Grassroots.

Nothing within 50 miles of Indianapolis either.

Their whole concept of paying with gift cards was lame. IMO good riddance.

Me too! This is a "mystery" to me, and I hope we all get answers!

People around here sure get spooked easily. There are many technical reasons that they may have had to take down the website and or remove the shops for a day or two. It don't always mean that they lost any accounts or they are going out of business. If you ever ran a server, you'd know that things happen that are beyond your control. You can loose the back end system and still have the main website up.

Here are just a few examples:

1. SQL Database corruption. This is a nightmare and can take a site back to the last full backup and require lots of data entry to bring it back to current.

2. Web Developer making a small tweak to the live website. yeah, they just trashed it and now you need to find/restore the HTML, Java script they tweaked.

3. Hard drive failure, or security patch required for a 0-day vulnerability in some software package they use forcing them to take down the system until it's patched.

4. Web Hosting company unplanned or planned outage for upgrades.

I could go on and on.

The system was up and working and I submitted a desert shop YESTERDAY and turned in the report and received a confirmation email.

Everything was fine less than 24 hours ago. The Bone shops that nobody will do are missing here too.

They did had problems last Thursday and Friday. Step 3 was pre-checked on the reports and would not open to insert any data. I am glad it was not just me because I could not figure out what I had done wrong. It must be something with the website.

@scanman1 wrote:

People around here sure get spooked easily. There are many technical reasons that they may have had to take down the website and or remove the shops for a day or two. It don't always mean that they lost any accounts or they are going out of business. If you ever ran a server, you'd know that things happen that are beyond your control. You can loose the back end system and still have the main website up.

Scanman......they are CANCELLING shops that are already scheduled. It looks like they cancelled all of the April Dessert Manufacturer shops. A friend had one for next week cancelled. I had one for the end of April cancelled. PLUS all of the shops that had been on the board are gone.

@Phoebe70 wrote:

I'm wondering if they lost the restaurant to another msc. I remember when they used to do the Garlic Cheddar Biscuit fish restaurant years ago and then stopped.

I hope I'm wrong.

I hope you are wrong too Phoebe. My shop for this weekend got cancelled too, but they are amongst my favorite MSC's. I really hope no other MSC snatches their clients!

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I am not the most active member of this public forum. In fact I rarely log on to check updates a few minutes weekly. Please do not think I am ignoring you if I do not respond to your input right away. Happy Shopping!

BTW, my shop was not the one named after the famous 'dessert' but the seafood specialty restaurant.

It's justifiable to get spooked easily and many companies and clients come and go.....

If I didn't already know who their clients were, this thread left no doubt.

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.

If shops for multiple clients are being cancelled, it sounds a lot more like a software or scheduling issue rather than a problem with losing a client. I'm hoping they straighten this out and get those jobs back on the job board.

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