I'm looking for input about National Shopping Service. Has anyone worked for them?

Some shoppers love them. I am not among their ranks.

I did one shop for them last year and got so burned up with them that I have terminated them. First, on their website you can see nothing about the jobs so it is a real 'pig in a poke' situation just to express interest. Second, once I had expressed interest in hopes of seeing more about the shop and then removed my expression of interest I was getting multiple calls "because you have expressed interest in . . ." Third, when the scheduler described the dinner shop on the phone they indicated that it was appropriate for 2 with $X reimbursement. A bonus was offered such that a quick calculation of fee + bonus + $X would more than cover dinner. So I took the job.

Now I am allowed to see the instructions. It is a dinner shop, it is for one shopper and if a second person goes along there must be separate checks. Ok, so the $X will more than cover one person and the fee + bonus will almost cover the other and it looks like we will be okay. Shop was submitted but suddenly there is no record of any bonus being offered.

The shop was paid in about 6 weeks, the check I have to be very careful about where I cash it because it states "National Shopping Service" "Shopper Fee Account". Most banks at this point film deposited checks and can retrieve the pictures easily for customers. Thus I do not want to deposit this at an institution where I shop.

Meanwhile I am getting calls from more of their schedulers to do this and similar shops, all of whom are telling me it is for 2 people. When I suggest they look at the instructions that it is for one they are surprised. One of them even suggested I should have sent in both receipts. This job cost ME around $14 to perform because of the discrepancy between what the scheduler told me and what the instructions and final payment actually were. I will not work for them further.

Thanks for the info. I did one shop for them that was a telephone golf shop. It was to payingy $7, I took it only because there was no travel,gas etc involved, and I figured it was an easy few extra bucks.The golf company was to send me literature which I was to forward to National.Instructions said to wait 3-5 biz days to see if literature was sent, which it never was. I completed my report and only was paid $3. I contacted the company, got a run around and decided it wasn't worth the trouble for a few bucks. The shops I see for them in this area all only pay $7 and those involve going to a store. I don't plan to do any more assignments for them either.

I think they count on the "wasn't worth the trouble for a few bucks" approach to do underpayments and that just tells you crystal clearly what they think of shoppers.

I only do the pizza shops and when they are bonused. The form is easy and I never have had a problem getting paid...........I have pizza delivered at home and at work (much to the delight of my coworkers) I usually do the non photo ones but will do the mangled photo one sometimes.

Ditto Bugs. In fact, I have a photo shop tomorrow night. It's bonused, otherwise I wouldn't do it, because I don't like their pizza!

I have a non photo at work on tuesday.......bonused of course.....

Greetings, I have shopped for them several months now. My only complaint is the length of time to get paid, and re~imbursed!! I did have a dust~up with them last week; did a shop my usual way, only to discover a change to what I was allowed to order ... afterwards!! It was my error, but who would have thought that a menu change would go into effect?!! Thusly, my report was NOT accepted, and I promptly cancelled the next one, previously scheduled.
Overall, they're good Peeps to shop for(^_^(

I've done several shops for them. Mainly pizza and usually when bonused and I get it delivered. They call me regularly for these.
I did a golf one once and like K above did not get any literature mailed to me. It took a while to get re-imbursed for that one.
They pay monthly and I've had no trouble cashing their checks, I usually mail them as payment against me CC.
A few points to ponder:
- the shops are generally low paying
- they have a large staff turnaround
- poor website with no shop instruction details

JudiG I just had an amusing thought. What if I endorsed a bunch of the little MSing checks over to IRS to pay my taxes and then wrote a personal check for the balance The only bill I don't pay on line by EFT or charging to a credit card is my IRS tax bill. Do you think it would encourage IRS to understand that this is a low budget occupation? (Unfortunately, I don't think IRS takes 3rd party checks.)

Some of you are really paranoid, do you think the teller or bank cars what you check says on it?

Yes, I can guarantee you the bank tellers do. Wit all the mystery shopping scams out there, I have had one teller lecture me that if the check was a fraud they would close my account if the check bounced (I tried to explain that $10 checks were NOT the stuff MS scams are made of...but she was intent on "educating" me...and of course, the check did not bounce.) I have had 3 ask me specifically about working as a mystery shopper, if I liked it, etc.

I have done several shops and had no problems. They do have end of month bonus shops, which are great. They do take their time paying you, but payment will come when promised.

I just got a bonused mangled pizza for this week by them contacting me to do it. I have gotten HUGE (and I mean 4 times the amount of the actual pay) bonuses from them for some of their other shops. I only shop for them when they contact me personally and I can negotiate the pay I want, but their forms are fairly easy and they always pay when they say they will.

I work for them, do their upscale retail stores, and have done a demo. The only ones I dont do is their pizza shops where you have to take pic's of the pizza. I like them, they pay quickly and are always available for input or questions....good company.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2010 06:52PM by Irene_L.A..

dee shops Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes, I can guarantee you the bank tellers do. Wit
> all the mystery shopping scams out there, I have
> had one teller lecture me that if the check was a
> fraud they would close my account if the check
> bounced (I tried to explain that $10 checks were
> NOT the stuff MS scams are made of...but she was
> intent on "educating" me...and of course, the
> check did not bounce.) I have had 3 ask me
> specifically about working as a mystery shopper,
> if I liked it, etc.

Wow... never have this before, but good to know. Teller in my bank better not try to "educate or lecture" me... that is just rude to the customer. If she knows for sure it is scam, thats a whole different conversation. I hate it when someone act like they know what they are doing, when they are actually clueless.

I just posted in a different thread to avoid the mangled pizza shops.Seems more and more and more people are being left holding the bag of the over priced inedible pizza and having their pics rejected only to deal with rude people at NSS. Not only do they not pay to do this shop they refused to reimburse for the pizza. Ive never seen "pay" for this shop so wondering what they are bonusing at.

debmi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I just posted in a different thread to avoid the
> mangled pizza shops.Seems more and more and more
> people are being left holding the bag of the over
> priced inedible pizza and having their pics
> rejected only to deal with rude people at NSS. Not
> only do they not pay to do this shop they refused
> to reimburse for the pizza. Ive never seen "pay"
> for this shop so wondering what they are bonusing
> at.

I've done several heavily bonus shops for them. Problem is that the pay is too low initially and it takes too long for collect your money. They paid when they promised, it was just too long a wait.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/2010 10:21AM by Emdisco.

I have done maybe a dozen of their pizza shops. If you wait long enough, their bonuses go up pretty nicely. They pay at the end of the following month, which is common for a lot of MSPs. They pay like clockwork, though. So once your shop is accepted, there is no worry about not being paid.

shop-a-holic Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have done maybe a dozen of their pizza shops.
> If you wait long enough, their bonuses go up
> pretty nicely. They pay at the end of the
> following month, which is common for a lot of
> MSPs. They pay like clockwork, though. So once
> your shop is accepted, there is no worry about not
> being paid.

Have done shop for them for about 2 yrs. Never have problem about payment. They always been responsive when I email or left a voicemail. I think it all depends who you dealing with, I always been lucky that I get along with the scheduler.

I only do shops when they call me and I can negotiate a huge bonus. However, I have never heard a peep about anything I have done, and have been paid like clock work by their timetables. I get some huge ($35) bonuses for relatively easy shops with no photos and no injured pizzas. But again, I only shop when they call me.

I too have done pizza shops, ham shops, and a few others. They are not the best at paying on time. I have never had a problem with them rejecting the photos. Working with them for a little over 2 yrs.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/2010 03:23PM by amaliamf.

amaliamf,
You might want to remove the client name from your post.

I gave up pizza shops a long time ago, but the ham shops are a breeze.

They also have parking shops in So Cal that can tie in very well with hotel/bar/restaurant evaluations.

Shame the pay schedule is so lengthy, however.

I've done a lot of pizza shops for them. Great shops. I love the pizza, and they pay well with bonuses and pay faster than some other companies. May have something to do with who you deal with.

Obviously there are folks who like the pizza or the client would not still be in business. I have done the mangled for another company and the pizza was so bad that I will only do them for the fee + bonus. If there is a high probability of having them rejected based on photos, there is no point in participating at all. I will save money by going to the store and purchasing refrigerated or frozen pizzas to cook at home that my family likes. And I have heard too many reports of rejections based on photos from shoppers I trust to have done it right to be bothered with shops for this client any further, bonus or not, regardless of MSP doing them.

I have done the pizza shops, and have never had a problem. I was clearly informed that payment is made at the end of the following month. I don't have a problem with the pay schedule because I was told up front!

Has anyone able to login to their site?

I am asking because something seems to be weird. I have been with this company in the last 2-3 yrs, and never have problem. This past month, I did 6-7 of their shops. I did not plan to do this many, but they ask me to do it with high bonus. I log in yesterday, and could not see any assignments in my area. I know there are some since I am getting their emails offering me assignments. I called, and was told that the client - pizza place manage to figure out that I am doing MS, he not sure how this happen. I was also told that my account has problem, thats why I can not see any assignment and their IT is working on it. Today, I can not even log in. It said my username is invalid. I tried to reset my password, and get "The email address entered was not found in our database, or not a valid format. Please re-enter."

Am I being banned/kicked out because the client figure out I do MS? The only reason I could think of is the client figure out that I ordered pizza from different store - but this is what NSS ask me to do. I am not crazy about ordering pizza every other day from different stores

If I am being banned, they better pay me. They owe me over $200 for assignments I did.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2010 10:42AM by sequoia.

Yes, they are great to work for.

Just got to self-assign NSS 1st. decent restaurant (Japenese), very excited...heard good things about them. I like NSS, they have been good to me on a monthly basis.