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Wow I would be upset too if I got deactivated and accused of fraud. Honestly I would not care to work with them again, but it would eat me up too. You don't really give enough details for us to see both sides of the issue. The guidelines for that shop do state a shop will be disqualified for "... rushing employee, stating you only have a certain amount of time, etc." I'm not saying you did any of that, and those reasons are kind of vague. But if you are sure it is just a case of mistaken identity, or the accusation of fraud is out of line, and you feel strongly enough to spend a bunch of time on it it, I would go up the company ladder. Look for contacts on the MSC's web page.

Edited to add: But in the end, even if you make your case and convince the MSC, the client has the last word and there may be nothing that can be done about that.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/2023 02:43PM by mystery2me.

@mystery2me wrote:

Wow I would be upset too if I got deactivated and accused of fraud. Honestly I would not care to work with them again, but it would eat me up too. You don't really give enough details for us to see both sides of the issue. The guidelines for that shop do state a shop will be disqualified for "... rushing employee, stating you only have a certain amount of time, etc." I'm not saying you did any of that, and those reasons are kind of vague. But if you are sure it is just a case of mistaken identity, or the accusation of fraud is out of line, and you feel strongly enough to spend a bunch of time on it it, I would go up the company ladder. Look for contacts on the MSC's web page.

Edited to add: But in the end, even if you make your case and convince the MSC, the client has the last word and there may be nothing that can be done about that.

The shop required me to go asked them for the membership, and the staff is supposed to give me a tour to the gym area. I did 2 of them before and I know what to look out for, so I never refuse any tour or say that I am in rush or anything. If that is the case I would not even be driving down to do the assignment.

So during my visit. I walked in and stated that I am interested in joining a gym, I would like to check around the area and knows about the membership they have to offer. The staff asked me to grab the membership fee paper for him, which I did, he explained about the plans that they have, and did not offer me any tour, I had to asked if I can walk around the area, to which he stated that he was the only staff on site so he has to be at the front counter thus he cannot give me the tour, but I am welcome to walk around to check things out, to which I did just that, I walk around the store, check the black membership area (massage, tanning ) locker room for about 5 mins before I walked back to the counter and asked about the private trainer(which is also the requirement). After all those are done I walked out the gym and did the report.

And then all the sudden my other 2 assignments, which are scheduled for 6/14, were cancelled this morning and the reason given was "shopper's account deactivated for fraudulent shop". I reached out to the schedule for the reason, then she replied saying that I did a fraud audit because the client's video shows that "you told the employee you were too busy for a tour then marked them down for all the tour questions". which is not true. I request for the shared video, which the schedule refuse to provide, only stating that the time stamp matched. I even tried asking her what appeal, and she never replied

I was deactivated a few years ago by another company trying to say that I used a photo of a gas pump that another shopper had used a few years before. I was beyond upset because first, that was the very first time that I had ever completed that shop location, second, I do not know anyone that mystery shops, let alone that particular location. I argued for weeks and they simply said sorry, they could not do anything. I was really upset because I had been doing shops for them for a few years. Almost as a full time job. I was making 2-3k monthly. Then….. karma was a beautiful thing as a few months after they deactivated me, they lost 2 big accounts to another company that I am doing them for now. (Making less money of course but still doing the same shops none the less)

I recall shopping a well-known fitness center and they do have a rule where if only one employee is present at the reception counter, that person cannot leave to give a tour, since they have to check members in, answer the phone, etc . In those situations I've been invited to tour myself, which I've done. But I was always paid.
(Edited to remove the initials of the fitness center.)

If 360 Relay is the former Goodwin Hospitality, your situation is not at all surprising.

I'm not sure how a video would prove the case either way, unless it has audio, Or if the employee is mistakenly atrributing another cusotmer's comments to you, and the video would clear that up. But if the employee is simply lying, there is not much that can be done. Either the company take the mystery shops seriously or they don't.

That has always been one of my fears, that an employee or manager gets upset enough at a low score (or fear of a low score) that they falsely accuse me of something in an effort to get me deactivated. I've been threatened a couple of times on revealed audits. All I can do is stay professional and try to do things by the book, and hope my record speaks for itself. But I've read enough stories on this forum to know that even the better MSCs don't always have the final say in these matters.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/2023 09:30PM by mystery2me.

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@shopperbob wrote:

If 360 Relay is the former Goodwin Hospitality, your situation is not at all surprising.

I only know that they were former 360 intel, not sure about Goodwin Hospitality

@mystery2me wrote:

I'm not sure how a video would prove the case either way, unless it has audio, Or if the employee is mistakenly atrributing another cusotmer's comments to you, and the video would clear that up. But if the employee is simply lying, there is not much that can be done. Either the company take the mystery shops seriously or they don't.

That has always been one of my fears, that an employee or manager gets upset enough at a low score (or fear of a low score) that they falsely accuse me of something in an effort to get me deactivated. I've been threatened a couple of times on revealed audits. All I can do is stay professional and try to do things by the book, and hope my record speaks for itself. But I've read enough stories on this forum to know that even the better MSCs don't always have the final say in these matters.

Yes I would love to know as well, what make this whole case worse and fishy is that when I asked for the video, just to be sure the one in the video is me, she refuse and just said she is not at liberty to share the video, and when I tried to asked what appeal am I wearing in the video, she just ignore and does not response anymore

It is also possible that the time or date on the stor video is wrong.

I've been challenged by an employee for an eat at the bar wing restaurant. They reviewed the tape and said I was texting on my phone.

Well the bartender had just had his first baby and was gushing about it to a bunch of regulars at the other end of the bar, understandably.

But he pretty much ignored everyone else at the bar he didn't know.

I replied I was taking notes. And the clincher, told the MSC that I had previously given this bartender glowing reports. Never heard another word and got paid.

The moral is, report what happens honestly and with integrity. That's all we have control over honestly.

But I understand why the OP is upset as I have been deactivated by a couple of MSCs. I also got reactivated by one because after further review, it seemed someone else at the MSC didn't feel it justified.

The other MSC was because I didn't get along with the scheduler. Funny thing is, I haven't seen anything posted recently about RBG. Last I saw was someone said they changed schedulers for the steakhouse. Did something happen?

This reminds me of a bank shop I did for the now defunct company David Sparks & Associates . I was accused by a bank employee for being a disgruntled customer because of my negative shopping report. I was not even a customer of the bank. The shopping company interrogated me in a nasty way. This was one of those investment shops. I never worked for them again.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/04/2023 12:44AM by larueda992.

Maybe you need to clarify that you are asking her to confirm what "apparel" you are wearing in the video? You keep referring to it as "what appeal am I wearing in the video" which is confusing. Maybe she is just not sure how to answer.

Apparel = clothing. Appeal = a request for a reversal

@kisekinecro wrote:

@mystery2me wrote:

I'm not sure how a video would prove the case either way, unless it has audio, Or if the employee is mistakenly atrributing another cusotmer's comments to you, and the video would clear that up. But if the employee is simply lying, there is not much that can be done. Either the company take the mystery shops seriously or they don't.

That has always been one of my fears, that an employee or manager gets upset enough at a low score (or fear of a low score) that they falsely accuse me of something in an effort to get me deactivated. I've been threatened a couple of times on revealed audits. All I can do is stay professional and try to do things by the book, and hope my record speaks for itself. But I've read enough stories on this forum to know that even the better MSCs don't always have the final say in these matters.

Yes I would love to know as well, what make this whole case worse and fishy is that when I asked for the video, just to be sure the one in the video is me, she refuse and just said she is not at liberty to share the video, and when I tried to asked what appeal am I wearing in the video, she just ignore and does not response anymore

You're not losing anything by being deactivated by Goodwin, or whatever they are calling themselves this week. They take good shops, and submit them to the client, then tell the shopper they did it wrong and refuse to pay them. And if you fight back and prove them wrong they will deactivate you. I believe I'm still active, I get the notices every time they change their name, but I don't work for them.

It sounds like the employee is lying to get the shop thrown out since they got a low score.

mjt9598 states--It sounds like the employee is lying to get the shop thrown out since they got a low score

Bob agrees--That has happened to me on four occasions; I appealed and won all. Two were with the same MSC, ICU, and their manner of handling the situations were so completely unacceptable, I decided to exit our relationship. They tried the "we have the video" trick, but when I requested my description, they backed down. I considered the first accusation was simply an error, but not the second. I did wonder why they would try the same trick twice, but the shops were seven yrs. apart.

You are right that it is frustrating!! If the MSC doesn't side with you, it's best that you don't work for them. I've had that happen twice: once it was a clothing store, and the associate was supposed to make me try 3 different suits. He only made me try two. Of course, he contested the report and said he did make me try 3 - the video camera showed he was wrong. Another time, not so long ago, the associate argued that I was, I quote, "looking suspicious", and I had rejected all the offers for help she had supposedly offered. She was pretty nasty (the scheduler forwarded me the comments) but when she described who she thought was me, it was a completely different person. In both cases, the MSC trusted me over the associate. And I guess it boils down to this: whether or not the MSC trusts their shoppers or not. If they don't trust you, no matter how unfair it seems. just move on and as gocrazy4801 says, it's probably a blessing in disguise. You're better off working for companies that trust you.

The MSPs would probably rather lose a shopper than a client.

Totally agree with this statement below although heir are some msc that are respective of their individual shoppers point of view,

@mjt9598 wrote:

The MSPs would probably rather lose a shopper than a client.

As for video cameras, I have only reviewed a tape once in my life and it was for a msc client but I was not on a mystery shop when it happened. I was eating at a sit down restaurant and paid with cash. My change should have included a $10 bill but it did not. I brought this up to the server and the manager who offered to show the video tape of me scooping up my change off the table. I had offered to have them inspect my wallet that had no $10 bills in it but they did not believe me. In any case the video in black and white was so fuzzy if I had not known it was me sitting there and I just watched a tape of a restaurant and told to look at the tables and see if I saw myself I would not have been able to pick myself out. It showed a fuzzy whiteish limb moving over towards the fuzzy looking rectangular thing that I identified as a napkin. That was their proof that I had picked up my change and took it. I lost that fight and chalked it up to my category of "costs of living in today's society."
Some places must have better cameras than this one but it is a large chain of not cheap Japanese BBQ restaurants whose home country produces excellent quality audio visual equipment.

And you never returned to dine there again? I would never darken the door of any establishment that accused me of that.

I was actually telling that story to illustrate that my experience with those videos is that they could be so grainy it would be hard to prove anything. I guess it depends on how much a retailer wants to spend on equipment.

@DRJ wrote:

And you never returned to dine there again? I would never darken the door of any establishment that accused me of that.

I was just curious if you ever went back.

Yes , I have gone back many times. And they are still a mystery shop but with a different msc but I do not go on my own dime anymore as they no longer have the well priced lunch specials. I like the food!!! With staff turnover the manager that was there that day is not longer there.

@DRJ wrote:

I was just curious if you ever went back.