Secret Shopper staff have been extremely rude to me, and I am proud to announce that I no longer shop for them. They offer terrible pay. Some of the assignments I've done for them caused me to lose money. They do not tell you this ahead of time, but when you follow the minimum requirements in the guidelines, it costs more than the reimbursed amount.
The biggest complaint I have about SECRET SHOPPER, however, is not the negative pay. It's the fact that on six different accounts, I was wrongly accused.
For example, we are to report whether or not the cashier checks the bottom of the shopping cart. In my report, I stated that the "Cashier did not specifically inquire about the bottom of my basket. However, the Cashier did ask if 'that was all?'"
The editor emailed me saying, "You lied that the cashier did not check the bottom of the cart. If they ask for anything else, then that also means they checked the bottom of the cart."
I clearly did not lie.
Not only did they accuse me of LYING on my report, they also dropped my report and didn't pay me for this one little thing. If it were any other shopping company, not only would the editor fix the report, but also notify the shopper of this as well as CHANGE their guidelines so that the guidelines are more specific. Because I followed the guidelines completely, 100%, and I was still wrongly accused and not paid. It cost me time and money, and there was no legitimate reason for them to reject this report. I wrote very detailed narratives and provided them with an excellent report.
The above is just one of many examples. Another time, the receipt I received reflected the WRONG DATE. It was the receipt that was printed wrong, and once again, they told me that I "lied" about the date I did the shop. Once again, I was accused, and not paid for the shop. It wasn't even my fault as I followed guidelines 100% again, turned it in on time and was thorough in well written narratives.
The guys behind this company are not professional. I did well over 30 shops for them, and I have been a mystery shopper for more than five years, almost always bringing in a flawless 10 report for other companies as well. And I am SO proud to say that I QUIT SHOPPING FOR Secret Shopper!!
I am not the only shopper out there who feels this way. I have three mystery shopper buddies, and we perform assignments together. All four of us would highly urge you to boycott SecretShopper. They don't treat shoppers with respect. You never get the benefit of the doubt, and worst of all, they are rude.
Fellow shoppers, there are PLENTY of other great companies out there. Together, if we support the ones that treat us with respect, then we can maintain our quality shopping experience and continue to enjoy what we do.
xox love to all