I recently noticed a bonused watch shop with an upcoming due date. I travel for work and realized I could swing it, with some small tweaks to my plans, but not by the due date. I emailed the scheduler and asked if it could be extended. She confirmed it could be done and assigned it with a due date a few days later. On the date of my assignment, I get a generic email stating that it's been removed from log. When I contact the scheduler (a little agitated because I adjusted my plans) she tells me the partner no longer needs the report and to apply for another scenario (being offered for $250 less.) Am I wrong for being annoyed? Is this common? The same scheduler is now not responding to emails about other opportunities and this is frustrating.

This has happened to me before. It's annoying, but there's nothing really you can do. It's not very common though.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/16/2024 06:07PM by Mellifluy.

Saba, you are not wrong for being annoyed. As an IC, though, we must understand that on rare occasion work is canceled. I have completed approx. 200 shops a yr. for 21+ yrs. and to the best of my recollection, I have received two such notices, with both being before I departed for work. According to my thinking, that is acceptable.

This particular one was Shopmetrics. It was cancelled as I was enroute and had traveled about an hour to get there.

I had great experiences with him in the past. Is he no longer involved with this project?

I had this happen last week with a tobacco shop. I did the shop, purchased the items which cost about $20, then when I went to do my report it wasn’t there. I emailed the scheduler twice and forwarded the confirmation email but never got it back. So now I wasted $20 open tobacco that’s going in the trash because no one I know uses it. Unbelievable.

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@Saba319 wrote:

I recently noticed a bonused watch shop with an upcoming due date. I travel for work and realized I could swing it, with some small tweaks to my plans, but not by the due date. I emailed the scheduler and asked if it could be extended. She confirmed it could be done and assigned it with a due date a few days later. On the date of my assignment, I get a generic email stating that it's been removed from log. When I contact the scheduler (a little agitated because I adjusted my plans) she tells me the partner no longer needs the report and to apply for another scenario (being offered for $250 less.) Am I wrong for being annoyed? Is this common? The same scheduler is now not responding to emails about other opportunities and this is frustrating.

Isn’t Dawn Fink covering watch shops? They sound good, but seem incredibly intrusive.

I’m sorry you went through this. Ipsos is brutal and they have no problems throwing shoppers and their clients under the bus.

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Ouch.

Apparently we missed some newbie drama as whatever ServiceAward is replying to has now been deleted.

Last week a very reliable parking MSC cancelled a scheduled shop the day before per the client’s request. As it happens another MSC had a parking shop and I negotiated a big bonus that paid about 60% more than the original shop I was slated for so it worked out ok for me. If the client doesn’t want a shop the MSC won’t get paid for it so it’s really beyond their control. KP’s scenario as they describe it is very different and they should continue to contact higher ups at the MSC to least get reimbursed.

This happened to me in April with Customer Optix for a trendy downtown eatery that i was looking forward to trying out. I was of course not happy about it but this past Friday I did that very same shop; with no problems. So maybe sometimes patience can work for you as a mysery shopper.....

Staciroby,

This MSC creates lots of tricky ways to screw contractors and/or set them up for failure, but:

The (gas brand you mentioned) reimbursement, although relatively new, has NEVER been for gas. It's for the in-store purchase, unless there is no store.

Debit card instructions are clear about what photos are needed. If the client does not get them, the report is useless to them. If it becomes clear to you that you cannot get what they need, you have to simply walk away and abandon the shop before spending money.

Some shop types say in the guidelines to shop whatever business is at the address. This is not the case with electronic shops. Last time I looked, maybe a month ago, the guidelines specifically stated not to shop if a different business name was at the address.

Reposted because I did a naming no-no and got deleted.

1st off, I am going to sue the hell out of them! That's what my attorney is for...so I don't have to waste any more of MY precious time dealing with it! The point is, on 2 other jobs, I was paid for gas. And I would have been more then happy to go up there and get new receipts. I never had the opportunity to do so. You defend Ipsos all you want, I really don't care! I just felt it was important to let others know how they burnt me! I have moved on to bigger and better paying shops! They will not have the opportunity to burn me like they did. I was NEVER given the opportunity to fix the gas. And I could have cared less about the reimbursement. Everything else in my reports was perfect. I can show you my evaluations on other projects if you like. And yes, it is considered larceny. I read it right on NY's website. There have been plenty of shops I did at gas stations that only had 24 hr pumping. I got gas at those. Didn't get a reimbursement. Didn't even care. And I still got paid the whopping $10. The company is a terrible company to work for. I shop for several companies. I have NEVER been treated like this for any of them. I got coached one time, but that was over something they didn't realize I couldn't have controlled. And I got paid for my work. These retail oils and electronics were nice little thrower ins while I was in the area. Now, I see the ones I did going for $15...$20. And because of what they did, they lost me. And now they will pay more because of it when I was willing to do them at $10. Their loss. I hope other people read what I wrote and avoid Ipsos. I band with my fellow shoppers, not against them. And maybe I can save someone from having to go through what I did.

Please come back and tell us what your attorney said, how much he is going to charge you per hour, and how many hours. If you indeed have a case, there are many others, so please keep us informed about your legal battles.

@staciroby wrote:

1st off, I am going to sue the hell out of them! That's what my attorney is for...so I don't have to waste any more of MY precious time dealing with it! The point is, on 2 other jobs, I was paid for gas. And I would have been more then happy to go up there and get new receipts. I never had the opportunity to do so. You defend Ipsos all you want, I really don't care! I just felt it was important to let others know how they burnt me! I have moved on to bigger and better paying shops! They will not have the opportunity to burn me like they did. I was NEVER given the opportunity to fix the gas. And I could have cared less about the reimbursement. Everything else in my reports was perfect. I can show you my evaluations on other projects if you like. And yes, it is considered larceny. I read it right on NY's website. There have been plenty of shops I did at gas stations that only had 24 hr pumping. I got gas at those. Didn't get a reimbursement. Didn't even care. And I still got paid the whopping $10. The company is a terrible company to work for. I shop for several companies. I have NEVER been treated like this for any of them. I got coached one time, but that was over something they didn't realize I couldn't have controlled. And I got paid for my work. These retail oils and electronics were nice little thrower ins while I was in the area. Now, I see the ones I did going for $15...$20. And because of what they did, they lost me. And now they will pay more because of it when I was willing to do them at $10. Their loss. I hope other people read what I wrote and avoid Ipsos. I band with my fellow shoppers, not against them. And maybe I can save someone from having to go through what I did.

We need so much more than a 'like' button... we NEED a laughing emoji.

@staciroby wrote:

1st off, I am going to sue the hell out of them! That's what my attorney is for...so I don't have to waste any more of MY precious time dealing with it! The point is, on 2 other jobs, I was paid for gas. And I would have been more then happy to go up there and get new receipts. I never had the opportunity to do so. You defend Ipsos all you want, I really don't care! I just felt it was important to let others know how they burnt me! I have moved on to bigger and better paying shops! They will not have the opportunity to burn me like they did. I was NEVER given the opportunity to fix the gas. And I could have cared less about the reimbursement. Everything else in my reports was perfect. I can show you my evaluations on other projects if you like. And yes, it is considered larceny. I read it right on NY's website. There have been plenty of shops I did at gas stations that only had 24 hr pumping. I got gas at those. Didn't get a reimbursement. Didn't even care. And I still got paid the whopping $10. The company is a terrible company to work for. I shop for several companies. I have NEVER been treated like this for any of them. I got coached one time, but that was over something they didn't realize I couldn't have controlled. And I got paid for my work. These retail oils and electronics were nice little thrower ins while I was in the area. Now, I see the ones I did going for $15...$20. And because of what they did, they lost me. And now they will pay more because of it when I was willing to do them at $10. Their loss. I hope other people read what I wrote and avoid Ipsos. I band with my fellow shoppers, not against them. And maybe I can save someone from having to go through what I did.

Ipsos stopped paying me and cut off all access to shops, once I raised concern about their withholding payment and not paying after getting shoppers to complete the entire shop and survey. They are the worst. Someone should complain against them to Consumer Forum and Better Business Bureau. This is very unfair.

My earlier post got deleted because I named a company, but I basically was seconding everything sestrahelena said. I don't usually defend MSCs, but Ipsos hasn't been that bad. I see them as a consistent paycheck every few weeks. Understandable if you want to cut ties with them, but I wouldn't tell people to avoid one of the biggest MSCs in the game.

I disassociated myself with Ipsos, as it was my opinion they had but a single positive feature; it was rapid payment. As that was NOT important to me, their, in my case, complete lack of communication and abysmal work:pay ratio were such that to continue would have been foolish for me. I notified the company of termination, but continue to receive E-mail; ALL is sent to my SPAM folder.

I am aware some shoppers need IPSOS; for them, the good out weighs the bad.

@NinS wrote:

Apparently we missed some newbie drama as whatever ServiceAward is replying to has now been deleted.

Last week a very reliable parking MSC cancelled a scheduled shop the day before per the client’s request. As it happens another MSC had a parking shop and I negotiated a big bonus that paid about 60% more than the original shop I was slated for so it worked out ok for me. If the client doesn’t want a shop the MSC won’t get paid for it so it’s really beyond their control. KP’s scenario as they describe it is very different and they should continue to contact higher ups at the MSC to least get reimbursed.

Whenever someone says anything bad about Ipsos, they’re always there to take up for the company.

In the past I have had shops canceled by Ipsos but none too recently. Now, a few times i have been notified, well after the shop was accepted and paid, that the shop will be excluded because the client did not need that location shopped. Like that's my fault? I didn't put it on the job board. Classic Ipsos - blame it on the client that didn’t need it. Never THEIR fault.

Gas, mostly. But I was allowed to keep the pay.