I did an entire shop at a restaurant, and due to the mayhem of opening day and the crowds, I forgot to order dessert. Dessert is something I don't normally order anyway, so it was easier for me to forget even during a shop. I've done tons of shops with no errors but this time the entire shop was rejected due to this. Yea, I understand the guidelines weren't followed, but to refuse payment of an entire shop saying none of it can be used seems like an easy way out of having to pay since 90% of the information was valuable and could've been used. Oh well.

That's so bad to hear...

From my experience - editors (and MSPs in general) usually try to push shops through if at all possible, even if it happens that one of the guidelines was not met, like in your case...it's only logical - who would want to go through the additional effort of finding a new shopper, scheduling the shop again, editing the report again, and paying the schedulers and editors to do it.

BUT...their clients can be a different story. It's a lottery when it comes to that - some clients are relatively "loose" in their requirements, and care only about the main point of the shop, the objective evaluation of a few things most important to them. However, some of them can be incredibly strict and demanding. They may have very specific procedures, processes and rules in place, a whole bunch of stuff they find crucial to their business, and won't accept reports where even one of those things was not tested/evaluated.

Imagine this - they have 20 excellent waiters/chefs, but they have to let someone go due to financial issues, and there have been reports of some waiters not following the right procedure with the deserts, or the chefs making them poorly. The existence of evaluating that process can make a difference between someone keeping their job or not. Now, this is an overstatement (I hope :) ), things are not often so drastic, but some clients really demand absolutely every little thing from the guidelines to be followed, so the editors aren't allowed to approve otherwise.

All we can do is try to stick to the guidelines the best we can, and hope we don't forget something (especially on a shop for a demanding client).

Best of luck to you Bryan!

I totally agree with Ivan. I have heard of shops being rejected because the shopper purchased $19.99 instead of $20.00. However, the reasoning behind the decision was solid. It did not give the employee the opportunity to ask for a loyalty card because the points started at $20. On the other hand, I have personally had shops accepted when I forgot one of the proofs of shop. As Ivan says, every situation is different and the best way to handle it is to work closely with the scheduler. Maybe a creative solution that the client would accept would have been to go back the next day just for dessert. The continuity of the shop may or may not have been important to the client but each section from appetizer to dessert was important.

It happens to the best of us. :-( One company I used to work for was an instant termination if you did not follow guidelines exactly. The camera was reviewed after every shop. My advice is to use it as a learning experience for your next shop.

I have a P.O.S. smart phone and have to watch my picture quality closely, it's cost me some shops on an app based shopping site.

Shoppers make mistakes too. As Ivan has said, we can only do our best. However, when we can, it is best to read every line in the guidelines just in case one of those "just in case"s happens. Hope this helps our newer shoppers since this thread was last read.

Thanks Norm, for reopening this thread for new shoppers to see!

I have made a few mistakes too but I get a hold of my MSP rep right away and talk to her about it. She has let a couple of things slide. As long as we keep the communication open with the MSP I think they are willing to help us out.

Sorry to hear about this shop. I have had similar things happen to me where the shop got rejected because one requirement was not meet.

Take this as a learning experience and try not to beat yourself up.

how about getting rejected for no dessert picture?