I am not new to the world of mystery shopping.

I am yet to see any proof that any MSC has submitted a report to a client after having rejected the shopper's report. I know of situations where the report was rejected in error (and later corrected), but never one in which there was any evidence that the MSC made the unethical move of trying to get paid for it themselves. Of course, nobody can say with certainty that it hasn't happened. I would suggest that it is very rare.

Out of thousands of shops I have done, I have had one rejection. And, it was my fault.

I have seen many, many accusations by angry shoppers after shops have been rejected. However, after asking a few questions, it has been clear that the shopper screwed up the shop and deserved to have it rejected. This is very, very common. I have also made quite a bit of money doing last-minute shops that other shoppers have had rejected and which, therefore, the MSC's have needed to re-shop.

As for your apartment MSC, I have almost certainly shopped for them and have not had that problem.

I am yet to see any proof that any MSC has submitted a report to a client after having rejected the shopper's report.

I have witnessed this. There's a pretty well known dude from texas that has had this same accusation levied against him dozens of times. I have an email from him saying "well, I submitted it anyway, lets see what happens" after he told me it was unusable. I watch his site to see if the specific evaluation ever got re-posted, and it did not. Yet I was never paid, either. So, either the client changed their mind and didn't have him reassign or they took my "unusable report" and accepted it.

but never one in which there was any evidence that the MSC made the unethical move of trying to get paid for it themselves.

I can say with certainty that it has happened.

Out of thousands of shops I have done, I have had one rejection. And, it was my fault.

So your one unique experience discounts the experiences of many others. GTK

As for your apartment MSC, I have almost certainly shopped for them and have not had that problem.

Since it would be an NDA violation, I can't really provide the proof of who it was. It would also reveal who I am. There's nothing CLOUDY about this information, however.

Providing the documentation publicy to prove this stuff is an NDA agreement violation. You can't post

"I did a toyota test drive at bubba gump toyota for john smith of XYZ mystery shopping and didn't get paid"

There's -3- different instances of breaking the confidentiality agreement there.

Again, I am not saying that it hasn't happened. However, it is not common.

A couple of notes: Just because you don't see a job being re-posted that has been rejected does not mean that it has been submitted. Consider:

1. For some MSC's, you cannot see posted jobs for which you are ineligible, such as for rotation reasons. In other words, the job very well could be posted on a job board again, but simply not visible to you.
2. Sometimes when shops are rejected, they are past a deadline and the shop simply gets cancelled.
3. It is very common for an MSC to only need to shop a percentage of locations. It is entirely possible that they reached the required percentage despite the shop's rejection and no longer needed the shop done at all.
4. Often when shops are rejected, they are assigned via phone or email to another shopper, never to find the job board again.

My one experience...

1. I believe that the vast majority of shoppers who accuse MSC's of submitting their reports after rejecting them are simply angry and wrong.
2. If this were a common or widespread issue, I would have had more shops rejected by now. Yes, I am but one person. However, I have done enough shops for enough MSC's that, where this an issue, I would have experienced it. The vast majority of rejected shops are due to shopper error.

Your guy from Texas....

Sometimes an MSC will try to push a shop through to the client when they thnik it needs to be rejected as a way to placate an angry shopper. It usually does not work. Why? There was something wrong with the shop that raised a concern with the MSC. The client will almost certainly have the same reaction. You are drawing a conclusion here through faulty logic. Is it possible that "Texas" is really cheating shoppers? I suppose. However, nothing you have said undercuts the more probable: Shop was rejected and he tried to push it through for the shopper anyhow, hoping to get paid.

I've been and have registered with over 130 MSC's. I've performed thousands of shops and been paid by about 50 different companies. Overwhelmingly, my experiences have been positive. There is one MSC for which I will never sign up as they are an organizational mess and cannot seem to pay shoppers (after accepting reports). Perhaps I simply haven't run into the "bad" MSC's? I just don't think this is the case. Lots of shoppers level accusations against MSC's for which I shop regularly. Nearly every time, the shopper who levels the accusation: 1. Did not read the guidelines, 2. Did not agree with the guidelines and did something they thought "better," 3. Openly admitted missing a guidelines, but thought they should be paid anyhow or 4. Lied in their accusation. I've even seen situation where the same user created multiple identities on a forum for the purpose of "bolstering" their accusations against an MSC with more "vicitims." So, I put very little weght into accusations I read from strangers online.

As the guy that originally made this thread, I can confirm that in my instance it was a very silly mistake on my part and I only made this thread not because I was angry, but a little worried since I couldn't get in touch with any of the companies involved over the phone and wanted to know if this was a common thing I should worry about. Turned out I goofed by assuming that there was only the one minimart on that street and didn't double check the address like I should have, the messages sent back to me however were kind of unclear and just said "please provide the correct receipt", so I wasn't sure what the issue was. I still feel pretty silly about it and have no hard feelings against Intouch Insight, totally on me for not double checking to make sure I was going to the right shop, goes to show that you shouldn't make assumptions even if the shop is for a store on the street you live on lol.

It best to just call them. I called yesterday to change the date on a shop. I had emailed and text them on the weekend. They are super nice in person.

I have recently has an issue with Intouch. My shop was to take pictures of Wendy's menus. I went to the shop on 6/19 at 7pm and took all of the required pictures and submitted them. It was denied because I did not submit a breakfast menu. There is no Wendy's in my town that even HAS a breakfast menu. The shop was declined and they said "as stated in the shop guidelines, please arrive at 10:20 to get both the breakfast and lunch menus". I thought this was weird and agreed to do it. I went to the Wendy's this morning AT 10:20 and they were closed!! I redid the shop including a picture of the restaurant's hours and it was again declined because I "went when the shop is closed and it is your responsibility as a shopper to check the hours before I go". They then unassigned it and it is not back in the "available shops" section. This was so unfair. I did everything they requested TWICE and it was still declined. Makes no damn sense whatsoever.

Felisha -

That sort of issue should be easily remedied. InTouch should have a contact person. Email them exactly what you have explained her. It is not your fault that a restaurant would not serve breakfast.....