Warning: Consumer Research International

I recently had a negative experience with a mysteryshopping company called called Consumer Research International (www.mysteryshops.com). It is a company to avoid.


I will put the full story below but here is a brief rundown:

~CRI is unresponsive to emails regarding technical problems experienced
~CRI is unresponsive to emails requesting corrections to auditor ratings
~assign shops that are due the same day even though the location has closed already for the day
~their employees telephone auditor and hang up before you can answer
~they terminate accounts stating you \"hung up\" on them when they didn\'t wait for an answer
~their Team Leaders lie about telephone conversations
~they refuse to pay for completed shops

They may seem like an easy mystery shopping company and you do not have to pay to be an auditor. However, you really have to put up with a lot of frustration to continue shopping for longer than a month or to get paid.




I signed up with Consumer Research International in December of 2001. I have performed many shops for them.

In the last two months I stepped up my mystery shopping to an aggressive level as I quit my regular job.

I started having problems with telephone shop calls going through. There would be dead air on the other end and the call would result in me saying, \"hello?\" multiple times.

I would email \"status@mysteryshops.com\" as their instructions state and would receive NO RESPONSE. This happened so many times that my auditor rating fell. I sent emails asking why I was being ignored and to please correct my rating. Again I received no response.

Three weeks ago I started being assigned shops that were due the same day yet the location for the shop had already closed for the day. This happened 4 times. I emailed CRI and after several days was finally rescheduled - again for the same day AFTER the locations had already closed. I emailed them again. I received no response and was unassigned from the shops the same day I sent the emails. My auditor rating plummeted due to this. I emailed requested my rating be reinstated, I have received no response.

On Wednesday, I FINALLY received some information for a direct contact at CRI, Sherrie Owens. I emailed Sherrie about a problem I was having and a request to be rescheduled for a shop because I am sick. She replied to the email but completely ignored my problem and ignored my request to be rescheduled.

Yesterday, I received 4 phone calls that either dropped immediately after I answered or stopped ringing before I could get to the phone. Later, I received a phone call from Sherrie telling me that she had terminated my account because I hung up on her several times. When I email her back, she claimed I never emailed her to let her know I could not perform the shop I had asked to be rescheduled.

This was escalated to her \"Team Leader\", Jessica Holman, who then tried to call me yesterday while I was napping (I am sick). My husband answered and told her I wasn\'t available. She did not like the answer that I would be available in a couple of hours. In her email I received today, she outright lies about the content of the conversation with my husband.

On March 18, I performed two Lowe\'s shops for CRI. I still have not been paid and have faxed the receipts over on three separate occasions.

CRI genuinely needs to have people mystery shop their own service as it is very poor and an embarrassment to the mystery shopping organization. This experience took course over only two months time and three different auditor accounts with them. The same thing occurred on all three accounts.

[Lyndon]

Thanks for letting us know, their link will be reviewed.

jkabusch wrote:

I recently had a negative experience with a mysteryshopping company called called Consumer Research International (www.mysteryshops.com). It is a company to avoid.


I will put the full story below but here is a brief rundown:

~CRI is unresponsive to emails regarding technical problems experienced
~CRI is unresponsive to emails requesting corrections to auditor ratings
~assign shops that are due the same day even though the location has closed already for the day
~their employees telephone auditor and hang up before you can answer
~they terminate accounts stating you \"hung up\" on them when they didn\'t wait for an answer
~their Team Leaders lie about telephone conversations
~they refuse to pay for completed shops

They may seem like an easy mystery shopping company and you do not have to pay to be an auditor. However, you really have to put up with a lot of frustration to continue shopping for longer than a month or to get paid.




I signed up with Consumer Research International in December of 2001. I have performed many shops for them.

In the last two months I stepped up my mystery shopping to an aggressive level as I quit my regular job.

I started having problems with telephone shop calls going through. There would be dead air on the other end and the call would result in me saying, \"hello?\" multiple times.

I would email \"status@mysteryshops.com\" as their instructions state and would receive NO RESPONSE. This happened so many times that my auditor rating fell. I sent emails asking why I was being ignored and to please correct my rating. Again I received no response.

Three weeks ago I started being assigned shops that were due the same day yet the location for the shop had already closed for the day. This happened 4 times. I emailed CRI and after several days was finally rescheduled - again for the same day AFTER the locations had already closed. I emailed them again. I received no response and was unassigned from the shops the same day I sent the emails. My auditor rating plummeted due to this. I emailed requested my rating be reinstated, I have received no response.

On Wednesday, I FINALLY received some information for a direct contact at CRI, Sherrie Owens. I emailed Sherrie about a problem I was having and a request to be rescheduled for a shop because I am sick. She replied to the email but completely ignored my problem and ignored my request to be rescheduled.

Yesterday, I received 4 phone calls that either dropped immediately after I answered or stopped ringing before I could get to the phone. Later, I received a phone call from Sherrie telling me that she had terminated my account because I hung up on her several times. When I email her back, she claimed I never emailed her to let her know I could not perform the shop I had asked to be rescheduled.

This was escalated to her \"Team Leader\", Jessica Holman, who then tried to call me yesterday while I was napping (I am sick). My husband answered and told her I wasn\'t available. She did not like the answer that I would be available in a couple of hours. In her email I received today, she outright lies about the content of the conversation with my husband.

On March 18, I performed two Lowe\'s shops for CRI. I still have not been paid and have faxed the receipts over on three separate occasions.

CRI genuinely needs to have people mystery shop their own service as it is very poor and an embarrassment to the mystery shopping organization. This experience took course over only two months time and three different auditor accounts with them. The same thing occurred on all three accounts.

hmy: I
I know how you feel. I had a negative experience with a merchandising shop.
They tell that they will send you the paperwork in plenty of time, they tell that the shipment will be there on time, they tell you that you will get help with paperwork. . . However none of that became true. They literally throw you to the wolves. You are on your own. New store, New employees, New product.
It was a complete shambles.
Very frustated,
rzs

[Deb4953]

I know I'm new here, so maybe I should let this pass, but I went to www.mysteryshops.com and while people are saying Consumer Research International, the link is to Corporate Research International. From what you are saying, I think you are talking about the company Corporate Research International, but I want to be sure.

I shopped for that company for a few months in 2004 and as long as I was doing the live shops, everything was fine and I got paid like clockwork. I tried those monster phone shops, though, and in a few days, my rating plummeted to lower than acceptable to do shops. I can't remember exactly how things happened after that, but I think I emailed them and they never emailed me back.

I'm not questioning anything you are saying, except to make sure you mean Corporate Research and not Consumer Research. I'm interested because I just recently signed up with them again. They don't pay much per shop, although I do love getting the free pizzas from that one company, so if they are having problems right now, it simply won't be worth the trouble to shop for them.

I hope you don't mind that I asked about this.

[Lyndon]

I'd be careful, but as the original warning is over 2 years old, it may be a different company. I'd be careful and ask loads of questions...

[Deb4953]

I try to watch for dates, but I missed this one. I'm sure they were talking about Corporate Research International, but that was around the time I was shopping for that company and I got paid on time, every time until I tried to do the phone shops.

If I'm right, except for the fact that many companies pay much better, I have no gripes with this company and their live shops. I would never recommend anyone take the phone shops, though.

Thank-you for pointing out the date on this thread. I'll look much closer from now on!

[fiona]

I hope that you meant Corporate Research International as I know about that company. They are not a very good company to do shops for and I cannot believe that so many sites still promoting them. The amount of complaints about the company is massive and they need a complete restructuring of their company if they want to continue to be in business.

[reviewer]

I have been a mystery shopper for CoRI for years. Well, I mean, I've been in their system. I don't shop for them much, as they chronically underpay. They are not very good at communication, I will give you that.

That said, I have never had a problem getting a payment from them. Look around - their reputation is for low pay, but not being a scam.

They are also known in mystery shopping circles as "CoRI" (to distinguish them from Certified Reports).

There are plenty of companies out there. Check out some reviews (mostly on big companies, some smaller ones):

http://www.mysteryshopsmart.com/reviews.html