Mystery Dining discussion thread (because internal forums are muzzled and blocked!)

oblem other than that most jobs in in big cities and a lot of them are evening, as an older shopper I prefer lunchtimes. One MS co only pay £10 but expect a meal and a drink for that price, if you take someone with you then its out of reach. I do not like having to take photos from above the glass or plate, does that look normal? Just to let you know that others do read your posts.

This firm pays nothing usually, unless they're desperate and close to the deadline, they just reimburse according to their stated maximum expenditure. As adults, we know when we accept an assignment what the conditions are. However, I have become disgusted at their changing of my shopper reports to the point where they do not reflect my shopper experience. Reports for their client Greene King seem to be especially prone to this.

I recently visited a pub local to me and held dear in the hearts of many in the pub's community. I have known the pub for 25 years, but partner has known it for 45 years. On this recent visit the beer and food were poor, the pub empty. My report reflected this. But after my report was approved I saw they had changed my overall score from 4 out of 10 to 6, and removed many of my critical comments. I complained to them and was told that they had 100s of reports each day and amended them to better reflect the shoppers' content. After complaining again I was told I needed to add more description to my critical comments. I was furious and reminded them of the level of description I had included in my report, some of which was now deleted.

I then realised that I had noticed an anomaly with another Greene King pub I'd visited in January. Again they had put my score up, yet the food was very poor and overpriced. At the time I thought I must had made an error.

I have now cancelled all future shops with this firm. I stupidly thought I was having some input into improving quality and customer service. The pub I have mentioned here has Greene King Beer Pub status which means it can have many real ales that are not Greene King's. It has also recently changed hands from a manager that did keep the beer well. We have never before seen this pub empty. Instead of my report raising issues to be addressed by Greene King area managers and the pub manager, we face the likelihood of the pub being closed if it continues this way.

I'm pretty disgusted and feel a fool to think I considered I was helping to improve standards. HGEM are clearly in the pockets of their clients and the shoppers are being deluded. Just to add, that after this visit and eating low quality, ill-prepared food I had a severe stomach upset for 24 hours that was one stop short of gastroenteritis, which I experienced 40 years ago. With the doctoring of my report this pub could cause more people to be ill, nevermind waste their money.