Mystery Shopper Magazine

Company Overview: This will be a short but far from sweet review. This mystery shopping company has been generating a lot of discussion on the Mystery Shopping Forum in the last six months or so, especially recently, and none of it has been positive.

Nationwide Services Group is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. Surprisingly, this company has been operating for a long time – since 1983 – with a loyal shopper base. Many shoppers have worked with this MSC for a period of years without issues, and enjoyed a mutually beneficial business relationship with NSG.

That is, up until now. Shoppers are disappointed by what seems to be the slow and painful demise of this company. As one forum member described it, “You hate to see a good company going bad.”

Before Nationwide Services Group started having business issues, they offered assignments in retail, convenience stores, gas stations, restaurants, and health clubs. Shoppers liked completing these assignments as well as working with the employees of NSG.

Although inadvisable, it is still possible to sign up with this company. Visit the Nationwide Services Group website at http://nationwidesg.com. Click on the tab “Shopper/Agent”. Then click on the link “Online Application”. This will take you to the Sassie software platform. Click on “New Shopper Sign up” and complete the application.

At the time of this writing, there were no open assignment opportunities on their job board listed anywhere in the country. However, just a month or so ago, one forum member reported seeing a good sized batch of assignments that were located in the southern region of the U.S.

Nationwide Services Group has not made any public announcement of the status of the company. However, there have been discussions on www.mysteryshopforum.com since autumn of 2012 concerning nonpayment of many shoppers. Shoppers report that the company has been unresponsive to repeated attempts by shoppers to communicate with NSG about these issues.

Probably due to these complaints, Nationwide Services Group now has an “F” rating with the Better Business Bureau.

Shoppers have also contacted the Mystery Shopping Providers of America, also known as MSPA. It appears that NSG’s membership has been suspended, because they are not listed among the member companies of the MSPA organization.

Some shoppers have received some response from the MSPA, although none has yet been forthcoming from Nationwide Services Group.

One forum member stated that Dan Denston of the MSPA said that he spoke with a representative from NSG. In that response, allegedly Dan said that Nationwide Services Group acknowledged issues that seemed to revolve around staffing. NSG had found that a number of checks sent to shoppers had either been lost, stolen, or trashed. According to this forum source, Dan forwarded on all correspondence he had received from shoppers to NSG. Supposedly the MSC indicated to Dan that NSG was going to begin to contact those shoppers. For the record, this is an uncorroborated discussion, so take it for what it’s worth.

In the meantime, many shoppers are still owed money for their services rendered to Nationwide Services Group. Coupled with their lack of response to concerned shoppers, I would say that it’s a safe bet to say that this company is going belly up.

Personal Experience: Although I have been signed up with NSG for a few years, I never found any worthwhile assignments from this company located in my area. Although this might have been fortunate for me, I deeply empathize with my fellow shoppers who have not received financial resolution yet. I hope you do.