BARE InternationalReviews of bareinternational.com

Complete fraudulent company. Do not do any work for them unless you want to pay out of pocket expenses. Stay away from any assignments from them as they are very dishonest.

Very bad experience with this company. One payment not done. No explanations, no mail response, no consideration for my complain. 1 late payment (1 month later).

I worked with BARE International as a mystery shopper and completed Shop #12232091 in November 2025. The mission was completed on time, the report was fully accepted, and all requested edits were made. However, despite repeated confirmations that payment would be made by the end of January, I am now in February and still have not received any payment. What makes this situation unacceptable is that: • I had to advance my own money to complete the assignment • I relied on the communicated payment timeline • I am now under serious financial pressure, including bank penalties • Communication has been slow, vague, and inconsistent (“end of the month”, “please wait”, etc.) • No bank transfer proof has been provided despite multiple requests For a company that claims to be professional and global, this payment handling is deeply disappointing. Doing the work is demanding, expenses are real, but when it comes to paying evaluators, the company takes its time with little consideration for the consequences on freelancers. I would strongly advise other mystery shoppers to be extremely cautious and never invest money they cannot afford to wait months to recover

Their Chinese company keeps making excuses to not pay for the secret shoppers. There are lots of people posting their complaints online.

Son unos estafadores que se aprovechan de las personas. Después de realizar la visita que ellos programan al estanco en cuestión, llega el momento del pago y ha sido una pesadilla para hacer que pagaran. Pero la cosa no acaba ahí, cuando vas al estanco tú no sabes si va a haber promotor o no, cosa que no debe repercutir en lo que te paguen, ya que tu tiempo invertido no depende que otros hagan su trabajo. Pues al estanco al que yo fui no había promotor, y su supuesta política es que cuando eso ocurre te pagan el 50% de todo. Es decir de los supuestos 10€ que te pagan a ti por la visita, se te reduce a 5€ y el paquete de tabaco que has pagado de tu bolsillo, pues lo mismo, y encima si no eres fumador todo esto no te hace ninguna gracia. Total, que de mi visita me pagaron 7,43€, a eso descontar que el tabaco me costó 4,5€, les hice una visita para recoger datos por 3€ ridículos euros. Es bastante indignante y es un abuso que paguen eso por el tiempo de una persona de ir al estanco y rellenar una encuesta. Le he escrito a la supuesta responsable y no se ha dignado ni a responderme, ese es el trato que dan a la gente que trabaja para ellos.

Careful of this company if you are in the UK because it will be hard to sue them through the small claims court as they are based overseas. Their staff are rude, dismissive, threatening, and petty. They do not reimburse mandatory expenses, they twist instructions retrospectively, to claim "scenario breaches" to avoid reimbursing mandatory expenses. They also make threats about "serious legal consequences" to scare mystery shoppers. I accepted an audit task that required a phone call and mandatory printing. The brief never said printing costs were non-reimbursable. The instructions stated NOT to do a walk-in if the agent refused the audit. I called the agent, who confirmed the shop was a construction site and no audit could be conducted. A walk in was impossible so I did not attempt one. I then grabbed the geolocation code from outside and reported that the shop was shut. They told me I would be paid only the phone call fee of €3.50. When I politely asked about the printing cost their staff told me I should not be paid anything at all. They claimed taking a geolocation code on a public road constitutes a walk in and it was a "scenario breach". No normal reasonable person would consider standing on a street outside a construction site to get a geolocation code to be a walk in. A walk is more than that, it requires entering the shop and engaging with staff. This shop had no entrance and no staff. They dragged this out for weeks. They wrote dismissive emails stating I "purposefully puts himself in this situation, we cannot bail them out", even though I am a female. When I finally became fed up of their behaviour and told them that I would be showing their emails to their client, they said my actions will have "seriously legal consequences". Please note, their threat is not enforceable in the UK as the UK law protects the sharing of factual information. Please note all of this fighting is over £5, for mandatory printing!!! If you are in the UK please rethink before working with them. They are petty, defensive, and don't know what is meant by a walk in or they fully know but are willing to pretend they dont know to avoid reimbursing mandatory costs.

completed an assignment strictly following the written instructions provided by the company. The steps were simple and clear, and I carried them out exactly as directed. After submitting my shop, I was told I should have done the opposite of what their guide required, and the assignment was declined. This left me out of pocket for the transaction cost with no payment for my time. It is unreasonable to give clear guidance, have shoppers follow it, and then reject the work afterward. If instructions are provided, they should be honored. Consistency and fairness are essential in this industry, and unfortunately, my experience did not reflect that. I dont recommend working for this company

I have 2 payments (of 26$) pending since 2008 (!). Communication is rare, incomplete, and dishonest. Today, I continue to receive “shops” where I am asked to pretend to send my money to a “friend” who is traveling and to request a refund after 30 minutes (15 shops in total). You'd have to be a complete idiot to agree to do anything like this for people who still owe me two payments of $26 from 2008 and a payment of $15 that hasn't been paid since March 2024! I have kept screenshots of my reviewer account showing the amounts owed. It's an enormous waste of time and energy. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!! You've been warned.