Mystery Shopping Thread 23 *PLEASE READ THE OP FIRST**PLEASE NO CLIENT NAMES OR FEES

N.I.M wrote: »

I have a radical thought, should we perhaps make each and every one of RA's clients aware of the apalling treatment, well below minimum wage fees and the likelyhood that data is not being properly gathered as people are unlikely to spend the requisite amount of time in the store and doing the report for a £3 fee?

No. this is highly unprofessional and im sure the clients are aware how much they are paying RA for the service ergo how much the shopper is getting paid.

Complain to the company direct thats the best way forward or don't take the work and therefore they will loose contracts.

OMG this thread has made me giggle so much. I've missed you guys

Gfk money in the bank today

N.I.M wrote: »

While this gets dangerously close to the "Do you declare benefits as profit" argument which I'm too tired to get into tonight, my thought would be if you had to take both people and both had to order a meal then you expense the full amount. If you have to take a second person but the brief specifies you only have to order one main and one drink for example, not that any company would be so MFing stupid as to state that as a brief, then anything beyond that cant be claimed as an expense.

someone wrote: »

Rule of thumb would be, was what you are claiming (full or part) "reasonable" for the job/brief.

I would say for a restaurant if you would look out of place not having at least one person there then you can deduct for two meals.

If you must have a starter and main then it is reasonable to deduct for both. You could even "reasonably" justify a drink. You however could not have 6 drinks after the meal and claim them.

Two differing views here.

A lot of restaurant assignments would be weird going alone. Asking some of the questions required & set menu choices would stand out as an individual, but not as a group.

I don't do masses of MS, but if I use the full spend as expenses, over the year I actually make a loss. It would be very difficult to split bills into a job specific (required solely to carry out the task) and a benefit.

Thinking about it, HMRC are generally ok with using an estimated percentage for expenses which are part personally and part business (eg mobile phone bill). So perhaps for those assignments that fall into that catogorie, I could just use 50% of the spend as the expense.

I dont mean constantly making a loss.

Quite a few assignments I do make a profit. However if there are any local restaurants I will take them even if the fee is low. So you end up with £15 fee, £20 spend etc.

I think I will apportion part of the spend as personal & part as business. Anyone else do this?