The Mystery Shopping thread - part 5

ellie9ellie

I've got three jobs on today. One is for GR which is a good fee so I've arranged to do two more to fit in around this. There both for RE as it's at the train station I'm going through anyway. DH gets the underground sandwich for dinner so he's happy and DD will get the food from the other place so she's happy. I must admit since I've started doing this and reading this thread I do only accept the jobs that work out for me. I try and get a good paid job and then fit the other ones around it as I work it out that the c**p ones pay for the train/petrol costs and the good ones I can then get as profit. Fingers crossed I've only had two of my assignments queried (watch now I've just cursed myself!!). I had one from RE where I'd forgotten to put down whether there was a loo there and one from GAP yesterday after I slated the computer shop job I did on Saturday. They wanted me to expand on half the questionaire so I just replied stating why I had said what I'd put and reiterating some things. I'm sorry but for the fee they gave I was not spending too long on it. Hopefully today's will go OK as I have DD with me and surprisingly (NOT) it's raining!! Hope everyone else has a good day x

ellie9ellie

princess_leia wrote: »

Grrrr I am not being paid for my pizza as I ordered the wrong crust :mad: thats it, definately no more pizzas ever, DH was not impressed that he had to order what was on the list anyway so I am not going to bother!!

Fingers crossed maybe they won't notice and you'll get paid x

tigergold

Morning All, and Steeler, hope you are ok, what a miserable monday for you.
Hope you got some sleep and are refreshed and not completely trashed the hotel room ;-) Good luck with checking out of the hotel

Hollypear

bobthego wrote: »

I think (tell me if I'm wrong ) that Hollypear meant the pizza deliver with FF (is that right HP?). You have to take a zillion photos, including cut up slices and upside down slices!!!!). No good if you like your pizza warm :rotfl::rotfl:

Really sorry you didn't get paid for your GapPizza

It was. Cutting up a pizza with a Stanley knife is an experience.Pizza was good though even though it was rapidly cooling.

auntypog

moi wrote: »

Practically none left that do, unfortunately.

There is one MS firm that does your tax but I can't remember the name just at the moment. I'll come to me... (I know that's not much help.)

Timmne

bobthego wrote: »

don't you like RE Timmne? Can I ask why? I've found them to be pretty reliable, and pay on time, but I've only been with them for about 6 weeks.

If I were a newbie RE shopper I probably wouldn't hate them as much as I do, it's just over the 2 years I've been with them I've gone from happily doing reasonable restaurant meals and being paid fairly for a report that was well structured (by them, not me I mean!), to doing jobs which want too much for a paltry fee and they've adopted the GYP line of "free" meal; which irritates me something ridiculous. The reports are nothing but painful and each time I do a job for them (albeit rarely), I can think of 10 questions they should have asked, if they'd wanted a better report.

GFK who used to have those jobs are great - they pay fairly, they happily offer an incentive for a job which is rushed, they're friendly on the phone and best of all, they overpaid me a considerable amount a while back, which means they provide insurance against a non-payment in the future! Note on that point BTW is I have sent them a number of emails but no reply, which isn't ideal!

If I'm honest I think the client that has moved will now experience a drop in the standard of reporting. GFK's reporting system was dynamic and interactive; it knew what to ask, based on your answers to other questions. Problem is, when (eventually) they move back to GFK, the fees will have dropped because no doubt RE have seriously undercut GFK to steal the client.

(Rant over! )

Hopefully T's being a good groom to be and won't be looking on here to answer your q, bob, but I think I remember him complaining about the pitiful fees for the huge questionnaire. Knowing naughty Timmne he'll be along tomorrow to correct me if I'm wrong, though!

And sinderella, you're right

Hollypear

Well said Timmne. My thoughts exactly. Companies like RE will destroy MS'ing. Before I joined this forum I joined another one which turned out to be American. They were way ahead of us in terms of getting rates cut by companies who got contracts by undercutting the rest.

This was at the start of the current credit crunch and the Americans were screaming at the cost of "gas". It was interesting to watch the debates they had. Ate the end of the day though they said their argument was weakened because even though some companies were paying "your havin a laff" rates" they were undermined because some people seem to just do any job no matter that some jobs may be costing you more in petrol than the fee is.

I am watching with interest the 30 plus pharmacy jobs in my area still there 6 weeks down the line. What will they do about it. They phoned me and asked if I would do them and I said no chance. Not in a million years. Interestingly they never mentioned a premium to do them. Are they going to have to go back to the client and say they were not done.? How will the client respond to that.

At the end of the say we all make our own decisions. For me it is a pride thing too. I take a pride in providing good reports but I won't be slave labour for a company to make a profit out of my work.

Every time we accept these jobs with pittance fees we weaken the strength of the good companies like GfK and we will also be the losers in the long term.

I would welcome Timmne's comments on this as he is probably one of the most experienced on here.

Sorry for the rant. HP being serious. Now there's a thing.

ChelseaGirl

Not sure if i'm one of the more experienced MSers (been Msing for over 10 years now), but i must agree with the comments about us being seriously underpaid. Gap seem to be a big culprit. They pay the smallest fees around, and their 'premium' payments are hardly worthwhile. I only go out of my way to accept assignments that are out of my normal area if my dh is around and can take me to these destinations in his company car - otherwise it's just not worth it for me.
As i've said in a previous post, i suppose i'm one of the lucky ones who haven't had lots of hassle with 'Gyp' - or any of of the others to be fair.
And perhaps it's worth remembering that most MSing companies point out that MSing isn't a way of making a living - just topping up really. So, with a few exceptions, i don't think we can really expect to be paid serious money for what we do.

Timmne

Hollypear wrote: »

I would welcome Timmne's comments on this as he is probably one of the most experienced on here.

You'll probably find the likes of the lovely Becles are more experienced that me; I'm a mere newbie myself

On your comment about RE going back to the client with jobs not completed; they must do, I can't see how they are getting these jobs done! Like I said earlier, they will lose the contract for these new jobs, it's just a matter of when.

RE are still sitting on a number of queries from me about underpayments but I can't actually be bothered asking them again, it's just tedious!

I think RE's ethos (as well as GAP's) is to pile 'em high, sell 'em low with the jobs - they offer a much reduced price to the clients that they'd be silly to refuse! Companies like the smaller ones (Assosia, MCE, JKS, AA) are the ones that keep this industry worth working for. They have good rates of pay and fair reporting requirements, or at least one of the two - RE and GYP have neither most of the time!

Timmne

ChelseaGirl wrote: »

So, with a few exceptions, i don't think we can really expect to be paid serious money for what we do.

Absolutely - but I won't work for a company like RE who cut their rates of 'pay' by 40% in one fell swoop (referring to the sandwiches place). Problem is, they say MSing won't make you any money which is fine, but they can't expect the shopper to be filling in reports that are 140 questions, all requiring comments. It's either a dedicated person you want, or someone who doesn't really care (the sort GAP seem to like as all the good ones get sacked!)

And yes, I think you are one of the more experienced ones I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on how the pay used to stack up compared to today.