The Mystery Shopping thread - part 6

tigergold

Sugar:
Something along these lines:
Date of job/MS company/The place you are MS/
Then the income you have: Reimbursement for purchases/Job fee/any travel expenses the company are paying.
Then your expenses: the item you have to purchase/travel costs/printing.
Then Your profit

ruthiejane

Sugarhunny1 wrote: »

Yes I have blindman and I read the bit about the excel spreadsheet but as I have no experience what so ever of being self employed I am at a total loss as what to put in it!!
Apart from the obvious, Date/Where/Expenses. Thats about it.

Sugar xxx

First - ring the tax office and explain. You don't have to pay anything until they ask for it, and they will work out how much you have to pay for you (or you work it out when you get the self assessment forms so you don't need to worry about that bit yet.

My spreadsheet has the following columns:

Date, Income, Expenditure, job number (s), who, what

So for all payments from MS companies I would put the date I receive the payment in the first column, the amount I receive in the 2nd, leave the next blank, the job numbers that the payment relates to in the 4th column, the MS company name in the 5th column and leave the rest blank.

For milage I would put the date I did the driving, a blank space, then amount claimed (40p per mile), the jobs I was driving to, milage to the town I was driving to, and in the last column I put x miles at 40p per mile.

Where I'm putting down something I had to buy as part of a shop it would be the date of the shop, blank, the amount spent, the job number, the company I gave the money to, and what I bought.

I have the totals to date for each column at the top.

Hope that helps

auntypog

Flickering_Ember wrote: »

I'm in shock!! I had a call from a MS company regarding a job I did for them, and the client actually used the words "Liar" about me. And the accusations are ones which I'd be insane to make up, such as a toilet with a broken lock and one without a seat. The aggressive attitude they have taken has just, I feel, proven my points that the service was not as great as it could be. Forget what I said in the report about "Maybe" I'd go back there. Never again.

Don't worry. Some establishments try it on. Presumably they figure they don't have anything to lose, maybe you'll recant. Tell it like it was and don't take it personally.

Scaredy_Cat_3

Paranoia is starting to creep in now. Things have been really quiet on the MS front lately. Is this normal or am I missing all the work? Does it generally slow down in winter?

ThinkingOfLinking

SC it depends where you're based. I am in Liverpool and have 7 jobs lined up with 1 company, and that's only the jobs I can travel to on public transport with ease.

Scaredy_Cat_3

Flickering_Ember wrote: »

SC it depends where you're based. I am in Liverpool and have 7 jobs lined up with 1 company, and that's only the jobs I can travel to on public transport with ease.

I am up north (Teesside) and it seems to have gone really dead this week and last. Just getting paranoid because I am having no luck finding a 'proper' job and really need the cash!

PS are you red or blue?







(I'm red... but stuck in exile in the industrial wasteland of the north east :eek:)

josie

Hi sugar,

I have a VERY basic spreadsheet I can send you, if you like. Just PM me your email address, if you think it would help. It sounds very similar to rj's - just quite simple, tho.

Arbie

After all the posts I read about Bare being really slow to pay, I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email asking for my bank details about 5 weeks after I shopped (and Max is v helpful as well, as an aside - beat Gap hands down for customer service!). However, I also remember reading that other shoppers got charged for receiving payments in Euros to their current accounts; so I asked if payment via Paypal was available. It is, but with an approximate 9% fee. What do others do...?

Thanks

Arbie

josie

Scaredy_Cat wrote: »

I am up north (Teesside) and it seems to have gone really dead this week and last. Just getting paranoid because I am having no luck finding a 'proper' job and really need the cash!

PS are you red or blue?

(I'm red... but stuck in exile in the industrial wasteland of the north east :eek:)

I've got a season ticket for Middlesbrough FC, so go up to Teesside about once a fortnight and have to confess to doing the odd job up there - sorry for nicking jobs not on my home patch, SC! I live in E. Mids, so anything that helps towards paying for the petrol to make a 240 :eek: mile round trip helps!

josie

Arbie wrote: »

After all the posts I read about Bare being really slow to pay, I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email asking for my bank details about 5 weeks after I shopped (and Max is v helpful as well, as an aside - beat Gap hands down for customer service!). However, I also remember reading that other shoppers got charged for receiving payments in Euros to their current accounts; so I asked if payment via Paypal was available. It is, but with an approximate 9% fee. What do others do...?

Thanks

Arbie

You could check with your bank and ask? I didn't get charged and I'm with Lloyds TSB, if that's any help.