The Mystery Shopping thread - part 6

ellie9ellie

owlet wrote: »

Please can anyone help urgently?

I have just done a supermarket for TNS and had to ask a question of the assistants in various departments. Am I supposed to comment on the first visit to the department and mark N/A if no one is there or keep returning to the department until I find someone?

I eventually found someone after 3 visits to health & beauty, 2 to fruit & veg 3 to clothes and no one at all in booze!

Advise appreciated so I can fill in the questionnaire!! Thanks a lot folks x

Hiya - did the same one today. Found someone in most of the ailses no problem but could not find anyone in wine and spirits. Checked up and down a few ailses but nothing. I mentioned at the end of the report that there was no-one there and didn't ask anyone else as it wouldn't have been their department and they wouldn't have a clue where to find it HTH x

owlet

ellie9ellie wrote: »

Hiya - did the same one today. Found someone in most of the ailses no problem but could not find anyone in wine and spirits. Checked up and down a few ailses but nothing. I mentioned at the end of the report that there was no-one there and didn't ask anyone else as it wouldn't have been their department and they wouldn't have a clue where to find it HTH x

Thanks ellie9ellie,

That is a help. I will mark it the same. You can only go to the departments so many times before arousing suspicion lol.

Timmne

I did a supermarket this evening, too. I think I worried/raised suspicions though as I got caught by a girl looking at her chest whilst she was trying to explain where marscapone cheese was :eek:

I was in fact just trying to read the ridiculously small name on those new badges! :rotfl:

Loolabell_2

Timmne wrote: »

I did a supermarket this evening, too. I think I worried/raised suspicions though as I got caught by a girl looking at her chest whilst she was trying to explain where marscapone cheese was :eek:

I was in fact just trying to read the ridiculously small name on those new badges! :rotfl:

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: Soooooo funny, i hate it when that happens!!! and you always try and make it look discreet aswell!!!

josie

owlet wrote: »

Please can anyone help urgently?

I have just done a supermarket for TNS and had to ask a question of the assistants in various departments. Am I supposed to comment on the first visit to the department and mark N/A if no one is there or keep returning to the department until I find someone?

I eventually found someone after 3 visits to health & beauty, 2 to fruit & veg 3 to clothes and no one at all in booze!

Advise appreciated so I can fill in the questionnaire!! Thanks a lot folks x

I've done a few of those and I think somewhere it does say, or used to say, just to mark if there was no one in that dept and usually I have at least one dept where no one was there, and have never had any probs.

owlet

josie wrote: »

I've done a few of those and I think somewhere it does say, or used to say, just to mark if there was no one in that dept and usually I have at least one dept where no one was there, and have never had any probs.

Thanks josie,

I found it in the notes, it says to wait 30 seconds then move to the next dept. Sorry! quite a lot of notes with this one & I missed it!!

iNath

pebblespop wrote: »

i was just sorting out my mystery shopping records and was surprised to find i have made £308.50 in fees and £562.68 in 'free stuff' since my first job at the end of october 2008. these have mainly been from g p and re.

just thought newbies might like to see the earnings potential.

p.s. i work full time so can only do jobs in evenings/weekends.

Just checked my spreadsheet, this is what I've done since April:
271 jobs
1,315 pages of paper
4,347 miles
£38.26 parking
£1,535.28 of purchases
Total costs: £3,410.33

£1,806.50 of fees
£1,6030.56 reimbursements
£756.82 mileage reimbursements
Total: £4,193.90

Profit: £748.06 - it's only really been the past 3 months I've been serious about making money. Before that I used to take jobs where I would just about break even or make a 'paper loss' so I wouldn't have to pay as much tax. Now I just think sod it, earn as much as you can and put 20% in savings

I'll post again in April with my profit for the year

matsmum

Hi, I am really sorry if I sound a bit thick on this subject, but I would be so grateful if some of you more experienced mystery shoppers could give me some clues on the tax and national insurance implications. I became a mystery shopper a couple of weeks ago and have already done a mystery shop, with two more in the pipeline. I realise I need to get my tax and NI sorted out, and have read the notes at the beginning of this thread over and over again, but I am just going round in circles and getting myself in a pickle Please could someone explain:

(1) In the CWF1, what would I put down as 'company name'? Would this just be my own name?
(2) Once I have completed the CWF1 and the CF10, do I just send them off, and that's it?
(3) The CF10 is obviously only applicable to the end of this tax year. Do I need to complete one of these at the beginning/end of each tax year?
(4) I am planning on going back to work later this year but will probably carry on doing mystery shopping. Do I need to tell the HMRC about this?

Sorry again for sounding so dim, but this is the first time I have ever had to have anything to do with tax/NI on a self employed basis and I feel a bit overwhelmed by it all. Loving the mystery shopping side of it though so I think it will all be worth while.

Thank you in advance - any tips would gratefully received.

pebblespop

iNath wrote: »

Just checked my spreadsheet, this is what I've done since April:
271 jobs
1,315 pages of paper
4,347 miles
£38.26 parking
£1,535.28 of purchases
Total costs: £3,410.33

£1,806.50 of fees
£1,6030.56 reimbursements
£756.82 mileage reimbursements
Total: £4,193.90

Profit: £748.06 - it's only really been the past 3 months I've been serious about making money. Before that I used to take jobs where I would just about break even or make a 'paper loss' so I wouldn't have to pay as much tax. Now I just think sod it, earn as much as you can and put 20% in savings

I'll post again in April with my profit for the year

do you have a full time job as well? i am trying my best to avoid the free meals etc now and go for ones with a fee. i need the cash for my debts!

i think sod the tax as well. it's only 20% of profit which shouldn't be more than £150./£200.

iNath

pebblespop wrote: »

do you have a full time job as well?

I work weekends (2 days) and a full-time college course (3 days) so it's the equivalent of working full time I suppose, leave 2 week days free and evenings :beer: