The Mystery Shopping thread - part 6

josie

dilewis wrote: »

do you know which company does the whitbread pubs :beer: now or who does any pub meals as the only meals i can find are the fast food ones for GAP
also any hotels:rotfl: /supermarkets done by which companys
i am fed up od doing just banks and garages

Are you signed up with all the companies on the first post? There are certainly some pubs amongst that lot.

Floxxie

(My question is at the bottom!)

What expenses can I claim against my income?

Claiming expenses other than the direct costs incurred in the job (meals etc) can be a bit of a minefield, and requires a bit of educated guestimating sometimes! with MSing, the usual, more obvious costs are:

• Paper & printer ink OR a cost per page (usually 6p for most people)
• Postage
• Files, dividers, folders etc
• Mileage costs (anything up to 40p per mile is acceptable)

There are some other things you can claim for though - these are more indirect costs and things you would have paid for even without MSing in most cases. These are simply contributions your business is making to you, for providing certain things. Below are some examples:

• Broadband - you can claim a % of your monthly cost against your income. For example, if you estimate that you use your internet 25% of the time for MSing, then claim 25% of your broadband costs against your income
• Telephone - this is done in a similar way to broadband. Line rental is done similar to broadband; calls are done either on this basis if you can't easily work it out, or using the exact costs if you can.
• Use of home - this is something most small businesses charge against their income. It's a bit of a notional amount (usually set at £5/£10 per month) that's supposed to contribute towards the costs of keeping your business running at home, using the heat, light and a bit of the spare room as an office!

The last one is definitely a guestimate one - it goes along the lines of using your common sense and making educated guesses. More info is available here from HMRC on allowable "other" expenses....

Have just copied that from the first page - could somebody help please? I have spoken to HMRC on allowable expenses and have been told that as my place of work is at home I cannot claim mileage for a job unless I had completed a job and I could then claim the mileage for travelling to the next job. Any accountants out there who could clarify?
The woman also laughed at me over broadband costs and said I would only be able to claim paper if I kept a note of how many pages I had used etc!!
Please help as I need to get my accounts in order - I deleted my spreadsheet containing info on mileage etc after speaking with her.

Thank you!

Floxxie

Hollypear

josie wrote: »

They must have taken that bit out now then, because it doesn't say on mine to say how long it lasted. I did wonder why you'd said two weeks! :rotfl:

As a Boro fan, happy enough with 2-1 to Sunderland as you have to chuckle at where Newcastle are:rotfl: But prob would have preferred a draw!

Ahhh so now I know who caused the mayhem at this game. It was you - hoo. Made a Rangers- Celtic gane look like a teddy bears picnic.

brryssn

Hollypear wrote: »

Ahhh so now I know who caused the payhem at this game. It was you - hoo. Made a Rangers- Cletic gane look like a twddy bears picnic.

Have you been on the ale madam!!!!:beer:

That must have been some "Do" the other night!!

Hollypear

brryssn wrote: »

Have you been on the ale madam!!!!:beer:

That must have been some "Do" the other night!!

:rotfl:Not me. I had mislaid my glasses.Thought I was seeing OK but couldn't see the red spellchecker underline. Turned out DH had put the newspaper on top of them. I had nothing stronger than tomato juice at the "Do" Had to pur DH out of the car when we got back and he was ill all Saturday. Did he get sympathy from me. NO!!!

Hollypear

I did 3 pharmacy jobs last week for RE. All 3 at least I got to spend the reimbursement part on what I wanted ( which has now changed to anti-diarrhoea tabs--how useful). Couldn't get 1 of the reports to submit due to the usual "You have unanswered questions" So I kept rewording them but still got nowhere. Next day I phoned them and they said it was a software problem at their end. So I asked for an increased fee as I had wasted 2 hours doing the report. She said she didn't have the authority to do that but would ask and phone me back. I am still waiting. Yet all 3 I have had emails saying could I phone them as they have proofreading queries. :eek:

How is it all the jobs I have done for other companies I have never once had a proofreading query.

Yet GfK have had a job on my available page ( the easy peasy bank one where the report take 10 mins). Well as it is 18 miles away I emailed them saying I would do it if they covered travelling. The phoned straight back offering 2 1/2 times the fee...far more than I was hoping for.

No wonder I highly recommend GfK and constantly condemn Riciculous Eyeballs on this forum. I am also doing another bingo job for GfK and the fee has jumped 25%.

Hollypear

Sorry just read the notes for RE pharmacy it isn't anti dairrhoea tabs. Got confused cos last week the question for the pharmacist was about diarrhoea. This time you have to buy Day or Night Nurse tabs. Sod that for a lark. As a trained nurse I can tell you the best thing is paracetemol BP tabs which cost next to nothing and if you have a sore throat with a cold take a spoonful of honey. Honey is good for chesty colds and is a natural healing agent too. My friend is a pharmacist and says these expensive cold remedies are a con. She says instead of Night Nurse take whisky with honey lemon and hot water. (Tastes much better too)

ThinkingOfLinking

dilewis wrote: »

do you know which company does the whitbread pubs :beer: now or who does any pub meals as the only meals i can find are the fast food ones for GAP
also any hotels:rotfl: /supermarkets done by which companys
i am fed up od doing just banks and garages

No idea about Whitbread pubs but Retail Eyes does other pub chains and you can get meals on these assignments.

yummymummy888888

I have my 1st two jobs in a couple of weeks and although I have a stopwatch on my mobile, do you recomend I buy something specific? Got a drive through which will be ok if I mount the mobile on the dash and an envelope shop.

Whats the easiest guys?

josie

yummymummy888888 wrote: »

I have my 1st two jobs in a couple of weeks and although I have a stopwatch on my mobile, do you recomend I buy something specific? Got a drive through which will be ok if I mount the mobile on the dash and an envelope shop.

Whats the easiest guys?

Nah, don't bother buying anything special - your mobile will be fine if it has a stopwatch, it'll do mins and seconds which is all you need, plus it give you the extra cover of you can look like you are texting whilst checking it and looks a bit more natural than a stopwatch!