The Mystery Shopping thread - part 6

KSG1970

bumblebee23 wrote: »

Hey there, don't give up yet! Most MS jobs you don't need to 'lie' for, you just go around the store/restaurant/whatever as you normally would, like a normal customer, the only thing different is that you may have to purchase something you wouldn't usually and look at things a little differently!

Keep looking at the jobs, I'm sure the vast majority of them will suit you fine... and as long as you read the brief first then you won't have a job that you don't feel comfortable with... that's what the notes are there for after all!!

Good luck

Thanks so much for that. I'm sure I will get the hang of this eventually. Doing a shop/restaurant etc type job would probably have been best to start but now I have committed to doing the phone call. I'll make sure I read the brief for this thoroughly !

xxvickixx

KSG1970 wrote: »

Hi, I am new to MS but thought I would give it a try...

I have been sent one which required a branch visit to a financial institution and you had to say you had between x amount and x amount of money to invest. I didn't feel that comfortable about this as I don't have the amount of money stated and had a fear I would get caught out.

On another note, I have accepted a similar MS which involves a phone call to a financial institution with a similar situation but I feel fine about doing this as I have a good back out excuse.

Would anyone else feel a bit awkward about the first scenario or is this is the norm for MS ?

I also had one for a family bowling day out which would have been excellent but felt my kids are far too young to do that (one couldn't even lift the ball!)and would probably have been caught out !

Is there a gift to being able to 'lie' or is MS not really the thing for me ?

I would be really interested on your views.

Many Thanks.

Try thinking of it as acting, you are given your role to play and your script but have the freedom to ad lib!

It is not really a bad lie, you will reward those who gave good service, and those who give bad service will also benefit as they will be given further training to enable them to progress within their career.

We are the good guys, (keep repeating to self!) HTH.

bumblebee23

Just practise loads before you do the actual call.... you might even convince yourself that you do have that kind of money! Anyway, it's a call centre you will be calling and they deal with all kinds of people all the time, so I doubt that they would be suspicious if you sounded nervous... it will probably make a change from all abusive callers they normally deal with! Last resort is that they can't see you, they can't see your face.... you could be doing the call in your PJs for all they know, so don't worry about it too much

KSG1970

Thanks again ! I might have if I have won the lottery tonight (not checked yet...)

I just noticed the car dealer jobs on Bare. The payment is in Euros ? Does anyone know if the payment is 20 Euros per visit or 20 Euros in total. The job near me involves between 1 to 14 visits.

82much

UK monkey

Glad you got back ok - you were lucky to have a chauffeur!!

I quite agree about the timescale. I had to wait for a BM garage about 50 mins before I even saw the salesman then he wanted to take me through the whole spec!! The more expensive the car the longer they take,

Hope it goes well for you tomorrow.

82much

KSG They price per visit. At present good fees as euro is high compared to £. the bank charges you a small amount for the exchange though.

fabsaver

ukmonkey wrote: »

One thing I noticed - Coffee at first place was lovely, coffee at third place was rank, really really bad. Tasted like burned water. Urgh. Sorta reflects the companies though!

I forgot to mention the coffee. You'll probably need rehab for caffeine dependancy by the time you get through them all:D Good luck for tomorrow.

johnny_c-l

KSG1970 wrote: »

Is there a gift to being able to 'lie' or is MS not really the thing for me ?

I would be really interested on your views.

Many Thanks.

I agree with others, it is acting......but you're the only one with a script!
The knack to thinking on your feet comes with practice and you'll soon be able to adapt to any situation and cope with the different things you have to do.

Ultimatley, you are S/E and if you don't want to do a job then you don't have to! I have been very wealthy in some scenarios and very poor in others. As far as pretending to have lots of money goes, it could always be inheritance, lottery, divorce settlement etc.

If you go into a shop and ask for product X then the member of staff has already put you in the profile of a normal customer who would purchase X IYSWIM. Just go with it and everything works out fine (usually!).

For your phonecall, if the brief says that the call centre doesn't ask customers for a certain bit of info (e.g. address, email, name of employer etc) they always do for me, so be prepared just in case!

jediteacher

Wow! Just got 1 job turn up on RE! :rolleyes:

Unfortunately I cannot accept it.

nads

KSG1970 wrote: »

Hi, I am new to MS but thought I would give it a try...

I have been sent one which required a branch visit to a financial institution and you had to say you had between x amount and x amount of money to invest. I didn't feel that comfortable about this as I don't have the amount of money stated and had a fear I would get caught out.

On another note, I have accepted a similar MS which involves a phone call to a financial institution with a similar situation but I feel fine about doing this as I have a good back out excuse.

Would anyone else feel a bit awkward about the first scenario or is this is the norm for MS ?

I also had one for a family bowling day out which would have been excellent but felt my kids are far too young to do that (one couldn't even lift the ball!)and would probably have been caught out !

Is there a gift to being able to 'lie' or is MS not really the thing for me ?

I would be really interested on your views.

Many Thanks.

KSG, I think I've got the same brief as you and the way to do it is to convince yourself you do have x amount of money, pretend it's a few years in the future when your uber-rich

I'm going to pretend I've been given x amount of money by my parents who have sold on their homes :rolleyes:



ukmonkey, congrats on the start I don't know if their was an additional brief that required you do a full on "needs and objections" type of shop but can you not reduce the time by pretending you're in a real hurry and just looking for the best price?!

I was going to pretend that it was my brother who lives in <pick exotic country> and when he comes back in a week he's going to need a car asap and wants to know the best deal right now!