The Mystery Shopping thread - part 6

scubaangel

The hotel ones on RE arent great, worth doing if you happen to be near one when they need them but otherwise I probably wouldnt bother. That said the one I did I quite enjoyed once I got over the general feeling of 'OMG I'm on my own I must be really conspicuous'.

whitelabel

lostweekender wrote: »

Hi Hollypear and whitelabel

Thanks for your greetings.

I've got emails saying you have replied and I can see Hollypear's response but nothing from whitelabel.

Hope I'm not stopping people communicating

Better go look for some instructions....hope I find my way back.....clue is in the name!!!

Hi lostweekener

I didnt reply to you directly but edited one of my posts on the thread - if you have subscribed to it you will get a notification of every on who posts - whether it is a direct reply to you or not.... any how hello and welcome.

I would REALLY recommend reading the full length of this thread as it will answer many questions.

well done for doing the car shops for your first time.. ive done over 100 visits and im still a bit daunted by the prospects of my car visits on friday. !!
It will be easier now they are done.. Sign up to as many agencies as you can, keep really good records ( i can send my spread sheet if you need one) and make sure you register as self employed within 3 months of your first job. If you cant find the answer to a question do a thread or forum seach using some key words and then if nothing comes up - post a question here and some one will answer. Youll often find the same questions pop up time and time again but youll probably search and find the answer quicker than posting and waiting for a response - especially if you are in the middle of submitting a report !

welcome - and hope the redundancy isnt a permenant thing unless you are retiring !

Cherry_pie_5

I love hotel jobs, used to do them for RE, but haven't seen any for months, not sure what I did, but I can't see them anymore

REALLY fed up with Misery Shopping (not a typo) at the moment, have been working really hard and despite this, the figures, costs and time spent are really not working out at all. Had 14 jobs booked for today (I know, bit off a bit more than I can chew in this instance) and despite reasonable fees for good companies, it still doesn't add up. I was up until 2am last night printing stuff out and getting organised, out the door first thing this morning and i've STILL got a few more hours of reports to fill out... on paper it looks like a decent days work financially, but if you consider i'll have probably done a 19 hour day by the time I finish, then add to that the amout of time spent looking for and then preparing for those jobs, it's not been very lucrative at all. I'm pretty miserable. I can earn more than this working from home selling frocks on eBay.... seriously thinking of jacking this in now and releasing/cancelling all the jobs i've got booked. Hours vs. £'s... it just ain't worth it. I'll probably still take the odd restaurant job, but only for the 'perk' factor. Sadly, my 'Do as much as you humanly can manage and see if you can make a reasonable income from it' experiment has failed

On the plus side: I won't have to spend every day in traffic, car parks and bloomin' shopping centres!

lostweekender

Hey thanks whitelabel,

I have spent hours reading the threads (from the beginning)...!

But it is all very useful stuff

I know I'm spending too long on everything at the moment but I'm having fun

If I can cover my immediate expenses I won't be going back to work........any way I have not got time to look for a job, too much to learn on here!!!!

Hollypear

Cherry_pie wrote: »

I love hotel jobs, used to do them for RE, but haven't seen any for months, not sure what I did, but I can't see them anymore

REALLY fed up with Misery Shopping (not a typo) at the moment, have been working really hard and despite this, the figures, costs and time spent are really not working out at all. Had 14 jobs booked for today (I know, bit off a bit more than I can chew in this instance) and despite reasonable fees for good companies, it still doesn't add up. I was up until 2am last night printing stuff out and getting organised, out the door first thing this morning and i've STILL got a few more hours of reports to fill out... on paper it looks like a decent days work financially, but if you consider i'll have probably done a 19 hour day by the time I finish, then add to that the amout of time spent looking for and then preparing for those jobs, it's not been very lucrative at all. I'm pretty miserable. I can earn more than this working from home selling frocks on eBay.... seriously thinking of jacking this in now and releasing/cancelling all the jobs i've got booked. Hours vs. £'s... it just ain't worth it. I'll probably still take the odd restaurant job, but only for the 'perk' factor. Sadly, my 'Do as much as you humanly can manage and see if you can make a reasonable income from it' experiment has failed

On the plus side: I won't have to spend every day in traffic, car parks and bloomin' shopping centres!

Poor you Cherry Pie you sound quite pee'ed off. I don't blame you.

I decided some time ago ( as I have a part time job though not well paid) NOT to do the crap jobs anymore. Doesn't make sense to me doing jobs for a fiver and spending £2-£3 on travel plus time doing it, then more time doing reports. For the bottom of the ladder I nominate Gyp and RE for poor fees and ridiculous reports.

I now do only jobs I feel are worth my time and effort for a decent reward. Today I did an optical visit, a smallish supermarket and a bank. Fees for that total £61.50 which I think is good considering it was my day off and it only took me the morning. Reports for all 3 were easy and quick. Done by 2pm.

I am happy to leave the cheap burgers and crap pizza stuff to others. I never eat in those places anyway so think it pointless and for the fees it ain't worth it to me anyway. Each to their own.

Only exception I make is doing the casino's and the restaurants with a good reimbursement The RE chain pubs I no longer do either as I can't be bothered answering 103 questions for a pittance.

Just my opinion though I know others are in different circumstances or fast food joints float your boat..

lostweekender

That sounds really good advise Hollypear

Sorry to hear that Cherry Pie - maybe you will feel better when you have slept on it....I hope so

ukmonkey

whitelabel wrote: »

thats what i thought but the guidelines wern't totally explicit i thought. I think Im on A so if i dont need to mention part exchange then i wont.

I'm going to have to contact them i think though unless you can help (again lol) - i cant see the yellow stickies any more - and i could when i first logged on there - unless I'm really really blind ?!?

heres a screen print with client/fee/address details removed



ive tried both IE and Firefox but no joy... i cant see the models for each dealer now either so maybe the changes to their geo site have affected things ? ... any one else have the same problem ?

Ok, what cars are you shopping for? Mine were a 308, 113i, A3, Megane, Auris, Leon, Golf, Focus and a few more. Are yours the same? If so, it is segment A and has no part-ex.

The title of one of your jobs indicates that it is segment A also.

blindman

Cherry_pie wrote: »

I love hotel jobs, used to do them for RE, but haven't seen any for months, not sure what I did, but I can't see them anymore

If you still want them (140 questions!) then ring RE and ask why you can'y see them.

I'm amazed at how many people here moan about not seeing certain jobs on RE's (cr*p) web-site but then do nothing about it.

Cherry_pie_5

Thanks Hollypear, good advice and I think I'm going to take a leaf out of your book and do the same, keep the 'perk' jobs and the odd decent paying job when I have time instead of trying to be a one woman mystery shopping machine!

I feel a bit better about things this morning

blindman

Hollypear wrote: »

Poor you Cherry Pie you sound quite pee'ed off. I don't blame you.

I decided some time ago ( as I have a part time job though not well paid) NOT to do the crap jobs anymore. Doesn't make sense to me doing jobs for a fiver and spending £2-£3 on travel plus time doing it, then more time doing reports. For the bottom of the ladder I nominate Gyp and RE for poor fees and ridiculous reports.

I now do only jobs I feel are worth my time and effort for a decent reward. Today I did an optical visit, a smallish supermarket and a bank. Fees for that total £61.50 which I think is good considering it was my day off and it only took me the morning. Reports for all 3 were easy and quick. Done by 2pm.

I am happy to leave the cheap burgers and crap pizza stuff to others. I never eat in those places anyway so think it pointless and for the fees it ain't worth it to me anyway. Each to their own.

Only exception I make is doing the casino's and the restaurants with a good reimbursement The RE chain pubs I no longer do either as I can't be bothered answering 103 questions for a pittance.

Just my opinion though I know others are in different circumstances or fast food joints float your boat..

This is the reality of Mystery shopping.

All newbies eventually get to this point (I did a long while back). It takes some longer than others but eventually they get the point that this is NO way to earn a living.
For some it is the only way and you have my sympathy:o however I hope you have tried every other avenue to earn income rather than this way.

If everyone actually sat down and worked out how many hours they spend on the jobs (include looking for them, reading the brief, printing, reporting, answering extra Q's and email etc) they too would find it's a fools game.