The Mystery Shopping thread - part 6

MikeLB

Hollypear wrote: »

Crikey Mike you could write a book now and up your income even more. Do you include video MS'ing. I take it then you do MS'ing full time.

I am in Glasgow and got an email today looking for someone to do a job in Fort William and 1 in Dunoon. But there was no mention of extra to cover mileage.

Nope and Nope - I did a very odd shift pattern in my main job which involved 7 days a fortnight, so with the 7 days off, I was MS'ing based in Glasgow. So it was technically part-time but in all honesty, the hours were well over full time. It was primarily because there was a chance of redundancy in my main job I decided to go for broke and put in all the hours possible to get the house and car paid off as much as I could just in case.

And I have yet to this day ever done a Video mystery shop job - I thought they were too invasive on the staff and a bit too sneaky. I worked in retail for years and know what it was like to be at the receiving end of it - the best MS'ers are ex retail folk in my opinion, they understand the situation better.

The expenses and cost thing were something i worked up to with my companies - its not a normal situation and only came about because I deliberately did loss leaders (which can help when it comes to tax returns your know .....). So, Say Campbeltown - hardly anyone will go to Campbeltown. So I did it once or twice, the company then expected me to go again the 3rd month because all of a sudden, they had a regular shopper there - but when they phoned, I said that it was not cost effective, could they add £15 fuel onto it - every time they said yes and from that month onwards, I could get extra for that location. Then multiply this over other odd locations and it started to build up.

I built up some very specific contacts at some of the MS companies, who I nicknamed my 'handlers' as they would basically waive loads of job restrictions to get the jobs done. I was allowed to bypass all the standard ways of contacting companies and could email people directly or phone. At one point, they had me flying across all the Scottish Islands to do a particular shop so my flights were paid for and then they started to pay a hourly rate as well for the long trips. My best 2 ever days were in Shetland and Aberdeen. Taking into account the flights and travel, I made £140 for 12 hours work in Shetland - which wasnt bad at all! 2 Weeks ago, I got asked to go to Aberdeen for 2 jobs. I pointed out that I was doing work for them in Fort William in the morning, so it was a long day - so they asked me to name my price - that got an extra £186 on top of the 2 jobs.

Once you do a location once, you will always be associated with it. So if a company is stuck, they will phone and say oh you visited before, can you go again, and then you can start to bargain a bit!

But as time passed and I moved back into a 5 day a week job, its not quite what it used to be. Most of my handlers have left and I have 2 left at 2 companies. They dont pay out the same as they used to and the bigger jobs that I landed upon in the past have dissappeared. As contracts move between companies as well, job prices fall too.

I have written a book about my expericnes and top tips but not sure about how to get it published!

blindman

spmuk wrote: »

The other posts are old are they not!!!

Ok who's your favourite, or best paid!!!!!??????????

They may be old but still relevant.

Open any one, use the Search function and type in "Favourite"

spmuk

someone's tired!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

pebblespop

i am trying to fill in a questionaire to apply to be a mystery shopper at tns. are the answers on the website??

blindman

spmuk wrote: »

someone's tired!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

someone else is tired of you asking the same question! :rolleyes:

Several people have told you their "best" MS companies.

learning_to_drive

Blindman antagonising again. Quelle surprise.

Spmuk, what's your query? top 5 companies?

It does change region to region, but I doubt that Gap will feature on anyone's top 5, so that can be a good indicator.

sinderella_2

blindman wrote: »

Can I suggest you do some research of your own

Look through the past threads and you'll find most of the answers.

IMHO "Top 5's" are very subjective and will vary from person to person due to their circumstances, location and motivation.

I think the better question is "Who are the Bottom 5" :eek:

I agree!
And wonder whether the bottom 5s would be more similar for us all than the top 5s!

MikeLB

learning_to_drive wrote: »

Blindman antagonising again. Quelle surprise.

Spmuk, what's your query? top 5 companies?

It does change region to region, but I doubt that Gap will feature on anyone's top 5, so that can be a good indicator.

I wasnt going to say anything but I will - Gapbuster was my top paying, top job load Company for over 2 years. Now they are my second since my handler left. They have their problems same as every other company and are strict, but thats the aim of the game.

sinderella_2

learning_to_drive wrote: »

It does change region to region, but I doubt that Gap will feature on anyone's top 5, so that can be a good indicator.

I'm on the point of binning them, actually. I just find it unacceptable that they can't be contacted. Some previous posters have raised several valid points about how you get left high and dry and I don't think it is reasonable... like most people, I use them as fillers and can only imagine they are useful only for those who can't (or don't want to) write reports..

sinderella_2

MikeLB wrote: »

I wasnt going to say anything but I will - Gapbuster was my top paying, top job load Company for over 2 years. Now they are my second since my handler left. They have their problems same as every other company and are strict, but thats the aim of the game.

Wowsers! You have me seriously gobsmacked there, Mike!