The Mystery Shopping thread - VII

jdan9

cte1111 wrote: »

Yes I read this, whilst doing a slightly poor visit. Made me chuckle, as I ate my cold toast, which was served 20 minutes before the rest of my breakfast....

Ha, I love that!

Regarding TNS, I think they're great right now, but that's because I'm in the right age group to do the Think 21 jobs, and they are an excellent fee for what you have to do.

Cherry_pie_5

iscamaid wrote: »

Hi

Apologies in advance for a whinge but do others find the same problem with Gapbuster?. I am with Gapbuster along with several others. I find however that Gapbuster frequently contact me by e-mail after submitting my report with extra questions. This occurs with them far more than any other mystery shopping firm. The e-mail is a terse and says I have to reply within 24 hours or not get paid. T

Their report forms are detailed and I have always qualified any non-favourable comments in it. Though I understand that companies do not want less than excellent reports they cannot expect us to always give perfect answers, it would defeat the purpose of being a mystery shopper. Sometimes Gapbuster e-mail twice about the same report - asking fiddly extra questions, sometimes a week after the vist. When jobs often pay £4 without milage (excluding the cost of the goods) they expect a great deal for very little. With Gapbuster being non-contactable by phone you cannot get a "feel" at times why they are asking these extra questions. I get slightly cross at times because many of the jobs given out at present invove lots of travelling, which they call asking you to do. They plead over the phone with you to do it because they are in a fix and desperate - then you get an e-mail several days after doing it for them saying they wont pay you unless you answer lots more questions in 24 hours or else.
Sorry rant over!

Hmm thing is, with GAP you should really only accept the jobs if you actually like the food, you're in the area at the time and would like a free lunch and don't mind spending 5 or 10 minutes on the report, otherwise, they are almost a complete waste of time unless you can talk them into an additional fee or other 'perks'. Accepting jobs that are miles out of your way is completely pointless unless you are using them as 'filler' jobs along with other, more profitable mystery shops for other companies. As for the reports being 'detailed' I disagree with that. The only thing that Gap have in their favour is that their reports are by far the simplest and quickest reports to fill in of all the MS companies. They're usually 90% check boxes with the odd comment as opposed to other companies who seem to be the other way around :rotfl: .

As for them coming back with queries, I almost never get queries from GAP, the two times I have this year have been when I've had long timings for lunchtime drive thru assignments and the restaurants have disputed them because it makes them look bad. in which case they will come up with almost ANYTHING to discredit your report.... they once told me they had checked the CCTV and I had a baby in the back of the car.... I do not have a baby! MY child is 8, he was at football and the only thing in the back of the car was a Frisbee!

The easy answer is, if it's not convenient and you don't want the food, don't do it, it really isn't worth your time. BUT, if they call you pleading, use it to your advantage. I HATE burger jobs, I'm not a fan at all and never select them myself, but if they ring begging, i'll barter with them until they give me 2 petrol jobs for my trouble, then it's worth it. 5 minutes in a drive thru, 5 minutes doing the report and a few weeks later £XX amount of petrol in my car for another 20 mins work... THEN it's worth it!

Peoples opinion on GAP varies, some people are just glad of a free lunch and like the food, would buy it anyway so its a bonus, others hate them with a passion and wouldn't work for them in a month of Sunday's. I use them to my advantage and 50% of the work I do for them is petrol so I can't be too harsh in my critique! The other 50% is made up of underground sandwiches which my family and I really like and a few 'desperate' burger jobs that I use to get the petrol.

All in all, GAP have their benefits, but choose carefully.

Becles

Storecheckers are moving from PAYE to Self Employed in line with the new tax year. Jobs will now pay just the fee but no travel expenses.

Take care as it looks like the fees are staying the same, so do work out if it's worth doing the jobs now.

Annapurna_2

I'd have to agree with Cherry_pie about Gap, their reports are really quick to do and the jobs aren't difficult either. I think they're great for just picking up the odd sandwich, coffee or quick burger etc while you're out and about anyway. Also, i quite like some of the food. Having said that i haven't worked for them for long so i haven't had any proof reading queries from them yet either - i may change my mind about them if they start hassling me a lot or not paying out! :rolleyes:

BTW - I'd say GFK are my fave MS company for their clear instructions, decent pay and not too lengthy questionnaires.

josie

Annapurna wrote: »

I'd have to agree with Cherry_pie about Gap, their reports are really quick to do and the jobs aren't difficult either. I think they're great for just picking up the odd sandwich, coffee or quick burger etc while you're out and about anyway. Also, i quite like some of the food. Having said that i haven't worked for them for long so i haven't had any proof reading queries from them yet either - i may change my mind about them if they start hassling me a lot or not paying out! :rolleyes:

BTW - I'd say GFK are my fave MS company for their clear instructions, decent pay and not too lengthy questionnaires.

I've found they only query negative aspects of the job.

E.G. "I was not greeted within 5 minutes of entering, despite the restaurant not being busy and 2 members of staff passing by us without commenting"

Gap query:~ Why were you not greeted within 5 minutes of entering?

I mean, what are they on?!? You feel like saying well, I'll give you a multiple choice guess on that one :rolleyes: - was it

a) They're lazy
b) They're just plain rude
or c) Because the staff couldn't really give a damn???

And see what they think - oh, it's ok, I know what they think that'll be the last assignment I do for them if I sent that!

jdan9

The one thing that really annoys me about GAP is the loooong payment time - if it was much longer I wouldn't actually be able to afford to work for them.

Also, I got an assignment rejected the other day for ordering the wrong base by mistake on a pizza, that peed me off a bit...

owlet

Annapurna wrote: »

I'd have to agree with Cherry_pie about Gap, their reports are really quick to do and the jobs aren't difficult either. I think they're great for just picking up the odd sandwich, coffee or quick burger etc while you're out and about anyway. Also, i quite like some of the food. Having said that i haven't worked for them for long so i haven't had any proof reading queries from them yet either - i may change my mind about them if they start hassling me a lot or not paying out! :rolleyes:

BTW - I'd say GFK are my fave MS company for their clear instructions, decent pay and not too lengthy questionnaires.

I like GFK best as well for the same reasons. I just wish there was more work with them! I have also had some nice jobs with TNS. Both are friendly if you need to contact them as well.

I also agree with the comments about GAP. If I can't get a petrol job in return for a burger job they are desperate for, I ask them for extra in the fee to cover petrol. A while ago they phoned me to do two crappy jobs & I managed to get the poor guy so confused, that I ended up with one crappy job and the bonus of two petrol jobs and a small supermarket . I do quite a few jobs for GAP but only as fillers with other jobs or if I can pick up 3 or 4 jobs at the same time (within 2 miles of home). They aren't worth travelling for single jobs. I have only had one query from them but it was a fault with the questionnaire, which managed to lose some of the answers on submitting. Luckily, I always save a copy before I submit.

lovinsavin

Can someone please explain how registering as Self Employed affects my tax credits.

I currently work full time ( on a flexible working pattern, due to my disability) and have tax credits for myself, and my two children including childcare credits.

I would like to undertake some MS work, but worry I will lose money rather than make any once I register as self employed. Can you be self employed and employed?

Thanks

creaker

Can someone please clarify. I've registered with a casino to do a MS job and that casino brand also does bingo which I will be doing in a different location for a different MS company. So my question is, if I'm registered as a Casino member does it automatically mean I'm registered for the Bingo as it's the same company or are they treated differently. I'm asking because on my briefing notes it specifies that I must be a new member.

TIA

mharzuk

lovinsavin wrote: »

Can someone please explain how registering as Self Employed affects my tax credits.

I currently work full time ( on a flexible working pattern, due to my disability) and have tax credits for myself, and my two children including childcare credits.

I would like to undertake some MS work, but worry I will lose money rather than make any once I register as self employed. Can you be self employed and employed?

Thanks

Give the tax credit people a ring and ask the "if I did this what would happen?" They are very helpful. Or go to the www.entitledto.com web site, its not spot on but quite good.