The Mystery Shopping thread - VII

Becles

angel13 wrote: »

i know im new to this but im finding it hard to understand how they knew you were definitely a mshopper in the first place

We know the shops check the reports against CCTV. As this is my 4th visit in the last 8 months, I suspect they may have found me on CCTV from previous visits, or just remembered me as the strange woman who comes in and asks lots of questions and gets recommended things but never buys anything!

and secondly just becuase you went into shop 1 why would that mean they know you are going to definitely be going into shops 2, 3 and 4?

It's a client rule that all shops are shopped by the same person on the same day. Staff do move around the branches so they don't want you to be in the position of being served in shop 1 and then finding the same staff member in another shop miles away the next day.

plus how can they possibly say you are being unprofessional as they dont know what your brief was plus the point of a ms is you are being a standard customer so what does that imply they think of their customers?

It was a store that had a bad report from me last time that made the unprofessional complaint. We suspect the store is trying to get me into trouble as revenge for their last bad report.

angel13 wrote: »

im new to ms but i went into gap earlier. i got barred from ALL the food type places i guess becuase i put im a vegetarian. why that means id get barred from ones that i can eat in i have no idea

On the food ones, you have to order specific items and then eat some of them to check the temperature and quality. All the specific items are meat based items, so you wouldn't be able to eat those and complete the job.

Timmne

So really then Becles, all the shop has done is shot themselves in the foot! All they've done is wasted their chance of knowing who the MSer is. I don't understand why shops who know who the MSer is don't just keep quiet and reap the benefits of knowing exactly who to treat with utmost respect and courtesy!

When I used to do the GAPburger jobs every now and then GAP would phone me and say "were you the guy about 6' tall wearing a green top and driving a renault?" I used to say that although the descrption was right, why the h3ll should the store be allowed to question this? What does it have to do with the store who I am? As above, all they did was get me barred from that site so instead of knowing who was the MSer, all they did was guarantee that next month's would be a completely new shopper!

Timmne

Angel13 - the veggie thing has been brought up before. It's not that the client wants to discriminate against veggies; they want to test a typical customer visit. If a typical visitor is most likely to buy a certain meal at the GAPburger place, then that's what they'll ask you to buy. RE have a similar rule with their sandwich shops - there is no vegitarian version of the thing they want you to buy but that's purely coincidental. If you choose to not eat meat, you eliminate yourself - is the harsh way of putting it!

It's like the women doing bookies jobs thing - RE want men only as men form the majority of their clientele - it would not be representative of a normal visitor if a woman did the visit - just how the cookie crumbles, no matter how much the likes of josie & Ellie don't like it (I think josie & Ellie anyway )

tigergold

RE down again !!!!!!!

kman

RE broken again...

blindman

tigergold wrote: »

RE down again !!!!!!!

Email Kelly.Hunt@retaileyes.co.uk and tell her

copy in

jenny.wheeley@retaileyes.co.uk


Tell them their fantastic site is !!!!!!

MikeLB

I do feel for you Becles, I was on really friendly terms with the managers of High Street Electrical Stores i used to MS - He told me that usually once a store gets their first mystery shop and works it out (in this case it was because we had to reveal at the end) then they do phone their local branches to let them know - they shouldnt but they do.

But in your case what client did was totally out of order. And it does backfire on them spectaculalry as they end up with a newbie shopper who probably wont be so forgiving.

It is tricky doing the same sites month in month out - I have half a dozen stores that due to location no one else will do so although I should only shop once every 4 months, I have gone every almost month since the stores opened - In one case I have shopped one store 35 times in the 39 months it has been open. But in some of these stores, yeah they know who you are but they are canny enough to keep quiet, they usually always get a good report, the store manager gets their bonus, the staff get their bonus awards and I get my little journeys every month. Everyone is happy!

MikeLB

jediteacher wrote: »

I just popped onto RE and finally saw some jobs - the pub ones. However, they've all vanished suddenly - all 40 of them! I literally applied for one and then went back to see others and in the space of less than 2 minutes they had all gone. :mad:

Still cannot see the hotels!

You sure you hadnt hit client limit - RE does eliminate all other visits once you have accepted the maxmimum number for a clinet which in some cases can just be 1.

jobbingmusician

Just popped on to send Becles a quick hug (I agree that the smiley is VERY iffy!) - I think I am only on good enough terms with 2 companies that they would trust me in a situation like this!

Just think if it had been RE or GAP! (Actually perhaps I am being pessimistic here as GAP have trusted me a few times, but some of the staff at RE have me tearing my hair!) :mad:

MikeLB

angel13 wrote: »

im new to ms but i went into gap earlier. i got barred from ALL the food type places i guess becuase i put im a vegetarian. why that means id get barred from ones that i can eat in i have no idea - plus why that means id get barred from the others is also beyond me as i cam still be a customer as most companies sell something i can eat or drink plus i have family who are non veggies. i feel like if i cant even mystery shop in their stores i certainly wont be eating in any of them again! :eek:

have any other veggies had the same thing and was it possible to get this sorted out with gap so you can be offered work?

Its the rules of the game I am afriad - it applies to gender requirements, age requirements etc etc of the clients and can be frustrating at times. But the client want typical customers feedback so we have to stick with it - for Gapburger you cant even order the fish option as it takes 30 second slonger to cook than the other items and throws the times wrong for example.

Also for quite a few companies, you wont be able to see jobs based on your personal details you registered with. as they get filtered out of job pages before you see them - I used to do pubs regulalry which were for over 30 only but I used to get sent the list because i couldnt see them online and at 27 was 'close enough to the age!' to do them!