The Mystery Shopping thread - VII

Scaredy_Cat_3

alisont wrote: »

Hello

Ive applied to be a mystery shopper but can I ask is a lot of it linked to restaurant chains as I would have problems with this if It involves ordering certain meals as Im a vegan! Other shopping Id be fine with.

I can only be free evenings, weekends and holidays as I work in education - would this be flexible enough?

Thanks

I'm a veggie, so I know what you mean! There are some assignments where it does specify exactly what meal you have to order - so just don't accept those assignments!

There are plenty of other jobs, such as supermarkets, general shops, banks etc., where you are not required to purchase food. You just need to make sure you read the notes before you accept the assignment.

jdan9

DebtHater wrote: »

You think thats bad?

Gap refused to pay up on one I did locally for the same chain, aparantly I revealed myself to be a MS and the staff recognised me and told their manager.

I received an email from Gap saying "The store believes they recognised you and described you as being female, late 30s, wearing a flowery dress"

To which I replied "I am a male, early 20s, and I was wearing smart dress as I was having my lunch break from work"

I mean, come on. As if I'd go in and say, "Hello, I am a mystery shopper"

Surely this should happen quite often, in theory, since we have to ask for receipts? It's not our fault they recognise us!

Scaredy_Cat_3

jdan9 wrote: »

Surely this should happen quite often, in theory, since we have to ask for receipts? It's not our fault they recognise us!

Gap once rang me up and asked me to do a petrol job. I said I wasn't keen as I had heard you had to ask permission to use the loo, and I felt this would give me away and I would be embarrassed. Gap weren't bothered, he just said the garage were the ones who should worry, not me!

Sometimes I don't think they understand the concept of mystery shopping. It's all a big game to them, throw a 6 and tell the client the customer service was excellent, throw a 4 and give the shop advance warning of the day and time the shopper will visit, etc etc etc

Timmne

gjohnson85 wrote: »

Wheeew..I just finished reading all chapters. Thanks for this great info!

It helped me a lot now that I'm about to try mystery shopping. :-)

Well done spambob

princess_leia_3

Reported as spam

Mr T obviously has the fastest finger today

gettingthere28

The_Plush_Doormat wrote: »

On the sports shop jobs you can take the item back for a refund. I had to phone RE a few months back to confirm this. It is badly worded in the assignment notes. You can't take it back on the day of the assignment. Any time after is perfectly ok with RE. I have done it a few times now, never been docked points, never had my wrists slapped, and have not been sacked (unfortunately).

While I am here, and on the topic of said sports shop, one of the brands is spelt McK not Mack. Grrrr at RE for docking my points. :mad:

Just got this from RE when I asked about 'Refunds' for the 'Sports Shop':

Hi there,
Thanks for your email.
Unfortunately you cannot refund the item at all, but you can exchange it should you need to.
Kind regards

Kim Kaur
Retail Eyes (UK) Limited
Mount Mill Farm
Wicken
Milton Keynes
MK19 6DG

Tel: 01908 328 026
Fax: 01908 328 001

Timmne

Hi there,

We want to ensure our shoppers get as little as possible out of our assignments. We don't believe in perks, nor fees.

Hopefully you're stockpiling an extraordinarily high number of unwanted products you can't get shot of.

Kind regards,

RE gestapo.

The_Plush_Doormat

:oThanks gettingthere you are 100 per cent correct. Just got off the phone to Kim (RE) and she says I should never have been told that I could return the items for a refund. I told her that I had on 4 seperate occasions, and she could dock as many points as she wanted from me. Because, in the words of Rhett Butler, quite frankly my dear I couldn't give a damn. I have released the job on principle. Sorry if I gave out the wrong info, but I was led to believe by RE that we could get a refund on the item.

Timmne

The_Plush_Doormat wrote: »

I have released the job on principle.

Brilliant - I have done this before when they didn't keep to a promise and hopefully this'll start to make them aware how pants they are.

Sorry, this is my last RE complaining message today; I apologise profusely.

mharzuk

tigergold wrote: »

I'd say give it a few more months and none of the jobs where you get to buy something will have fees, they are doing it slowly, first they decreased the fee on a few jobs and now they are doing away with them all together, client by client. What I am thinking is what about our accounts - most of the jobs will incur losses....hows that going to look to the taxman

I see your point but as discussed on this site previously on this site if you get to keep the item then it is not counted as tax deductable expenses. It is payment in kind and therefore is counted as income for tax purposes.