The Mystery Shopping thread - VIII

nads

Becles wrote: »

I did an RE chemist this morning. It took ages as the lady was all over me and told me everything under the sun about hayfever and weight loss. I know why now :rolleyes:

During the hayfever bit she mentioned keeping the car windows and air vents closed in the car. Then she said "ooh I assuming you're a car driver of course." I said I was. More blah blah hayfever stuff. Then when she recommended tablets, she insisted I had to take the non-drowsy ones. I pointed out the cheaper ones and said I would have those and she inisisted I must have the non drowsy ones. I said I didn't mind but then she said she couldn't sell me the drowsy ones as I'd already said I was a car driver and it was too dangerous. I've ended up buying the more expensive ones as there is no way she'd sell me the cheaper ones. I'd already picked up a pack of throat lozenges as my additional purchase which cost £2.25 plus the non-drowsy tablets at £6.49, so I've gone way over the limit, and I don't even use the stupid hayfever tablets :mad:

I love your posts! I'm goingt o go into a pharmacy and see if they do this with me - I don't actually have the job... I jsut want to be fanwed over!

scubaangel

I doubt it, I'd suggest do one, then see if you feel comfortable to do the others, if not write up one, release the others then email RE to explain why you've released them. I'm still debating it if it wasnt for using the product I would have def sacked them off.

tadpole74

scubaangel wrote: »

I did one of the chemist RE jobs this morning and had a similar experience as Becles - its stupid coz I've been in to the same shop before and bought the same product without being fawned over. Very tempted to release the other couple of them I have booked for the weekend now, but I do use the bloomin stuff.....gah.
I've emailed RE anyway explaining just how ridiculous the scenario is, and how obvious it makes us, and thats before we go outside and try to take a photo of a glass fronted shop who's staff know you were just in MS'ing so have watched you leave and are still stood looking out the windows....

How do RE take it if you cancel a job. This is my first job and I've just rescheduled it to next week because I'm too nervous to do it today after reading about the experiences had by the other MSer's. I don't want them to sack me before I've even started.

jdan9

tadpole74 wrote: »

How do RE take it if you cancel a job. This is my first job and I've just rescheduled it to next week because I'm too nervous to do it today after reading about the experiences had by the other MSer's. I don't want them to sack me before I've even started.

Companies don't generally like it, but I doubt they'll do anything. How far away is the last date the assignment can be done on? It is only really a big deal if you release it on the last day or so, so it's less likely somebody else will take up the job.

mysterious_girl

Becles wrote: »

I did an RE chemist this morning. It took ages as the lady was all over me and told me everything under the sun about hayfever and weight loss. I know why now :rolleyes:

During the hayfever bit she mentioned keeping the car windows and air vents closed in the car. Then she said "ooh I assuming you're a car driver of course." I said I was. More blah blah hayfever stuff. Then when she recommended tablets, she insisted I had to take the non-drowsy ones. I pointed out the cheaper ones and said I would have those and she inisisted I must have the non drowsy ones. I said I didn't mind but then she said she couldn't sell me the drowsy ones as I'd already said I was a car driver and it was too dangerous. I've ended up buying the more expensive ones as there is no way she'd sell me the cheaper ones. I'd already picked up a pack of throat lozenges as my additional purchase which cost £2.25 plus the non-drowsy tablets at £6.49, so I've gone way over the limit, and I don't even use the stupid hayfever tablets :mad:

I do need the throat lozenges but I normally buy the same ones in Tesco for £1.07 but she'd already noticed I had a sore throat and I said I needed them, so I couldn't really put them back. I also noticed the cough medicine that I bought for £2.50 in Tesco on Tuesday costs £3.50 in this chemist.

So if anyone else is doing them, don't say you are a driver, or work, or operate machinery, etc.

I did a bookies too, so I'm hoping my horsie comes in to make up for it. It's called Cill Rialaig in the 4.45 at Goodwood. Someone on another forum told me it has a good chance, as I've no idea about horses!

Cancelling my chemist job right now! Short of entering the chemist in a wheelchair (oh, is that classed as a driver? or maybe it's classed as heavy machinery) I don't know how I will get away with buying the drowsy ones.

tadpole74

jdan9 wrote: »

Companies don't generally like it, but I doubt they'll do anything. How far away is the last date the assignment can be done on? It is only really a big deal if you release it on the last day or so, so it's less likely somebody else will take up the job.

I think it can be done up till the end of May so maybe I will give them a ring to explain why I don't want to do it and see what they say. They are bound to knock some points off and I'm only on 0.

scubaangel

I cancelled my first job with them and they were fine with it, I would guess if it happens alot they might start to get annoyed but odd ones arent too bad.

Seriously the first job is always nervewracking, if you can get through this one then there are plenty of others you can do (well I say plenty) and avoid the chemist ones in future. Dont forget not all the chemists will have the same staff etc so everyone will have a different experience, I think with todays I was sold the product because I had bought the same one before and mentioned that I only took it in the evenings.
I suspect Becles staff member was just being overly cautious - if they dont know the scenarios we follow they might have been under the impression that they had to try to stop the MS'er from buying the drowsy product to get a good report.

Scaredy_Cat_3

tadpole74 wrote: »

I think it can be done up till the end of May so maybe I will give them a ring to explain why I don't want to do it and see what they say. They are bound to knock some points off and I'm only on 0.

Would be interested to know what they say - I mean, if you are planning to tell them you don't want to do it because the staff clearly know what the scenario is beforehand. I really don't understand why 'they' (whoever 'they' are) would warn staff in advance. I say whoever they are because it could be the branch manager anxious to get a good score and therefore a bonus. I can understand that, so why do head office tell the managers?

ukmonkey

scubaangel wrote: »

I cancelled my first job with them and they were fine with it, I would guess if it happens alot they might start to get annoyed but odd ones arent too bad.

Seriously the first job is always nervewracking, if you can get through this one then there are plenty of others you can do (well I say plenty) and avoid the chemist ones in future. Dont forget not all the chemists will have the same staff etc so everyone will have a different experience, I think with todays I was sold the product because I had bought the same one before and mentioned that I only took it in the evenings.
I suspect Becles staff member was just being overly cautious - if they dont know the scenarios we follow they might have been under the impression that they had to try to stop the MS'er from buying the drowsy product to get a good report.

For all we know, that may be the exact purpose of the visit, sounds like a good idea to me...!

minniepoos_2

I just did my first telephone job with RE (very nervous!). I had a list of prompts in front of me, so I'd be ready when the assistant asked me questions, then for some reason when I was asked about my budget instead of saying £1500 (which I had written in front of me in big blue letters), I said £1000. Which then meant the prices she had were WAY over my budget, so made the rest of the call a bit lame!

I've got a sneaky suspicion there won't be any more telephone jobs coming my way from RE!!