The Mystery Shopping thread - VIII

TractorGirl327

leila1 wrote: »

The best way to find left and right is:
Google the post code, wait for your results and then click "Street view" that comes in the white pop up.
It is like walking that street again. The best thing ever as you can walk around the world in 80 minutes!

That only works if your town is actually on Google maps. And quite a few shopping areas are Malls, or pedestrian only zones, which aren't covered anyway

jdan9

leila1 wrote: »

The best way to find left and right is:
Google the post code, wait for your results and then click "Street view" that comes in the white pop up.
It is like walking that street again. The best thing ever as you can walk around the world in 80 minutes!

That was already suggested - Street View doesn't cover the area the OP was enquiring about.

ukmonkey

KSG1970 wrote: »

Hi, did anyone do any green supermarkets today ? I did (my 1st and last!).

I really think that for all of the info you have to gather the fee is not enough but maybe that's just me !

I realise a Saturday is going to be busy but... It took me ages to find a manager. I just felt stressed throughout the whole thing.

To top it all when I left the security alarms went off as one of my items still had the security tag activated so I had to show the manager my receipt ! (should I miss this bit out of my report ??????)

I was so embarrassed and unfortunately this 'experience' has put me off doing any more.

I hope if you did one it was a much better experience than mine.

I think you MUST put it in your report, and emphasise it, that's a really bad thing to do to a customer.

leila1

jdan9 wrote: »

That was already suggested - Street View doesn't cover the area the OP was enquiring about.

I love it anyhow and found it very useful in other circs.

leila1

TractorGirl327 wrote: »

That only works if your town is actually on Google maps. And quite a few shopping areas are Malls, or pedestrian only zones, which aren't covered anyway

TG have a quick look at the TNS call brief OMG!

Quasar

I find the TNS mystery shopping side not worthwhile. There is a lot of work and preparation involved for the sort of fees they pay. For them I only do transport surveys. Likewise for Gfk.

I used to do a lot mystery shopping for these two companies but when you take into account lengthy instructions, getting the visit done and then doing the report online, I just find it all pointless.

Years ago before they put everything online, I would do several visits in one day (easier to get here in London), fill in eac questionnaire on my way to the next visit. Those were the days. Fees were higher too.

Scaredy_Cat_3

KSG1970 wrote: »

Hi, did anyone do any green supermarkets today ? I did (my 1st and last!).


I realise a Saturday is going to be busy but... It took me ages to find a manager. I just felt stressed throughout the whole thing.

.

You don't HAVE to find a manager! IF you see one you ask them a question. If you don't see one, it doesn't matter - you just click 'no' for the question about whether you spotted one or not. This bit about finding a manager is new-ish and I've done about 3 of these since that question was added - I've never yet seen a manager!

Scaredy_Cat_3

ukmonkey wrote: »

I think you MUST put it in your report, and emphasise it, that's a really bad thing to do to a customer.

Not very pleasant but it happens quite a lot! Must admit it's never happened when I've been MSing, but it's happened loads of other times. Sometimes it's clothing that has the tag hidden and the check out operator didn't spot it.

TractorGirl327

leila1 wrote: »

TG have a quick look at the TNS call brief OMG!

Yes, it was mentioned on here yesterday - I'm going to email my area manager on Monday and say I'm not happy with them!!

KSG1970

Scaredy_Cat wrote: »

You don't HAVE to find a manager! IF you see one you ask them a question. If you don't see one, it doesn't matter - you just click 'no' for the question about whether you spotted one or not. This bit about finding a manager is new-ish and I've done about 3 of these since that question was added - I've never yet seen a manager!

Thanks I totally misread that part and thought I MUST speak to a manager so spent ages walking around pretending to browse trying to find one. I even mistook a few shoppers for a manager in my desparate attempt to find one ! (luckily did not approach them when I did not see a name badge) In this scenario if I didn't find one I would have in the end with the alarm situation.

I suppose I could have been a shop lifter and they were only doing their job ? They couldn't really let me walk out the door with alarms going off. I did ask if the security tag should have been removed and they said no, when the item was scanned it should have deactivated it. I'm still unsure how to handle this in my report. Can anyone offer any more advice ? This is my first for GR and don't want to mess up but also want to be totally honest about the whole experience (there are other points I haven't mentioned on here). Also how do you differentiate between someone helping a 'customer' when it appears to be a casual chat with a 'friend' ?