The Mystery Shopping thread - IX

truly1

Don't want to distract us from this interesting debate . . . but . . . quick question: am doing a pizza thing for g a p tomorrow, have done them before but this is a buffet one. No idea how to time it - starters, main course. Also, states I have to order a salad bowl, is this seperate to the buffet? Isn't there a buffet that includes this and won't I look like a nutcase if I insist on having a separate salad?

Any help appreciated.

xx

owlet

Hollypear wrote: »

Is it just me being a pain but I am thinking of jacking in most MS'ing.

PS Those who know me will just go ...Ah there she goes our HP on another rant. Newbies will run for cover.

I will welcome comments while I await on men with white coats coming to cart me to the loonie bin.

Hi HP, I have to say that I agree with you! I haven't picked up much or been on here for a few weeks because I have lost heart with it. There's no point searching because by the time I can access the PC the jobs are gone. Some companies are taking on so many shoppers that finding jobs is a real ball ache. Even the GAP burger jobs (which I don't do many of anyway) are all gone in my area. Other companies like RE want you to spend hours on the shop and questionnaire (with the ridiculous questions) and it isn't worth it.

I won't be picking anything up for a few months now because we are away for the summer and then I will be in hospital with a long recovery, so I will see what the situation is in November!

I did the survey on RE & gave my opinion, so I will probably get sacked anyway lol.

gmac9i

anika wrote: »

I have my first supermarket job with tns. It says.
£xx mileage. £xx purchase £xx fee. £xx food and £x extra.

As this is my first job, at the end of the questions is there a box to claim the fees. Do you get the lot, or do I have to work out the mileage fee, and what is the extra for!

Anyone please?

Anika,


Anika do not get off on the wrong foot with companies, dont just claim for everything like Tractorgirl says. You can claim 22p a mile for the mileage and the extra is for checking and making a purchase in the petrol station, so if yours did not have a petrol station then the area controller will be emailing you possibly.
Take my advise, dont take the Mickey as you need them on your side.

Gmac9i

jdan9

truly1 wrote: »

Hi HP I am so in agreement. Some companies are just taking the michael. I have started to be selective too, like you jdan, and am giving a major body-swerve (also a Glasgow saying, you will note!) to those jobs.

On the upside, I am beginning to suss out which jobs are worth the trouble.

It is not always obvious on first glance, e.g. g a p is heavily maligned here at times, and rightly so - at times, but some of their jobs are a doddle.

Experience teaches us a lot. I suspect that there are a lot of people who are getting into MSing now that will do these jobs in the short term. However, who would do 5 hours work for £8 - and do it well - in the longer term? Not many, and not many who are any good at it I suspect.

xx

T

I agree with you about GAP - I'm starting to like them more. They're a pain in the !!! to communicate with, but the fees in relation to the time spent are really good. I'm thinking in particular the mobile phone visits. Obviously can't post the fee, but I'm sure you all know what it is. The longest I've ever spent in store doing one of these is 15 mins when the MOS was very very keen, and the report is just ticking things, takes 5 mins at absolute maximum.

Then you look at station jobs on RE with a huge wordy report, or clothes shops on RE (which I only ever did once) with no fee at all, and you start to like GAP more.

On the same note, I'm considering quitting TNS Think 21 visits now they've changed the brief. The pay isn't very good, even with mileage added on - they were only worth it because you could get a few quid's worth of groceries if you just bought a bottle of Bulmer's or something. Now you can only get sweets and crisps it's silly - I've been getting the full reimbursement worth of them just to make a point, but I can't keep buying tons of chocolate, it's no good for me! :rotfl:

scotsbob wrote: »

PS
To the company lurkers here. This is intended as humour and doesn't reflect the professional way I misery shop for you.

Intentional or typo?

anika

gmac9i wrote: »

Anika,


Anika do not get off on the wrong foot with companies, dont just claim for everything like Tractorgirl says. You can claim 22p a mile for the mileage and the extra is for checking and making a purchase in the petrol station, so if yours did not have a petrol station then the area controller will be emailing you possibly.
Take my advise, dont take the Mickey as you need them on your side.

Gmac9i

Thanks all for the advice, I was not sure if the mileage and extras were all included as a matter of course, as I have not completed a job yet. However, I wouldnt claim for doing something if I didnt do it, we all try to push our luck, but a few quid extra now, or no more job offers! I possibly would have claimed it all, had you guys not explained, but I wouldnt have said there was a petrol station attached , if there wasnt.

jdan9

anika wrote: »

Thanks all for the advice, I was not sure if the mileage and extras were all included as a matter of course, as I have not completed a job yet. However, I wouldnt claim for doing something if I didnt do it, we all try to push our luck, but a few quid extra now, or no more job offers! I possibly would have claimed it all, had you guys not explained, but I wouldnt have said there was a petrol station attached , if there wasnt.

I always claim the full mileage - but for me it's a contribution to what I pay for a bus pass. A day ticket would be £3.30 round here - much more than the mileage reimbursement - so taking what they offer as a contribution to the pass seems very fair to me. They've never queried the fact that I take the full amount, FYI.

Drea2904

Righto I see there are a few Glasgow punters on here!!! Good Good, I have just applied to most of the mystery shopping web sites 2day, do you find many in Glasgow?? if so could you PM me the best ones to apply to, I know people either love it or hate it but i'll give it a bash if i can!!

Hollypear

scotsbob wrote: »

Listen hen your daeing it aw wrang.
You go intae the shoap and you say "Listen China yir boss has sent me intae dae a mystery shoap on ye. Noo I can see that everything is stoatin here so ahll be gien ye a 100% report nae bother. Oh bye the way it's ma man's birthday today do you hae ony trade samples, freebies, special discounts or the like?"

Then you go and hae a wee punt on Ebay. Sorted.


PS
To the company lurkers here. This is intended as humour and doesn't reflect the professional way I misery shop for you.

Bob you are the new love of my life. Misery shop....I love that one. See us Scots...See humour.

See us Glaswegians. My favourite is when Rab C Nesbitt got filmed in the Southern General Hospital ( where I trained) amd got papped out.

His punchline was

I get my papers from RS McColl, my booze from Haddow's and my stitches from the Southern Gen but from now on I will go to BUPA. That cracked me up.

Becles

scotsbob wrote: »

Listen hen your daeing it aw wrang.
You go intae the shoap and you say "Listen China yir boss has sent me intae dae a mystery shoap on ye. Noo I can see that everything is stoatin here so ahll be gien ye a 100% report nae bother. Oh bye the way it's ma man's birthday today do you hae ony trade samples, freebies, special discounts or the like?"

help ma boab :eek:

(not Scottish but addicted to Oor Wullie and The Broons)

I work out the total cost of the job taking into account the number of hours, parking etc. You learn to be more selective with how long things take and which companies you can type reports up the quickest with! In Hollypear's case I may have done the job if I'd been going there anyway and wanted an item of clothing to keep, but I wouldn't have done it as two stand alone trips. Not sure if the return was part of the job or a "return at your leisure" type thing.

However, if you have other carrier bags with you, you could go back same day and say you bought something better elsewhere which would save a return trip.

ladyxbird

Hollypear wrote: »

Is it just me being a pain but I am thinking of jacking in most MS'ing.

Right we cannot mention clients and link the fees to them so I am not breaking rules here as I am notioning the MS'ing company here or the client but for clarity I need to mention the fee.

I did 2 fashion shops yesterday. Fee £8 per shop. It is a purchase and return fee. Forgive me if I am being stupid but when an assistant has spent ages discussing an outfit with me and all the paffle ( my new word) of wrapping it etc paying etc etc. I dont think it is feasable (sp) to return it the same day as that looks odd.

So that is 2 trips into a major town centre ...parking etc. So that adds up at around 2 hours. Then another say 1 hour to return it. It is not RE but loads of questions. What did the assistant say. What did she say on approach. Why did she recommend that garment. What did she say about the material. What did she say about caring for the garment. Did she take care in wrapping the garment??? The only question they have missed is "What did the assistant say about what is our reason for living"

Cos by this time I was wondering why i am on the planet....and which planet I am on cos by now I don't flaming know. I feel as if I am on Mars.

I got to the end of the mega questionnaire and guess what.....aaaarrrrgggggghhhhh


The they want a summary of the whole !!!!!!! thing.

Well by now I am thing stick the garment where the monkey hides his nuts.

I am now going totally radio gaga.

I have worked out the time to do the shop, travel there and back, return the garment ( for any eejits out there it is a Scottish( well Glasgow word) which I will happily explain , do the report which took me 1 1/2 hours. another 1 hour to return it and a !!!!!!! summary of that. Almost 5 hours for £8.

Stop the bus I am off to India to sew sequins onto tea shirts. Probably earn more.

Comments welcomed.

PS Those who know me will just go ...Ah there she goes our HP on another rant. Newbies will run for cover.

I will welcome comments while I await on men with white coats coming to cart me to the loonie bin.

Oh I so totally agree and you know I'm glad someone has said it, a lot of the jobs out there just really are not worth it at all. It frustrates me that some companies seem to treat Mystery Shoppers well and pay what I consider fantastic fees for a lot less work than what others expect from you and the others pay pittance in my opinion. I've only done about 15 jobs or so in my short little time as a Mystery Shopper and even I'm beginning to become very wary of excepting A LOT of jobs, I seem to have spent about 60 quid or more on mystery shopping in the past 2 months and I've still yet to be paid for the majority of the jobs I've done! :rotfl:

I for one am definitely going to be taking a back seat on a lot of the jobs that hardly pay and expect you to cough up money and not reimburse you for it for weeks and weeks on end!

Bring on the phone shops is my last word on the matter! :rotfl: