The Mystery Shopping thread - IX

mysteryshoppernewbie

Many thanks for that DebtHater. It will be my daughters first pizza, so hope she enjoys. Thanks for your help :A

absolutelynomoney

Hi there people, hope you're all enjoying the start of the weekend.

I wondered if someone could give me a little advise on a phone shop I had scheduled for today with GAP?

After I went in, there were 10 people in there and only 3 server, one of whom disappeared for about 10 mins. On the briefing notes for this one, there is no indication of how long you should wait in the store before leaving, only how long you should wait before asking for help. So I waited 15 mins then left. I went back 20 mins later (I know some GrassRoots and GFK phone jobs instruct to do this, so I thought I'd do similar for GAP), but it was the same situation. Both times the staff were only dealing with people who wanted to buy phones immediately and knew exactly what they wanted and so were queuing for the till.

I looked in the questionnaire, but all the questions are aimed at assessing the personnel and there isn't the option to say "no-one served me and I waited forever without being served, even though I asked for help" !

Any ideas as to whether I should contact GAP or express it as is? There's no other dates to re-do it, unless I go back at 4.30pm this afternoon and hope everyone has left, but if it is still as busy - what am I supposed to do?

ruthiejane

absolutelynomoney wrote: »

Hi there people, hope you're all enjoying the start of the weekend.

I wondered if someone could give me a little advise on a phone shop I had scheduled for today with GAP?

After I went in, there were 10 people in there and only 3 server, one of whom disappeared for about 10 mins. On the briefing notes for this one, there is no indication of how long you should wait in the store before leaving, only how long you should wait before asking for help. So I waited 15 mins then left. I went back 20 mins later (I know some GrassRoots and GFK phone jobs instruct to do this, so I thought I'd do similar for GAP), but it was the same situation. Both times the staff were only dealing with people who wanted to buy phones immediately and knew exactly what they wanted and so were queuing for the till.

I looked in the questionnaire, but all the questions are aimed at assessing the personnel and there isn't the option to say "no-one served me and I waited forever without being served, even though I asked for help" !

Any ideas as to whether I should contact GAP or express it as is? There's no other dates to re-do it, unless I go back at 4.30pm this afternoon and hope everyone has left, but if it is still as busy - what am I supposed to do?

Hi there
I would ask yourself what you would do if you were a "real" shopper. You would probably give up and go elsewhere. I would fill in the questionaire as best you can, selecting other and putting a note for each question where you can. If there is no "other" option select the closest and add notes at the end to explain what really happened. You are not paid enought o go back to the shop 3 times!!

squidgeum

I have just completed the questionnaire for 1 of the pharmacy jobs on RE....what a nightmare :eek:.

You answer a question like 'was the staff member wearing a name badge' and even if you answer no you have to put a comment in, which is just plain daft. I think for the fee and the reimbursment these are really not worthwhile. I spent about 35 minutes in the store, and then another 45 minutes doing the report.......never again, lol !!

scotsbob

absolutelynomoney wrote: »

Any ideas as to whether I should contact GAP or express it as is? There's no other dates to re-do it, unless I go back at 4.30pm this afternoon and hope everyone has left, but if it is still as busy - what am I supposed to do?

Like the other response you got I would say you have to act like a real customer. Was this today? I would expect to wait longer in a shop on a Saturday lunch time than I would 10am on a Thursday morning.

From Gap's point of view have you completed the brief?

Just my thoughts.

mtem74

Hi all

I know I rarely post anything on here, and I'm even worse at reading back through to find anything out. But can those who've being doing the job a while please pass on some of their wisdom.

Basically I have just had the worst restaurant shop I have ever done. Had it not been a shop I would have walked out after the starter (which were luke warm and took just under 20 minutes after being ordered to arrive). The main course (a pizza) was delivered 40+ minutes (nearly 50 to be fair) to arrive - after I'd finished my starter. Then it was the wrong base - but on the servers side she did point out this mistake and offered me the correct base. But seeing as how I was now starving and had already waited 38 minutes I decided to accept the wrong base.

Best part was that there was no offer of free food, drinks or even a reduced bill (still got stung for the full price of everything). Something I would normally expect and I’m guessing most others would too

Anyway, my question being... in situations where I am getting extremely dismal service but I'm doing a shop.. can I complain about it? Can I demand the things I would normally do if I went for a meal and wasn’t mystery shopping?

I really wanted to have a go at the manager etc... and so did my partner (which shows how bad it was as she's always defending restaurant staff because she used to do the job). I really wanted to shout that I was a mystery shopper and see their reactions when I explained how bad my report was going to be. Which it was and I expect never to be offered those shops again.

scubaangel

Most MS companies say if you want to make a complaint do it to them not the company you were visiting. So I would make sure the report is accurate (and awful from the sounds of it) and await the queries when you can complain to the account manager over the phone.

absolutelynomoney

ruthiejane wrote: »

Hi there
I would ask yourself what you would do if you were a "real" shopper. You would probably give up and go elsewhere. I would fill in the questionaire as best you can, selecting other and putting a note for each question where you can. If there is no "other" option select the closest and add notes at the end to explain what really happened. You are not paid enought o go back to the shop 3 times!!

scotsbob wrote: »

Like the other response you got I would say you have to act like a real customer. Was this today? I would expect to wait longer in a shop on a Saturday lunch time than I would 10am on a Thursday morning.

From Gap's point of view have you completed the brief?

Just my thoughts.

Thanks for this, both of you.

I guess what you said makes the most sense - I did fulfill what they asked me to do as far as I could. But thats my problem ... "as far as I could" isn't very much!

Oh well. I'll give it a try and see what they get to me with.

missymugwump

squidgeum wrote: »

I have just completed the questionnaire for 1 of the pharmacy jobs on RE....what a nightmare :eek:.

You answer a question like 'was the staff member wearing a name badge' and even if you answer no you have to put a comment in, which is just plain daft. I think for the fee and the reimbursment these are really not worthwhile. I spent about 35 minutes in the store, and then another 45 minutes doing the report.......never again, lol !!

I thought that too
Either have a radial button for yes or no or ask for a comment
There were a few questions on that one that were duplicates
Badly designed questionaire

I got an email the other day from RE

Was server 1 wearing glasses
Was manager wearing glasses
Was server 2 wearing glasses

No one was wearing glasses other wise I would have said

scotsbob

mtem74 wrote: »

Basically I have just had the worst restaurant shop I have ever done. Had it not been a shop I would have walked out after the starter (which were luke warm and took just under 20 minutes after being ordered to arrive). The main course (a pizza) was delivered 40+ minutes (nearly 50 to be fair) to arrive - after I'd finished my starter. Then it was the wrong base - but on the servers side she did point out this mistake and offered me the correct base. But seeing as how I was now starving and had already waited 38 minutes I decided to accept the wrong base.

Best part was that there was no offer of free food, drinks or even a reduced bill (still got stung for the full price of everything). Something I would normally expect and I’m guessing most others would too

Anyway, my question being... in situations where I am getting extremely dismal service but I'm doing a shop.. can I complain about it? Can I demand the things I would normally do if I went for a meal and wasn’t mystery shopping?

I really wanted to have a go at the manager etc... and so did my partner (which shows how bad it was as she's always defending restaurant staff because she used to do the job). I really wanted to shout that I was a mystery shopper and see their reactions when I explained how bad my report was going to be. Which it was and I expect never to be offered those shops again.

If you are a real customer then providing you have the means to pay and can prove it then you refuse to pay. It is then a civil matter for the business to try to recover any costs they feel are owing to them. In other words you don't pay. Even better if a large company or franchise because they will deal with the place.

Bottom line, who is footing the bill? If the MS company then report excatly what happened, factually and objectively and make sure you get your expenses. The rest is up to them.

If they are as bad as you say they are then it wouldn't surprise me if at some time in the future the environmental health people didn't get an anonymous tip off about an hour before lunchtime on a busy Saturday.