Gapbuster - not if you want to make money!

jojo2004

Just wanted to share an experience to help anyone out there thinking of signing up to Gapbuster for Mystery Shopping:

I signed up to this site a couple of weeks ago, the sign-up process was a bit longer and more involved than other sites (such as GrassRoots), but I did all the inductions and started looking through jobs.
First off I was amazed by the 'training' they require you to complete before taking an assignment - it's a full on virtual lesson/assessment, which you have to pass with 100% before you can undertake assignments - and it's one session of training per company, which seemed like a lot to me.

Second, when you've done all this training, you can look at the jobs - and realise that they are really low-paid: e.g. mystery shopping Maccy-D's - you get the reimbursement for what you eat, plus three pounds. If you have to pay a bus fare to get there and back, that pretty much wipes out anything you make!

Then, last Sunday, a guy from Gapbuster called me (which I thought was odd!) to offer me an assignment involving home-delivered pizza. I accepted, and then had a look at the assignment details: the pay was £12.50. I thought that was okay, until I realised that out of that, you had to cover the cost of what you ordered. And the assignment was to order any medium pizza plus a side. Minimum cost? £12.98....

I emailed them to say I thought this was a little crazy, and they emailed a standard letter back, saying they were sorry I didn't want to work for them!

Call me weird, but in my world, you get paid to work, you don't pay them!!!

Hope that helps someone else not waste their time. :rolleyes:

p.s. apologies for long long post, but I wanted to tell you the whole situation.

Quasar

I've been a mystery shopper for 12 years and now and then allocate work for a company. Gapbusters? I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole. They and some other companies are too much work for hardly any money but are strict in their demands.

scotsbob

Everything you say is correct.

However there is a different way to look at the facts.

It is not unresonable for a company to expect someone to undergo training before accepting work. The training is a one off.

It is unreasonable to expect to get the better jobs immediately you start working for a company, you have to prove yourself first.

Mystery shopping is not intended as a way to make a living. The whole point is that people go to the shops anyway so why not make a little money on the side while you are there.

You had a £13 meal for 50p, that's a good deal I would say. You had a burger meal and it cost you nothing, that's a good deal

Over this Saturday and Sunday I am doing seven jobs for GAP and I will have £42 at the end of it. However I am not going out of my way. These are all in places that I will be passing while I go about my normal weekend activities.

There are Mystery Shopping companies that pay more highly than GAP but they don't have so many jobs. It's a question of balance, four jobs a month paying £20 each, or five jobs a weekend paying £5 each.

You say that in your world you get paid to work, in mine too. However Mystery Shopping is not a job, it's a way of making a little extra, like getting £13 meals for 50p

sophie131

I agree with the things you've said, but some companies work for some while others don't. I like Gapbuster as I happen to live or work very close to the 3 burger joints in my town. 1 is 3 doors down from my work place and the other is a 2 minute drive from my house. The other one I pass on the way to Tescos. Perfect for me - maybe not for other people though!
It's frustrating how they don't let you have another chance at the test though even after a year!!:rolleyes:

stardrops42

I agree with the OP. I used to mystery shop a few years ago and I found these were definately the worst company to work for. Unless you like Maccy D's:D

jdan9

I have made £172 since the start of the 09/10 tax year from GAPbuster, averaging £5.21 profit per assignment - this doesn't include the value of any free meals/other items I may have received.

I think a lot of the criticism of GAP is unfair - they don't pay amazingly well, true, but their reports are very straightforward, mostly just radio boxes, compare that to other companies that require a wordy answer for every single question. You just have to be selective as to what jobs you do, I don't touch pizza delivery jobs with a bargepole for the reason you mentioned.

jo1972

I used to do a lot of work for GapBuster & GFK, 4 or 5 jobs a week, mainly McD's and Burger King but that was when I worked in London and I wasn't going out of my way to have lunch there. I just used it as a way of getting a free lunch rather than making money of out them. I work locally now and don't bother as if I wasn't going there anyway it wouldn't be worth it. Thinking back, my god I used to be so unhealthy eating fast food every day :eek:

I do ocassionaly do the home delivery pizza jobs, just for the kids when I've been paid, they enjoy it, I make no money but I don't have to cook and only order minimum so it doesn't cost me anything either

jojo2004

scotsbob wrote: »

It is not unresonable for a company to expect someone to undergo training before accepting work. The training is a one off.

Mystery shopping is not intended as a way to make a living. The whole point is that people go to the shops anyway so why not make a little money on the side while you are there.

You had a £13 meal for 50p, that's a good deal I would say. You had a burger meal and it cost you nothing, that's a good deal

Scotsbob - I have no problem with training; I was objecting to the volume of training as measured against the rewards. These two factors don't match up, IMHO.

Second - as I've highlighted in your post - I want to 'make a little money'. Not spend a little money. Make it.

I actually didn't have a £13 meal for 50p, because I got the email saying they were sorry I didn't want to work with them before I did any jobs. I didn't want the pizza assignment - they offered it to me. I don't particularly love pizza, nor do I want to eat burgers for lunch, even if it is heavily subsidised.

I take your point about it being a little extra - but that's only if it's something you ordinarily spend money on. Not if it's something you don't particularly want to eat, which you were convinced into undertaking, by a guy phoning you up on a Sunday!!

My point was that even if the reimbursement had fully covered the cost, I would probably still have not done the job, but not bothered to post here. The Gap site doesn't present itself as a way of getting subsidised food, it's supposed to be a job.

xx

duchy

Ultimately we all have companies we work for on a regular basis and others we do if it suits but don't go out of our way for. We generally get a delivery pizza now and again and it ends up costing me about £1 instead of £14 and as I'd be getting it anyway it's to my advantage but other than that GAP jobs for me are usually "add-ons". If I already have jobs in that town and can add one one-fine-if not-don't bother.

The pizza jobs work out a minimal profit by the time you've claimed telephone call expenses and printing on the tax though.

Quasar

There is also the fact that mystery shopping nowadays is conducted by very many companies, all in competition with each other and all taking on more and more shoppers. Therefore most of them have a large shopper base and know that there will always be someone prepared to do the job for peanuts for whatever reasons.

In short, no matter how low they go in fees, the work will always get done and that's all they need.

Dinah93

The bookies on GAP are great, also as others have said we go out for a meal once a week anyway, we might as well get paid for it! Their reports are really really easy, for example my OH did 6 jobs on Saturday, 2 phone shops for GAP, 2 Supermarkets for GR, and 2 catologue shops. Total made was £54, for about £6 petrol, yes the phone shops paid the least at £6 each, but he was in the area anyway, so that's £12 we wouldn't have had otherwise.