MYSTERY SHOPPING THREAD XII - ** New people please read posts 1 & 2 **

nehpets81

loulou_1984 wrote: »

I can see one sandwich and several music stores. I often feel like their filters have no rhyme or reason to what they display!

Yeah, I can see one sandwich one now actually - not London as such but nearly. As for the music stores, I still see nothing. I will be gutted if I can't see these because I'm male or over 29 or something! Is it worth asking them, do you think?

nehpets81

rachelandgromit wrote: »

I know there must be people who are allocated jobs with ESA however I am wondering if there is a knack to being allocated jobs. I must have literally applied for hundreds of jobs with them, and always list them on the alerts thread too. In my application I state when I can do the job, or I am specific as saying 'I work very close to this store'. I have written a couple of lines in my application and also a paragraph but can't seem to be allocated any.

Any help apprechiated.

Rachel

There must be, but I don't know who they are! I have got a few egg jobs but that's it. I never get the tea shops despite one being about 1 minute from where I work (and I told them this in the comments) but maybe someone was 30 seconds away from it or something. I actually find this company very frustrating - I hardly ever get allocated things, and the ones I have been allocated give me about a day notice to do the job and the woman who phones me up always sounds really stroppy when I refuse to do the urgent job they need doing beacuse it is miles away and I'm at work!

HZA

rachelandgromit wrote: »

I know there must be people who are allocated jobs with ESA however I am wondering if there is a knack to being allocated jobs. I must have literally applied for hundreds of jobs with them, and always list them on the alerts thread too. In my application I state when I can do the job, or I am specific as saying 'I work very close to this store'. I have written a couple of lines in my application and also a paragraph but can't seem to be allocated any.

Any help apprechiated.

Rachel

I've just got my first job (egg one) from ESA. I've applied for 2 so far - 100s of pennies shop & egg shop, so my success rate at the moment is 50%. I imagine it depends on how many people applied for the job etc. and I don't think what you write in your application matters that much. For the egg shop, I only wrote 'I read the briefing. I can do the job sometime by 27th February.' . I didn't even give a specific date. I think the egg shop I'm doing is not very popular among mystery shoppers cause when I saw it last month it was not taken by anybody even after the due by date.

Chocforever

The fee and reimbursement added together are the taxable income. I don't split them out in my spreadsheet accounts and I cannot see that HMRC would be interested in what the income is called.

I can see where you are coming from, but to me, you are in the business of being a mystery shopper. How much you like or don't like the things you are assessing isn't relevant for tax. There is no motive test when deducting expenses.

Let's say you only ever MSed meals where there is a reimbursement but no fee. Overall, you have not made a taxable profit either on paper on in cash terms. You have presumably paid for these pizzas out of other (taxed) income from another employment. The profit is with the company who is selling you these meals every night, and that is taxed on them. Taking a wider perspective, I don't see there is lost tax.

If you were selling them on to a friend or always working for one company (so you become in substance an employee) then that would be different.

Again, it is just my view. I think you have to take an approach you are comfortable with.

TractorGirl327

rachelandgromit wrote: »

I know there must be people who are allocated jobs with ESA however I am wondering if there is a knack to being allocated jobs. I must have literally applied for hundreds of jobs with them, and always list them on the alerts thread too. In my application I state when I can do the job, or I am specific as saying 'I work very close to this store'. I have written a couple of lines in my application and also a paragraph but can't seem to be allocated any.

Any help apprechiated.

Rachel

nehpets81 wrote: »

There must be, but I don't know who they are! I have got a few egg jobs but that's it. I never get the tea shops despite one being about 1 minute from where I work (and I told them this in the comments) but maybe someone was 30 seconds away from it or something. I actually find this company very frustrating - I hardly ever get allocated things, and the ones I have been allocated give me about a day notice to do the job and the woman who phones me up always sounds really stroppy when I refuse to do the urgent job they need doing beacuse it is miles away and I'm at work!

HZA wrote: »

I've just got my first job (egg one) from ESA. I've applied for 2 so far - 100s of pennies shop & egg shop, so my success rate at the moment is 50%. I imagine it depends on how many people applied for the job etc. and I don't think what you write in your application matters that much. For the egg shop, I only wrote 'I read the briefing. I can do the job sometime by 27th February.' . I didn't even give a specific date. I think the egg shop I'm doing is not very popular among mystery shoppers cause when I saw it last month it was not taken by anybody even after the due by date.

I've applied for over 300 jobs with them since applying and been allocated one - back in August - for a travel agent.

I've tried saying when I can do them, that I "really want to do more work for you", that I am "in the area and can cover all these jobs in one day" ... and nothing.

And then they have the audacitity to send me an email telling me there are jobs available in my area - and they're so far away it's not worth applying!

loulou_1984

nehpets81 wrote: »

Yeah, I can see one sandwich one now actually - not London as such but nearly. As for the music stores, I still see nothing. I will be gutted if I can't see these because I'm male or over 29 or something! Is it worth asking them, do you think?

Hmm, they are awful at replying but could be worth a go. Or call them from the number on the homepage?

FYI I can see these shops in: westfield, Chelsea, Fulham, Wandsworth, Putney, Greenwich, Wood Green, Walthamstow, Richmond, Ilford, Staines.

More keep appearing which is odd.

TractorGirl327

OK FOLKS I HAVE STARTED A NEW THREAD AS THIS ONE IS GETTING A BIT LONG.

IF YOU ARE REPLYING TO A QUESTION ON THIS THREAD PLEASE DO SO HERE, BUT ANYTHING NEW PLEASE DO ON THE NEW THREAD:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2284299

owlet

TessieP wrote: »

iphone definately, 3G S model, had mine since beg of Dec and been invaluable, checking for jobs, email alerts on the go, storing job info, making notes when out, taking pics etc and also for lots of other none mystery shopping stuff too lol......

Nokia 5800 fab phone & does all the above. Check for jobs, read briefs, accept jobs, fab photos, email, notes, route planner, maps........ what more can I say?? Can get good contracts too with internet for well under £20 :j.

multipleincs

.... waiting for someone to enlighten me then I’ll fill this bit in!! ....

Retail Active

Mainly restaurant shops
Self allocation online
Payment - MSers need email over an invoice and payment will be sent via cheque. Whole process from invoice to reciept of cheque around 3 weeks.:)

TractorGirl327

multipleincs wrote: »

.... waiting for someone to enlighten me then I’ll fill this bit in!! ....

Retail Active

Mainly restaurant shops
Self allocation online
Payment - MSers need email over an invoice and payment will be sent via cheque. Whole process from invoice to reciept of cheque around 3 weeks.:)

That's brill, thank you. I've added it into the OP on the new thread.