Mystery shopping thread xiii ** please don't mention client names on here **

nearlyheadlessian

mysterious_girl wrote: »

Oops. Made a bit of a boo boo there.

Travel time = 30 minutes
Shop visit + photo = 30 minutes
Report entry (so far) = 45 minutes

1.45 so far and I've not even finished yet. This shop is paying their minimum fee which I'm sure you're all familiar with. What a joke!

I had no idea the report would be so lengthy! They want a comment for every question and answer.

As I haven't done an RE assignment for over a year I had no idea what I was in for. Will definitely be staying away from them in the future again.

It's all relative. I wouldn't ever include travel time for an RE job because I only accept them if it's somewhere I'll be anyway. A station or an airport job only takes 5 minutes tops, and even fashion visits can often be done in 10-15 if things go your way. Some reports can take a while, although I'd say 45 seems a bit excessive. Some reports are significantly easier than others for RE - but you'll have struggled because you haven't done one for so long. If you practice it gets a lot easier to provide the drivel they want to max out the characters.

Each to their own in the end, but I've done plenty of assignments for RE that were worth it, and took up no more than 20-30 minutes of my time in total. I don't need to make a living, but I'm happy to surrender my time at that rate.

Flygirl767

duchy wrote: »

So you did a shop you didn't want to do -with a company you didn't want to work for (incidently preventing anyone who did want the job from getting it) just so you could moan some more ?

Sorry I think you either have too much time on your hands or are insane !!

You don't want to work for RE fine.....but do you have to keep telling everyone ? Some people happen to like their jobs or CAN make them work within their MS framework-obviously not you-but so what -does it honestly matter to you that much what other people do ?

And yes I've got 4 airport jobs to do for them this week -and another from another MS company. I'll do the reports whilst on my plane (in air internet in the US is wonderful) and be pleased I did as it paid my fares to the airport and provided more food than I could want-so in this instance it fitted with my schedule and I honestly never have the problems you describe submitting-but even if I did and it took a while longer-I'm sure the flight attendent will bring me another G&T to keep me going

Hi

Are you doing any of the pub visits? If so, be warned even for the drink only ones they want an comment to all 80 questions..very tedious! Also, I don't know if you have been to Gatwick lately but the transit train between terminals is not going so you have to catch a bus. They do run frequently but you may need to leave your self a little more time if you have to go between the North and South terminals.

Good luck with your jobs and have a great holiday!

MrShopper

Hey,

Are any of you doing the exercise jobs starting in April for Tern?

This is a no fee assignment but they only want 7 reports over a month with free food and drinks too. The remaining two months is completely free to visit the club as often as one likes........ Pool, Sauna, getting trim for summer etc. Now this kind of reimbursement only job isn't too taxing......:j

deedee71

MrShopper wrote: »

Hey,

Are any of you doing the exercise jobs starting in April for Tern?

This is a no fee assignment but they only want 7 reports over a month with free food and drinks too. The remaining two months is completely free to visit the club as often as one likes........ Pool, Sauna, getting trim for summer etc. Now this kind of reimbursement only job isn't too taxing......:j

I did this job in the first quarter and it is a complete nightmare. :eek:

They are now threatening to not reimburse me because I can't produce my credit card statement to prove I paid the initial joining fee. I'll need to request a copy statement (probably at my expense).

Also, the report is so long it kept crashing my computer and I ended up having to hand write the whole thing and fax it in.

Disaster from start to finish.

deedee71

Looks like the React coffee shops are being allocated - got one of four.

Miss_Qwerty

MrShopper wrote: »

Hey,

Are any of you doing the exercise jobs starting in April for Tern?

This is a no fee assignment but they only want 7 reports over a month with free food and drinks too. The remaining two months is completely free to visit the club as often as one likes........ Pool, Sauna, getting trim for summer etc. Now this kind of reimbursement only job isn't too taxing......:j

I've got that booked for Q3 so July-Sep. Hopefully its warm and I can take advantage of the outdoor pool and icecream during that timeframe. I've heard from Q1 people that Tern have been very exacting about their report requirements for this job though, so will have to see what the first questionnaire entails.

mysterious_girl

MrShopper wrote: »

It's comical, I hear they have just overhauled their report system too........to make it quicker....:rotfl::rotfl:

I think they take a LOT longer. I personally (in my own opinion without trying to slag anyone off :eek:) don't like the new reporting system. I use to like doing their reimbursement snail and other restaurant jobs as they were quite a good way of keeping the babysitter happy (mother-in-law) if I took her out to lunch. The reports 12 months ago only took about 20 minutes to complete. But for "ME" the other jobs aren't worth the time.

A big thank you to Duchy for your lovely comments. Very informative and helpful.

mysterious_girl

duchy wrote: »

So you did a shop you didn't want to do -with a company you didn't want to work for (incidently preventing anyone who did want the job from getting it) just so you could moan some more ?

Sorry I think you either have too much time on your hands or are insane !!

You don't want to work for RE fine.....but do you have to keep telling everyone ? Some people happen to like their jobs or CAN make them work within their MS framework-obviously not you-but so what -does it honestly matter to you that much what other people do ?

And yes I've got 4 airport jobs to do for them this week -and another from another MS company. I'll do the reports whilst on my plane (in air internet in the US is wonderful) and be pleased I did as it paid my fares to the airport and provided more food than I could want-so in this instance it fitted with my schedule and I honestly never have the problems you describe submitting-but even if I did and it took a while longer-I'm sure the flight attendent will bring me another G&T to keep me going

Sorry, can't really recall mentioning being bothered about whether other shoppers like the assignments or not. Just giving an account of a shop I did today, like a lot of other shoppers on this forum. Chill out. I think you need that G&T on the plane sooner rather than later.

mysterious_girl

deedee71 wrote: »

I did this job in the first quarter and it is a complete nightmare. :eek:

They are now threatening to not reimburse me because I can't produce my credit card statement to prove I paid the initial joining fee. I'll need to request a copy statement (probably at my expense).

Also, the report is so long it kept crashing my computer and I ended up having to hand write the whole thing and fax it in.

Disaster from start to finish.

Oh dear, I dont know if you're allowed to give a negative comment on this forum about an assignment! :eek: :rotfl: :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

MrShopper

deedee71 wrote: »

I did this job in the first quarter and it is a complete nightmare. :eek:

They are now threatening to not reimburse me because I can't produce my credit card statement to prove I paid the initial joining fee. I'll need to request a copy statement (probably at my expense).

Also, the report is so long it kept crashing my computer and I ended up having to hand write the whole thing and fax it in.

Disaster from start to finish.

OH Noooooooo.......................:eek: :eek: So I'll need the other two month's recuperating from the report. Hmmm, should I cancel, lol........I'm certain my PC won't be crashing but I'm not keen on companies trying it on with the reimbursement. Tern aren't exactly my main income earner.

Thanks for the info.

Anyone else feel the reports are not worth the legwork?