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

ukmonkey

Rosy_Violet wrote: »

Most of the time client confidentiality is blown wide open; it's easy to work it all out and so that has contributed to the decrease in fees.

+1 - been saying it for months.

Even today, the blatent naming of RE's bookies.

Ok, we all make the odd slip-up, I have on a few occasions, but it's often the same offenders time and time agan.

squeaky1055

Tudorc1 wrote: »

This sounds like a £100 plus day.

All money you wouldn't have otherwise received. If you have nothing else planned for the day, what is wrong with this type of return? All costs are covered, your time is surely your own concern.

I'd do a day like this.

You can double that......lol....thanks for agreeing, it was a good days work.:j

proshopper

MaxAben wrote: »

Hi,

I would like to ask a question from a different side of the Mystery Shopping world. Do you, the new shoppers ask the company you work for these questions you have? I would hope that my fellow allocators/panel managers/community managers... would be there to help the new shoppers? But it seems that these simple questions that all shoppers have at some point in their shopping life get asked here and everyone starts to get all annoyed! Just a thought ;-)

Max

I am by no means a "new" MSer. My experience of MSing and MS companies is quite extensive. Some allocators etc. respond to shopper queries in a very positive and helpful manner (especially if the allocators themselves have experience of MSing), some just cannot answer questions at all and others are virtually uncontactable! In short, the level of support available to shoppers varies tremendously from company to company. The more companies I have worked for over the years, the more obvious this has become to me.

Some companies do have accessible FAQs. These can be useful, but cannot possibly cover everything (and can occasionally add to a MSer's uncertainty).

A vast amount of my MSing knowledge has come from "experience". For example, sometimes it is necessary to read between the lines in job briefs and questionnaires: with the benefit of experience, I can resolve some of my own queries by asking myself what the client is actually hoping to find out about. Also, as has already been mentioned in this thread today, even highly experienced MSers can feel trepidation when undertaking a first assignment for a new MS company.

If there had been useful fora around when I started out, I would certainly have used them. Quite often, a query can be answered instantly (and clearly) by someone who has actually done the same job previously. Furthermore, this benefits both the shopper and the company: the MSer does not have to wait on tenterhooks to see if the company responds to an email (or online contact form) before the shop's due date, and the company does not get inundated with repetetive queries.

Another issue which sometimes deters me from communicating with MS companies is the expendability of MSers: I have no desire to get flagged as awkward, incompetent or worse, and end up blacklisted!

Actually, I'd like to think that there is only one side to mystery shopping: we are all here to provide the information that the client company wants, in the way that the client company wants it.:)

pinkprincess39

Has anyone completed any of the phone jobs for ESA? How did you find them. There seems to be an awful lot of POS and merchandise to look out for! I have 5 to do tomorrow!

TractorGirl327

pinkprincess39 wrote: »

Has anyone completed any of the phone jobs for ESA? How did you find them. There seems to be an awful lot of POS and merchandise to look out for! I have 5 to do tomorrow!

I applied for about 16 of them and didn't get a single one!!!

proshopper

squidgeum wrote: »

There are 2 chains now. The one that's been on there for ages is for men only, and the new one beginning wih L had some female only visits released on Friday which have probably all gone now, and then they released some male only visits. HTH

P.S. You would need to be 18 to bet as well

nearlyheadlessian wrote: »

You have to be 18 to mystery shop

Thanks for the clarifiation on gender issues, SM. Regarding age, I was really asking if there was an upper limit, thinking perhaps that there might be a young adult scenario! When I say "young", interpret this however you like - I could not pass for under 18 even with a paper bag over my head.:rotfl:

Mrs.T20

Hello everyone,

I have been reading this thread for some time and was inspired by all of your posts to give MSing a go. I have read the front pages and they have been extremley helpfull and informative- thank you

I have completed loads of jobs this week (funeral's, chicken shop, eggs and phones). I have enjoyed them all but found the phone job difficult as some were in establishments that aren't phone shops and I had to take a photo :eek: not sure if I did it correctly but am sure I will find out soon enough.

Anyway, just wanted to say hello and join in with the chat!

pinkprincess39

Mrs.T20 wrote: »

Hello everyone,

I have been reading this thread for some time and was inspired by all of your posts to give MSing a go. I have read the front pages and they have been extremley helpfull and informative- thank you

I have completed loads of jobs this week (funeral's, chicken shop, eggs and phones). I have enjoyed them all but found the phone job difficult as some were in establishments that aren't phone shops and I had to take a photo :eek: not sure if I did it correctly but am sure I will find out soon enough.

Anyway, just wanted to say hello and join in with the chat!

Hello and welcome! We are a friendly bunch in the main !
Well done on getting so many jobs to start out with!:)

TractorGirl327

Mrs.T20 wrote: »

Hello everyone,

I have been reading this thread for some time and was inspired by all of your posts to give MSing a go. I have read the front pages and they have been extremley helpfull and informative- thank you

I have completed loads of jobs this week (funeral's, chicken shop, eggs and phones). I have enjoyed them all but found the phone job difficult as some were in establishments that aren't phone shops and I had to take a photo :eek: not sure if I did it correctly but am sure I will find out soon enough.

Anyway, just wanted to say hello and join in with the chat!

pinkprincess39 wrote: »

Hello and welcome! We are a friendly bunch in the main !
Well done on getting so many jobs to start out with!:)

Hello Mrs T, welcome, glad you found the opening posts helpful. I second what Pinkprincess says basically!! :beer:

coffee-break_2

proshopper wrote: »

I am by no means a "new" MSer. My experience of MSing and MS companies is quite extensive. Some allocators etc. respond to shopper queries in a very positive and helpful manner (especially if the allocators themselves have experience of MSing), some just cannot answer questions at all and others are virtually uncontactable! In short, the level of support available to shoppers varies tremendously from company to company. The more companies I have worked for over the years, the more obvious this has become to me.

Some companies do have accessible FAQs. These can be useful, but cannot possibly cover everything (and can occasionally add to a MSer's uncertainty).

A vast amount of my MSing knowledge has come from "experience". For example, sometimes it is necessary to read between the lines in job briefs and questionnaires: with the benefit of experience, I can resolve some of my own queries by asking myself what the client is actually hoping to find out about. Also, as has already been mentioned in this thread today, even highly experienced MSers can feel trepidation when undertaking a first assignment for a new MS company.

If there had been useful fora around when I started out, I would certainly have used them. Quite often, a query can be answered instantly (and clearly) by someone who has actually done the same job previously. Furthermore, this benefits both the shopper and the company: the MSer does not have to wait on tenterhooks to see if the company responds to an email (or online contact form) before the shop's due date, and the company does not get inundated with repetetive queries.

Another issue which sometimes deters me from communicating with MS companies is the expendability of MSers: I have no desire to get flagged as awkward, incompetent or worse, and end up blacklisted!

Actually, I'd like to think that there is only one side to mystery shopping: we are all here to provide the information that the client company wants, in the way that the client company wants it.:)

I'm more a lurker than a poster, but thanks for this post Proshopper. I've only been MSing for a short-time and you've summed up my feelings brilliantly. I've fired off a couple of emails to Gap and RE and have had no replies at all. Also, i'm worried about flagging myself up as someone who needs to ask questions over something that might seem simple and obvious to an allocator etc. Like you say, it's the expend-ability factor which makes it awkward. I don't want to screw up before i've been started, so i trawl my way through the posts on this board instead.

pinkprincess39 wrote: »

Has anyone completed any of the phone jobs for ESA? How did you find them. There seems to be an awful lot of POS and merchandise to look out for! I have 5 to do tomorrow!

I've got 3 of these too, Pinkprincess - there's an awful lot to remember :eek:! I've been reading the notes all day, i know i'm gonna forget something important when doing the assignment .