MYSTERY SHOPPING THREAD XV - please, no mention of client names or fees on here

misssarahleigh

ditsyrascal wrote: »

That is actually very VERY incorrect.
The fees clients pay have to cover a darn sight more then just the just mser fees. Not to mention much how much cost is involved by those msers who constantly re-schedule & cancel visits.

The difference between what msers are paid and what the client pays is a very small margin (especially in a declining economy were agencies have to be more competitive and were clients budgets are being cut left, right & centre).

If agencies do not take into consideration the economy or the market then they will loose clients – normally to newer agencies who are trying to undercut their competitors and who will offer msers the same work and an even lower fee.

Also agencies are Businesses. If, as Businesses, they did not make any money they’d be pretty shoddy at their jobs, do you not think??!

I don't know why, but all i want to ask is....what do you do for a job and who do you work for lol :T

Dotty13

Talking about reducing fees, has everyone had the email regarding the 20% cut in audit fees for the company that can't be named?:eek:

Dotty13

I have a question.......If I submitted an email on Saturday 26/6/10, I should wait until Friday 9/7/10 before I submit my response, shouldn't I? The website tells me I am wrong. Are we counting working days from Monday to Friday only? Has anyone else had this happen?:(

proshopper

Mags30 wrote: »

But as the others were saying earlier the pay for mystery shopping is not very good. If you are buying loads of stuff you don't want that is taking a huge percentage off your earnings.

I prefer to only buy things that fit in with my lifestyle. I'm a regular visitor to coffee shops anyway so I'll do those visits. I wouldn't eat burgers all the time but now and again is ok. There's no way I would buy a meal and bin it just for the sake of doing the shop (ulnless the pay was high enough:D). If I do a cinema visit I'll go to the cinema.

There are loads of mystery shopping companies. If you are registered with enough of them you should be able to pick and choose your jobs to fit around what you might be doing anyway.

I have no interest in "free" things that I wouldn't use. It's not so much about being picky, it's more that mystery shopping is the sort of job that needs to fit in with your lifestyle.

I can see where you're coming from (and TractorGirl, too, of course). My post was a bit "tongue-in cheek.":rotfl:

Essentially, I'm here for the fees, not the reimbursed purchases. I do pick up the occasional job that gives me a freebie, but for me this is "work" so I tend to select/accept assignments that maximise my earning potential. And, yes, I do "bin" a fair bit of food. I do not get to buy many things to keep; most of those that I do buy are of no use to me, so they get donated to a couple of groups that I work with (in my other "working life"). If I am going to the cinema ten times in a week, my only criteria for choice of film are a) that it would be credible for me to want to see it and b) that its starting time lets me make a ticket purchase at the time I'm doing the visit!

Of course I choose my jobs around what I am doing anyway: other MS work, auditing, merchandising, etc!! I am the one who fits my real shopping around my MSing: I do my weekly shopping in whichever town/area I happen to be in or passing.:)

ditsyrascal

Haha, after that rant I don't think it'd be overly wise to name my employer!
But yes, it's pretty obvious I work for the one of the big mean companies who are always trying to rip msers off at every turn.

Seriously though, we are just trying to do our jobs the same as everyone else. I do not know of one agency that promotes M.Shopping as anything other than a pocket money earner (or no decent agency anyway).

Msers get to pick what work they want to do, if the fees not what they want - decline it. For us lot it's our day-in-day-out jobs

gettingthere28

I did two ‘Egg’ shops today and bought and returned the customary item and said it was off, 1st shop refunded no problem but the 2nd shop told me that I could not have a refund as I had taken a bite out of it !, and it was still in date, but they would refund ‘This Time’.

What is the procedure if the shop refuses a refund ?.

Thanks

serendipity2706

Dotty13 wrote: »

I have a question.......If I submitted an email on Saturday 26/6/10, I should wait until Friday 9/7/10 before I submit my response, shouldn't I? The website tells me I am wrong. Are we counting working days from Monday to Friday only? Has anyone else had this happen?:(

mon-fri only and date email sent is day zero

blindman

Mags30 wrote: »

It's a lot of work for a free coffee or whatever.

You need to:

Register on the mystery shopping site by filling in a fairly long and boring application.
Repeat around 20 times for all the different sites. Keep track of all the log in details,
Visit the sites daily to apply for the jobs,
Wait to see if you are accepted for the job,
Schedule a time for the job,
Maybe pay for parking or the bus/train to get to the job, might take half an hour of your time to get there.
When you get to the shop for your "free" item you have to concentrate hard on observing and remembering things while being very discreet.
Then when you get home you might spend another hour on the computer doing the report.
Then you have keep track of the payment dates to make sure you get paid.

That's an awful lot of work for a "free" coffee!

You also need to spend time answering

RE :-dumb queries from idiotic proofreaders :cool:
GAP :- Justifying your answers when the shop was sh%t
AA:-Uploading photos AGAIN 'cos their system is pants.

Until it sinks in that this workload is not worth a "free" coffee then people will still do no fee jobs and consequently the fees will still stay low or become more none existent.

samtastic7

gettingthere28 wrote: »

I did two ‘Egg’ shops today and bought and returned the customary item and said it was off, 1st shop refunded no problem but the 2nd shop told me that I could not have a refund as I had taken a bite out of it !, and it was still in date, but they would refund ‘This Time’.

What is the procedure if the shop refuses a refund ?.

Thanks

not sure on refund policy but when i done the egg shop i brought some biscuits it was a twin pack in a outer pack
bash um a bit and say ya aunt is having a coffee morning at church and she wants umto look nice on the plate
as the inside pack was still unopened they could not say anything

tbw

Dotty13 wrote: »

I have a question.......If I submitted an email on Saturday 26/6/10, I should wait until Friday 9/7/10 before I submit my response, shouldn't I? The website tells me I am wrong. Are we counting working days from Monday to Friday only? Has anyone else had this happen?:(

Mine was the same - I double checked back to the briefing notes to make sure weekends didn't count and then used the Overide Button & said my dates were correct!