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

Mags30

proshopper wrote: »

I If I am going to the cinema ten times in a week,

:rotfl:LOL

I can see how that wouldn't be realistic! I think I'd go mad if I was doing that many shops.

serendipity2706

samtastic7 wrote: »

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

I bought crisps and squashed them up a bit- I like to chose something cheap so Im not eating into their profits too much

tbw

Small bottle of milk and just loosen the inner cap so it leaks slightly!

jen_br

serendipity2706 wrote: »

I bought crisps and squashed them up a bit- I like to chose something cheap so Im not eating into their profits too much

Same I tend to buy "their" water as its very cheap and break the seal as im shopping around. then come back in and tell them never had an issue!

proshopper

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?:(

I counted the day sent as day 0, then submitted at the end of the 10th day (counting Mondays to Fridays). For example, for emails sent on 05 June, I closed the jobs on 18 June, and the website had no problem with me submitting.

jen_br

Had a pub lunch today.... A la RE and my burger was CHARREd. I mean i couldn't eat it I opened the bun and the waiter was there and he went pale. UGh

I got a new Burger all be it microwaved / steamed butttttt everyone else's lunch was nice lol

PS i hate HATE warm coleslaw!

nearlyheadlessian

Mags30 wrote: »

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

Well I mystery shop too y'know, so I do understand that there's work involved for my "freebie", if that's why I accept an assignment in the first place.

Register on the mystery shopping site by filling in a fairly long and boring application.

But I'm already registered - I'm not registering specifically to do these coffee assignments. I originally registered on tns to do much more lucrative work - I just take advantage of being registered for that to pick up other work.

Repeat around 20 times for all the different sites.

Done it already.

Keep track of all the log in details

Keep details saved securely on my computer and have them jotted down elsewhere. Easy peasy.

visit the sites daily to apply for the jobs,

I'm online lots procrastinating anyway, so this doesn't really take a lot of time out of my day.

wait to see if you are accepted for the job,

TNS is fff.

schedule a time for the job,

I only take jobs I know I can do. With the tns coffee I schedule it for late in the wave but will generally do it earlier and book it in.

maybe pay for parking or the bus/train to get to the job, might take half an hour of your time to get there.

Like I said, I only visit tns coffee shops because they're in places I go anyway, at times I'm likely to be with others, and want to have coffee out. Or I go do one while waiting for another job to start. So I'm not paying exclusively, ever, to do tns coffee job.

When you get to the shop for your "free" item you have to concentrate hard on observing and remembering things while being very discreet.

To be honest, I don't find this difficult.

Then when you get home you might spend another hour on the computer doing the report.

I can polish off a tns coffee report in 10 minutes but it can take 15 sometimes if I have to talk nicely to my scanner.

Then you have to keep track of the payment dates to make sure you get paid.

Well yeah, but I'm already keeping track of payments coming in from elsewhere so this is hardly a chore. I like to account for credits to my bank account.

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

So by my reckoning, I tend to spend no more than 30 to 40 minutes on a tns coffee job. Considering I only do them in places where I would probably have gone in for a coffee anyway, at times when I'm passing by, and I maximise the value by taking along a friend (means they like me more!) or by stocking up on nice biscuit bars with the reimburse, or buying nothing but espressos to bump my loyalty with the coffee company ... Well I can't publish the tns coffee fee/reimburse details, but I reckon I do pretty well out of it.

System

Is anyone doing the financial surveys for EMS? I am a bit stuck...

Dotty13

proshopper wrote: »

I counted the day sent as day 0, then submitted at the end of the 10th day (counting Mondays to Fridays). For example, for emails sent on 05 June, I closed the jobs on 18 June, and the website had no problem with me submitting.

tbw wrote: »

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!

serendipity2706 wrote: »

mon-fri only and date email sent is day zero

Thanks for all your replies - I was doubting myself. I will override when I'm due to submit. God these are so fiddly for the fee!

dazza.mk

eh? Video reports from TNS? - just received following email:

Dear
We are venturing forth into the realm of video reports and would like to know if you would like to take part in this. We are proposing that in addition to your normal assessment you provide a short, 2-3 minute video of yourself summarising your assessment and highlighting key points. This would then be included with your written report to the client.
You would need to own or have open access to equipment or a device to video yourself and have the ability to upload the video to a designated website.
For including the short video you would receive an additional fee.
If you are interested then please fill out the below and return to this email address:-
Name: ________________
Fieldworker ID:________________
Email Address: ________________
We will confirm back to you if we require any of your assessments to include a video report.
Many thanks,
TNS RI Mystery Shopping Team