Mystery Shopper cover blown!

silkyuk9

What an embarassing situation to be in.

Well recently I had done 2 mystery shopping assignments in my town both were in 2 well know betting shops (both same company) not far from each other. Well went in today just to put on a bet and went to the counter to pay. well after I was served one of the shop assistants said 'He is that mystery shopper' to the other 2. Well I was a bit embarrassed and just said, how did you know that, she said 'We know everything' I wish the ground could have opened up and swallowed me.

How the hell did they know, there is something fishy here. I am thinking that they knew I was going to be doing those 2 shops and were prepared.

Wings_of_Ambition

Aren't you supposed to act dumb and say "What's a mystery shopper?"

silkyuk9

Wings_of_Ambition wrote: »

Aren't you supposed to act dumb and say "What's a mystery shopper?"

yeh you proberly are but when someone tells you you have done both shops its a bit embarrasing, also yes i agree but i was not prepared for it, obviously next time its a different story. but they knew somehow.

vixxxen

Tbf...it DOES state in the notes you get when accepting an assignment, that if you are questioned you should always act dumb and deny being a mystery shopper.

And there's no way a company would be able to find out who the shopper was in advance...that's the whole point of the job!

ETA: you may also not keep your position with whatever company you're with if you've been 'outed'?

silkyuk9

vixxxen wrote: »

Tbf...it DOES state in the notes you get when accepting an assignment, that if you are questioned you should always act dumb and deny being a mystery shopper.

And there's no way a company would be able to find out who the shopper was in advance...that's the whole point of the job!

ETA: you may also not keep your position with whatever company you're with if you've been 'outed'?

Yeh I understand that but something is fishy here.

Caroline73_2

silkyuk9 wrote: »

Yeh I understand that but something is fishy here.

Or maybe you are just not that good at being discreet?

silkyuk9

Caroline73 wrote: »

Or maybe you are just not that good at being discreet?

no thats not the case, ive been doing this for a few years. its just strange for the assistant to say, we know everything.

DanielFullard

Are you allowed to me the agency you work for? Ive been doing a few mystery shops lately and got quite a taste for it so am looking for any othere companies people would recommend

scubaangel

It's probably one of the 'big' names listed on the mystery shopping thread.

OP You'll probably find that you won;t be allowed to do jobs for that client again but you do need to get a thicker skin about being 'outed' it happens to all of us at some point thanks to the scenarios being blinkin stupid at times. But in my experience the bookies ones are very simple and easy to do discretely as they do ask you to be like a typical newbie punter.

scubaangel

silkyuk9 wrote: »

no thats not the case, ive been doing this for a few years. its just strange for the assistant to say, we know everything.

If you'd done those branches before they've probably managed to tie in the bets you placed in the past and the times and dates of the last visit and worked out who you are from the CCTV.

DanielFullard

Some of the ones I have been doing for a large national supermarket, if you are asked what you are doing, as the task involves visibily counting and monitoring something....then you are supposed to tell them that you are conducting reasearch on behalf of (Company Name)

I have had a few mystery shops where I feel they have been expecting me I must say