MYSTERY SHOPPING THREAD 17 - please don't mention client names or fees on here!!

cheekychipmunk

I stick the job number in my spreadsheet too, just for the record.

As long as you keep the ticket, I presume its fine to claim for public transport?? Pretty sure you have to be able to say that you were only going to 'X' for business purposes though. If you are off to do your weekly shop or any other personal shopping/visits at the same time, then don't think you can claim!! Same applies to claiming mileage for your own car.

Sure someone will chip in if I'm wrong

Monkeynut wrote: »

I'm finally getting around to setting up a proper spreadsheet for all the jobs I'm doing (have just been keeping a hand written table up until now as I keep putting off remembering how to work excel!!).
Is there anything important I'm forgetting?? So far I have:
MS Company, Date of job, Client & Location, Fee, Reimbursement, Amount spent/costs incurred, and date payed.

I'm not sure what the best thing to do with regards to travel is? Do I work out and keep track of the distance travelled and have a column for that at #of miles x 40p (hmrc mileage). At the moment I'm not driving though as we only have the one car which my Other Half takes to work, so I rely on foot/buses most of the time, except for Sundays and Saturdays when he's not working when we drive.
So do I go by how much I actually spend (ie £1.90 on the bus)?

millerose

donut24 wrote: »

I couldn't do this either as there was no building number....

Thanks for the response though!

Have you tried ringing them?
Phone them up and ask them where they are situated, say you are new to the area and wondered if they were anywhere near xxxxx. They sometimes say 'Oh we are next to xxxx' you can them at least put one shop down as a left or right.

GYP only do this as sometimes there are 2 stores in the same town. A valid receipt would be enough.

Miss_Qwerty

sssh.... Gap have paid me twice for the same job.

I have of course sent them a message, however so many of these seem to go missing/are not replied to and I don't dare phone them for fear of sacking. Sigh, what's a girl to do

Littleoldme

mysteryshoppingninja wrote: »

Nah I prefer the phone calls... The website can't negotiate and give you mini-supermarkets, post and petrol for eating a burger, the allocators themselves can though

Gap are still calling.... and throwing mini supermakets etc at you if you say "yes"

proshopper

Littleoldme wrote: »

Gap are still calling.... and throwing mini supermakets etc at you if you say "yes"

I have had twelve calls from Gyp this week. I have accepted .... nothing! Mostly because they keep offering me a place that no one else will go to!

Come on you guys, we've got an agreement (sort-of) on Haverhill ... let's look at Harlow!:rotfl:

Miss_Qwerty

proshopper wrote: »

I have had twelve calls from Gyp this week. I have accepted .... nothing! Mostly because they keep offering me a place that no one else will go to!

Come on you guys, we've got an agreement (sort-of) on Haverhill ... let's look at Harlow!:rotfl:

Harlow? That's flippin miles away! It takes me 2 hours to get the tractor down that twisty road to Haverhill!

You have a PM

Monkeynut

millerose wrote: »

I also include the I.D number of the job

With regards to travel costs......... If the £1.90 was spent on the bus for the sole purpose of the MS Shop then claim it and keep the bus ticket receipt. Also keep your petrol receipts for the car if you use it at weekends as you can claim back the petrol.

I do a seperate petrol sheet which I put my home postcode in and the MS postcode. I then go to ViaMichelin which works out the 'real' petrol costs and distance if I put in the petrol price and type of car Im using in the options bit.

I then work out with the given mileage @ 40p per mile and add this to the spreadsheet. Its also good to work out if a job is viable in terms of costs as all the jobs dont take into account petrol costs. Using ViaMichelin I can see how much it will really cost me and how much I claim from the tax man.

I dont know if its an accurate way of costings but it works for me.

I suppose it pprobably works out more in my favour in a way then, as a return trip on the bus is £3 :eek: and I'm sure it's less than a 7.5 mile round trip so higher than the 40p a mile.
How would I keep this info accurately in a spreadsheet for multiple jobs? Would it be best to split it, so say if I'd done 2 jobs put travel down as £1.50, or £1 for 3 jobs etc??

And thanks for reminding me to put the Job number in as well. I'm sure I would have remembered once I started transfering the info from my handwritten tables, as there was a column on there for it!

What are the rules with regards to if you spend slightly over the reimbursement limit, so spending your own money, can that be entered as an expense, or is that not a valid expense because it was my choice?!? I think that makes sense

Monkeynut

Sorry, one more (for now) thing,
would it be a good idea to have a separate column for how many pages have needed printing, or the cost of this if claiming per page.
Can anyone recommend which seems to work out more in ones best interests with regards to either accounting for paper and ink as lump sum amounts, as opposed to the 6p per page rate?

jen_br

I Heart TNS and heres why...

: Jen we have a supermarket its URGENT needs doing asap in TD1
Me: Great, how much
: We can give you petrol but I notice you live not far
Me: Yup a Mile...
: Ok hold on.... * places me on hold*
Me: Sure
: that'll be (half the cost of a pack of gum) added on for mileage
me; HAHAHAHAHAHHA you said its urgent so can I get a higher fee?
: Hrm.. mmm hrmmm hmmm not sure.. let me ask *places on hold*
: Sorry for your wait.. Can we call you back about this?
me: Sure... ( me goes and does my other MS shops that pay 100x more. )

My phone rang 36 times with 10 voice mails saying "we are trying to get a hold o you EMAIL us... (NO number included) you said you want this job and now we can't geta hold of you... Keep trying us ALL day saturday too ok?

No mention of higher fee etc.. LOL im sorry but im not doing an URGENT job for nothing cause they need it ya know?

Lil_Me_2

Has everyone read and taken note of the important message on the RE front page??