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

rich_shot2003

Tudorc1 wrote: »

And if you wait till you've exhausted all three chances before seeking advise.................

Im doing it again and hoping to get them right this time.

Radarman

rich_shot2003 wrote: »

I have been trying to join TNS and for some reason it keeps telling me that i got some of the Answers wrong on the Sign up page but i dont think i have.

Is it that hard to join them?

It gives you 3 chances and i used them up.

Don't despair there are loads of other companies and you can have loads of fun with their questions

Traxoid

I want to audit the big (blue logo) chemist company and the supermarket with the yellow logi, which company audits them?

jen_br

Traxoid wrote: »

I want to audit the big (blue logo) chemist company and the supermarket with the yellow logi, which company audits them?

Sadly I could tell you but it would be against the contract I have signed with these companies..

try signing up to allt he companies on the first page

cheekychipmunk

Traxoid wrote: »

I want to audit the big (blue logo) chemist company

I don't know who audits them, but I know for sure they aren't MSed any more (in case anyone wondered)

In fact, my 'big blue logo' mole tells me that they stopped getting external audits (in the small shops anyway) over a year ago. Big stores still may be audited tho.....

Some may even say standards have dropped since they stopped being MSed and started handing out those frustrating online surveys

proshopper

look_after_the_pennies wrote: »

I was just wondering how people feel if they have been sussed as an ms. Do you keep ms'ing the same place and think sod it or do people take a little time out from shopping that location again?

I try my hardest not to get spotted (as, no doubt, does everyone). If I have any inkling that I have been sussed, I make a note to give the place a miss over the next few rotations. If I am approached by a MS company wanting to manually allocate any such visits, I tell them that I'd rather not accept on this occasion and give my reason.

After many years, I find that it is best to be honest. In my early days, I accepted repeat work in places where the brief was a dead giveaway, and the clients actually realised that I was identified. I was banned from a few locations for one or two clients because of this.

Even if I haven't been spotted, I occasionally skip some rotations, particularly if it is lucrative work that I would sorely miss if I was banned. Mostly, this has no effect on my overall earnings, because I usually manage to find enough other work to fill my time. It also means that I can afford to be less selective when times are lean.;)

DevilsAdvocate1

I've been checked before. Company described me right down to the top I was wearing and the clothes my toddler was wearing. Wanted to know what I was doing there as I had mystery shopped it the previous week and they knew no mystery shops were due.

I was actually there as a customer with my son who wanted something from there! I got a call from the ms company asking where I was then telling me that the shop wanted to complain about me as my son had been running in the store. They thought it was a health and safety issue for them as if I was mystery shopping I was effectively a visitor to the store.

Needless to say, I can't mystery shop that store again and I will NEVER EVER return as a customer.

On another note, you know that companies monitor this thread don't you? Heaven knows what extra hoops us honest shoppers will have to go through now to prove we did a visit.

D.

DevilsAdvocate1

Just wanted to add, that on another occasion a fast food establishment described me and the little girl I had with me because they disagreed with my timings. Again, they had used CCTV to work out who the shopper was. Unfortunately, the timings I had put down where shorter than the ones they came up with, so they shot themselves in the foot with that one!

D.

Traxoid

cheekychipmunk wrote: »

I don't know who audits them, but I know for sure they aren't MSed any more (in case anyone wondered)

In fact, my 'big blue logo' mole tells me that they stopped getting external audits (in the small shops anyway) over a year ago. Big stores still may be audited tho.....

Some may even say standards have dropped since they stopped being MSed and started handing out those frustrating online surveys

Interesting to know! Thanks for the info

mysterious_girl

cheekychipmunk wrote: »

I don't know who audits them, but I know for sure they aren't MSed any more (in case anyone wondered)

In fact, my 'big blue logo' mole tells me that they stopped getting external audits (in the small shops anyway) over a year ago. Big stores still may be audited tho.....

Some may even say standards have dropped since they stopped being MSed and started handing out those frustrating online surveys

How odd. I must have been time travelling again as I did an audit for a small big blue logo shop only last week!