MYSTERY SHOPPING THREAD 18 - please don't mention client names or fees on here!!

Badger_Lady

mysterious_girl wrote: »

I boiled some peas up for my children last night for their dinner and when I drained them I found what looked like a grub amongst the peas. If any of you watched IACGMOOH and saw what a witchedy grub looks like, well it was like that, little front fat legs and all, but a lot smaller. I was ready to barf. The peas are M&S frozen variety. Cannot look at another pea again.

Whenever it's happened to me before (Tesco, Sainsbury and Asda now!), I've just taken it to the customer service desk at the store and they've given me a gift voucher (amount varies between £5-£20), plus a refund and a promise to investigate what happened.

Maybe that's better than phoning up..?

Either way, ick! :eek:

emmaallwood

Would you be able to send me a copy of this spreadsheet if you receive one please

emmaallwood

D4WNO wrote: »

Does anyone have a copy of the finance spreadsheet that they could email me please ([EMAIL="d4wno@hotmail.com"]d4wno@hotmail.com[/EMAIL]), I've PMd UKMonkey but I guess he's been busy and I'm aware I'm running out of time, eek :S

Sorry, this is the spreadsheet I'm talking about!

Lil_Me_2

I can't use UKmonkeys spreadsheet (macros don't work on a mac) so I just made my own.

Columns as follows -
Date
Company (GapBuster etc)
Client
Fee
Required Spend
Actual Spend
Reimbursement
Miles
Mileage expense (miles x 40p)
Mileage reimbursement (if company pays it)
Pages printed
Printing costs (pages x 6p)
Special expenses e.g parking costs

Then a column for total profit/loss i.e all income minus all expenses. The sum of this column (i.e all jobs) is actually all you need for your tax return online and they work out the tax you owe. They don't ask for a breakdown of what you spent where although you need to be able to show this and prove it if you get questioned.

There are lots of other allowances (use of an office, broadband etc) that you can claim for, but I didn't bother this year. Think I had a total income of around 2.5k but after expenses it was £900 ish profit so I pay 20% tax on the £900.

Unfortunately I don't do many low fee/high expense jobs as I try and do as many no spend jobs as I can therefore my profit is higher. Luckily because I work full time and I filled in my tax return before 30th Dec* the taxman will split what I owe up and take the payment from my PAYE job. Much easier to manage.

* by saying I filled it in before 30th Dec, I did of course fill it in at 9pm on 30th Dec.....but that still counts .

emmaallwood

Hi all, I'm a new MSer! I've recently joined RE and have taken 4 jobs so far - not bad to say it's less than a week since I joined! I was just wondering what fees are acceptable? People seem to be writing about being ripped off and RE not paying enough. I'm yet to receive a fee in double figures and haven't really seen anything above that on the website...

misssarahleigh

emmaallwood wrote: »

Hi all, I'm a new MSer! I've recently joined RE and have taken 4 jobs so far - not bad to say it's less than a week since I joined! I was just wondering what fees are acceptable? People seem to be writing about being ripped off and RE not paying enough. I'm yet to receive a fee in double figures and haven't really seen anything above that on the website...

Totally depends on your circumstances. e.g. i have a music shop. small fee, small reinbursment. Now, if you were to travel 10 miles into town (and back) and pay parking to do that one shop, i very much doubt it would be worth doing....although........ if like me, town is two mile off and you can pop in on your lunchbreak, get out the office and do your report when you get back to work you make a small profit and possibly get something you like (e.g CD).

Or, if your in town, and have 2/3/4 etc jobs lined up and there is something you want, again, suitable for the circumstances.

It's all down to personal choice, travel time, willingness and standards lol

Badger_Lady

Hi Emma!

It really depends on how you value your time, and how convenient the assignment is to you. If it's something you would normally do anyway, then it's not much of a stretch to do the mystery shop... also look at the scenario (will it take 10 minutes or an hour to complete?) and the questionnaire (same as above!).

If you feel that the fee is enough to warrant you spending your time on, then it's fine. But be careful of some traps - a task might look exciting but have a ridiculously small fee, or it might ask you to post something expensively within that fee.

If you want to make some proper earnings for your assignments, you're probably better off signing up to a few more agencies and trying them all out

MrsGSR

Badger_Lady wrote: »

I found my first assignment terrifying - you worry about how to remember all the requirements, make all the notes you need and fill out the report accurately... but trust me, once that first one is out of the way it's a big relief. You realise that it's not as difficult as you feared and you start to become quite relaxed about it (particularly when you do the same scenario at a number of branches).

I make about that amount before deducting expenses, and I work full time on top, so you shouldn't have a problem as your sole income . Do bear in mind that you may still have to incur those petrol costs though!

Yes thats exactly how I am feeling! Like I am revising for an exam.

I know I will probably drive just as much but if I get a few jobs in one area I could do them all at the same time I guess.

Thanks:)

ukmonkey

Hi everyone.

Sorry to those of you who have PM'd me...I'll try to reply to you all this evening.

saggybaggy

ukmonkey wrote: »

Hi everyone.

Sorry to those of you who have PM'd me...I'll try to reply to you all this evening.

Hi Ukmonkey

You sent me the spreadsheet ages ago and I completely forgot to thank you until I saw your post here.
So, thank you very much and please accept my apologies for not thanking you sooner.


Saggybaggy