MYSTERY SHOPPING THREAD 19 - please don't mention client names or fees on here!!

yonk

StacFace wrote: »

The reasons I wouldn't do video are that firstly there is no guaranteed income increase after purchasing the equipment, which is the same reason I won't take any certifications. Secondly if the equipment fails I don't get paid, whereas on a standard job I can still go ahead if my phone dies, I just have to jot things down as soon as I get out on paper, or possibly in changing rooms or toilets if these are involved. For timings I'd just have to use my watch and remember times until I could get out of staff's view to jot them down quickly. I couldn't take the risk of travelling and not being guaranteed to get the petrol reimbursed. Therefore I'd only do local video shops or ones as part of a report only roundtrip, making it even longer before I see profit, so just not worth it.

That's exactly why the fees need to be more per job, it's a "speculate to accumulate" entrepreneurial risk-reward thing. People concentrate on the bottom line but there are higher ongoing costs with video. It won't suit everyone, if you need a less risky proposition, then RO is a much safer bet.

jen_br

yonk wrote: »

That's exactly why the fees need to be more per job, it's a "speculate to accumulate" entrepreneurial risk-reward thing. People concentrate on the bottom line but there are higher ongoing costs with video. It won't suit everyone, if you need a less risky proposition, then RO is a much safer bet.

Agree- the companies that provide equipment pay for failures. Saying that RO can fail too but "some" assessors will make it up despite forgetting to ask a question or if their watch broke on their phone etc they make up timings to suit. Also, lets be fair how many people get RE's proofreaders failing to pay them for blurred receipts etc. there is risk with whatever job you do. I have heard people not get their reimbursments for flights- hotels- holidays thats a big risk to me as well!

I don't want to get into an argument but we all know it goes on ... Remember RE with sacking people from underground sandwiches because people were sharing photos! -- Or company that can't be named sending out a large email basically saying the same thing.

Like I said, time and a place for both video and RO...

yonk

Even if you don't make it up, you can be more circumspect in your reporting. (Though saying that, I just say I forgot or whatever now and let the company decide to pay me or re-shop.)

Back to the fee thing, essentially, it's like the more exotic RO mystery shops. I don't fancy doing a cruise or whatever because the cost of failure and the stress to get it right is higher than what I currently do. I wouldn't want to be in the position of a huge outlay without a guaranteed return. Everyone has their own comfort zone.

jen_br

Agree Yonk, some assignments make me feel uneasy.

DebtHater

:jTERN money pending for tomorrow:j

proshopper

From alerts thread:

TractorGirl327 wrote: »

Disgusting, over-sweet, over-priced Doughnuts on RE

Also the book shops - it says the date is 7/5 - 5/5 so won't let you select a date

There are a fair few jobs on RE with iffy dates. I managed to pick up a job for today by to-ing and fro-ing in the calendar, which let me see available dates. RE say that they have an "IT problem," which is currently being sorted. I have the go-ahead to do the job for today. Apparently I will receive an email when the IT problem is sorted.

jasmine101

Does anyone with a mystic bank account know if RE money is going in tomorrow?

StacFace

jen_br wrote: »

Also, lets be fair how many people get RE's proofreaders failing to pay them for blurred receipts etc.

But with those failures it's easier to argue with them if they say they're not paying. E.g. I scan my receipts so they're never blurry, so if they say it's blurry I send the same image file of the scanned receipt back. I have had these sorts of queries but never not been paid because of them. Once I did get told I wouldn't be paid, but replied telling them I'd done the job as specified and therefore still required payment as per the shopper agreement, I did get paid and the work from this company has increased if anything, with me now getting higher paid jobs from them than I did previously.

With video I'm guessing it says somewhere in the brief that if the equipment fails you don't get paid, so you couldn't argue that as you were told beforehand. You also couldn't take it to court and win, whereas if you wanted to and things got that far you could with an RO complaint of "the receipt is blurry" when it's perfectly legible from your computer, as that's obviously their software at fault.

As for the risk of forgetting to ask a question, or not doing something right, I feel this risk is very small and most importantly within my control. I control whether I ask a certain question or not, I control the shop I walk into, I control whether I ask for a receipt or not when they don't give me one. I don't control my camera having a technical fault and not working, or stopping mid-assignment. It's the lack of control over things running smoothly I don't like, which is also why I prefer to do assignments on my own as then I don't have to worry that the other person will slip-up and reveal me.

StacFace

On another note Measure Consumer Perspectives have emailed me twice saying a shop is due, and now 12 hours overdue and I haven't even accepted one job from them yet! I can only see US jobs on there atm and have checked active jobs and there isn't anything there.

Izi21

Woohoo. I managed to pick up 3 jobs for May from GR today. I normally only get 1 a month and sometimes 1 every 3 months.