Mystery Shopping Thread 20 **PLEASE DO NOT MENTION CLIENT NAMES OR FEES ON HERE**

TractorGirl327

ChickenGirl wrote: »

Has anyone ever had any problems with cheques from Catalyst?

Only with them arriving late. Still, I'd prefer that than Paypal sent on time with fees deducted.

Boredupnorth

*manzy* wrote: »

Wait until you see the report..you'll be losing the will to live:D

I did 5 of these in one day, ,really , really, really wish I had looked at the report before accepting them. I almost dropped them after I had done the first report even though I had already done the shops. They are the worst reports I have ever come across!!

Boredupnorth

berbastrike wrote: »

The worst company by far.

That’s pretty subjective really, I think they are actually OK, they have lots of work, repetitive granted, but lots of it. The fees are not as bad as some and the reports are very quick and easy. The photo thing that everyone moans about I don’t seem to have a problem with. If you read the photo brief it asks you to try to take it a certain way but if it can’t be done then they just want a decent quality photo I have never had one refused and I have done a lot of them. The phone calls are a pain, so don’t put the right number down on the website if you don’t want the calls from them.

If they are good or bad is strictly a matter of opinion there are some that are a lot better but only have small amounts of work and there are some that are a lot worse and have tons of work. I don’t think there is a single company out there that ticks all the boxes!

Obviously all my own opinion

mimi1234

TractorGirl327 wrote: »

Only with them arriving late. Still, I'd prefer that than Paypal sent on time with fees deducted.

It's a lovely surprise when they do get round to paying you. Totally forgot about mine. I got my cheque and got all unnecessary, the stamp looked very exotic indeed. LOL.

secret_gem_2

the_cake wrote: »

Whenever I agree to a job at an increased fee, for GAP or anyone else, I make sure I get the name of the person I spoke to, and when. I note this down on my MS spreadsheet, so if there's any problem I can say "that was agreed with .... "etc., and (so far, touch wood) have never had a problem. Good luck getting your premium. HTH the cake.

thanks for all the replies. I do have the name of the person who has spoken to me and I even have an email from them saying there is a note on the account for the premium to be added - they just won't add it! I haven't made any errors on the job and it was a good visit so they weren't marked down for anything. Just don't know why they've chosen to ignore me and not add the premium.

Tudorc1

secret_gem wrote: »

thanks for all the replies. I do have the name of the person who has spoken to me and I even have an email from them saying there is a note on the account for the premium to be added - they just won't add it! I haven't made any errors on the job and it was a good visit so they weren't marked down for anything. Just don't know why they've chosen to ignore me and not add the premium.

I have had this twice, once for a closed shop and once for a premium job. They were good to their word and I was paid, though the jobs didn't change on the jobs board.

You will probably be OK - keep a good eye on the payment that is made next month.

geeka

hi all, just started mystery shopping in the last month and its great fun, the mrs calls me mr bond now! oh man!
anyway serious point, I work for the nhs and assume i will need to do a self assessment. ive done 2 weeks so far and earnt about 40 quid. if i did this for the year it'd come to about £1200-ish, this would mean me falling under the NI contributions wouldnt it so I could be exempt.
is self assessment quite easy? any help or advice would be most helpful.

Skiergirl

HeavensDevil wrote: »

Whilst I'm not with GAP (they won't accept me, I think they must have enough shoppers in my area - from what I've read, I consider it a dodged bullet! ), I'd also suggest that if you take calls from them on a smartphone, download an app to record the call, and save this somewhere on your computer so they really can't deny it - if you can get hold of them, that is!

My call recording app is also very useful for telephone MS jobs, when needing to recall exactly what was said and timings, etc

Do you have the name of that app please ? It sounds very useful

tas123

geeka wrote: »

hi all, just started mystery shopping in the last month and its great fun, the mrs calls me mr bond now! oh man!
anyway serious point, I work for the nhs and assume i will need to do a self assessment. ive done 2 weeks so far and earnt about 40 quid. if i did this for the year it'd come to about £1200-ish, this would mean me falling under the NI contributions wouldnt it so I could be exempt.
is self assessment quite easy? any help or advice would be most helpful.

If you work full time, you already pay your NI through the NHS, you will need to apply for an NI exemption certificate, its on the HM Customs & Revenue website.

geeka

Great i'll get one applied for, thats what i thought just wanted to chjeck