Mystery Shopping Thread 23 *PLEASE READ THE OP FIRST**PLEASE NO CLIENT NAMES OR FEES

PeteW

berbastrike wrote: »

I agree but is it not also the shoppers mistake if they fail to notice they have not been charged for an item?

I don't think so, no. But even if you had noticed, what would you have done? I'd have just gone home and entered that in my report.

Big_Graeme

Tudorc1 wrote: »

If the MOS is making errors you should be letting them know.

Which is what ABAI have told me, I have been asked other questions and we'll leave it be for now.

whitelabel wrote: »

are the BARE regional ?

Ive not seen any for the midlands or some one super snapped them up

Dunno about the Midlands but I applied for three and ten minutes later the allocator is on the phone explaining the deal, I ended up with all three.

berbastrike wrote: »

I agree but is it not also the shoppers mistake if they fail to notice they have not been charged for an item?

The shopper had other things to look at as per the brief.

Boredupnorth wrote: »

Seems to be a lot to remember for it though. I just hit print on the report....57 pages! I know they are mainly tickboxes but still a lot for it. I am doing the report outside on the iPad as I am sure I will miss something first time.

My brain is like jelly after doing three of them, I've the data entry to do :eek:

ShyLouisa wrote: »

How do you take photos surreptitiously when you don't have a smartphone?

The brief states you need a smartphone.

PeteW

Just reading the BARE/computer brief and now realise why the fee is so much!

You have to answer 8/10 questions for EVERY computer in the store!! Having been in my local yesterday I think that's at least 50 machines!

Obviously there is no way anyone could possibly memorise all of this, so you'll need to either take a notepad with you or take a photo of each one and check it properly when you get home... surely either way you are going to get rumbled! Photos are probably the more subtle option, but it's going to be hard work on ones that people are using/being shown!

Anyone got any other ideas?

whitelabel

gap annoyance of the night

took a pizza with large premium
ordered 1 large thick received 2 medium thin, late and only luke warm with no apology just, "its free extra slices" from the driver in no uniform.. so in comment box i write my dissatisfaction.
They provide a box which counts down from 1500 characters then on submission you get an error:
Comment for what you did not like cannot be over 400 characters long.


grrr no wonder i dont do these too often and never without full cost covered and a fee

System

thats happened before im sure when I was doing a report whitelabel, annoying as I feel I want to add more feedback.

some gap praise though with their "Olympic" bonuses

Big_Graeme

PeteW wrote: »

Just reading the BARE/computer brief and now realise why the fee is so much!

You have to answer 8/10 questions for EVERY computer in the store!! Having been in my local yesterday I think that's at least 50 machines!

Obviously there is no way anyone could possibly memorise all of this, so you'll need to either take a notepad with you or take a photo of each one and check it properly when you get home... surely either way you are going to get rumbled! Photos are probably the more subtle option, but it's going to be hard work on ones that people are using/being shown!

Anyone got any other ideas?

It is only certain spec'd machines so you don't do them all, the most I had today was 86.

Easy way to do it is set your phone to voice memo and just walk around talking to yourself, mind it did help that everyone was watching the tennis so I was left to do what I wanted.

Lou_44

Hi everyone,

Today I was almost the victim of fraud and could have lost a lot of money, so I wanted to post this message to warn everyone else out there.

Originally I thought I was being scammed by a company called Consumer Connect ltd with a manager called Stefen Zubac. However, recently it has been bought to my attention that the scammers have used this business for fraudulent activity as well. They basically used a legit, trustworthy and reliable company that deals with email marketing, telemarketing etc so that I would (unintentionally) tarnish their name. The legit company is also called Consumer Connect and has a director called Stefen Zubac. But clearly in this instance they have also been victims of fraud and have played no part in trying to scam me.

I applied for a job as a secret shopper on gumtree to earn a little extra money. After I had applied via gumtree the company CONSUMER CONNECT Ltd sent me a text to fill out an online application form. The director of the company is STEFEN ZUBAC. All of this looked very legit and asked for the usual details- name, address etc. Once the form is filled out they email you to say if you've been successful after your "credit check". They then will email you with your secret shopper assignments and a bit about the company, once again looking professional and legit. They then proceed to tell you that the money for your first assignment is in the post and to call when you receive the letter. The first assignment is for Travelex to exchange your travellers cheques back into cash whilst scoring the assistant that serves you. The next day sure enough a letter arrived along with 2000 euros in travellers cheques, which was meant for your wages and money needed to buy the shopping. I then contacted Stefen Zubac to say it had arrived. He told me the assignemnt had changed slightly and that I was to pay the cheques directly into my bank account and to call when I had done so.

Here's the cunning part!

The cheques are fake. If they get paid into your bank account he will then ask you to transfer the money to his account. If the cheques are fake obviously the money isn't really in your account but you are able to send the 2000 euros any way. Meaning you have dealt with fraudulent travellers cheques and are now 2000 euros down having tansferred the money to the little rat.

Lucky for me the cashier at the bank recognised that they were fake and called Amex to double check this. I showed her the letter that was sent to me from the company and she said these types of letters are becoming more and more popular.

In a nutshell if you ever come across CONSUMER CONNECT LTD OR THE NAME STEFEN ZUBAC AVOID AT ALL COSTS! DO NOT GET INVOLVED UNLESS YOU ARE REPORTING HIM!

I am usually switched on with fraud, ID theft and scams but this one got me. It all looked very legit from the start, which is why I went along with it. In hindsight I should have been suspicious about being paid up front and about not going in for an interview etc etc. So be careful!

whitelabel

useful info


but you say you are switched on, but this is the oldest type of mystery shopping scams along with the western union one along with well scams in general
the old email from Nigeria that they have 100000000s from a lost bank account and want you to pay it in to your account...etc

did you not think it odd for a company to send you thousands of pounds ...for your first job, what did checks did you do on the company ?
what "info" did you give them for your "credit check"
id creck your credit report and check your bank accounts VERY closely over the next few months and possibly alert your bank if you gave them bank details...
also report the ad to gumtree if its still there
did your bank alert the police ?

Lou_44

Yes, I must admit I was stupid in this instance. When I say I'm switched on I usually don't fall for stuff like this. When I was dealing with the "company" it all came across legit and it sucked me in. I guess at the moment I am slightly more gullible as I don't have much money coming in and was probably clutching at straws hoping I could earn some extra cash.

The Nigerian scams are much easier to suss out, whereas I feel this is not. The company didn't tell me how much they were sending me in the post , so I only found out when the letter arrived. That raised alarm bells admittedly as I know companies don't send you wages up front and don't send 2000 euros to people they don't know! To be honest I thought they were going to send me 50 euros or less.

Also when I googled the company lots of other very similar names come up like Consumer Connection Inc and Customer Connection, which are both legit companies. I guess what he's trying to do in purposely make you get mixed up with these other names.

After this all happened I signed up to a credit company that monitors my accounts etc just in case.

I reported all of this to Action Fraud. They dealt with the case really well and will be in touch. As I understand they work with the police on cases like this.

Anyway, I was just posting so that other people do not fall victim to this. Hope it helps!

whitelabel

have a good read through the up your income section
loads of good help and suggestions in there and you can vet any companies if in doubt

if still interested in mystery shopping read page one of this thread, there is loads of useful information and legit companies listed you can apply to

thanks for sharing.