Maximising income - Mystery Shopping? Surveys?

Dormouse

Just to say that my GAP paperwork isn't printing properly either - I thought it's my fault, or my printer's, so am relieved it's not

leni

bizarre, I wonder if it's my settings on my home pc but it's downloaded and printed fine from work!

PONDSAVER_2

I got turned down for TNS - no reasons why a guy just emailed me and said your application has been unsuccessful :-(

freebird65

Hi Becles

You're quite right and I totally agree with everything you say. I should have explained myself a bit better. I NEVER make anything up - as you say, that would defeat the object of the exercise - but I have found on a couple of occasions that reports don't allow you enough space to fully explain a situation or leave you any option for commenting on circumstance. Eg An extremely harassed (and young) shopgirl who'se been left on her own to deal with a huge queue of shoppers....I start asking allsorts of questions and, although she's politely dealt with them all perfectly correctly and smiles nicely at me, she forgets to say goodbye when I leave. The questionnaire only gives me the option of saying did she or did she not say goodbye....it doesn't offer me the chance to say that actually she did extremely well under pressure and a simple no to the question seemed harsh.

Another little thing on another job....one girl, also running around madly, her nicely tied-back hair had a few loose strands.....(not in a food place).....
everything else was perfect...

Feel free to shoot me down in flames if I'm in the wrong and I will become the scourge of shopgirls everywhere...the MS who reports the tiniest mistake:D

Don't get me wrong...I do take it seriously...I'm a huge stickler for customer service and this is my opportunity to help companies improve it. I'm also happy to accept tips on improving what I do - maybe that's something MS companies should do more regularly...after all, I've not had any training for this job at all, just guidance notes.

Becles

Ok - so I'm being really really picky here, but she didn't say bye and you've ticked yes she said bye - therefore it's not a true refletion of your visit!

I know that example is trivial, but some people do take it further than that. They think the person is nice, so they make all the answers positive or some little thing irritates them so they unfairly mark the person down.

Most yes/no reports do have a comment section on the bottom, and in the case of your example above, I would have added a comment there with a positive spin on it - something along the lines of she never said bye as she was keen to move onto the next customer to get the queue down, but due to the high levels of trade in the shop this didn't come over in a negative way.

I also do a lot of video work which shows exactly what happened in glorious technicolour. I'm more concious of tiny details now as I get to see the job again afterwards, and my report must tally with what is on the film.

I agree it's hard getting it right. I've never really had any training in this either - it's all experience gained over the years. I also get disappointed with lack of feedback on jobs. Only a handful of companies give you positive and negative feedback on specific jobs, which helps you improve for the future.

Hope I haven't offended you - it's all meant in a helpful way and I believe that you are taking it seriously and want to succeed in this.

Personally I don't like the likes of Gap with only yes/no questions. Sometimes the job does not go to plan, and you have no flexibility on the report to write down things. I much prefer reports where it is mainly a written account of what happened, so you are able to cover everything that went on during the job.

Sometimes I like to add in other observations too - I did a travel agent recently where a door marked "Private" with a key lock on it which led to the currency counter was propped open with a stack of brochures. I though the company should know about as it's a security issue, as anyone could have wandered in behind the counter. In pre-written yes/no questionnaire, I wouldn't have been able to raise this, but in my written report I was able to add it in.

The pay is generally better for the written reports too

leni

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

I've just come back to key in my findings of "tonights" MS and.... I've done it 2 weeks early!:o

The paperwork I downloaded missed a number of the date so it said friday 1 september instead of fri 15 september! So we've just had a nice night out with food and cinema (thought we'd make a night of it) especially as the food was 'free' but it wasn't in the end!

Now how do I explain we're having it again in 2 weeks! Lucky for them really, because the server was terrible tonight and I had to ask for my penny change twice, because he kept moving on to the next customer!:eek: :mad:

Diminutive

What is everyones experience like with Grassroots? I submitted a report, but I haven't heard anything back. What are they like with payments? Should I be chasing them up?

Smashing

Is it not a tad odd that the stores are aware beforehand that they are being mystery shopped on a particular day? Seems to defeat the point if everyone is on their 'best behaviour.'

Becles

Diminutive wrote:

What is everyones experience like with Grassroots? I submitted a report, but I haven't heard anything back. What are they like with payments? Should I be chasing them up?

They will only chase up if there is a problem with the report or they want more info on a point you raised.

You should get paid direct into your bank account around 2-4 weeks after the assignment.

Becles

Smashing wrote:

Is it not a tad odd that the stores are aware beforehand that they are being mystery shopped on a particular day? Seems to defeat the point if everyone is on their 'best behaviour.'

Not all of them know the exact date.

Also some scenarios have been the same for ages, so if they know the scenario it's easy to guess who you are.