Mystery Shopping Thread 25 *PLEASE READ THE OP FIRST**PLEASE NO CLIENT NAMES OR FEES

Larac

mrbanjo wrote: »

PIP seem to have lost a lot recently, no DIY or cheap clothes shop anymore, all I can see is tedious poorly paid travel agents.

Must admit I don't do their travel agents, unless its the FX enquiry and they are a pain at the moment as everybody is getting their cash out for their hols and can end up in a right old queue. Best to wait until later in the month IMHO as they seem to increase the fee after the jobs have been languishing a while.


ESA also have some poorly paid travel agent jobs, which I cant be bothered with as the fee is low versus the time it takes to do the visit.

Picky

Has anyone completed exit surveys for RA? What do they entail?

Cybi-Ping

stirling-gorilla wrote: »

For one set of jobs I'm thinking of applying for requires me to get a photo of myself, newspaper and location sign now that is how it reads to me. How exactly can that be done if your on your own oh and I'm no handing my phone/tablet or camera to anyone I don't know plus you can't exactly ask staff.

The other one was a general moan that some companies are asking you to pay to do a job for them, that surely can't be allowed. Basically go out pay for a game, snack and a drink then write a report and you are only getting paid a fraction of the cost to you.

The first crazy selfie job; the photo was only a requirement if you couldn't use their app to verify the location and times. Personally I couldn't get their app to work so I refused to take the job.

The second visit sounds like a market force visit? If it is you should only accept it if it will benifit you in some way, if you'll be out of pocket don't accept the visit.

Cybi-Ping

Picky wrote: »

Has anyone completed exit surveys for RA? What do they entail?

They're pretty straightforward, you have x amount of surveys to complete and you can go home when your finished. They paid me a fixed fee for the work.

Implication

stirling-gorilla wrote: »

I have also came across a few jobs where I have to take some with me but when reading more into the payments for it there isnt much point of doing the job. Im sorry but £10 for a few drinks, snack and a game is just not worth completing the paperwork for.

Am I being to critical of it or is this the norm?

Yeah I've noticed this too... you lose out overall on a few assignments that I've looked at, and I guess that's fine so long as you already go to that place anyway; you're basically just getting a discount. I've seen one or two assignments though that actually give you less money than simply using publicly available discount codes so I don't really get it! One assignment I was looking at today told me how much the maximum reimbursement was but wouldn't give any information about what purchase was needed unless I accepted the assignment - which I obviously wasn't going to do without knowing how much I'd need to spend!

Larac

Implwhiion wrote: »

Yeah I've noticed this too... you lose out overall on a few assignments that I've looked at, and I guess that's fine so long as you already go to that place anyway; you're basically just getting a discount. I've seen one or two assignments though that actually give you less money than simply using publicly available discount codes so I don't really get it! One assignment I was looking at today told me how much the maximum reimbursement was but wouldn't give any information about what purchase was needed unless I accepted the assignment - which I obviously wasn't going to do without knowing how much I'd need to spend!

It takes a while to workout which jobs are worth doing. Personally I don't do the MF restaurant jobs as they always cost money and often better deals with vouchers. Re the issue of purchases - if its a buy back job you wont know what it is unless you get the job owing to the sensitive nature of the task.

sparklysaver

I'm hardly doing any work at all now since going full-time in a PAYE job, but got a phone call today about a circuit of last-minute jobs at a nice fee after the company had been let down. I assumed someone else had dropped them but have just tried to enter my results and found the forms already completed. Oh good grief they're appalling. I honestly cannot believe how incompetent this shopper is. The comments range all the way from "it was good" to "it wasnt good", interspersed with regular "i didnt notice" and "dont know". Also, all of the assistants they interacted with were "nice", apart from the one who was "not nice".

I really, REALLY hope they turn up here in a few days to moan about the awful company refusing to pay them.

naarestrup

sparklysaver wrote: »

I'm hardly doing any work at all now since going full-time in a PAYE job, but got a phone call today about a circuit of last-minute jobs at a nice fee after the company had been let down. I assumed someone else had dropped them but have just tried to enter my results and found the forms already completed. Oh good grief they're appalling. I honestly cannot believe how incompetent this shopper is. The comments range all the way from "it was good" to "it wasnt good", interspersed with regular "i didnt notice" and "dont know". Also, all of the assistants they interacted with were "nice", apart from the one who was "not nice".

I really, REALLY hope they turn up here in a few days to moan about the awful company refusing to pay them.

[FONT=&quot]Jeez, I've experienced the exact same thing once as a shopper and having worked as a proofreader I can only confirm that the "quality" of some shoppers work is amazingly poor. I always worked with the scheduler or project manager to try and save a report but sometimes we just had to give up. Luckily we are also plenty who take this thing serious and provide excellent reports - and then get rewarded with some of the nice jobs and sensible bonuses.[/FONT]

whitelabel

oh dear.
I imagine if they are here, they will read that, recognise them selves and not post about it.

MysteryMe

Whatever the job may be you will get people who are incompetent or exceptional, the vast majority will fall somewhere in between.


I doubt someone completing a report as inadequately as that would bother reading a forum aimed at those who wish to learn and inform.


At least Sparklysaver was able to benefit so not all bad.