Mystery shopping thread 26 *please read the op first**please no client names or fees

Louisdf

Still waiting for RA payments from January. They always tended to pay on the first Friday of the month, but I guess they are now just paying when its convenient for them..

Big_Graeme

cte1111 wrote: »

I do wonder why React are on a list above as low rates? I think they're fine. I've done cinemas, clothes, technology and home shops for them recently and had no issues with their fee or any queries.

Cinemas with no fee you mean?

Fees for charity shops have dropped like a stone while the number of interactions and observations have increased, food visits now need photos from places that will raise suspicion and these fees and reimbursements have been slashed along with needing images of everything you buy.

There is an air of mistrust with React, the daft rating system is a pain too. React used to be one of the best.

Big_Graeme

Louisdf wrote: »

Still waiting for RA payments from January. They always tended to pay on the first Friday of the month, but I guess they are now just paying when its convenient for them..

Petrol visits? Been told that they will be paid at the end of the two legged project. But I agree their pay schedule is a bit crazy.

cte1111

Big_Graeme wrote: »

Cinemas with no fee you mean?

I've never had a fee free visit for them, so not sure what you mean.

I only did one charity shop, found it mortifying (although I did buy a great new dress for a bargain price, which was a bonus) so don't look at them any more. I don't do food shops either (on Slimming World).

I just pick the ones that I do think are paid sufficiently well and don't look at the rest, surely that's the best way not to get too stressed about it all? I can live with taking a photo the outside of a shop, I guess we're used to this now for lots of companies (at least they don't make you convert it to a PDF like TNS).

Louisdf

Big_Graeme wrote: »

Petrol visits? Been told that they will be paid at the end of the two legged project. But I agree their pay schedule is a bit crazy.

No, for the discount and toy stores and the luggage place.

Big_Graeme

Louisdf wrote: »

No, for the discount and toy stores and the luggage place.

Ah didn't do any of them this round. I have a recollection of the toy visit being paid at a totally ransom time though.

Big_Graeme

cte1111 wrote: »

I've never had a fee free visit for them, so not sure what you mean.

Their regular cinema visits do not have a fee its expenses only.

cte1111 wrote: »

I can live with taking a photo the outside of a shop, I guess we're used to this now for lots of companies (at least they don't make you convert it to a PDF like TNS).

Oh I can live with a photo of the store, many of their jobs now need photos of the goods bought along with a the receipt in the shot too. All with every single detail visible and properly lit.

The hospital food visits now need a pic of the front of the outlet, a hospital is not the place you'd expect to take a photo.

If you saw what SASSIE did you large images you would understand why TNS needed PDF's.

Wizzbang

Very interested to read all these comments, esp re: AA. Yes, I absolutely think they knew that I was a newbie at the time and tried to take advantage of me. What they didn't realise is- I run my own business and MSing is a small side line. So, I threw the books at them, so to speak and demanded to have their manager's contact details. I did engage in an argument with her, but she held the party line. So I duly reported them to the MRA regulatory bodies and tried to complain to the MSPCA, but oh- what a surprise- they're not reputable enough to be a member. I told them that too.

I will copy the emails that went between us below, as some may find it interesting to read. It will be of interest if they are picking the same kinds of faults with each shopper.

I understand that you are the Commercial Director of Amber Arch. I have been directed by E, one of your employees to submit my complaint in writing to you.

I have been refused payment on a shop completed at [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] (a jewellery store) in B on Wednesday 6th March 2013. The main reason given to me by your company is that [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] realised I was a mystery shopper at some point during or after the visit because I was 'memorable'. Your company can give me no objective reason for not paying me, only subjective. I visited at the correct time and day, the correct store. I followed your brief to the letter and submitted my report on time. I returned the items to you, in the manner directed and on time.

I believe you are in breach of the Code of Conduct set down by your regulatory body the MSPA which states at no point will you
"refuse to pay, or make a deduction from a shopper's pay, for failure to perform any function which was not explicitly described in written instructions".
Nowhere in the written brief I was given does it state that if I was identified as the shopper I would not be paid. I attach a copy of the brief for your information.

J claims that allegedly I "changed my story" which is untrue, as I followed the brief to the letter which expressly said
"You want a watch for a very trendy sister of your partner. You do not know her well and have no real idea of her taste, so want some help. Hopefully you will be shown lots of options. Don’t give the member of staff any more idea about what you want - let them show you a good range with plenty of features and benefits."
The information I submitted in my report has been verbally explained by myself again, certified as true by your staff and backed up by the store as true.

Obviously, as I was shown options, I had to narrow them down to make my purchase, but at all times I made it clear to the assistant that I was shopping for a watch for my sister-in-law who lived in America and I did not see often, so I had no real idea of her taste. Also, in the questionnaire I noted that there were some specific questions which had to be asked, which Amber Arch omitted to include in the brief. These were; asking the difference between Storm and Fossil watches and Swatch and Ice watches. So, you can see that I had to to keep the breadth of options open, until I had seen all of these watches and asked the question.

I followed your guidelines and the MSPA Code of Conduct to the letter. At no time did I indicate I was the mystery shopper. I did not feel uncomfortable at any time or that I had been identified nor did shop staff make any such assertions towards me, otherwise I would have reported this straight afterwards to Amber Arch. I later went back to the shop, with my mum so she could choose an item and thus made my own purchase for Mother's Day, after visiting several jewellery stores in Bournemouth. We also asked about the website, but this was separate to asking about the website during the mystery shop. Of course I could not do this during the mystery shop, this would have been in breach of the guidelines! This also is not a valid reason to not pay me. It was not mentioned in your guidelines that I could never return to that shop as a customer again- either that day, that week, that month or ever. Every mystery shopper knows that visits should be carried out as part of a normal shopping trip, as mileage is not reimbursed, unless specifically stated otherwise. It's normal for customers to pop in and out of stores, possibly coming back to make a purchase later on.

In my personal opinion, the fault here is with your brief if the scenario you provided was so unbelievable that it identified the shopper. [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] received an honest and true report of their service. It is irrelevant that the staff realised I was a mystery shopper (which I assert is due to your poorly written brief) because normally if that happens, staff would just seek to give you the best service ever so they get a good report. [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] did get a good report, so they have nothing to complain about! Which leads me to believe that your company is just being awkward and refusing my payment because no member of staff would ever say that they thought they had been shopped because it could jeopardise their job, their pay and their bonuses. If they had received a good report, they would certainly want to accept it! This puts Amber Arch in a very bad light.

My colleagues inform me that this is not the first time your company has made vague assertions as to why they are not going to pay a shopper. They have successfully brought cases against you in the past. I will not hesitate to use their examples as back up, if I have to take this matter higher.

If I do not receive full pay for this assignment, including the reimbursements for the product and special delivery postage, which were returned to you immediately, as stated in the brief. I will be taking my case to the MSPA and if necessary also the MRC as you are breaking the law. I am a highly experienced assessor and I actually have a post-graduate qualification related to conducting detailed assessments, so the question is certainly not my competency, but yours. I think that your company will want to avoid the bad press, the potential removal from the register for the sake of £[TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM], plus reimbursements. After the conclusion of this matter, I will not be shopping for your company again and will be deleting my account. I will continue to work for the reputable companies in the business, who treat their contractors with the professional attitude that is required.

I await your response. If I do not hear from you by the close of business on Friday 15th March, I will forward my complaint to your professional bodies, the media and instruct my lawyers to issue you with a demand as necessary.

I have now had opportunity to investigate your complaint.

The store have told us that the member of staff realised that you were a mystery shopper early in your interaction. They report inconsistencies in your questions and answers and say that throughout the visit you seemed nervous. This behaviour did not appear natural and thus provoked immediate suspicion in the member of staff. Our brief states Do not reveal that you are the mystery shopper at any stage of your visit. I appreciate that you did not tell them you were a mystery shopper, but your manner and behaviour in the store did reveal you were the shopper, not the brief.

You mention that we omitted certain questions from the brief. The very first sentence of the brief states 'You must read the DO's and DON'Ts below and the checklist online'. These questions were on the checklist and therefore quite clear. Also in the brief is the instruction 'You need to ask if they have an online site, and write on the checklist what they tell you'. You state that you asked about the website on your return to the store, this was also reported by the store. Therefore it appears clear that you did not ask about the website during your 'official' visit, or why would you need to ask again? Therefore you did not fulfil the brief. The brief also explains that if anything has gone 'wrong' during the visit, you are to call us immediately and even provides an out of office number. If you had forgotten to ask about the website, you should have called us, but you did not.

We have no issue whatsoever with shoppers returning to stores.

You state that '[TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] did get a good report, so they have nothing to complain about!' Our clients pay for mystery shopping, the anonymous and fair assessment of staff. If staff know you are the mystery shopper, then it is neither anonymous nor fair and [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] have every right to complain. It is also completely unacceptable to imply that we have not been honest with you, just because you have made unfair, inappropriate and libellous assumptions about the integrity of [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] staff.

As you did not fulfil the brief, we must get this store revisited and so would be completely justified in withholding payment and returning the purchase to you. However we understand that you did the visit in good faith and the reasons you were spotted were not down to deliberate actions on your part and so have agreed to reimburse you for the purchase and postage. We have also offered to pay £[TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM], half the £[TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] fee, as a matter of goodwill, but unfortunately we cannot reimburse the full fee as the job was not completed correctly. I'm sorry that I am unable to help further but I will of course ensure that these reimbursements are made on the next payment run, by 28th March

Regards
K

You have misunderstood some of what has been written. How would I have received a card about the website detailing the 10% discount, free P&P, whether website purchases could be returned to store etc, if I had not asked about it all in my initial visit? I can still provide you with that card and the receipt for my own purchase if you are in doubt. The question I asked about whether the full range of earrings would be available on the website, as I did not have my mother with me to make a choice, in my return visit was not related to the mystery shop, it was related to my personal purchase that I later made. This is completely and utterly irrelevant to what we are talking about which is THE MYSTERY SHOP itself.

The subjective comments about whether or not I appeared to be nervous or un-confident will not be taken into account by a court of law, as they are someone's personal opinion. What is fact, is that I carried out the mystery shop completely anonymously and followed your brief to the letter which I can back up with my report. You will not have a leg to stand on in court, as you have no proof and I have a written report and notes to back up my statements. If necessary, I will go back into store and get a statement from the member of staff involved and requisition their CCTV.

At no point have I made an unfair, inappropriate or libellous statement about an [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] employee, it is perfectly true to say that if staff realise you are a mystery shopper they will simply seek to give you the best possible service. They have no reason to mention their suspicions, other than to their colleagues. This advice is given out by numerous mystery shopping companies! You of all people, as someone in the business should recognise that fact which is why I believe Amber Arch has fabricated this piece of information.

Who is your superior? I have tried submitting a complaint to the MSPA, but it's no surprise that a company as unreputable as yours is not a member! I have submitted a complaint to the MRA, but again- are you reputable enough to be a member organisation? I will speak to my local trading standards and my lawyers about how to proceed. You can expect a final demand for payment for work carried out in good faith for your company and a small claims court summons, if you do not pay me.

evelyns2000

Big Graeme: I do the cinema visits for React and always get paid double figure fee plus reimbursement.

Are you reading it right? I've never seen a non fee paying visit from them, ever.

Big_Graeme

evelyns2000 wrote: »

Big Graeme: I do the cinema visits for React and always get paid double figure fee plus reimbursement.

Are you reading it right? I've never seen a non fee paying visit from them, ever.

Apologies I am mixing them up with their sister company Lodge.