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

hsa_3

ljshopper wrote: »

There is still work out there but the trend is only going one way.

Discuss.

I'm inclined to agree with BG that as things improve financially in the country (assuming that we believe they will), then more people will be back in work and MSCs will have to try harder to find people which would mean fees going up. Personally I haven't seen much sign yet but new jobs do seem to be coming in at the double digit rate, just.

I have done MS for around 5 years now and it saw me through a really difficult patch so it has been good for me but I am lucky in that it's not the main element of my income any more so I can afford to be choosy.

I do think the jobs have been really awkward and uninteresting in the last couple of years. I miss the quantity of retail ones there were (at least you need supermarket products) and easy bak customer service ones. Mobile phones and TV, yawn. Some really horrid bank ones. Scenarios that are so unrealistic you would stand out a mile. I mean, how many times do shoppers get to the point of signing a contract then changing their mind after 30 minutes of their valuable time? And as has been said here before, if no-one picked up the really poor fee jobs, they'd have to raise them.

Maybe it will get better.. we can only hope!

evelyns2000

Have you seen the fee for a home furnishing store? Absolutely laughable. And they want you to download a pic and include a narrative in the report. Might be able to twist my arm if there were a £20 reimbursement involved but this is a complete joke.

Larac

evelyns2000 wrote: »

Have you seen the fee for a home furnishing store? Absolutely laughable. And they want you to download a pic and include a narrative in the report. Might be able to twist my arm if there were a £20 reimbursement involved but this is a complete joke.

Must admit - I looked at the fee, saw the brief and thought 'no thanks'. I did notice that they were shifting though - so someone is happy to do it.

bylromarha

Anyone been sucessful trying to contact ESA.

Have been told to contact them regarding a job query, but 3 messages left on the phone number I've been told to ring, and no response.

Can't be bothered to try anymore, but annoys me I now wont get paid for the job.

bylromarha

Argh, and now another stupid proof reading query from MF.

"The thing you said which would have improved your visit is not part of your visit"

Well it was, it was part of the whole customer experience.... argh. Why do big companies pay to not get truthful feedback which might actually make a difference?

And if they ask me again how I felt about it...

hsa_3

Larac wrote: »

Must admit - I looked at the fee, saw the brief and thought 'no thanks'. I did notice that they were shifting though - so someone is happy to do it.

Yes and this client used to be with ?ISC I think, though the fee wasn't fantastic before it has gone down on the move.

Sunny_spell

hsa wrote: »

Yes and this client used to be with ?ISC I think, though the fee wasn't fantastic before it has gone down on the move.

You are right, the client was with ISC before - I did a visit last December though the fee was still a single digit number. The report was easy and straight forward.

weeg

And this is why you keep what you do to yourself...

I had to go to a town about 2 1/2 hours from here to pick something up. So I wangled an MF dinner and treated myself to a hostel bed for the night to break up the driving. Lo and behold, after dinner I bumped into someone I knew. He asked what I was doing there, so I told him. 'Oh, I'm a trainee manager there!'.

I had already submitted the report by then, but still. He promised to to mention he knew me. After all, the visit and report were done in good faith, and the report wasn't bad (decent service, didn't clean up nearly quickly enough). I just have to hope that he keeps his word and doesn't say he knew me. First job I've done for that co in months, so it's not a huge deal if they sack me, but I'd rather they didn't.

mskitten2904

Something really stupid and petty, but I do hate receiving an email for urgent jobs that need completion TODAY OR TOMMOROW. Simple spelling mistakes makes me NOT want to work for them.

ISWMLE

Blackdagga wrote: »

Just been reading the last few pages of this forum.......particularly the comments about AA. Thought I would give my balanced view, which is in no way meant to contradict those negative ones. However, it does seem that a couple of the views seemed to be extremely biased from a couple of the posters who seem to have massive axes to grind (P.S. this isn't an invitation for them to write another 15 paragraphs to justify their gripes - but certainly not denying a right to reply....if you really must!)

I have done AA work for about 4 months, and only the video stuff. The positives I find are that the visits are generally quick and easy, and for the time spent doing the visit the fee's are good. The negatives are that sometimes the briefs could be a bit clearer, and I find they can sometimes take a bit longer than some MSC's to pay.

I did have one visit fail on a technicality, which I had no problem with as if the brief was strictly read then I did not do what I should have done. The email me telling me it had failed was polite, apologetic and explained why it had failed.

I do find some of the comments complaining about the briefs to be a little strange. Given AA work on an application basis, if you don't like the brief then don't apply for the job. Most of the MSC's have to work to particular client requirements, and if the brief says you have to do something then I work on the basis that this is what I will do. If I need some clarification I will ask for it (and have done so a couple of times with AA without problem), and if I don't follow the brief then I don't expect to get paid.

(P.S. this isn't an invitation for them to write another 15 paragraphs to justify their gripes - but certainly not denying a right to reply....if you really must!)

I assume you are directing that at me? Well, that is very rude.

Secondly, another poster said this topic had come to an end. So why bring it up again?

Thirdly, I did read the AA briefs and at no time in the briefs were we ever told to try on coats (outdoor wear gigs) or told what constituted a typical customer for the jewellery gigs. These points were conveniently brought into the equation after I had completed the assignments and after the footage had been accepted. They were excuses they levied at me for no good reason, not valid feedback for poor performance.

If you had read all 15 paragraphs of my posts, perhaps you would have grasped that they were all valid points designed to be helpful to others on here; they were not pointless rants based on sour grapes and any other stuff and nonsense I had read that has been specifically and rudely targetted at me from even ruder posters that have a history of bullying and being rude themselves.

As I said before, and will say yet again. I had no problem with AA until December and I had been working with them for 2.5 years.