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

evelyns2000

Yes, I made an appointment with a certain member of staff who was to be mystery shopped. I received an email from that staff member confirming my appointment with him/her. But low and behold when I arrive for my appointment, certain staff member is suddenly called away on an emergency and I have a stand in dealing with me instead. I still carried on as normal for to have aborted the visit would have been very strange. For this they didn't want to pay me.

weeg

Does happy back to platinum eating dance!

Confirmation if it was required that they haven't really got rid of the points system - just stopped displaying it.

Larac

ISWMLE wrote: »

This sort of thing makes me angry.

As mystery shoppers it is incumbent upon us to realise that there are risks involved with running a mysteryshopping business just as there is any other. But those risks have to be ours, not the end clients or the mystery shopping company's. Our risks involve not following the essential brief details to write the reports, not picking up valid receipts for essential purchases, not maintaining video equipment and even not arriving on time for job appointments where the target has moved onto another customer. Anything reasonably foreseeable and anything that we could remedy with a little more care or forsight.

What is not our risk is the brief changing, the MSC not sending out the correct brief, silly and unworkable or scripted 'we will tell you what to say' scenarios that don't work, mystery shopper companies not having a clue what a typical sales scenario involves, target complaints about being mystery shopped without any tangible timely proof that such an accusation is true.

To put it most simply:anything that is not in our control or not our fault should be paid in full or negotiated upfront beofre the job takes place for a reduced fee if things don't pan out the way they expect it to. It is not at all lawfully enforceable for any mystyer shopping company or end client to withhold payment under those circumstances and, no, it is not OK for smug, mystery shopping company stooges to say to others to simply dismiss such client and mystery shopping company oversights with the same old 'you needn't have taken the job' ruse.

I am sick of hearing that one and so should you be...

TNS did get back to me to advise that I should have down loaded the brief on the day of the visit. The fact that I down loaded the brief before hand and it was changed - is my problem. It is not unusual to down load briefs before hand IMHO as we don t all have time to do this in the morning. What a sh*te way to get out of payment

MysteryMan00

ESA update:

The couple of simple jobs I did 2 weeks ago STILL haven't been approved. Will they suddenly "OK" them on Monday so they go into next month?

Let's see.

enevel

Larac wrote: »

TNS did get back to me to advise that I should have down loaded the brief on the day of the visit. The fact that I down loaded the brief before hand and it was changed - is my problem. It is not unusual to down load briefs before hand IMHO as we don t all have time to do this in the morning. What a sh*te way to get out of payment

Gets them out of nothing. Show them tough love - they are desperate for shoppers. And if they still want to avoid paying, threaten (and go through with) further action. Had similar run-in with same outfit recently - red carpet was rolled out when it got to the appropriate level.

MysteryMan00

A recurring and dominant theme over these first 15 pages has been rejected reports and refused payments.

Some of the debate has been heated and there appear to have been some heated exchanges between some MSers and their MSC.

Now, I'm not for a second suggesting that any of the posters have been unreasonable - I don't know all the facts so I couldn't sit in judgement even if I wanted to.

The point that I am posting to make - and am finally getting to! - is that sometimes some humility and acceptance of blame is required.

Yesterday I had my first report rejection in 4 years. I expected it and had been upfront about what went wrong. At the end of a long day, I neglected to give the right answer to a certain question - but it had a huge effect on the course of the interaction between me and the assistant.
If I had checked my notes a bit better before going in - it wouldn't have happened.

It is gutting to have had a bit of a traffic snarled journey to get there, done some work and not got any money - but, in this case, it was completely my fault. I'm sucking it up as a lesson learned and a mistake that I won't remake.

I'm not saying accept poor treatment - I just wouldn't like any newbies to be encouraged to go in guns blazing whenever a report is rejected.

Step back, forget the money for a moment and ask yourself whether it is fair. If not, start off reasonable and polite and escalate gradually as is needed to be listened to - assuming you still believe you are in the right once you have heard their side.

Go straight for the jugglar and, whether you're right or wrong, maybe you won't get so much repeat work.

Don't burn your bridges unless you don't want further work. Oh, and if you do burn bridges, make sure you've tied your victim to it before lighting the match!!

MysteryMe

I don't think anyone on here is claiming that they should be paid if they have made mistakes are they?

People are aware what the consequences of kicking up a fuss will be, they are not stupid and they certainly don't need to be patronised.

I've never had a report rejected and always been paid. I've completed thousands of assignments for many MSC and have no axe to grind. I will support people who have genuine grievances though, no one with an ounce of self respect should be working for any MSC that attempts to scam them. And I mean scam, I am not referring to MSC who wont pay for an assignment that has not been followed due to shopper error.

Cayt65

Has anyone had any problems with payments from Albatross? My first three assignments for them have been showing "Survey under Review" for weeks and a polite email enquiry has gone unanswered. I am reluctant to apply for anything else until this has been resolved.

naarestrup

Cayt65 wrote: »

Has anyone had any problems with payments from Albatross? My first three assignments for them have been showing "Survey under Review" for weeks and a polite email enquiry has gone unanswered. I am reluctant to apply for anything else until this has been resolved.

I've never had problems with payments from them, Payment has been paid approximately at the end of the month following the month the job was done. I have had problems getting answers to e-mails though.
I did get a nice Christmas card from then in the mail last year though.

ISWMLE

Larac wrote: »

TNS did get back to me to advise that I should have down loaded the brief on the day of the visit. The fact that I down loaded the brief before hand and it was changed - is my problem. It is not unusual to down load briefs before hand IMHO as we don t all have time to do this in the morning. What a sh*te way to get out of payment

I had a similar experience from that bunch of cheating Isle of Wight misfits 'Performance in Sheeple.' I was doing a video gig for one of their mobile phone clients for a TV cable assignment a while back and the team leader didn't put a house number on the brief - any number at all, - which had to be there and correct to ensure the signal would cover that address. Then I did the gig, on the day I had already stipulated to that team leader, after first texting him to alert him to the problem. In the meantime, I used another house number - to help fill the gap but in the same road - and then he resent a revised brief when my assignment was over, and with the correct numbers on it and claimed I had 'not followed the brief' because I had given over the wrong house number, which was not covered by the TV signal. The fact that this information had been entirely omitted didn't figure into the equation.

I told him to take a hike. Shortly after they accused me of doing other things I hadn't done too like falling out with staff members, being rude to QC and other made up rubbish. I was warned by someone else, who had very close links with this bunch of cowboys, that they were a very nasty company to deal with and, as with AA, I didn't really pay much attention. But in both cases, it has turned out to be correct.

Luckily, there are a few companies out there who do value their mystery shoppers, pay them well, offer expenses, bonuses and genuinely appreciate our efforts. But they are not the biggest players who all get too arrogant and big for their boots and start treating us like dispensible rubbish when they feel like it, no matter how much work we've done for them beforehand.

As I said before, some of these mystery shopping companies want their backsides scorched. It is only a matter of time....and when it does, I will be first on the sidelines cheering...I would like to see at least 50 per cent of them sink without trace and their business given to the more deserving companies, particualrly when they cheat, lie and essentially break important 'employment laws' in many respects too by treating us like temps instead of freelance experts who are capable of managing our own work rather than needing some patronising Direction and Controls, which is not only inappropriate but misguidedly re-labelled as 'guidance' or 'training' or other such crap.