Maximising income - Mystery Shopping? Surveys? (Part Three)

Timmne

My GF's shop gets MSed every now and then (Tesco) and she has no intention of trawling through the CCTV to find out who the shoppers were. If the shopper reported that "Dave" was rude, she tells everyone to cheer up. If there were no bananas, she ensures shelves get filled quicker.

It's nice to know some managers take the reports as they are supposed to be taken and not as some sort of personal criticism or challenge!




Another note - I've updated the OP with the new tax bands etc; could people (if they have time!) have a quick look and see if there are any further changes that need making to the bands? Something I haven't looked at is SMP; if Becles reads this, could she please let me know if these change, if she knows? THANKS! :beer:

jobbingmusician

cabdy wrote: »

Just a word of warning - if you actually state the weight/temperature are out of specified range, then you get an email back from GAP querying absolutely everything else, and asking you to confirm that you used the equipment properly - in a very suspicious tone! Anyone else had this?

Strangely, I haven't found this. When I first started doing these jobs, every coffee was overweight. I notice that the coffee co has now changed the weight range (I reckon the MSers were being MSed, if you ask me!)

One of the ones I did last week was light - I knew as soon as I picked it up. (But then, I have done over well 100 of these shops!!!!! :eek:) When I drank it, it over half the drink was foam. Delicious, but hardly good vfm. No phone call yet........

willowthecat

Timmne wrote: »

What really bugs me is when the MSing company feel they have to verify things with you (something seasprite mentioned) as they immediately think you're the one who's wrong, not the greedy manager who's trying to maximise their bonus! :mad:

Yep! I've got another client query this morning from a shop I did, which wasn't perfect but it wasn't a bad report either.

I'm just feeling so deflated. The pay is crap and then when you do a job, you have to prove that you've done it! Then to top it all, you're praying that you have a good shop because you know full well that if the report you submit isn't glowing, then you'll be having arguments with both the MS company and the management of the shop about it.

As I've pointed out before, I've got no affiliations to the company I'm assessing, so I'm going to be completely unbiased. The manager has and yet I'm the one who's made to feel as though I'm in the wrong!

Dazzieboo

willowthecat wrote: »

The pay is crap and then when you do a job, you have to prove that you've done it!

Individual jobs are poorly paid, but there are some jobs with GAP which are well worth doing and they are the audits, I am doing a wave of them at the moment and if I get 2 outlets fairly close together I can earn far more money per hour than I ever did working at time and a half in a shop.

As for proving you were there after doing a job, there are too many people out there who manage to do the job from their home, without actually going anywhere, one by one these people have been caught out and sacked, so the company have to take measures to make sure shoppers are actually doing the job.

Gap are not the only company to do it and more and more are now asking for receipts.

Unfortunatly, it is the cheats in life who make the rest of us suffer. :mad:

tigergold

more jobs on RE for meals. Pretty sure they have cut back on fees - there is no assignment fee and they have cut the allowance by about 15%. I would say it probably won't cover the meal/drinks. I used to use the assigment fee to pay for bus fare there but its just not a good deal.No wonder I have done so few jobs - Im being fussy. I really take the MS seriosly and always do a good job taking observations and writing up good reports with as much detail as possible so to make no money at all from it, just seems like a waste of my efforts. It is a free"ish" meal that I probably would not go to if it wasn't for MS but still, with the rigid scenario of order this order that (with things i don't like/drink), its not worth it. Am i being to negative ?. It could just be the monday blues !!

wantmorejobs

No, your not being negative. I completely agree. I think it is disgraceful that RE expect you to be out of pocket by demanding certain meal combinations (e.g. three courses) knowing full well that the reimbursement won't cover this. Yet expect you to break your back reporting for them only to be out of pocket, especially when considering the fees that they get paid by the client.

I heard one report that GAP get about 10x the amount they give in terms of reimbursement/fees (hope I'm allowed to say that- apologies if I can't)

nc1967

Well I have heard nothing more back from them - but they struggle to get these burgers done (can't imagine why???)
Won't be hurrying to do another, and most annoying is I don't really frequent these places and who in their right mind would go in Saturday lunch.

Along with everyone else I have noticed not so many jobs around recently, which is a shame as I am about to be made redundant and as the famous saying is 'every little helps!'

willowthecat

Dazzieboo wrote: »

Individual jobs are poorly paid, but there are some jobs with GAP which are well worth doing and they are the audits, I am doing a wave of them at the moment and if I get 2 outlets fairly close together I can earn far more money per hour than I ever did working at time and a half in a shop.

As for proving you were there after doing a job, there are too many people out there who manage to do the job from their home, without actually going anywhere, one by one these people have been caught out and sacked, so the company have to take measures to make sure shoppers are actually doing the job.

Gap are not the only company to do it and more and more are now asking for receipts.

Unfortunatly, it is the cheats in life who make the rest of us suffer. :mad:

I'll bear it in mind about the audit jobs on Gap (how do you go about getting them anyway ) but to be honest they're one of two MS companies I'm trying to avoid at the moment.

I'm not bothered about proving I was there and actually completed the shop, what I am bothered about it being almost treated as though I'm a liar. I understand that people have probably lied to them in the past, but if they had an effective way of weeding these people out, then there would be no need for the stinking attitude they have.

For example I did a shop recently, only to be told the next day, that I had visited the wrong site. I knew for a fact I hadn't because there isn't another outlet within about a 10 mile radius of the one I visited. It took 3 days to get in touch with someone, only to be told that the job had been accepted. No explanation as to why I was told it was the incorrect site in the first place and no apology either.

samtastic7

Dazzieboo wrote: »

Individual jobs are poorly paid, but there are some jobs with GAP which are well worth doing and they are the audits, I am doing a wave of them at the moment and if I get 2 outlets fairly close together I can earn far more money per hour than I ever did working at time and a half in a shop.

As for proving you were there after doing a job, there are too many people out there who manage to do the job from their home, without actually going anywhere, one by one these people have been caught out and sacked, so the company have to take measures to make sure shoppers are actually doing the job.

Gap are not the only company to do it and more and more are now asking for receipts.

Unfortunatly, it is the cheats in life who make the rest of us suffer. :mad:

never seen audits on gap? how do you find out about them

tigergold

i was thinking the same thing samtastic. I have completed the audit training