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

jobbingmusician

klane wrote: »

Hmm, any advice? I just did a MS for TNS for a DIY store, and am 99% convinced one of the assistants sussed I was doing a MS, as soon as I asked about my enquiry. (The first part of my task went fine.) She helped me, over enthusiastically, and then proceeded to pretty much follow me around the store afterwards, asking way too many questions, and acting like my personal shopper, fetching far more information than required, and practically insisting she'd take these expensive items to the till for me to pay, volunteering other staff to fetch me a trolley and so on (and for anyone else doing this set of jobs, it was for the cheaper bit of the enquiries!)

I didn't give the game away, and acted completely normally, even made a call to someone and went off to look at multiple things which had nothing to do with my MS tasks. She actually left me for a little and then came back to find me again within minutes (!), to ask me if I was interested in any finance options (one of the areas on the report) while grinning .... which would be really odd if I didn't know about that, as I was only looking at one tin of paint at the time. I just said "er, no thanks, I'm only looking to get this tin and <other product> at the moment for a few quid" and looked puzzled at her.

When I eventually went to the till to buy something, she'd got there ahead of me and was whispering to the cashier, who immediately swapped with someone else she'd been talking with... and then even he was overly helpful - asking questions I would never expect from a cashier about my day and offering to perform tasks that had nothing to do with his duties on the till.

I spent 2 hours in total on the job (nearly1hr in store, and 1hr of travelling)... if I report my suspicions to TNS (this is my 6th job for them) will I not get paid? What should I do? In all my MS jobs, I've never been in this situation before.

Sorry to disagree with Timne, but I would not mention it.

My logic is that if the staff are bright enough to suss a MSer, they deserve a good report. If the shops and MS companies give us such unrealistic scenarios, and we do the best job possible, the problem is theirs. I don't think it's up to judge what the MS companies are testing - and they could be testing the ability of staff to spot us (or they could be MSing us in reverse, IYSWIM :rotfl:)

brryssn

Hollypear wrote: »

Can anyone with TNS advise me on using the job search. I got accepted at the start of the week but have not found any jobs yet.When I click location there is no location for Glasgow so I went 1 by 1 round all the counties which surround Glasgow. What though do I put in the postcode box? I left it blank first then tried putting in G as there are dozens of Glasgow postcodes but it keeps coming up with nothing.

There are a few Pub/Meal ones on for Glasgow at the moment.
:beer: Hope you've managed to find them!

Hollypear

brryssn wrote: »

There are a few Pub/Meal ones on for Glasgow at the moment.
:beer: Hope you've managed to find them!

Thanks. Are they under Lanarkshire???

BTW The MS I did at your local train station restaurant pub/restaurant was great. They still have more and have quadrupled the fee.

You know any MS's which come with a Uefa final ticket for tonight.:rotfl:I think I am the only Glaswegian I know left here. Every one I know has gone there. One has paid £3,000 for a ticket this morning.

Timmne

Hollypear wrote: »

You know any MS's which come with a Uefa final ticket for tonight.:rotfl:

Yeah RE have a couple - I'd have picked one but the fee's rubbish.

:rotfl:

TractorGirl327

Hollypear wrote: »

You know any MS's which come with a Uefa final ticket for tonight.:rotfl:I think I am the only Glaswegian I know left here. Every one I know has gone there. One has paid £3,000 for a ticket this morning.

I went to the UEFA Cup Final 27 years ago! In the days when it was a 2-legged final. The mighty Tractor Boys won 5-4 on aggregate. Remember it as if it was yesterday!! :T :T :T

klane

Sarah_Joanne wrote: »

I'm doing this shop this afternoon! Hope it goes better than yours - bit worried now!!!

Don't worry about it, honestly. I did two other branches fine before this one. They have been very good about it... I emailed, I wanted to be honest. They replied quickly and agreed it seemed suspicious and have passed it on to relevant folks and will pay me for the work anyway. I still think better to be honest regardless, I want to be trustworthy, after all, and I'm sure this must happen from time to time for every MS co.

Timmne

I think the problem is managers put too much pressure on the staff. my GF is a manager at Tesco (one of the express stores) and they don't tell the staff anything - despite the bonuses they could get. I asked her if she checks the CCTV and she said no, nobody's interested in finding out!

wensie

klane wrote: »

Don't worry about it, honestly. I did two other branches fine before this one. They have been good so far about it... I emailed and we'll see how it goes. I wanted to be honest. They agreed it seemed suspicious and have passed it on to relevant folks. Have to wait and see what is said next and if I get paid or not.

I guess I'll learn something either way, and about how to handle things in future if this ever arises again!

Why should you not get paid ?? You have carried out the job to the guidelines and it's not your fault that you have been found out. I wouldn't accept anything else but getting paid and I would nag them if they would try to get out of it.

klane

Happy to say all is fine - have updated/edited some of my above posts appropriately. This co have been good so far for me, so I'm pleased they dealt with things so swiftly and pleasantly.

brryssn

Hollypear wrote: »

Thanks. Are they under Lanarkshire???

BTW The MS I did at your local train station restaurant pub/restaurant was great. They still have more and have quadrupled the fee.

You know any MS's which come with a Uefa final ticket for tonight.:rotfl:I think I am the only Glaswegian I know left here. Every one I know has gone there. One has paid £3,000 for a ticket this morning.

Yes - they're under Lanarkshire if you key that in - but I always key in "ALL" to see what's what throughout the country - I regularly go back to Merseyside so look to see if I can do any there too. Who is that Restaurant by us with?

Can't help you with a Ticket for tonight though! My husband is away on Business so my friends are coming round for a few scoops! My daughter has her English Higher tomorrow though - so better not make it TOO late a night! And even though I'm an Evertonian - I will be supporting Rangers & cheering them on!!:beer: