The mystery shopping thread - part 4

jobbingmusician

ellie9ellie wrote: »

Can anyone answer my query on expenses please. Say if one MS company paid a £10 fee and a £10 reimbursement - total £20.00 and my mileage worked out at £10.00 do I class that as a £10.00 profit (taking into consideration the reimbursement) or would it just be break even (fee - mileage = £0). Thanks.

Also if you had a MS job on but you were going to the same place anyway, say to shop, would you still claim the mileage?

(It's 06:15am - way too early for my brain to be working properly yet!!!)

Your taxable profit was £0, IMHO (and Timne has posted previously saying that this is the line he takes as well). :beer:

Hollypear

sinderella wrote: »

ooooh get you and your iphone!;)

actually, on a serious note, all this talk of gfk and tns merging is a shock to me. Today (during my 'mammoth' ms session I managed to mess up 2 out of 5 shops. It has never happened before and could be something to do with parents getting stuck coming back from a visit and having to take 3 small kids out in the lashing rain. Stressful! One I messed up was TNS and I'm thinking: "They might say they don't want my services any more. Which felt like a bum*er then I thought: "Well I've always done great work for GfK so at least they'll still want me..."

Mm. Oh dear. They'll compare notes and think I'm 2 different people...

Sinders don't worry your little head about that. I have not been with TNS all that long but made a mess of a pub visit. Ordered a burger instead of a steak!!! The client was at it as they got my report on staff, timing etc but said they wouldn't pay me as I didn't follow instructions.

I also made a mess of train jobs with Gfk on the last wave of them and forgot to do 3 of them and they deallocated them.

Neither company appear to have penalised me so I wouldn't worry m'dear.

sinderella_2

Thanks HP. My main concern is the one I messed up for another company which should have been my first ever assignment for them but I couldn't make it there- how upsetting and I've not heard from them as to what I should do. I hate looking unprofessional when I'm not and especially when they don't know how good I normally am!

ellie9ellie

jobbingmusician wrote: »

Your taxable profit was £0, IMHO (and Timne has posted previously saying that this is the line he takes as well). :beer:

Your a star thanks - will complete spreadsheet now.

janiusbaktus

I posted a tip about this a while ago, but I think it is such a useful site that I will post a link again just in case someone missed it:

http://www.streetsensation.co.uk/

You can basically find any of the big shopping streets in London and "walk" through the street - great if you forgot to take notice of what is to the right and left, or if you just want to make sure that you find the right shop before heading out.

Hollypear

sinderella wrote: »

Thanks HP. My main concern is the one I messed up for another company which should have been my first ever assignment for them but I couldn't make it there- how upsetting and I've not heard from them as to what I should do. I hate looking unprofessional when I'm not and especially when they don't know how good I normally am!

Sinders PM me the company and what the job was and I will try and help you. There isn't a company out there I haven't mucked up and got myself out of bother. I think at the end of the day when you make an error it is better being honest with them.

We on here all know you are good. We all try our best but we are only human.

Woodyrocks

I seem to have missed something. Are Gfk & TNS merging

Hazzanet

janiusbaktus wrote: »

You can basically find any of the big shopping streets in London and "walk" through the street - great if you forgot to take notice of what is to the right and left, or if you just want to make sure that you find the right shop before heading out.

I was thinking about setting up a Picasa style album where people could upload pictures of stores in their area and use them when they need a photo of a particular store. We all have to take photos of these stores (particularly for one company), so it might be useful to have a 'gallery' of all the photos we've collated and use them - particularly if it's difficult to get a photo, or your camera mucks up.

Anyone interested in me doing this?

Hollypear

Woodyrocks wrote: »

I seem to have missed something. Are Gfk & TNS merging

Strong rumours of it on here.

josie

Woodyrocks wrote: »

I seem to have missed something. Are Gfk & TNS merging

Yes, it was in the Daily Mail around the middle of July.