WHAT DO YOU MEAN MORON? NOT EVERYONE IS FOR CRAP IF YOU ARE.
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On December 21st, 2009 at 2:51 pm, Jeff said:
I agree with the publisher. I had some free time and applied at a few mystery shopping jobs. Each paying 10 dollars. I go and complete the store interviews, and og home and type in the information….They expect a novel for 100 questions….So you fil out the questions. Then a day later, they emailing me wanting even MORE information. I send the more information. Then they email me yet AGAIN wanting more information. So I send them more information, then they email and tell me the CANCELED THE JOB saying I missed a question! I was so livid at this point, I emailed them back with a few choice words and where they can stick their 10 dollars. Needless to say Mystery shopping surely is CRAP.

THANKS SOOOOO MUCH.

MY EXPERIENCE HAS BEEN THE SAME WITH A PARTICULAR COMPANY AND I HAVE WRITTEN THEM TO QUIT. THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BEING THAT I GOT PAID.

THE CALL THE QUESTIONS QUERIES AND SEEM TO TRUST THE LOCATION STAFF WHO ARE NOT PLEASED ABOUT A NEGATIVE REPORT AND CONFRONT YOU WITH OBJECTIONS RAISED. THAT BEING THE CASE, I THINK STAFF OF SUCH MYSTERY SHOPPING COMPANIES SHOULD NOT USE MYSTERY SHOPPERS BUT CARRY OUT THE VISITS THEMSELVES.

(: (:(: Many thanks.
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“THE MOUNTAIN OF BURGER”

Has anyone ever visited one of those restaurants where they serve a “tall” burger with a very long kebab stick stuck through to hold the bits together?

I recently did and discovered that it was nothing but a MacDonalds or Burger King burger presented in a DECEITFUL GIANT FORM AT A COST OF ABOUT £9.00!!!!!!!

In fact MacDonalds and Burger King burgers are more filling and taste better.

My warning/advice is: BEWARE OF THE MOUNTAIN OF BURGER!!!!!!!

TRUE; MYSTERY SHOPPING JOBS CAN BE HARD but I have kind of gained a bit of funds, free meals and occasional material items from carrying out the assignments.

I find myself putting 5 hours into the report for ONLY ONE JOB in most of the cases and it is quite demanding – FOR USUALLY A FEE AS LITTLE AS £3, £5, £7-8 AT THE MOST.

Due to the demanding hours spent in doing reports, I’d rather carry out one visit per day but companies that reimburse travel expenses tend to expect you to do multiple visits in the same area, falling within the same deadlines on the same day.

For some assignments, there are no fees; only reimbursement of purchase expenses. With others it’s say £5 fee in addition to £3 maximum spend on a sandwich meal deal.

Only one of the companies I do assignments for reimburse travel expenses by public transport or mileage.

The companies differ in the way they give you assignments but all require reports completed within 24 hours or sometimes on the same day; there is a particular company which is a bit flexible.

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1. For some you are allocated assignments on first come first served basis.
You have to log into their website WHENEVER and apply if there are assignments available, answer up to 8 questions based on the assignment instructions and if answers are correct and you are quick enough, you get ALLOCATED THE ASSIGNMENT.

Nevertheless, I have carried out about 15 assignments in my first few months and I would say that I do about 4 visits in a month. This particular company has regular assignments available.

They also have a very user- friendly website and have 2 pay runs per months; fortnightly.
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2. You apply when you have browsed the job log on the company’s site by clicking the button. You receive an email to tell you if it has been assigned to you or another shopper.

With them, I have done 4 in about 3 months after a terrible false start which resulted in a loss of about £40 travel cost. I could not get to all the locations and each visit involved return to the location on another day; so after that huge loss, I decided not to complete the return visit to the only location I was able to get to.

I have done 4 jobs in about 3 months and they pay about £15 minimum but the jobs can be on and off and you cannot visit the same location until after 6 months.

I am yet to receive my first payment; you send an invoice to them at the end of each month and it is not month end yet.

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3. You do same as above but a window opens asking you to write a short statement saying why you are suitable for the assignment. THIS PARTICULAR COMPANY HAS A WAY OF HAVING YOUR APPLICATION LOG VANISH FROM YOUR PAGE WITHOUT INFORMING YOU THAT IT HAS BEEN ASSIGNED TO ANOTHER SHOPPER.

With them, I have done 3 jobs in about 4 months and they pay about £10 minimum but the jobs can be on and off and you cannot often ever visit the same location. One of their regular assignments involves visits to a popular Funeral Home.

I have also noticed that they avoid incurring expenses in phone calls and would rather have you call them FOR INFORMATION ABOUT A JOB THAT WAS TURNED DOWN LAST MINUTE BY ANOTHER SHOPPER which they are desperate to have you accept – STINGY EH? Also, they ARE NOT FLEXIBLE WITH DATES AND TIME OF VISIT. The specified time/date is usually during office hours so you cannot do them if you are in employment.

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4. This company operates on 2 sites and for visits available on one of the sites; they email you about available visits. The good news: they give you multiple assignments, reimburse travel, and pay quickly.

With them, you only keep things like food; other purchases either have to be returned for a refund after 30 minutes or returned to them by post; postage is reimbursed.

I find the assignments repetitive; ONLY ABOUT 5 LOCATIONS and I do not like the cinema and sandwich counting visits.

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I am still carrying out mystery shopping assignments but having tried a few times, I should not go for the types I don‘t like.

I have tried Cinema visits twice but as I am not really a cinema person, I prefer not to do it again.

I also do not like visiting food outlets where you have to count how many types of sandwiches, soft and tray baked items. I find this most demanding and the questionnaire has about 90+ questions.

All the Mystery Shopping companies I use pay by BACS; I think some other ones by cheque.

There is a company that pays by PayPal but I am yet to use them because of the PayPal hassles. They also rarely have jobs available for me and once offered a telephone call job paying £5.00 with a cost of recording the call at 50p per minute; 5 minutes minimum at my expense.

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ALL THE COMPANIES I USE ARE VERY FLEXIBLE WITH TIME AND DATES WHICH OFTEN INCLUDE WEEKENDS AND YOU USUALLY HAVE MORE THAN A WEEK BEFORE ASSIGNMENT DUE DATES.

Some visits can only be done at night (after 7.30 or 8.00 pm) on specified days of the week; some jobs are same day or at quite short notice for shoppers who can accommodate them.
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Overall, DESPITE THE MORE OR LESS FEW PENNIES PER HOUR EQUIVALENT FEE PER JOB, I think the little income has helped pay for a few things here and there especially because I am job seeking.

All it costs me is: the resources of my time, a few stationery, use of my personal internet access at no extra cost, my sleep during lengthy hours spent completing report overnight sometimes cost of travel by public transport and very rarely minimal costs of telephone call. I ALSO HAVE TO INFORM THE BENEFITS OFFICE ABOUT MY EARNINGS.

I don’t know how long I should be doing mystery shopping for, but for now I exercise discipline and commit to the requirements of carrying out assignments on days that I’d rather just have a break.

Well I just quit my mystery shopping job yesterday, it was a horrible, crap job

“I agree with you”