Mystery Shopping Company Demystified

Filed under: Mystery Shopper — Tags: , — Cash for Surveys @ 8:03 pm

So what is a mystery shopping company?

It’s really no mystery! A mystery shopping company is a firm specializing in providing retailers, restaurants and other businesses with secret shoppers – also called mystery shoppers.

The reason? These shoppers get the benefit of experiencing a visit to the firm that an upper level management employee would never see on an official visit. Let’s say that you’re a district manager of a convenience store chain. You visit your stores weekly or maybe every other week. And you have a set day for visiting each store.

You know that the manager – if he values his job – will have every employee on his best behavior that day, the store will be immaculately clean for you and every clerk will smile at every customer, say please, thank you and attempt to up sell. It’s just human nature.

However, a mystery shopper is treated just like every other shopper on any day you – as the district manager – aren’t present. And because of this, these shoppers get the true insight of how the employees in this store are really treating customers day in and day out, how clean the store is and what the placement of products really are.

Mystery shopping has been around for more than 35 years. It’s an effective way to get a true “snapshot” of a store or restaurant.

How can you tell if a mystery shopping company is legitimate, given all the scams that seem to be out there?

Before you even make an initial commitment, discover whether the firm you’re looking at is a member of the Mystery Shopping Providers Association. To be a member of this organization, a mystery shopping firm must undergo an approval process. And then it must agree to uphold a set of ethical standards.

If you’re in doubt about the status of the company you’re considering working for, go to this organizations web site at http://www.mysteryshop.org/. Here you’ll find a listing of its membership. If the company you’re considering isn’t a member of this association, that doesn’t mean they’re not honest and legitimate.

When you’re considering a job as a mystery shopper, just keep one idea firmly in place: no legitimate firm will ever ask you for money to work for them. And no legitimate company will ever ask you to cash a check for several thousand dollars and mail it off to some unknown address.

Mystery shopping is a great way to get paid doing something you love. But you’ll never become insanely wealthy from it. If you keep those two thoughts in mind, you’ll have a great time as you mystery shop.

And we’ve just taken the mystery out of mystery shopping!

Mystery Shopper Services

Filed under: Mystery Shopper — Tags: — Cash for Surveys @ 5:06 am

If any name of a job had the potential to sound like a scam, it would be mystery shopper! It sounds as if you should sneak into a store undetected — wearing the traditional trench coat of the CIA — gather your information, and then slink out undetected.

Well, pretty much that’s what you do — sometimes minus the trench coat though.

Mystery shoppers are in high demand. Always have been. Always will be. But, there is no way that you performing these duties will get super rich, super fast off of this job. But it’s a great way to get reimbursed for activities you perform any way — like going out to eat or shopping at your local chain store.

And yes, there really are companies that provide specialize in providing mystery shoppers to various firms.

What kind of services do some businesses supply?

All mystery shopper services provide what’s called an “on-site evaluation.” The mystery shopper is busy evaluating from the moment he pulls into the firm’s parking lot (Is the lot clean? Does it have ample parking?) to the time he pulls out. This includes product placement, cleanliness of the store, availability of products (are the shelves well stocked, or is the firm out of the specific item you want?).

It also includes an evaluation of customer service. Are the employees greeting the customer, are they friendly and helpful?

But today, you can even find mystery shoppers evaluating telephone encounters. How many of us, have sighed and perhaps even hung up when met with a rude telephone operator or an automated system that never seemed to let you talk to a real person?

Experiencing and evaluating the level of quality telephone service can provide a business with valuable insight into the experience of its customers. Even a first impression over the phone can turn a customer off — never to return — or create a loyal follower.

And today — with competition in some areas so fierce — a firm can even hire a mystery shopping service to evaluate its competition! In this way, the firm knows what makes the other guy “tick” so to speak and why it’s so successful. This could be a priceless tool for a firm to get a fair and balanced view of how you stand next to your closest competitor.

There are many legitimate reasons for a firm to hire the services of a mystery shopping company. It’s a great way to evaluate and improve a company’s customer service and appearance!

The Mystery Shopper Scam Exposed

Filed under: Mystery Shopper — Tags: — Cash for Surveys @ 5:55 am

“All that glistens is not gold.”

Hmmm. That quote comes from Shakespeare. Do you think he was ever asked to be a mystery shopper? Highly unlikely. But he really nailed the topic of “the mystery shopper scam.”

Yes, there really are people out there who are true mystery shoppers, those individuals who work for a retail outlet and just go to various stores, buy an array of items and grade the individual store, clerk and manager on their services.

It’s been an effective approach to discovering the true level of quality of customer service for decades now. Sometimes these are called secret shoppers because the store obviously doesn’t know you’re reporting back to the main office of the company.

But as with every seemingly easy job, there always appears to be some people who need to prey on it and dupe people out of their money. And this niche is no different. Here’s how the scam works.

An individual reads an ad for a mystery shopper. They’re told the basics of the job; you get paid for shopping at different stores or eating at a variety of restaurants. (Talk about a perfect job; for the shopaholic it sounds like heaven!)

The company sends them the employment package. Along with all the typical forms, the package includes a cashier’s check, ranging between $2,000 and $4,000. This is your “training assignment”. You are to go to the bank, cash the check and wire the money to an address in Canada.

Sounds cool, right? Wrong! Because, the check is fake. But it doesn’t “bounce” until after you’ve wired the money to Canada. Now, the anonymous person in Canada is several thousand dollars richer and you . . . well, you’ll left with a deficit the size of a black hole in your checking account!

So why do people wire the money even before the cashier’s check clears. First, cashier’s checks are theoretically guaranteed money . . . that is when they’re legitimate. That’s the only reason the bank will dole out the money to you instantly like that. Cashing a personal or even payroll check that size at any bank would, indeed, mean waiting the several days to a week for it to clear.

But the scam artists also state in the employment packet that you must complete the first assignment within 48 hours in order to keep your job. Who wants to lose a cool job like that?

Remember, a legitimate mystery shopper position will never ask you to cash a check and wire it to an address unknown to you . . . in Canada or anywhere! If you’ve answered an ad and that’s what you find, toss it all away and keep looking! There really are legitimate mystery shopping positions available. Just watch out for the scammers.

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