Is the company leget if they cut u a check b4 u do the shopping?

No. SCAM!

No, they are not legitimate.

Well this company cut my check and I did the work.

You may have been scammed, Quateescia. Provide the name of the company and some details of the work you did and we can advise you.

Secret shopper is the name wento two stores and did a money transfer.also already did the survey and turned it in. so that would still be not a good job.

Secret Shopper is a legitimate company, but they do not pay in advance. There have been a number of scams by a fake company using the Secret Shopper name. Doing a money transfer is a red flag. Here is the website of the legitimate Secret Shopper: [www.secretshopper.com]

Questions to determine a legitimate company vs. a scam:

1. Did you sign up on the company's website?
2. Or did the company contact you and invite you to become a mystery shopper and ask for personal information via e-mail?
3. Did they send you a check in advance and ask you to cash the check and send some of the money, probably through Western Union?
4. Did the job pay more than $10-$15? Most legitimate mystery shopping jobs pay between $8 and $20.
5. Was the money transfer you sent a significant amount of the total they sent you?

Sent some through western union and shopped with the rest. Then took my pay out. I had feeled out alot of apps on the internet. They sent me a letter and the check. The secret shoppers that u have to pay out of pocket are they leget. So u suggest don't do anymore for them.

I definitely don't think you should do any more for them. I'm sorry that this happened to you, but I think you have been scammed and that very soon the check will be charged back to your account by your bank. You may want to contact your bank and let them know you believe the check you cashed was not a legitimate check. Do you have a contact telephone number for the company and an address? They likely will not respond to you now that you have transferred the money. Legitimate mystery shopping companies will not send you checks before you complete an assignment. Legitimate companies do not ask you to transfer money to a third party through Western Union.

If you want to mystery shop for legitimate companies, see the blue link at the bottom of the page, Official List of Mystery Shopping Companies. You will fill out an application on their website, providing your personal information and your SS# and you will sign a confidentiality agreement. Some might want a writing sample and others may want you to take tests. After you are accepted as a shopper, you will be able to search their job boards to see if they have assignments in you area.

Good luck.

What company you are with? And yes I have an address and teleponee number to the company.

Quateescia Wrote:
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> What company you are with?

Hello Quateescia - Most of us on the forum are auditors/mystery shoppers who work as independent contractors for the mystery shopping companies. Some of us work for the MSPs, or work independently as schedulers and/or editors. Many of the schedulers and/or editors apparently also do some auditing and mystery shopping.

I'm not "with" any mystery shopping company as an employee, editor, or scheduler, but I am signed up with many companies and currently shop as an independent contractor for between 25 and 30 companies who have work in my area that suits me. This is what most of us on the forum do.

If you want to be an auditor/mystery shopper, you need to start signing up with reputable companies. At the bottom of this page, you will find a blue link to a list of mystery shopping companies. Start signing up, and sign up first with Corporate Research, Maritz, Bestmark, Market Force, and Bare. That will get you started. Keep signing up and don't ever stop signing up. Things change all the time.

After you are signed up with a company and accepted as a shopper or auditor, you can go on their job board and see what is available. Some will not have a job board and may contact you directly with offers of work.

If you have questions as you go along in the signing up and shopping process, ask on this forum and someone will help you. You can count on it.

When starting a mystery shopper business what all will a mystery shop provider say to help the client set up a mystery shopping program?

We are mystery shoppers ourselves, not mystery shopping shopping providers. We are contracted by the providers after they have worked with the client to set up the program.

Sure it's just like getting a tip before you serve any food. Do us all a favor and go back to babysitting

jnicolebaker Wrote:
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> When starting a mystery shopper business what all
> will a mystery shop provider say to help the
> client set up a mystery shopping program?


Welcome to the forum. Here, for the most part, we are shoppers helping shoppers.

jamielang Wrote:
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> Sure it's just like getting a tip before you serve
> any food. Do us all a favor and go back to
> babysitting


Thanks for responding to my post, but no rude comments. It will be greatly appreciated.