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Newbie with a question

November 11, 2013 10:26PM
New to Mystery Shopping & signed up with 2 companies so far.

Just found a shop that is a gas station. It pays 3 times what the other shops pay, but I'm wondering if it's too involved/detailed for a newbie? It says it could take up to an hour to complete.

Would you suggest this type of shop for my first time or should I do something smaller to get my feet wet?


Thank you!
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November 11, 2013 10:30PM
By all means, start with something simple, like a bank teller shop. A one hour shop is not a newbie shop.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
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November 12, 2013 12:18AM
I agree. I recently did a carwash shop and while I was doing it I realized it would have be good for a beginner b/c you are in your car the whole time and don't have too much interaction with people. You could take notes while you are being washed.
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November 12, 2013 01:42AM
Thanks for the replies. I just signed up for my first shop, a quickie..lol.
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November 12, 2013 02:38PM
I agree you shouldn't take the one hour station jobs at first. Get comfortable with the simpler shops first.

Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.
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November 12, 2013 10:34PM
Well.... what do you do when they know you are a mystery shopper & they try to bait you? Clearly this shop owner is used to the mystery shops and he let me know it. I followed the instructions, but this was such a small place with the owner manning the register. He knew who I wasimmediately when I walked in and he let me know it.

Does any of this make it into the report? Or just fill it out with the required information as if everything was perfectly smooth?
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November 13, 2013 12:24AM
BLF, were you able to execute the guidelines? Did you get all the information you need? Did you get a receipt if required?
If all that is true, it sounds like you did your job and you have a solid shop. The owner may have suspected you as a shopper, but he has no way on earth of being certain. He was messing with you, and because of inexperience you let it get to you. You'll get over letting people like that bother you and eventually you'll learn to give that type person a hard time right back, which is what he deserves. If you get another opportunity to shop that adorable manager, be sure you hold him accountable on each and every point in the shop.

Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.
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November 13, 2013 12:46AM
How to report it?

Report the facts regarding the observations you were asked to make.

Anything beyond that goes into the gray area that on one hand are observations that the business owner (in this case the corporation, not the local franchise owner) would like to know and adding too much detail that will make them remember you when they read the report.

It's possible he might have had an idea based upon some unusual behavior, or he might just say that to all the non-regulars who look all around the interior, use or ask for the bathroom, buy a small item with cash and ask for a receipt after buying gas at the pump. Those are normal shopper behaviors on a typical non-revealed gas station shop.

You have to decide, but in general, I can see a shopper leaving those details out in a typical gas station shop. The rationale is that it doesn't respond to the required observations and it could make you as a shopper. You could say he was conversational, pleasant, abrupt, or however his manner was without mentioning the subject of his comments.

Good luck

Happily shopping Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut
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November 13, 2013 04:51PM
Hello All. New to this - I have done one shop so far. Got an 8 and some great feedback. Now I would like to apply with other companies. I have sent some emails asking questions on this topic, but no one has responded. I originally was getting emails for shops through my own email address. I then realized that I needed a Pay Pal Account, which my husband and I DO have, it is just through his email, not mine. So I switched my mystery shopper info now to come through his email. Our Pay Pal Account goes into a bank account with BOTH of our names. Is this all they need?...The email that the Pay Pal account is linked to?
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November 13, 2013 05:23PM
That's it!

Shopping Bama and parts of Georgia.
I'm still learning 24/7.
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November 16, 2013 06:11AM
BLF Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> New to Mystery Shopping & signed up with 2
> companies so far.
>
> Just found a shop that is a gas station. It pays 3
> times what the other shops pay, but I'm wondering
> if it's too involved/detailed for a newbie? It
> says it could take up to an hour to complete.
>
> Would you suggest this type of shop for my first
> time or should I do something smaller to get my
> feet wet?

If these are the combined mystery shop/revealed audit type of gas station shops, this shop or a shop like it was among the first shops I did. I took them because they were heavily bonused, and on one hand I don't regret it because I needed the money. On the other, as an introduction to mystery shopping it left a bit to be desired, so I do kind of wish now I had done more of the basic fast food and retail shops first.

If you realize it's going to be an involved shop, by all means take them especially if they are highly bonused. But don't use them as an excuse to give up MSing altogether.
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