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I am new to this forum and have never done a Mystery shop where do I begin???

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I am new to the forum and am hoping to do my first mystery shop asap. Any advice would be great

Welcome to the forum! Lots of advice in the threads pinned to the top of the New Mystery Shopper area. Good luck and have fun!

Welcome! My advice would be to start with shops that don't require purchasing something. The Samsung shops are a Great example. Lots to remember though, use your phone's video camera, close the phone and put it in airplane mode. That way you can have audio without having to buy a recorder

spicy and mandy,
Recording without the other party's consent is illegal in 14 states. Please go to the New Mystery Shoppers area of the forum and read the thread (near the top) about laws governing audio and video recording. They apply no matter what you will use the recording for. You will also find links there to a couple of sites that show which states are "two party consent required."

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.

I'm still trying to figure out why someone is using the phone's video recorder to capture audio. Don't all phones have built in audio recorders now?

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.

Me knows da law

It also confuses me why someone is using the phone's video recorder to capture audio. Even more confusing is why someone who "knows da law" is giving bad advice to newbies who probably do not know the law.

It's not BAD advice. It's GOOD advice. To have on tape all of the narrative you need for your report is GOOD ADVICE....VERY VERY VERY GOOD ADVICE

I have 3 daughters and I taught them all to give their opinion WITHOUT ATTACKING SOMEONE ELSE'S
I'll give you the SAME ADVICE

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/2016 04:30PM by spicy1.

I don't know where to begin.

First, do you teach your daughters to yell and stomp their feet like you are doing?

Second, you are speaking to adults on a forum about business. Throwing a hissy fit while talking to a respected member of this forum as if she is a child is beyond the pale.

Third, the advice you gave is not good. It is utter crap. There are laws regarding audio taping. It is irresponsible of you to suggest new shoppers break the law.

@spicy1 wrote:

It's not BAD advice. It's GOOD advice. To have on tape all of the narrative you need for your report is GOOD ADVICE....VERY VERY VERY GOOD ADVICE

I have 3 daughters and I taught them all to give their opinion WITHOUT ATTACKING SOMEONE ELSE'S
I'll give you the SAME ADVICE

Absolutely irresponsible to declare that you know the law and encourage new shoppers who may not know better to break the law.

I don't want your advice. I can't stop you from throwing hissy fits or giving bad advice to your daughters, but when I see you giving bad advice on the forum, I'll correct it every time I see it.

I wasn't advising anyone to break the law. You think that you DECLARE that I am advising someone to break the law, that it magically becomes that I am advising someone to break the law? You think too highly of yourself.

I'm not throwing a hissy fit, I'm responding to your insults. You think you can insult someone, and because your presumption is that you are some kind of "respected member" of this forum that you can shut me up and toss out my ideas, you must be out of your mind! I bow to NO ONE!

You are NOT correcting me, you are giving your ADVICE, just like I'm giving my ADVICE, no more and no less. You don't know more than me!

"Lots to remember though, use your phone's video camera, close the phone and put it in airplane mode. That way you can have audio without having to buy a recorder"
"To have on tape all of the narrative you need for your report"

Where in your statements did you mention the laws regarding audio recording or advise a brand new shopper to check the applicable statutes in their state? You provided bad advice. Someone calling you on your bad advice is not an insult, it is merely being responsible and correcting your irresponsible statements.

I realize in your eight month mystery shopping career you probably do know more than the rest of us put together. After all, collectively we only have about 30 to 40 years of experience and Walesmaven was one of the pioneers of video mystery shopping which requires a strong working knowledge of applicable law.

My eight month?

Eight months ago you posted your introduction, in which you stated that you were new to MS. Here is that post:

"Hello everyone! Nice to meet you all. I'm new to Mystery shopping. Well, I've edited all of my posts on this board in less than 24 hours; let's see if I can be more of a mystery. Thank you for all the posts you folks have made! They're really helpful. Looking forward to a great summer and a wonderful winter!"

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.

I see. Well, um, thanks for looking that up. wow. I meant this forum. But, that will probably be disputed.

Anyway, record, don't record, I don't give a @#$%& anymore

I'm not sure what the laws are in your state so you may be right that it's okay to record. It's definitely not okay to record in all states so the same advice doesn't work everywhere. While you may be legal to record in your state, that is not the correct advice for everyone and a new shopper reading your post might be misled.

It's very common on the forum for us to correct one another. If I post something that doesn't click I appreciate it if someone lets me know what's what. When someone on the forum corrects a post or offers a different opinion we have an opportunity to learn.

There's a lot to learn here and I pick up new information all the time. And yes, some of the posters have done this type work long term and they know more than the rest of us. I consider it a special gift when they take the time to post and point out information or make explanations that I need.

Please reconsider and apologize. To fall from grace in this forum is not the best course of action for a new shopper. Think about your own needs now and in the future. Do what you can to save this situation and move on with a positive purpose.

@spicy1 wrote:

You don't know more than me!

Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.

@spicy1 wrote:

I wasn't advising anyone to break the law. You think that you DECLARE that I am advising someone to break the law, that it magically becomes that I am advising someone to break the law? You think too highly of yourself.

I'm not throwing a hissy fit, I'm responding to your insults. You think you can insult someone, and because your presumption is that you are some kind of "respected member" of this forum that you can shut me up and toss out my ideas, you must be out of your mind! I bow to NO ONE!

You are NOT correcting me, you are giving your ADVICE, just like I'm giving my ADVICE, no more and no less. You don't know more than me!

Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.

Sorry about that lonesome quote. Don't know how that happened and I can't delete it.

Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.

If there exists a consensus that when someone defends themselves when someone attacks them or their post that they will then ".... fall from grace in this forum" then we should wonder exactly who is the "we" in this forum.

And if the "we" are, in fact, the posters who have been posting a certain amount of time, or the ones who enjoy "clarifying" other people's post, then the new generation of posters are being squeezed out and what of this forum?

He/she could have called out their advise to check their state without calling out me in particular. Who, when answering any post can provide 100% of any answer? If someone could, there would be no need for any other poster; a one man show would be so boring. Asking for a little couth when dealing with a pseud-do co-worker, even if it is online, can be asking for too much?

Oh get over yourself. Pointing out an error is not insulting you. If someone had called you a moron, that would be an insult. Instead it was explained, quite clearly I might add, how your advice did not apply to all new shoppers across the board. You had the choice to be gracious, but preferred to throw some childish fit.

And we are not co-workers by any stretch of the imagination. Technically we are business owners who could very well be in competition with each other yet we still offer help and advice to new shoppers. According to your standards we also should be pussy footing around so as not to offend your delicate sensibilities. Please.

And you just made my point. You feel as though you can just talk to anyone anyway you want, obviously according to your class.

Interesting comment from the poster who felt the need to yell and denigrate someone who corrected some irresponsible advice.

Deleted because somehow it posted twice.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/27/2016 08:16PM by LisaSTL.

@spicy1 wrote:

You don't know more than me!

Six months on the forum and already a MSing and legal expert. You must be RainMom.

@spicy1 wrote:

Anyway, record, don't record, I don't give a @#$%& anymore

So, Miss Expert, what state do YOU live in? If I listened to your BAD advice, I could be facing criminal charges.

@spicy1 wrote:

If there exists a consensus that when someone defends themselves when someone attacks them or their post that they will then ".... fall from grace in this forum" then we should wonder exactly who is the "we" in this forum.

Go call the Sensitivity Police. I'm sure they will file your grievances and act on them immediately.

Too bad and not worth the effort.

Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.

My apologies to Mandygoose. Although threads like this happen, this is not what we're about. Sometimes when there are disagreements a thread goes south and we can't recover balance. Many times new forum members don't understand that sometimes information will be challenged. It wasn't personal to warn against recording in all states and much to the contrary, that was intended to be helpful.

Spicy, I encouraged you to smooth this over because that would work to your benefit going forward but I'm perfectly okay with letting this stand exactly as it is. In case you want to make friends and influence us in the future I recommend lower case messages.

Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.

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