Some time ago I signed up with a MS company that focused on restaurant clients. I recall during the sign up process answering the question "How far are you willing to travel?" Since I am willing to travel, and have, when the bonus makes it worthwile, I put down 100 miles.
At some point after that, I received an assignment from the company. Not an offer, but an assignment. It was about 75 miles away and was for a restaurant. No fee was associated with the assignment, only a minimal reimbursment.
That was an assignment I was clearly not interested in so I went on line to cancel the assignment and found no place to do that. After some back and forth email with the company, the assignment was cancelled and I discovered that by putting 100 miles in my application, a was agreeing to do assignments within that area without additional compensation. We worked it out and I reduced my coverage are to a more realistic one. It wasn't a big deal, but felt that the MS company could have been more clear from the outset.
Moving forward, I received another assignment from the company. It required two people to go to the restaurant and had a minimal reimbursment. With some reservation, I took the job. It was a restaurant I was not aware of as it was a distance away. When my companion and I arrived it was a rib restaurant where the customer orders at the counter and they bring your order to the table. The reimbursment was not enough for one person, let alone two. It was also not enough to get the signature dish they were known for.
The report was broken into five or six parts: the outside, the inside, the service, the food, etc. The report requirements were three to five paragraphs per section. I completed the report and felt I had given a fair and accurate accounting for each section. It was not, however, five paragraphs per section. The report, of course was returned for additional comments. I found myself feeling like the eight year old who has to write the 250 word paper on "my summer vacation" and adding as many extra words as I could so I could meet the 250 minimum. ("I had a very, very, very, very, very nice summer vacation."
I never did meet the minimum words. (How much can you say about counter service?) I finally gave up with an incomplete report and was not reimbursed. I was also deactivated from the ms company, which was fine with me.
For those of you still reading (and thank you if you are), my point is this: Mystery shop companies will do what they need to to make clients happy, even if the client request is unreasonable. They can do this because they know that one of us (shoppers) will be idiot enough to say yes to the shop. It is incumbant for we shoppers to say no to unreasonable requests. It is unfortunate that the shopping companies and shoppers could not be on the same side and work toward the greater good of the industry. Unfortunately, that partnership is not one I feel with many (not all) ms companies.
Thanks for reading... good luck with your shopping.
At some point after that, I received an assignment from the company. Not an offer, but an assignment. It was about 75 miles away and was for a restaurant. No fee was associated with the assignment, only a minimal reimbursment.
That was an assignment I was clearly not interested in so I went on line to cancel the assignment and found no place to do that. After some back and forth email with the company, the assignment was cancelled and I discovered that by putting 100 miles in my application, a was agreeing to do assignments within that area without additional compensation. We worked it out and I reduced my coverage are to a more realistic one. It wasn't a big deal, but felt that the MS company could have been more clear from the outset.
Moving forward, I received another assignment from the company. It required two people to go to the restaurant and had a minimal reimbursment. With some reservation, I took the job. It was a restaurant I was not aware of as it was a distance away. When my companion and I arrived it was a rib restaurant where the customer orders at the counter and they bring your order to the table. The reimbursment was not enough for one person, let alone two. It was also not enough to get the signature dish they were known for.
The report was broken into five or six parts: the outside, the inside, the service, the food, etc. The report requirements were three to five paragraphs per section. I completed the report and felt I had given a fair and accurate accounting for each section. It was not, however, five paragraphs per section. The report, of course was returned for additional comments. I found myself feeling like the eight year old who has to write the 250 word paper on "my summer vacation" and adding as many extra words as I could so I could meet the 250 minimum. ("I had a very, very, very, very, very nice summer vacation."
I never did meet the minimum words. (How much can you say about counter service?) I finally gave up with an incomplete report and was not reimbursed. I was also deactivated from the ms company, which was fine with me.
For those of you still reading (and thank you if you are), my point is this: Mystery shop companies will do what they need to to make clients happy, even if the client request is unreasonable. They can do this because they know that one of us (shoppers) will be idiot enough to say yes to the shop. It is incumbant for we shoppers to say no to unreasonable requests. It is unfortunate that the shopping companies and shoppers could not be on the same side and work toward the greater good of the industry. Unfortunately, that partnership is not one I feel with many (not all) ms companies.
Thanks for reading... good luck with your shopping.