Has anyone done one of these? Is the report lengthy? Is it a difficult shop. I know you have to audio record it and based on the description it looks pretty simple, but we all know how that goes. With the high pay rate I am guessing there is a lot more to it? Any advice?

Are you talking about the phone shop or the in person shop. I did the in person shop (highly highly bonused) and it was one of the easiest shops I've ever done. But that is just me. I have two college kids so understood all the terms associated with it.

Thank you I was talking about the in person shop. Do you recall how in-depth the report was?

Not sure if you are looking at the same one, but here's my experience for what its worth. I did this about a month ago for About Face, and it was well worth the $150 it paid at the time. It will take 1-2 hours to do the shop and probably an hour to complete the report, maybe less. It was one of the first shops I did as a mystery shopper, so I was much slower at the reporting part.

The real trick is making sure you get the audio recording of the entire interaction. The other trick is making sure you use your own personal information and work any public information about yourself into your back story. They will have you complete a brief online application (basic personal info) and will use your social security number to pull up your financial aid history and qualifications. If you already have a student loan (and maybe other federally funded financial aid) it will show up. So if you've been to college, you shouldn't hide that. I said I was interested in the Massage Therapy program available at the campus I visited, as a mid-life career change opportunity. I had said I only went to college for a few semesters, so it was a little weird when the financial aid counselor reviewed my outstanding student load debt with me. Luckily, I don't think she knew what I had told the admissions rep about dropping out after just 2 semesters.

I'm seeing those shops at $200 now, which in my opinion is well worth the time and effort. This is the best shop I ever did! The real key is making sure you have a reliable way to get a clear recording, since its pretty much a one shot deal. Once you have made the visit you will be in their system, there is no way to go back and re-do the shop at a later date.

Honestly, I would do these shops over and over if it weren't for my information already being in the system. If anyone can tell me other MSCs that do similar shops it would definitely make my day ;-)

I hope this helps.

Yes it does help thanks! You guys are great at answering questions. So once I do one at one location that's it? No other locations for me?? I was hoping I could hit up locations across state lol

amaya125 Wrote:
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> Yes it does help thanks! You guys are great at
> answering questions. So once I do one at one
> location that's it? No other locations for me?? I
> was hoping I could hit up locations across state
> lol


It's a one-shot deal as far as I know, at least for that particular project, for the reason that they take you personal information. If this were not the case, I would be on tour of career colleges right now - I can guarantee you that!!! Never hurts to talk to the scheduler, but I would be shocked if there is a way to get around this. (If you find out I;m wrong. PLEASE PM me and let me know.)

The good news is that sometimes you can do multiple phone shops using fake names and contact information. (check with your scheduler - this might only be the case where I live). The phone shops pay a lot less, but still better than a lot of other phone shops. It is basically the same thing that you go through when you make the appointment for the onsite shop, but in these cases you will cancel the on-site portion and the questions focus more on what happens in the phone call. Those are recorded through the MSCs recording system, so it makes them nice and easy.

It's literally a once in a lifetime shop. They've gone for over $200 near me. I got mine at $150. It was one of the most challenging shops I have ever done, but it's hard to judge as it was the first narrative intensive shop that I ever did. My tour was nearly two hours and I'm sure that I listened to it three times working on the report. If I could do another, I'd schedule it as early in the day as possible and just call that a full day's work, though it would certainly go much more quickly on the reporting side a second time around.
It may be possible to do a second, but only if your real address is within a commutable distance from a second chain of schools that the MSC works with. It's one shop per chain, not per location. I've done two different chains via phone, and one of those chains twice (two different locations) as the MSC let me use alias info for the second call.

Seems you are both talking about the same shop. I understand that opinion on difficult may vary but is it "the most challenging shop" or relatively easy one as suggested by ishop4profit (see bellow).

Thanks for any more advice.


@elcarev68
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>
> It was one of the most challenging shops I have ever done, ....
>

ishop4profit Wrote:
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>
> ... About Face, and it was
> well worth the $150 it paid at the time. It will
> take 1-2 hours to do the shop and probably an hour
> to complete the report, maybe less.
> ...
> I hope this helps.
>

It was the fourth most challenging shop I've ever done. The rest of my post may shed light as to why it was that challenging for me at that time in my shopping career. I definitely put in at least ten hours on it, but got a perfect score, so it was a confidence booster as well as a decent payday.

Needed to update...
Miraculously, I wound up being able to do a second one of these once-in-a-lifetime shops last week. So much easier... both because some of the requirements regarding what to ask/listen for seemed to have been relaxed and because I think I've gotten better with long narrative shops.
Best payday ever, and nowhere near my longest or hardest day ever.