This is a interesting topic. I received a phone call on my house phone which I never answer anymore, because its loaded with calls from prospective clients looking for business and non-stop followup.

The message says; Hello this is Jonny Jump, I am call you from the High End Dealership. I think I figured out who you are and your glowing report. Thank you so much for the outstanding report and your confidence in me. I was really looking forward to meeting you again and still think you should be in this car (and he is right - he called and emailed several times) as he chuckles. And he went on with some long winded pleasantries.

While not putting a lot of dialog in to the shop. I am happy the dealership found my report pleasing and the salesman's performance. What I am not comfortable with is the Client exposed me. It was quite obvious the salesmen read my entire report.

Now my thought was holy Batman I been exposed. They have my drivers licence required to drive with my address, my phone number required by the MSC. What if this were a unfavorable report? That could be a bad situation and there is no protection. I also could potentially be exposed to other dealerships on the row!!

I don't like my anonymity exposed there should be some form of protection.

This happens a lot, especially apartment shops, where the target called my house too!

She got a good report but had a few minors, like not showing me the mailbox or the pool.

I understand how you feel. It's like "Woah! They called my phone!"

It seems pretty evident, at least for some shops, that the target gets the WHOLE report! Including your address (or whatever you filled out)

I never called her back of course. She wanted me to. I always advise to not respond to their calls.

Shudders! If someone gives a bad report! They have your info and you wonder what they would do if they got a poor report

Based on the message he left you, it actually does not sound like the MSC exposed you. It sounds as though, based on the detail provided in your report, the salesperson figured out which of his customers was the shopper. Since you provided your contact information to him, it was very easy for him to contact you. There was actually another thread not long ago about another shopper who was contacted by a salesman after a report (only his was negative).

This is the reason many mystery shoppers will not perform car shops. It's been my experience that the car salesperson always receives, if not the report itself (without the shopper's name), at least details provided in the report. The salesmen are being shopped for evaluation and training purposes, so it's a pretty good bet that the report will be discussed with the salesman whether it is good or bad.

Because a test drive requires that a prospective car buyer produce his drivers license, short of providing a false drivers license, it would be difficult to keep your identity a secret from a car salesman. Be forewarned that you can easily be identified after performing a mystery shop at a car dealership.

It really does stay true any apartment or car shop that takes your ID to "hold" it is also no doubt copying the info for their "files".... If you are comfortable with that possibility of identify theft.... POSSIBILITY not saving it does happen but could happen on so many levels.

AustinMom, You are correct. I never thought it was the MSC. It was the client, the MSC only requires that you leave contact information which I understand, however it still leaves a person venerable and it would be grand if there were some provisions to protect identity. I have done a number of car shops but will think twice about any shop I need to provide to much personal information moving forward.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/07/2014 04:26AM by Xzodx.

Yep, exactly why I no longer will consider a car shop with test drive. I was called and questioned once by the salesman and did not like it one bit.

I've done a lot of car shops. I had one salesperson follow-up and ask if I was a mystery shopper. I generally let everything go to voice mail but I thought it was someone else calling, oops. He started with the "have you made a decision" thing yet and then asked if I was a mystery shopper. I told him I didn't know what that meant and he explained that people were paid to shop for cars. I told him that I'd love it if someone paid me to buy a car . He was a dork anyway so I would never buy a car from him. I typically only give my email for follow-up unless I have to give my phone number. I tell them I am on the road for work all the time and email is the best way to get ahold of me. I typically reply after a few days saying I bought a different brand of car and that is the end of it. A friend suggested getting a google voice phone number so I do have that but I typically forget to use that number. I did find one fantastic salesperson doing car shops and I'm in negotiations with him right now for a new car .

I frequently provide them an email address when asked for a phone number for follow up, because "I just don't use my phone that much, and prefer email". It has always worked like a charm for follow up - and no phone calls!

I maintain a Voicenation account so that I NEVER give out my home phone number. The more shops you do that need follow-up phone numbers, the more you need to invest in appropriate, professional items and services. I change the phone number, at no extra cost, every 6 weeks or so. When doing a lot of apartment or new home shops, I add enough numbers for a short period of time, to have a unique number for each location of a management company/builder represented in that batch of shops.


Voicenation makes it easy to have an outgoing message with my own voice, so targets don't get suspicious just becasue they hear a generic message. Voicenation forwards all messages to my email address, so I can forward them to the editor, as needed.

That separate phone number is a good idea Walesmaven. This thread got me thinking of all the other times we give out contact info. I always need to give a phone number when making a restaurant or hotel reservation. I use my credit card on many shops too. In many shops that involve more of a conversation than just a brief encounter at an ordering window there is a good chance there will be some sort of conversation or something unique that happened which might be difficult to disguise in your report. I do not worry about backlash so much due to a bad report as I think the percent of bad people out there is small and if you run across them without a mystery shop and they have your number they can still be mad at you about something, but this could be a real worry.

There is only one car dealership in my county that is being shopped, so I can't shop it often. I haven't done apartment shops in a while. They are in the next county, anyway, and I usually have plenty to do here. I used to do them rather often. When asked for my ID, I always asked them to lock it up, such as where they keep their keys. I got a lot of excuses over that. "No one is here." "It will just be this other person" (who left for the restroom or the break room with the front door open and my ID in the top middle desk drawer). It was like they couldn't understand my need for security. I wonder if the location of the ID was for those who were taking down the information.

I stopped doing apartments and car sales because of the MSC sharing my identity.

The same thing happened to me the very first time I did a test drive shop. Contacted maybe a week or two later thanking me for the glowing report, bla bla bla. I wondered the same thing about if I had given a bad report. I immediately set up a google voice number which I began using for all shops, and stopped doing test drive shops for that MSC. I still pick up the JD Powers shops occasionally if they are heavily bonused because I know that info never ends up in dealership hands except for overall scores, but I'm sorry, $17 is not enough money to piss off a salesman who has a copy of my drivers license.

Have a different phone number is all fine and good but you are forgetting they have a copy of your license.

Apartment complexes don't make copies, but car dealers do because they have to give it back to you. I ask for the copy before exiting.

The latest car shops from the MSC that starts out with $17 shop fees requires you to call and make an appointment before your visit. If you don't hide your caller ID, the person who makes the appointment for you may grab your number and give it to the salesperson. I had two of these shops recently that were bonused nicely (but a royal pain in the butt to get to from where I live with no car), and both salesmen already had my cell phone number from the appointment calls I needed to make before I got there.

Of course I was dumb enough not to block my caller ID when I made those calls. One of the shop reports was glowing toward the salesperson. The other was not so glowing, but it wasn't harsh either.

Note to myself or anyone else doing a car shop like this: block your caller ID if you don't want to be called.

I actually made up business cards with my google voice number and an email address I can access but don't really use and my po box on it and I hand that out when I have to give information. It prevents that deer in the headlights look when they ask for a phone number and I have to try to remember were the last digits 2322 or 3233?

Can't do anything about the driver's license, but it also has my PO box on it so at least there's no way anyone can show up at my door if they lose their job because they didn't do their job and decide to come shoot the messenger.

jonchance Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The same thing happened to me the very first time
> I did a test drive shop. Contacted maybe a week or
> two later thanking me for the glowing report, bla
> bla bla. I wondered the same thing about if I had
> given a bad report. I immediately set up a google
> voice number which I began using for all shops,
> and stopped doing test drive shops for that MSC. I
> still pick up the JD Powers shops occasionally if
> they are heavily bonused because I know that info
> never ends up in dealership hands except for
> overall scores, but I'm sorry, $17 is not enough
> money to piss off a salesman who has a copy of my
> drivers license.

I believe many, if not all, of my car dealership shops have been JD Powers shops. Does this mean my incredibly detailed narratives have been overkill? I had three salespeople who were outstanding and I would hope that they would have received some recognition. Good god I put a lot of work into those reports.

How good of a mystery shopper are you? My first impulse is to pull an offended routine, to say how dare he call me, why is he bothering me? Read him the riot act.

In reality, nope. I have two choices: contact the MSC and forward the information. That might be the right thing to do, but does it mean you won't get any more shops, or at least car shops?

Or do I keep to myself?

Should our personal ethics be transactional? That is, it depends on the ethics of the MSC?

We work in mysterious ways. We don't know the people at the companies we contract with. They don't really know us other than the work we produce.

It is amazing the necessary trust there is. Of course it could all be logarithms.

Actually apt complexes DO keep a copy state law in many states. And they must keep a copy on file. Too many apt managers have had issues. And you can sure ask for a copy when you leave but are you assured you have the only copy? Nope! Travel at your own risk.


LisaSTL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Apartment complexes don't make copies, but car
> dealers do because they have to give it back to
> you. I ask for the copy before exiting.

I have shopped apartments in many states and none have made a copy of my DL. I have watched while they locked it in a desk drawer where it stayed until returned to me. Is there an off chance a car associate has actually made two copies? Sure, but how likely is it really? I'm talking minimizing the risk because there is no way to completely insulate yourself from everything.

If you want to live in fear of every little thing that may happen to you each day, it may be better to never leave the house.

Apartments keeping copies is based on the state. Regardless, it is very common for the leasing associate to write down your name, address, telephone, and sometimes license #. It is frequently kept in a computer database and can be easily accessed by anyone in the company. One very popular company gives the client the report with the shopper's real name and the name the shopper used. These almost always end up in the hands of the leasing associate.

Being curious about the laws, I did a little research and found this. It was on a site called Multi-Family Pro. It makes it sound like leasing agents making and keeping copies of the DL could have them running afoul of the law rather than complying with it and at the very least they may be opening themselves up to a fair housing lawsuit.

"Can you make a photocopy of the photo ID to leave in the leasing office while you go out on tour? Your state or local laws may prohibit copying a government issued ID, but there is no fair housing law prohibiting such activity. So if it is OK to do this in your area, go ahead, but...

What do you do with the photocopy of the photo ID once you return safely to the leasing office? You either tear it up in front of the prospects or give it to them to take along with them when they leave. Do not, as many of you in the industry are still doing, staple or otherwise attach the photocopy of the photo ID to the guest card, traffic record, or application. Think about it this way: one of the largest settlements in a fair housing lawsuit was for $3.39 million dollars. The landlord allegedly misstepped in a number of ways, including a coding system on guest cards and traffic records by which he noted the race or skin color of prospects and applicants. Now, what is the difference between coding these documents or simply attaching a picture of the person which shows these defining characteristics (which cannot of course be the basis for any decision making on your part)? On the surface, there is no difference. And someone who misunderstands your actions, or who is otherwise motivated to bring a complaint or suit against you, could allege quite easily that you are using the photo ID photocopies as a form of coding. There is no business reason to have anything in your record that shows what prospects or applicants look like*. When they come back to sign a lease with you, if you need to verify their identity yet again, ask them to again present their photo ID. Once you have accepted them as residents, there are many good business reasons to then include their pictures in your lease files."

You can have those shops go for it.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/08/2014 05:17PM by CANADAMOMMY.

Thanks, I will!

The apartment ones, that is. I'm too nervous to drive a brand-new car that isn't even mine. And around here, car shops rarely pay well enough for the report. Yep, I did do one.

But apartments I kind of like. And so far, around here, my ID is just locked in a drawer and then returned to me. ALthough they often do write down name and address on a visitor's card. But it doesn't particularly bother me.