I just got back from attempting to do a Samsung shop where you play out a scenario. I went with the cloud scenario...seemed logical and practical...well until the guy basically took my phone and started going through it...he wasn't explaining it to me at all! He was just setting it up himself. Then, he starts opening up each of my emails attached to my phone....well F Me right then and there...at the top of one of the emails he opens is 3 consecutive emails from the company I was doing the shop for with MYSTERY SHOP in the title...oh great! He couldn't miss that one! Well maybe he did...NOPE! I tried to reach for my phone cause I was like well this is getting akward...then he starts going through apps...stops scrolls past then comes back...I look down he sees my app titled "secret shopper"! CRAP! then he opens up my pictures and I am literally at that moment feeling squeamish and just want to get my phone and get the H out of there...he starts going through my pictures...CRAP! no person in their right mind has pictures like I have...you know of food and clothing and store fronts....UGH!

Looking back at it, I feel like I should have thought that scenario through...as there is plausibility he may be seeing something's, but he was starting to almost get nosey I felt like and I felt violated and mad because I wasn't going to get that shop fee! Screw you worker...you owe me the $ I lost because instead of telling me how to do something like you should have you grabbed my phone and started getting all nosey! UGH!

Um. The guy should be fired for looking at personal items on your phone. Mystery shop or not I would be seriously complaining to the management of the store.

Sounds like you had a bad day indeed. Dust yourself off, remember the nosy tech person from Samsung, and occasionally it might be a good idea to upload data kept on your phone to your computer (or name the folder something inconspicuous, like "grandma" or "family reunion"; that will keep them away).

Every experience is a learning experience and just remember, tomorrow will probably be a better day!

I think it was the emails that had Mystery shop in the title and the app titled secret shopper that were the unavoidable outs...UGH! I just felt so akward and wanted to grab my phone and run!

This girl deserves a cocktail tonight!

I have code names set up for email folders and send my emails to them. This is a very unlikely type situation. It's impossible to prepare for every possibility.

How did he take your phone? You gave it to him? He snatched it out of your hands?

I would never allow anyone to touch my phone. No way.

This cannot be said too many times, do not let anyone ever touch your keys or your phone. Honestly, if he had grabbed mine out of my hand, he would not have had the opportunity to look at anything. In my book, you never take anything out of another person's hand, ever. These days it is akin to reaching into someone's purse, rude and unacceptable. He should have had his hand slapped like a small child since he was behaving like one.

Absolutely agree with Canuck and Lisa. I would not hand it to him and if he took it out of my hand I would strongly and firmly demand it back. If that didn't work I would loudly ask to see his manager. Unless he back tracked and apologized that would be the end of my shop.

I have had many scenarios where the rep has taken my phone. Now I carry 2, mine in my purse for timing etc and an old one for phone shops that is always dead. I tell them I forgot to charge it and that usually shuts them down.

There was another thread about this exact same thing! I even checked the date of the post but it was for today. Does anyone remember seeing it, where the sales tech grabbed the shoppers phone and started messing with it?

Either way, I would kick him in the shin to get that damn phone back!

I had almost the same thing happen on a car shop. The sales rep was supposed to demonstrate the technology in the car and wanted to upload my contact list from my phone. I was recording the shop at the time and the green bar at the top made it obvious some sort of app was open. He asked what it was and I told him it was a pedometer. I guess he believed it, or at least didn't get suspicious. I was paid and never questioned further. He had his hands on my phone, but, he sure didn't start looking through my phone. That guy you had went way over the line. I will never again let anyone even touch my phone, they will have to figure out another way to demonstrate any technology present. I like the idea of carrying two phones.

I leave my phone at "home." Silly me I left my phone but would still like to see the new ones. There is no way in the world I would let a salesman touch my phone - that is like reading my diary.

I never bring my phone in to a phone shop. Opps I must have left it at home. Simple. Hopefully you didn't lose out on to much money.

My phone stays in the car on cell phone store shops. I'm surprised they would suggest a scenario where the rep would need to do something to your phone.

They're supposed to demo features using their phones, not the customer's.

Most companies discourage you from showing your phone.

I leave the phone in the car, regardless of the type of shop, unless I am using it to record interactions. I only do that when I have a ton of different interactions, like when doing 20 airport shops within a few hours time.

No one touches my phone. I would have slapped his hand away!

That was really weird. I'm going to have to be more careful myself. Someone suggested code names. That's a good idea. Other people also suggested not bringing in a phone at all or bringing in a dummy phone.

I'm sure many companies give their employees the heads up that there is a mystery shopping program. There's job descriptions I've seen that say that managers will receive bonuses based on mystery shopping reports. I've even seen mystery shopping cheat sheets by employees' desks so that they remember all the points to hit.

I wouldn't be surprised that some scenarios cry shopper and the guy was actually looking for evidence that he was being shopped. I don't know that I would go to his management, as it's my understanding that MSP's don't want shoppers to address problems directly to the client while on the shop, unless the instructions says it's alright to do so. I definitely would report it to the MSP that he grabbed and looked through your phone as an invasion of privacy.

Given what the OP said, she had been outed by the sales person. Therefore, she likely will never be able to shop that client again. At that point, I think it's perfectly ok to demand the phone back, first in a quiet but firm voice then, if necessary, start increasing your volume and demanding to see the manager.

I understand that, and considering the circumstances, SHE probably wouldn't want to shop that client again. My concern would be correcting and bringing attention to the behavior. Shop or not, he shouldn't have done that.

Wow, I've heard of sales techniques that involve putting a product into a customer's hands... never taking the customer's property out of them, though!

My smartphone has a passcode lock on it. Anytime someone offers to demonstrate or show me something (mystery shop or not), I just explain that I have access to my work e-mail on the phone, and I can't unlock it for anyone else per company IT policy.

mysteryshoppinggurl--Did you try to enter the report anyway? Did he actually congront you about being a shopper? Maybe it's worth a shot. Have you talked to your scheduler?

If you didn't, I would definitely take LIJake's suggestion of contacting the store manager. I've had salespeople ASK to look at my phone when I had questions but they certainly didn't LOOK at everything!
They check the apps or settings and that's it. He invaded your privacy. And if you talk to the manager, that's exactly what you should say!

The degree of snooping he did, especially anything he did after the shopper put out her hand requesting the phone back, was egregious and needs to be reported in the report.

But if he's making a habit of this, likely someone else will have complained to the manager about it, so not sure it should be reported directly.

It's not like you're going to sue him over it. But it feels creepy, like a peeping tom almost.

I had this happed once, I grabbed it back and asked the man if he wanted a beating. He looked at me strange and I explained that where I come from grabbing things out of a man's (or woman's) hands was a good way to earn a beating. He was twice my size, but I think my tone it was got him to behave...lol

He did apologize.....

I'm with you, Afreeman. If you start grabbing at me, you're gonna draw back a nub! I feel for the OP. As a mystery shopper, you can't always react the way you naturally want to. I can imagine freezing up and watching the horror unfold as you stand helplessly by trying to think how a real customer would react. Ugh. My sympathies to the OP.

Now I know why some instructions explicitly say do not show them your phone! What the guy did was very creepy but on the other hand I have seen many customers come in and hand over their phones to ask for help so I think the sales people get used to that.

I've given my phone to a couple of AT&T reps and a couple of Apple store employees. In each case it was the only way for them to assist me with a problem. They limited themselves to the Settings since that would be where to find the necessary information. Certainly not in any app and most definitely not in my email or my contacts. My apps are all organized into the phones version of folders making it impossible to see the names.

I have also given my phone to an AT&T sales person this week, but only to show me the camera function. I opened the camera before handing the phone to him, and after he explained the HDR thang, I stuck my hand out to indicate I wanted it back. And no, I still don't know what HDR does on my iPhone camera. He wasn't very good...

Oooh, HDR can be very cool but sometimes it's overused.

Basically it takes the exact same photo with different exposures. For instance, if you are taking a photo of a house. Perhaps the area under the porch is too dark to get great detail when the front of the house is perfect, but then if you pump up the exposure to get great detail under the porch the rest of the photo gets overblown. What HDR does is takes the same photo through a variety of exposures and then stitches them all together. It makes some very interesting photos.

[photography.tutsplus.com]

To do it well you need a great camera and a tripod so the camera doesn't move at all. I suppose with an iPhone they have some kind of software to align the photos up.

I have had a few cell phone salespeople ask to see my phone and I just say I'd rather not. I'm usually recording on the phone and I don't want them to know, and usually shopping Samsung, so I say I have an iPhone, which I do. There's no reason to try to demonstrate anything on a phone you already own unless you are asking for help.

After what mysteryshoppinggurl went through, if I do another cell phone shop, I will activate the passcode first. I find it annoying to use it on a regular basis but for this kind of shop, you need protection! What a jerk that guy was, looking through your personal email like that!