BBB: Did I get set up?

Yesterday I did a shop for the old BBB MSC. I used to do a lot of BBBs but got burned out and quit a while back. It's getting close to Christmas so I decided to start back up.

I had not completed a BBB shop since the gift registry requirement was added. I only did one up until yesterday, with no issues.

Yesterday, when I asked for the gift registry, the clerk asked me, "So is the wedding taking place in Florida or here?" I was not expecting that! My response was, "Oh this bride has to go with the most expensive options." His response, "So it's going to be in Florida." Then a few minutes later as he is showing me the options on the registry he says, "We can have the items shipped directly to Memphis."

For the next hour, I was followed by one or more employees at all times. All six employees independently approached me on the floor and asked if they could help me find something. I had their undivided attention, well wishes, and smiles.

I did not realize the employees had access to the address of the intended couple. Hmm . . . or do they? I don't know but before I do another one of those shops I will be checking out the registry online first to see if I can see what they can see. Lesson learned.

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I don't know how the instructions for that one are listed, but here is a thought. Can you do the aisles before approaching about the gift registry if you think the gift registry is a dead giveaway? We used to do a baby registry at a different store and for years were inquiring about the same gal having a baby. I never looked to see if there had been a change in items on her list, but we concluded she must be an elephant with a 4 year gestation time. By doing the gift registry part at the end, we could honestly evaluate the rest of the store's service, do the registry and go directly to the register before the associate had a chance to clue them in.

I have read many comments from other forum members that the registry is a giveaway to the employees that you are the shopper. Why can't they have better control over who knows about the registries or let you pick an actual registry? This is the main reason I won't do this assignment, besides the low starting pay. We have a store in town and it just sits there on the board. The rate finally gets decent, but I still won't pick it up. It might as well be a revealed audit at that point!

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Could I have a receipt please?

My understanding was it is a real registry. However, if they continue to use the same one month after month it would not take a rocket scientist to figure it all out since shoppers are also prohibited from actually buying anything on the registry.

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.

Maybe the woman on the registry is that Duggar lady and is chronically pregnant.

Her Serene Majesty, Cettie - Goat Queen of Zoltar, Sublime Empress of Her Caprine Domain

Anyone in Eureka, CA? It's going for $60 right now.

There are two types of people in this world: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.

LJ Wrote:
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> Anyone in Eureka, CA? It's going for $60 right
> now.

Still not worth being followed around like a shoplifter.

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Plan the work. Work the plan.

I did one of these in Toronto in the summer. I was treated like normal Sally Shopper until the gift registry piece. After the employee keyed in the name, she looked me dead in the eye and said with a smirk, "So, how do you know the bride?" It was sooo obvious that the registry had been flagged in some way or another.

I continue to do these shops however when the rate goes up. I have a stockpile of Christmas gifts in my closet!

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Always take the high road.

$60??? Wow!

In my area, I asked for a $40 fee several months ago and was told that they can't pay more than $16. People regularly take them for a lower than $16 fee.

LJ Wrote:
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> Anyone in Eureka, CA? It's going for $60 right
> now.

I don't like the registry shops because I feel so self conscious that I am sure they know I am a shopper. Too much trouble for too little pay. A different scenario would better serve the client and the shoppers IMHO.

I haven't done one of these shops but do you put in the report that the registry person has flagged this registry as the "shoppers" registry?

Even though I don't do these shops ever as they dont
meet my criteria I'm going to see if I can get in touch
with someone at BBB to get them to change it. My guess
is they won't care and just want higher scores on
their shops.

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There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots
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When you try to please everybody, you end up pleasing nobody

I have not done this shop yet. Pay is not enough. Since when does an employee have the right to ask you, what I consider personal questions. My come back might be, "Do you know her?"

When you go to the registry what information are you given? What is the scenario? Good idea to shop it last!

I got in touch with the person at BBB that is
in charge of the mystery shop program. They
are going to talk to someone else who can greenlight
changes to see if they can get the okay to do so as
they never expected staff to figure it out or to try too.
Whether anything gets done remains to be seen.

Everyone here will be receiving an invoice for my
time within the next 36 hours.

I've got a better idea...set up a BBB gift registry, and we can all buy you some items.

It is not hard when the employees probably see the msp on the report. They then could go online sign up with the msp and find out the registry that is being asked for for the shop. Just saying but they do need to change it say once a month or not more frequent. Is it still mr warner and ms jensen?

Shopping Western NY, Northeast and Central PA, and parts of Ohio and West Virginia. Have car will travel anywhere if the monies right.

I just saw one of these shops listed for $20 pay on one of the shopper apps too. I'm not sure if it is the same protocol (didn't want to waste data downloading the shop info), but I wonder if they had a hard time filling them.

I am only aware of one protocal for this shop. In my opinion, $20 isn't enough.

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008

The registry names change. I usually pick the bride or groom as a cousin or something before I leave my house, so I can sound like I know one of them. Unless the company is leaking the names to the employees, the registry should not be a giveaway.

I have done them in the past and as jroby1 stated above, the name changes. The last time I did one, the city and state was listed in our paperwork.

Not my circus - Not my monkeys @(*.*)@

~Polish Proverb~

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