Dear schedulers, editors and all those that work for, or own, mystery shopping companies,

When communicating with your shoppers, please understand that we are professional liars by trade. You have taught us to be. We regularly try to check out from the grocery store with an extra item under our cart, ask for directions to a pharmacy when one is clearly in view across the street, and make appointments to view apartments that we have no intention of living in. Because we spew so much of it, we are experts are spotting BS.

With that in mind, I ask that you make a serious attempt at being truthful with us shoppers. It will go a long way toward building a positive relationship with your contractors and keeping your business running successfully. Understand that we communicate with others via these message boards, so when we read the words, “Fun & simple shop”, “Checks have been mailed out,” or “Your report was compared against security cameras and is not acceptable,” and you are not accurate, we will find out and respect for your company will wane.

In addition, most shoppers are extremely detail oriented and you have had a hand in teaching us that as well. If our reports are even a few minutes late, rating points and/or fees are deducted. Spelling and grammar mistakes from us are not tolerated and we are held accountable to respond to all inquiries within 24 hours. I would ask that you impart similar requirement on yourselves. When your communication is peppered with grammatical mistakes, your posted policies not upheld and professional emails sent to your published address go unanswered, your ability to contract qualified shoppers will suffer.

If you take the time to read through these message boards, you may recognize posts from some shoppers that make your job difficult, but you will also hear stories from educated professionals that offer you a superior product for a sub-standard fee. You will find many reports of these shoppers being treated unprofessionally, being denied payment for jobs that were performed up to standards, and often being lied to.

I have worked inside a MS company and so I know that your job can be frustrating, but we shoppers are not your enemies. We are your business associates and we are integral to your success. It’s a difficult economy right now and many MS companies are likely to fail in the future. As much as it may be problematic for you, a good bet for your survival would be to build a good rapport with your shoppers and treat us with the respect and professionalism that you demand from us. This way, we can work together to increase your database of qualified contractors and bring more respect to the profession of mystery shopping. That will make it more profitable for all of us.

Well said, Steve. It is just too bad that few of the real offenders even care enough about the 'body count' that works for them to bother reading what shoppers think.

It is stunning, and hurtful, to realize that indeed I have become a 'professional liar' in order to get the work done. I can only hope that it does not creep into the rest of my life and my values systems. But yes, all the shopping make us more sensitive to when we are being pulled along by the nose or some other piece of the anatomy. Certainly a few companies treat shoppers like colleagues and business associates, but with most the assumption first is "You messed up."

I prefer to think of some jobs as "acting" rather than "lying." :=)

That aside, Steve's message should be required reading for every executive or employee of every MSC worldwide.

Everyone is a genius at least once a year. A real genius has his original ideas closer together.
~Georg C. Lichtenberg

Well said, Steve.

Steve, my friend, well said and indeed a long time coming. This should be required reading for companies. I do prefer to think of myself as a bit of an Actress, instead of a liar, but that is small potato's compared to the content of your post, we do need the support of the companies we diligently work for month after month, and again Steve, well said!!

I live in L.A., so trust me when I say that actors get paid much better than us.

Ironically, since I do mostly dining shops, it is often actors that I am evaluating. They are acting like servers and I act like a somewhat typical guest.

It's the retail & banking stuff that makes me feel like a liar most of the time. That's why I avoid it. Nothing I hate more than having to pretend I have $50k I want to invest in this economy.

I feel another rant about stupid instructions coming on....

Bravo Steve Thanks for a great letter!!

I would agree that I would consider it acting, but other than that you did a wonderful job of writing and it should be taken into consideration by all the companies we work for. We unfortuately are just the choir.

Steve, well said! But as so well expressed also were the other comments that no one cares about how we feel or what we think. It's ashame, too because as they already know we know what we're talking about. I do my best not to accept jobs I have to lie. Most of the time, I legitimately are there for something maybe not the specific thing they what but something for myself or someone I know. I just hope someone gets the message besides other MSers. Perhaps we can tweet someone or facebook someone, OOOPS! we're MYSTERY SHOPPERS!

Steve: I concur with you 99%.We though are not liars, we are doing what is requested of us by the companies that work with MSCs. They are asking us to misrepresent and it is a job to see what customer service that is being presented really is.
A lie is meant to deceive for a gain to the liar. We are not that. We are professionals doing a job that most cannot do.

Right on the money Steve, nicely put.
If they thought about this for a moment, and compared what they (the schedulers) job entails and the amount of pay they are getting versus our footwork,gas and finally the reports ,some lengthy some not so. I think it would be only obvious to the scheduler the importance of The Mystery Shopper.
However I will give credit to alot of the newer schedulers, they seem to have more ability to understand and work with you when needed. On the other hand there are too many that want so much for a $4.00 shop, and expect that you stay in the store for 20 minutes, interacting with 3 or 4 employees.
But yes that is a to the point letter.
Thanks for representing.

I am glad to hear that others have felt apprehensive also over the deception our work requires. I struggle too with lying to people about why I'm there. I thank you Steve for having the guts to write openly about it.

I won't do the high end Banks, that require you have 75K, looking where to put it. I did one in Beverly Hills, and felt like a liar, and I was. No more for me....now only do jobs I'm comfortable with, like an upscale restaurant or 5 star Hotel....lol.

Nicely done. I thought I was the only one who thinks that MS company put me on a higher standard than their employees. Apparently my view are shared by others, so it is nice to hear that.

Chris

This post was in response to HReid's ridiculous sniper rant. He has been deactivated and had his posts removed. As such, I deleted it.

Everyone is a genius at least once a year. A real genius has his original ideas closer together.
~Georg C. Lichtenberg



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2010 03:39AM by dee shops.

dee shops Wrote:
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> This post was in response to HReid's ridiculous
> sniper rant. He has been deactivated and had his
> posts removed. As such, I deleted it.


THANK YOU!

sequoia Wrote:
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> dee shops Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > This post was in response to HReid's ridiculous
> > sniper rant. He has been deactivated and had
> his
> > posts removed. As such, I deleted it.
>
>
> THANK YOU!


Thank those of us members here who reported him to the board owner, Jacob, and Jacob for his prompt action. :-)

Everyone is a genius at least once a year. A real genius has his original ideas closer together.
~Georg C. Lichtenberg

Thanks for this Steve, I just sent this around to my team :-)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/20/2010 08:54AM by AMelanson.

What company got this AMelanson? I'd like to sign up immediately!!!

dee shops Wrote:
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> This post was in response to HReid's ridiculous
> sniper rant. He has been deactivated and had his
> posts removed. As such, I deleted it.


Gosh!! What did I miss:-)

Great job Steve!! I never really thought about MS as lying or acting. Just having fun. I have become very good at it though:-) Every time I do one, I laugh when I get in my car and say, "you just got Mystery shopped." I don't mind doing the big buck bank shops. I don't have a problem telling a banker that I have $60,000.00 to invest:-)

AMelanson Wrote:
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> Thanks for this Steve, I just sent this around to
> my team :-)


Good job, Steve, again! Re above, I'm impressed and may have to work with Goodwin (very little work in my area). Of all the MSCs that cruise this board and post to advertise or "sell" to us and/or post arguments when their company receives a negative post, here's a company who is listening to what shoppers say. Bravo, Goodwin!

AustinMom Wrote:
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> AMelanson Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Thanks for this Steve, I just sent this around
> to
> > my team :-)
>
>
> Good job, Steve, again! Re above, I'm impressed
> and may have to work with Goodwin (very little
> work in my area). Of all the MSCs that cruise
> this board and post to advertise or "sell" to us
> and/or post arguments when their company receives
> a negative post, here's a company who is listening
> to what shoppers say. Bravo, Goodwin!


Yea. Even though I had payment issues, Amy got me paid quickly when I wrote her last fall. And she is listening to shoppers, not trying to sell us anything, or make shoppers wrong. Amy and Goodwin are doing something right, even if issues still exist there.

Everyone is a genius at least once a year. A real genius has his original ideas closer together.
~Georg C. Lichtenberg

I commend any MSC that comes here and engages shoppers productively.

The era of complete secrecy and silence in MSing needs to be bygone by now. That's just a breeding ground for shopper abuse.

I truly believe that opening the lines of communication between the shoppers and MSCs is the key to having a successful company, and industry for that matter. I've always asked shoppers to let me know how they think we could make our forms, instructions, generic emails, and overall program better. Whenever a shopper writes a snarky note at the bottom of the form telling us that they dislike our forms, I usually email them and ask for their advice. I can't always change the things that they want, because obviously the client has the last say, but I do often times keep those things in mind next time I do revisions of the form, and I have made suggestions to clients based on what the shoppers have told me works for them.

I've realized that these boards are the best way to get my free advice without even having to ask the questions. I've always wanted to set up a shopper panel to interact with shoppers and get live feedback. Have any other companies done stuff like that before? If there are confidentiality issues with answering that question, don't, but I was just curious.

Hope everyone's having a good Monday so far.

Ah, Steve. Excellent! You've articulated many of my own thoughts, and it's enlightening to hear them from someone who's been on the other side.

Or, perhaps I should have said: "Steve, you're letter is excelent!".

"The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark." – Michelangelo Buonarroti

nicelytwicely Wrote:
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>
> Or, perhaps I should have said: "Steve, you're
> letter is excelent!".


:-)

Everyone is a genius at least once a year. A real genius has his original ideas closer together.
~Georg C. Lichtenberg

I have worked with Goodwin until I was made as a shopper by a chain of bars that I shopped for them. That ended my illustrious career with Goodwin but I always had a good relationship, they paid (a little late) but they did not cheat me. And their shops are fun and they pay a fair price. I would not hesitate to take their shops as they are decent good people. Doc Bruce Lloyd

Re: Goodwin, the main restaurant shop they have in my area does not cover the cost of what you have to order. It's not a place that I would normally eat, so I won't be doing that shop again.

"The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark." – Michelangelo Buonarroti

Yes, I signed up with Goodwin because they appear to be respectful of their shoppers and some of the experienced shoppers's comments about them. And I will probably work for them, but so far the only shop I have seen is a restaurant with a flat rate that requires you to order a lot. I pulled up the restaurant's menu on the internet and it doesn't look like the fee covers the cost of all you have to order. I might still go if it was a place I like to eat anyway but it isn't so I didn't take that one. But I'll keep looking at what they post. They don't have much here.