Funeral homes, phone shops, has anyone done these???

I agree. In my family funerals are celebrations with tears and laughter. I laughed nervously once in a fake scenario and lost the shop pay because of it. These reviewers are a little out of touch with the real world in which we and funeral directors live. I also lost shops because I interrupted. When someone has just died or is going to die shortly social niceties sometimes get lost. It's a death...usually sudden...I interrupt when I have to or want to.
At any rate, it took me one or two before I coached myself that this company wants it done this way. After the critical feedback, I "retired" from this company...but they still send me requests. I have happier things to do for $4.

Create an Account or Log In

Membership is free. Simply choose your username, type in your email address, and choose a password. You immediately get full access to the forum.

More About Phone Shops

I do these regularly because I can squeeze them in on breaks at work. They can be time consuming though, because it's frequently difficult to catch a funeral director who is available and the receptionist always wants you to leave a number for a call back. Once you actually get a director, the call is easy and the report is easy. I don't find them creepy, and I have learned a lot. I did one the other day and was so impressed with the customer service, that I found myself wanting a Jewish funeral because the director made the preparation and service sound so beautiful. (I'm Christian, lol).

Thanks for the chuckle.

I did just one. I said my brother was very ill and near death. I have 5 brothers so did a combination of them all. It went well but it left me too sad to do another.

I have done them on the phone, but never in person. I always use the first and last name of two different friends...I write in on a stickie and put it right in front of me to help remember my new name. To me, funeral shops are no different that any other phone shops...and usually the people are kind, soft-spoken and seem nice.

I think I finally went off the deep end... [www.mysteryshopforum.com]

Where are we going... and why are we in a hand basket?

I have done several and I got a funeral director each time. What I like is getting to "act" and portray someone faced with difficult decisions and making sure I don't sound "excited" about the situation.

I think the scheduler for these shops is halarious - Joel. He always comes up with the funniest tag lines!

@Brigid12 wrote:

I think the scheduler for these shops is halarious - Joel. He always comes up with the funniest tag lines!

I read those e-mail subject lines to my husband every day. lol

Yes,
I have done a number of these and they're not difficult. You just have to be very serious about it and remember that you have just lost a relative or someone close or you are about to lose them according to the doctor.

Funeral home phone shops are really no different than other shops. You have to be sincere and come up with a good story about someone who has died or someone who is about to die. You have to be serious but they're qick and easy and the reports are very short.

I just recently had a similar experience. I was on the phone with this company for 20 minutes and at two points, I chuckled during the interaction (the funeral director I was speaking with let out a full fledged laugh). I was informed that "although everyone handles grief differently, the amount of laughter was unrealistic." I was really surprised by that comment and my shop was excluded for that and another reason (said I ended the call early, which I disagree with). I wasn't able to listen to the recording after the shop comments were sent back to me, but after I explained that it would be helpful for me to listen to it with the feedback to learn how to be able to spin the convo in the future, the editor sent me the recording. I listened to it again and I just really don't get how they excluded my shop. I'm not bitter, but I won't touch these shops again for $4 - it was 15 pages of guidelines and seems they are extremely picky about what they will accept. It seemed to me they'd be better suited to just give the shopper a script if they are so particular about what we say.

@Lorrie68 wrote:

I felt weird when I first began doing the funeral shops. However, when I became housebound this past winter with a chronic URI, the funeral shops came in very handy. Now, I do a couple a week before I begin my mystery shops. I've got them down pat and I've made my own template. The shortest call has been 6 minutes and the longest was about 20 minutes. I use my deceased FIL or my MIL who is 92. The night before I look up the nearest hospital to the funeral home and the nearest hotel/motel to the hospital. This takes me 5 minutes, the average call about 10 minutes and a minute or two for the report. I've been averaging 10's but I've received a few 8's along the way. It takes a while to get them down pat.

Nice response and explanation. This is really how it is for a lot of shops. that first one is always so awkward. ONce you learn and are one with the scenerio you can fly through them.

CEO The Mystery Shoppers Depot
US Wide route shopper with 12k+ shops completed over 48 states and 6 countries.
Airbnb host based in Chicago and 10% discount if you mention this forum

@joanna81 wrote:

I'm not bitter, but I won't touch these shops again for $4 - it was 15 pages of guidelines and seems they are extremely picky about what they will accept. It seemed to me they'd be better suited to just give the shopper a script if they are so particular about what we say.

They ARE very picky. It took a while for me to get used to and I had to settle for some 7s and 8s with shop comments on what not to do. I get 10s now, but I got discouraged several times and stopped for a while. Eventually I figured out exactly what they wanted. The key is not to take the comments personally, just do your best to do as they ask next time. Everything is riding on that recording because there's no narrative so...

Where are we going... and why are we in a hand basket?

Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.

Click here to login

Funeral homes, phone shops, has anyone done these???

Create an Account or Log In

Official List of Mystery Shopping Companies

Mystery Shopper Magazine