I had a couple bad experiences doing restaurant shops, so I pretty much avoid them.

The one that still bothers me more than a year later was a quick service restaurant (like Denny's or IHOP). The instructions clearly said to hold them to a four star restaurant level. In big red capital letters, so I did. The instructions said I had to take a guest, so I took my son. And it gave detailed instructions on what to order, and we ordered those things exactly the way they said to do it. The waiter, for some reason, singled me out, he didn't figure out that I was a shopper, but he apparently decided that I was bad and he was going to make me miserable for the rest of my visit.

When I reported that the food was cooked incorrectly and most or all of it was not fresh, all of it was canned, overcooked or mushy, gray and disgusting. The editor said I should cut them some slack, because they are not a fine dining restaurant, and they wanted me to change my report. Maybe I shouldn't have refused, but I felt I was following the instructions I was given. The editor told me that I shouldn't bring attention to myself, but I did not try to bring attention to myself, the waiter and his manager were mean to me and I don't know what I did to cause it. I never asked for anything special or extra that I wasn't instructed to ask for in the directions. I didn't complain about the food out loud (I also didn't eat very much of it because it was gross). But in the end, the MSC refused to accept my report, and they banned me forever, and cancelled all of the shops I had scheduled because I followed their instructions and they didn't like my answers.

I think that may well be true. There's one shop I do frequently that has minimal rotation requirements. I often think the staff must know I'm shopping them. But they've never let on, and of course I haven't, either. I do my best to follow directions, and I believe my shop reports are fair and balanced. Why would they want to identify me, get me banned, and risk an unknown shopper?

Or perhaps they haven't identified me. The last time I shopped them the service wasn't very good.

Who knows? The way I figure it, it's not my problem. As long as my shops are acceptable to both the shopping company and the client, and as long as they are willing to assign me to those shops, I'll keep accepting them, as I enjoy them.

I will agree that IF i was working and I spotted the shopper, I would never NEVER tell my manager or the MSC. I would simply do my best whenever the shopper comes to my store/restaurant, etc lol

I have been thanked by a server for giving a good report before. Huh, why are you talking like a crazy person? Oh and what's a mystery shopper.

I would not change my report if they asked me to, unless I did do something wrong. But just to lighten the blow for the client? Nope. If I know I followed the directions, that's, that. But I do think the MSC would rather keep the client than a good shopper, sadly.

@mgoodreau wrote:

Years ago, I managed a Blockbuster. We were able to identify the shopper based upon the time, date and cashier. It took only a few minutes. After that, I always looked out for her when she came in and made sure we did everything right. (Of course, I always trained them to do everything right as we wanted to treat all customers well, not just the mystery shopper)

So I am right to make notes of which hat and coat/jacket I wore and how I wore my hair for shops that I like to do a lot. I thought I was just goofy and my usual somewhat paranoid.

I do have a massive hat collection, some quite distinctive, but only to be worn ONCE ever per video-verified shop, esp in winter time.

.... Just curious. Has anyone ever been directly asked if they are a mystery shopper and how did they play it?

I've never had it happen, but I always considered saying something like "What's that? Oh, I know! I must be the One-Millionth customer. I won store credit!!! I won! I won! <loudly> How much did I win?"
(Of course that makes me memorable, but if they even think they're on to me I'm already memorable and I'm likely done there so why not have fun).

Or, "What? That's a scam. I heard it on TV. Wait. Are you accusing me of committing fraud?"

Much less boring than just denial. Frankly most people I talk to either never heard of MSing or think it's a huge scam due to TV warnings about it in the area (The Western Union scam in particular).

That doesn't sound fair, but I know it often happens. It has happened to me. You need to let it go now and not let it color your whole life. Put it down to their small mindedness.

If asked I usually say "what is a mystery shopper" When they explain I ask them if they know how to get that kind of job because it sounds interesting. That usually throws them off the scent.

Once when mystery shopping a Goodwill, the cashier gave me a discount. I did not ask for it, it was totally random and spontaneous on her part. As she did it, she said "I shouldn't do this, you might be a mystery shopper." Uh-oh. I said "MYSTERY shopper? You HAVE those? Does Goodwill advertise those jobs? I would apply for that."

She said "Oh, yes. Goodwill hires a mystery shopping company and I don't know which one but they send mystery shoppers every month to all the stores." Then she told me exactly what the mystery shoppers always do at the store. Her story exactly matched the requirements. I've done these shops at all the local stores for the last 4 or 5 years. She told me that if the bathrooms or fitting rooms are dirty, the manager on duty gets demerits. If an employee is out of uniform, gives bad service, or does not thank the shopper, he gets demerits.

I just tried to look awed and said "WOW! I wonder how much they get paid. I'm always shopping here and I'd LOVE to get paid for it." Then I picked up my bag, and she thanked me and said she wished more of "our REAL customers" could be mystery shoppers "because they KNOW us and we would get really good scores." She got a good score, except I did explan the discount in my narrative.

First let me say that I totally agree with AustinMom. Now let me say that I somewhat agree with the OP. My only addition would be to try and look at everything in a favorable light and report it that way. That is the what I have done with my fine dining shops. Example - Very slow service: My guest and I enjoyed long conversations between the time we received our appetizer and the time we received our main course. (statement includes both a positive "enjoyed" and a negative "long" description) Or "During the long wait between appetizer and main course, my guest and I enjoyed our conversation." At the end of my reports, I am also able to include timings, which helps to justify my statements. I have never bee questioned or had a find dining payment rejected.

Unfortunately I think probably most of us have had one or two rejected because they found out we were the shopper or the employee said it was all lies....live and learn.

Here's something to consider...I usually take the less exquisite food shops because I am subject to do business with them more often outside of a mystery shopping assignment and I pay with cash. I know this will not work in every situation, but it may help in some instances for removing the identification probability by an employee or employer of a shop.

nli07,

As an editor for an MSC, I notice some shoppers have a tendency to include specific details about themselves in their reports that would make them memorable to the client. I've read reports where shoppers described what they look like or what they were wearing during the shop, they presented unusual scenarios, or asked questions a normal shopper would never ask. Is it possible you could have done any of those things that would have tipped off the clients?