Hi everyone,

I'm new to mystery shopping and wanted to know if the MSPA (specifically MSPA Europe) is legitimate, and can be trusted? It would be great to know so I can use their database to screen mystery shopping companies.

Many thanks,

Tom

WELCOME!

There is no reason to distrust MSPA's list of their member companies, regardless of location. HOWEVER, you need to keep in mind that MSPA is by and for the MS companies and an MS company's membership in that organization, alone, does not guarantee that they treat shoppers well, pay them adequately and on time, or even pay them at all! It takes pretty gross behavior for an MSPA member company to be dropped from the membership rolls. For checking out how shoppers are treated and how reliable shopper payment is for each company, this forum is your best resource. You can search about 200 MS companies here and read what shoppers have to say. You will want to ignore any posts that rant about an MS company being unfair where the poster declines to say how or why something was unfair, and of course, some rants will make it obvious that shopper error was involved. However, you will also find well substantiated praise (or condemnation) of MS companies that you will want to take into account.

So, learn to use the search function here and you will have a wealth of information at your fingertips.

Hi Walesmaven,

Thanks for your very informative (and incredibly quick!) reply. You confirmed my suspicion that the MSPA membership means very little.

By any chance have you ever heard of the company in question, 4Service and if they actually pay? I have searched in various forums and sites for hours and have been unable to find ANY information on them, other than what they say about themselves.

Best,

Tom

Hi Tom, welcome to the forum.

I have never heard of 4Service so can't help you there. If a company I listed with the MSPA it is not a scammer, though as Walesmaven points out, they may not be wonderful to work with either. Obviously your whiskers are twitching with 4Service because you sense something is not quit right.

Signs of scammers--they want your personal information by email, they may send you to a website that looks correct but you seems undeveloped as it is only a single functional screen, they are offering to send you a check in advance to pay for your work, the language of their email has quirks that lead you to think it was written by someone for whom English is not a native language, they seem to be generous in their pay for the work to be performed. Be aware that scammers often use the name of a legitimate mystery shopping company.

Edited to add: In the US not all legitimate companies are members of the MSPA.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/2015 03:39PM by Flash.

On the other hand, the IMSC, Independent Mystery Shoppers Coalition, is by, for and about shoppers. Facebook search: imscshoppers Hope this helps someone.

Also keep in mind that just because a MSC is an MSPA member and legitimate company does not mean that an email you receive with the company name on it is indeed from that company.

Scammers have been known to impersonate legitimate MSCs, so you need to be caution of the content of any email requests, as well as the company name.

MSPA recognizes shoppers are the backbone of the industry. Without shoppers there would be no MSPA or shopping companies. Although some shoppers have an impression that MSPA is not for shoppers is simply not true, although up until a few years ago I may have agreed. MSPA has made great strides in its support of shoppers. Benefits of being a shopper member include free membership to the ABENITY discount program, deep discounts on video equipment if you are a video shopper, quarterly newsletter, current information in independent contractor issues, job board where MSPA shopper members have first glance of shops posted by member companies, our annual Shopperfest (our first in Orlando in 2015 far exceed expectations and this year's in Anaheim looks like we will beat that record), members only Facebook page, video training at a discounted price for members), certification opportunities and more. New benefits are being added.
Like any association MSPA is not an enforcement agency. For example, if a restaurant belongs to a restaurant association and the restaurant is known for bad customer service, unreasonable prices, etc, they won't be banned by their association. MSPA does look at shopper complaints on a case by case basis and will terminate membership if enough shoppers complain and the complaints warrant to be valid and is a violation of our code of ethics. Sometimes it takes time because we have to do our due diligence.

Back to Shopperfest. Shopperfest is put on by MSPA. You can network with company owners, the board of directors, schedulers and others in the industry as well as other shoppers. We even have a panel of MSP's where you can ask them questions about the industry. How about an actual client who talks about why and how they use mystery shops?

The MSPA Member only Facebook page is where you can post questions about the industry. It is monitored by myself, the president of MSPA and Vice President of MSPA along with other MSPA member company representatives where your suggestions, comments and questions are acknowledged from those inside the industry.

For the original poster, if you IM me with your email I can forward it to MSPA Europe so they can tell you about their region since I am not involved in Europe.

,

Wow, dcrector. You read a whole lot more into the poster's question and responses than would even conceivably be called for.

No kidding. Wales did a good job in explaining a trade association created for its member companies. There is nothing wrong with what the MSPA does. The problem is newer shoppers will often think the organization is there to be a shopper advocate or that member vs non-member is the only way to gauge a company's legitimacy and adherence to policies. MSPA was not created to police rogue members and there are some really fine companies that are not members. No board member of the MSPA should find fault with us stating those realities.