Stress and mystery shopping

Need to vent and only other mystery shoppers would understand. I just had the worst day! Have been struggling getting my vehicle fixed so I have been cramming all of my shops into the weekends when I can get a good rental rate. Finally my vehicle is out of the shop and I have a full weekend of shops to be completed before the end of the month. Set out on my route and some guy on the freeway is honking at me and pointing at my car. Get off the freeway and I have an almost completely flat tire with a big screw sticking out. Now I am seeing the time crunch but still have a little room to finish the shops. The tire took over an hour to fix. Back on the freeway and the tire goes flat again. They had "fixed" the wrong tire. Managed to fit in 2 shops while hitting up gas stations to fill the tire. The third was at a mall and by this time I was so stressed that I shopped the wrong location. Finished the fourth with a half full tire. My last shop was next door to a Pep boys where I was informed the tire would have to be replaced. While they are replacing the tire I finished my last shop. The bill came to about $5 less than I made that day. Sometimes I am so over mystery shopping and driving.

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Oh, teriraia, that does sound stressful! I'm glad you at least made a profit.

One end of the month-end of the week when a lot of payments hit our mailboxes, bank accounts and PayPal accounts, my car got towed.

"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/2016 04:14PM by HonnyBrown.

Nice to know that I am not the only one ; ).

What a nightmare. Luckily the only vehicle trouble I have had on shops was locking myself out of the vehicle (I now carry a spare key in my purse that will get me into the car, though it won't start the ignition) and a badly done repair job (they either missed a nut or didn't get it screwed on right when doing brake pads) that I noted the problem on my way home from the shops. Flats occur, but I'm always carrying a spare and have yet to not have some guy come offer to change the tire for me as soon as I get out my jack and spare.

I feel your pain -- hang in there as the stressful days like yours remind us to enjoy the great days we are blessed with most of the time.

I had a FF shops a few months back where I went over my meter on a Sunday night by 2 lousy minutes and was greeted by a parking ticket for my trouble. Lost money on that shop for sure. The meter maid must have been hovering over my vehicle and meter just counting down the seconds...

"We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl -- year after year..."

Yeah I had that week too. I was out Monday and did 8 shops in the morning - they went awesome. Came home and was finishing putting them on before I went out to do three more and...a tree limb (of a hundred year old tree so this was like a tree in it's own right)fell on my car. Sometimes you just can't win. I am going with at least you weren't hurt with your tires causing you road problems and at least I wasn't stepping out of my car when the limb fell.

Liz

Did a shop last night and forgot to take a picture of the stupid price tag on the computer... ran to the nearest store and took it today, what a waste of a Sunday!! Mystery shopping can be a @#$%&!!

@Adore wrote:

Did a shop last night and forgot to take a picture of the stupid price tag on the computer... ran to the nearest store and took it today, what a waste of a Sunday!! Mystery shopping can be a @#$%&!!

stop doing it then noone is holding a gun to your head. going to different store for missing pic is dishonest.

Well, to put a positive spin on it - you would have had to replace the tire anyway, so at least you made enough to pay for it. It always seems that if I have any extra money, I have some sort of extra expense. So my philosophy is: glass half full, not half empty!

@teriraia wrote:

My last shop was next door to a Pep boys where I was informed the tire would have to be replaced. While they are replacing the tire I finished my last shop. The bill came to about $5 less than I made that day. Sometimes I am so over mystery shopping and driving.

dont blame ms for bad tire. that could happen anytime anywhere. on way to real job. on way to pick up your kid leaving them waiting. driving back home w/frozen groceries in car. your real job would not pay for new tire but ms did. like other poster said there is positive side.

You reminded me of the time I did a brake inspection shop. Toward the end the mechanic waved to the manager, who frantically ran into the waiting room, waved me over and said I had to come to the vehicle. They demonstrated that the wheel bearings were gone on my right front wheel - and I could feel the grinding vibrations as they turned the tire. The repair service cost me $180! My report was rejected because I had made a purchased. I responded that it was a critical situation and that had I not had the repair done, tragedy could have struck before I got home and they never would have received the report. After a second back-and-forth they finally approved the report for payment. SO - I'm out a net of $165... but at least I have my life. One can never second-guess the hidden benefits of mystery shopping.

@Adore wrote:

Did a shop last night and forgot to take a picture of the stupid price tag on the computer... ran to the nearest store and took it today, what a waste of a Sunday!! Mystery shopping can be a @#$%&!!

I just read the thread about MS'ers who are caught cheating and faking reports. I would think that taking a POV photo of a different store or a different day than the original shop would qualify as cheating and faking. Some editors do check the metadata on photos. Good luck.

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Stress and mystery shopping

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