I love bank shops because they tend to pay well and don't require much visit time. Can anyone recommend some mystery-shopping companies that do them? I can suggest Informa, ATH and Kinesis.

You can also try Marketforce.

Second to None

Joan


[www.premiershoppers.com]
[www.sendearnings.com]
[www.inboxdollars.com]

Thank you for the responses. I will try Market Force. I worked for Second-to-None for a while, but they are too rigid in their dates. It's almost impossible to change an assignment date even though they have a change-the-date tab. If you miss an assignment, they get very testy. Also, the bank that they have as their client vloses earlier than most banks. Another negative is that you can't shop during a two-hour period.

Second to None may also be like that. You cannot self reschedule.

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

Sinclar has some regional banks.

Thanks for the lead on Sinclair. I'm in New York City, so we tend to have mostly major banks here. Second-to-None and I are mortal enemies. I had to miss a few assignments because of subway or bus delays. The scheduler wasn't very understanding. Apparently, they have no "jiggle" room compared to some other companies where you can extend assignments. However, there is a change-the-date tab, as I mentioned in my earlier post. But, it was rare that another date was available. Confero had wonderful bank shops and the schedulers allowed you to do several shops a week. Made some good money from Confero. However, they lost the contract and another company has it now. Different rules. Can't do as many shops.

After a few months' break, $10 shops have been posted for a major national bank. Bailout money at work?!

Mert, where are you located?

SC/NC. Why?

I was hoping you were in the western NY area, so that I could get some of those shops :)

Sending you a private message, heffernb.

Yes, Bare has posted banks--estimated time 15-20 min if I remember the email, but these always required you wait up to 30 minutes for the CSR if there was a lobby full of folks waiting (and there usually was). You also do a teller visit. $10. Certainly a fairly simple shop report but still underpriced for what is involved. (I had a few that took more than an hour because of lines at the teller, getting greeted by the CSR after 29 minutes, being left in the CSR office while he went to handle something else, etc.)

Did Bare, in the past, offer these bank shops for a higher fee?

I wondered about that myself and I note I did $12 and $10 shops for them in 2006 at the same bank. I also saw a $5 drive through. Without digging through old records I would assume that the $10 was a teller only and the $12 was probably a quick teller referral to CSR with CSR being the focus. They never were well paid shops but they got my feet wet on banks and I already was doing few of them by 2006.

Shoppersview does bank shops at well.

Informa: no arbitrary ratings, brief reports 5mim max, pays well from $12.50 to $17.50, pays within a month,required self scheduling, generally mature & appreciative professional account managers - drawbacks : required self schedule, lack of payment details but a usually patient book keeper(so I do recommend keeping your own records and bonus pay E-mails) ='s a nine rating.
They're in CA & I'm in the NE

I've been using ATH, informa and Kern Scheduling for the most part. Does anyone know whether HSBC Citibank and Wachovia are being shopped ?

check out marketforce go to www.shopper.marketforce.com You may find that helpful.

As for Citibank, I have not seen ordinary teller or information desk shops for them in a long while. However, I am now seeing quarterly, well compensated platform shops for a few of their locations near me. I was contacted directly by the scheduler for those, so do not know if they are being broadcast for self-assignment or not.

I love working with Informa! S2N editing makes my head ache!

Try Maritz Research. They do bank shops, brief report similar to Informa. Reports are easy and I've never heard a word from the editor. Maritz allows you to self schedule after you complete 10 shops for them.

I do them for Bare Int'l....

try creative imaging associates im doing some shops through them... not sure if they do anything in the NYC area... as for the others try jobslinger or shadow shopper... they were able to make available some for me...

walesmaven Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As for Citibank, I have not seen ordinary teller
> or information desk shops for them in a long
> while. However, I am now seeing quarterly, well
> compensated platform shops for a few of their
> locations near me. I was contacted directly by
> the scheduler for those, so do not know if they
> are being broadcast for self-assignment or not.
>
> I love working with Informa! S2N editing makes my
> head ache!

That is the real truth I was editing a shop from them (S2N) on Sunday and about 50 errors jumped on my board saying if i said this then this should be this and if i said that this should be this? I was like whoa! that won't happen again~LOL
But ATH still is the bank shops that I utilize Market-Force took my 'Choose shops button" again! Oh! well they will be calling me sooner or later to do shops in MY area! Ha!

How do you sign up with Creative Image Associates? I don't see any online application forms on their site.

you have to contact them... they will send you the shopper information packet which you print sign scan and email back to them... then if they have shops they will contact you by email... there is no job board or online application...

that is good info to know cooldude, and austin mom..

It seems MANY banks in our area could use a MS cuz they are always screwing up! Can you send them a list of banks they need to audit?

What kind of info do they ask for anyway? when you do a shop?

i dont know ... you could try...my understanding is that the banks hire them not the other way around so i dont think it would effect things...

with the bank shops that i do there is a short form and a narrative... doesnt take more than 10 minutes... have to ask about 2 different products (credit card, mortgage loan... etc) and usually you have to preform a teller transaction deposit or withdrawl... easy and good pay... my scheduler is great... creative is a company that i would work for any day...

These shops vary widely. There are some that are as simple as some quick observations in the drive through while you do a transaction with a fairly straightforward, quick report. There are new account shops at banks where you do not currently have an account. There are new account shops where part of the requirement is that you open an account. There are ones that require teller transaction + interaction and banker interaction. There are simple y/n forms and there are extended narrative forms. There are even bank phone shops. They are all about evaluating the quality of service received and observing the sales skills of the bankers. There are also some very specific rule compliance and investment shops. There are shops from $5 to $40 and there are some more in depth studies that pay even more. There are shops for nationwide banks and there are shops for regional banks and on occasion there are shops for banks with only 4-5 branches. Each bank has slightly different criteria. My best paying banking jobs are with smaller companies that handle regional banks.

Yes, I agree. Mine have been a simple 3 minute teller interaction, a phone shop that the person spoke for anywhere between one to 20 minutes, or a platform shop that varied in time from 10 minutes to over an hour and half based on wait time and how much the person covered. The reports are usually narrative based, and pay fairly if the employee spends and average amount of time, well if they did less, and poorly if the wait or the employee takes too long.

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 03/13/2010 02:10AM by dee shops.