I just got a call from a MSC about a shop I recently completed. They said the shopped company contacted them as they believed I was mystery shopper. I can not come up with a single oddity of my shop. The version of events they gave the MSC was completely different from mine. They said I was rushed, asked them not to show me certain areas and booked it out the door. I was in no rush, I asked a lot of questions and even lingered at the desk waiting for them to make me an offer. The report I gave was honest and the scoring wasn't perfect, but it wasn't the worst.

No where in the guidelines for the shop does it say to use an alias, however the MSC said the shopped employee looked in the system and saw I had visited other facilities in the area. Had I know they could do that I would've used an alias.

I think they panicked after they saw I had been other places and tried to save themselves. Thoughts?

I won't be paid, but I am more upset that the shopped facility lied about how the shop went.

I have been shopping for 3+ years and have never been revealed.

Bertrl - In some cases, it can't be hard to identify a mystery shopper if all employees get together and pool their ideas. Being able to pull you up at other businesses made it a cinch. Apparently they were disappointed in the results of the shop and would like to get it thrown out. These things happen. Sometimes they're hard to handle when we feel we've done our very best to present a fair report, and then get blindsided with a lie.

Been there, done it myself, so sorry it happened. Know that you turned in an honest report and go forward. I suggest a Mason jar of wine, a hunk of sharp cheddar, and a generous amount of dark chocolate.

It says a whole lot about both the client and the company. I always use an alias unless I can't get away with it to avoid precisely the situation you are suggesting. The only times I have been revealed in the years I have been shopping was when I was doing bank shops that REQUIRED a transaction in my own account. One company handled it well, apologizing for not being able to accept a report and making up for it by bonusing another shop they offered me to offset my loss. The other company acted like jerks (in my opinion) and banned me from the client entirely (including phone shops), acting as if it were somehow my fault that the client could identify who had had a teller transaction and then visited a platform person at 2:30 on a slow summer afternoon. It would take no Einstein to get the name of the only customer in the bank anywhere near that time from the receipts in the teller windows.

When I do a bank shop with a Platform Banker, I use an alias and also give a false phone number. guess when they call it they figure that they have been shopped. Oh well, it is better than having them call me..
Maritz does banks so often that I have had a banker ask me if I had been there before and I just tell them "no" and go on with the shop.. They may figure it out, but that only allows them to do a real good job of explaining what I asked about. It is in their best interest to just go ahead with the shop. However, I then stop doing the bank shops for several months.

Thanks for the kind responses. In the future I will always use an alias when possible. After reviewing my history with the MSC and weighing the value of their jobs in my rotation, I may decide to terminate my agreement with them. The little extra money I make from them is not worth the hassle.

But what about things like a credit union shop where all you have to do is make a deposit, but they can look right on their screen and see that you've made several at different branches in the same day? There's usually a narrow window for doing these, and I've done 4 drive thrus in a day and figured they must be suspicious when their screen shows where I've been. But, so far no bad reports, so I don't know why they'd want to admit they know who's doing the shop on them. Can't use an alias at a member shop!

I tend to be fairly systematic with those. I make a pattern of taking out a round number, such as $100 in cash and the next shop returning say $80. I do this both when performing shops and not performing them so it is a routine pattern. When I see that particular bank or credit union while I am out and about, I'm likely to stop and either deposit or withdraw. I try to keep a little slush in my wallet precisely for these occasions.

Nobody has ever questioned it, but it is a habitual pattern of deposits and withdrawals of round amounts of cash in all their various branches. The theory, should anybody ever have the gall to ask, is that I am a big bargain hunter on Craig's List and need the cash in case I decide to purchase. What I don't need, I put back. And similarly I sell some stuff via Craig's List, so that money goes back into the account.

I was doing a fitness facility shop. I believe I was revealed when they entered my info into the computer and saw I had visited 5 other facilities in as many months. The company never recommended or suggested using an alias and had I Know they had access to my previous visits I would have used an alias.

I am disappointed in the MSC for allowing this and discrediting my report. They automatically believed the shopped company and only called to reprimand me.

I went into an old downtown area this week to do a bank assignment. In our state the old downtowns banks are used mostly by local businesses. I stood out like a sore thumb. Nothing was said;however, I felt the empolyees knew I was a mystery shopper by the time I hit the door. The shop was tooooooooo perfect...like it was scripted....

it happens to us all, sometimes the client may lie, sometimes we may be so nervous that we give it away, however, assuming you did not fabricate your story, it sounds like they wanted to save themselves, you know that they just did not like the results of their shop. I had one shopping company interrogate me on the shop that I performed, and even asked me to give a description of myself. This was a month AFTER I completed the shop!

And sometimes a MS company will do anything to get out of paying you for a shop and they use the report anyway.

Silly question: What is MSC?

Mystery
Shopping
Company

Also referred to as MSP: Mystery Shopping Provider.

autumnicole Wrote:
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> I went into an old downtown area this week to do a
> bank assignment. In our state the old downtowns
> banks are used mostly by local businesses. I
> stood out like a sore thumb. Nothing was
> said;however, I felt the empolyees knew I was a
> mystery shopper by the time I hit the door. The
> shop was tooooooooo perfect...like it was
> scripted....


This reminded me of some bank shops I've done. Imagine trying to go into a very, very small town where the branch has two employees (teller & manager), is only open from 10-3 and they close for lunch. Then imagine you just happen to need information on retirement planning or some such.

I usually look up some other town that is as far away as possible without being closer to another branch and say I live on a farm near there. Then I tell them I've just moved into that area from far away to look after my poor, aging mother and am thinking of taking retirement (or whatever the scenario of the month is). So far it has worked but I dare not go back to any of them for a long time. These branches typically have two employees: the teller and the manager so you know you will be talking to the same two people.

I have never understood why a company would make a big deal out of revealing a shopper. What is the big deal with them knowing? If they know, they can try to do a really good job and then get a good score. It makes no sense the other way.

We actually provide our shoppers with working phone numbers that we monitor in house. We allow the shopper to choose from a list and give them time to memorize it prior to the shop(s). We also do the same thing with email addresses and we monitor those in house as well. This prevents the shoppers from having to give out their own, personal info and from being bothered with follow-up calls/emails from whoever they shopped. We also highly recommend our shoppers use an alias and a believeable story line (if applicable). It is very rare our shoppers get made.

Try not to worry about it too much! Honesty is what counts- and you were honest. I come across people lying all the time and it saddens me. Be proud that you're an honest person and keep your head high. We need more shoppers like you! Best of luck to you!





G8r1966 Wrote:
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> When I do a bank shop with a Platform Banker, I
> use an alias and also give a false phone number.
> guess when they call it they figure that they have
> been shopped. Oh well, it is better than having
> them call me..
> Maritz does banks so often that I have had a
> banker ask me if I had been there before and I
> just tell them "no" and go on with the shop.. They
> may figure it out, but that only allows them to do
> a real good job of explaining what I asked about.
> It is in their best interest to just go ahead with
> the shop. However, I then stop doing the bank
> shops for several months.

I have had several where the end client supposedly balked at the report.

I went back to the scheduler and told them, the bank has video cameras. It would VERY easy to verify the events. Please show us the video and point out how it differs from my report. There is no response to that. In that particular case, I stopped working for the MSC --- they never let a negative report go through. It to be all smiles, roses, and sunshine. I closed ALL of my bank accounts at that bank. And ya know, they never even said goodbye to my 89k....

The other case was a retail store. The store claimed that they id'd me as a shopper and refused my report. (The report was not all smiles, roses, and sunshine. They screwed up the check out and several employees were engaged in non-professional behavior. BUT several employees did an outstanding job - and it was reflected in the report.)

I asked the scheduler to get the manager who said they id'd me --- this was like 45 days after the report was turned in that they claimed this --- to describe me or what I was wearing. They could not.

The scheduler told me that since the client pays the bills and they want the store reshopped, they were honoring the client's wishes. I was out the shop fee AND the purchase. No returns after 30 days.

I won't work for that company again either. And I won't go to that store!

I used to shop a grocery store, both personal and MSC shopping. One day, the cashier asked "You're not BOBing today." I suspect she knew I was secret shopper when I had a BOB item and forgot to mention it. ("BOB" is bottom of basket.) Always got great service from her, too bad I moved!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/17/2011 11:37PM by jerry1552.

Bummer, Bertrl. Sorry to hear that -- I know I will be upset if/when that happens to me. Like others, I have wondered how I could *not* be identified at places like auto dealerships and banks/credit unions (where a deposit or withdrawal is required). Unless their IT systems are not what I expect them to be, it would seem obvious I've "been around."

You did good - hang in there.

As I mentioned many times on this site, there are dozens of MSC's to contract with. If you think the pay and/or reimbursement are too low, shop for another company.

If you think you have been treated unfairly, do the same. If too many shoppers refuse to work for a particular MSP, the MSP should get the message that maybe it should take a look at themselves.

Do MSP's have mystery shoppers?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/17/2011 11:40PM by jerry1552.

I have not been revealed yet, if the companies think they know who I am they are keeping to themselves. I was told one time I could not audit (revealed) at a certain location because my aunt works there. My aunt is almost 90 and lives on the other side of the state from the location. Go figure.

I was told I was revealed during s pizza carryout shop. Not sure how they would have known - Called using a cell phone and used cash. Guess it was a slow afternoon. The company was cool with it. I got paid for the shop but was told I couldn't do carryouts from that particular location. All the others in the area are still fine and I'm eating free pizza at least once a week!

I always use an alias. It was a problem yesterday day though. I did four banks for a comparison project. One of them was a college credit union and you had to either be an alum or have a family member who is an alum. The employee seemed extremely nervous. When I gave the name of an "alum" they checked the computer, found an alum with that name and asked me the middle name, wife's name, names of the children and address. It made my shop very difficult. I was really dancing around their interrogation. I don't know if they knew or not.

I live in a very small town and own my own business. I secret shop for the extra money that I put into our travel account - we travel every 3 months or so. Anyway, I know the owner of the mcD's in town professionally, but I am the only shopper in town as well. I finally had to stop doing the combined drive-thru/walk-in shops because I was running out of excuses when they would say "you were just in here - did you forget something?"

I used to say "my hubby called as I was leaving and asked me to pick something up for him too" , but that got old real fast. As I was probably the only person who went through both, I am sure they figured out I was the mystery shopper, but they never said anything.

I don't do bank shops here even though they are heavily bonused because again, I know all the tellers and they would wonder why I wasn't at my own bank.

Even the gas station shops where they expect you to spend 20 or 30 minutes inside checking out the feature items are impossible here. Firstly, the c-store is so small that you can barely fit 3 people in them and secondly I know the kids who are working at the gas stations.

I really have to be careful needless to say.

Wasn't revealed but did a Williams Sonoma a while back. Four weeks later (!!) the MSP comes back with the managers version of what happened. He or she wasn't even there! Why bother hiring me (or any MS) if you are not going to believe what they report? I felt like saying, "nice movie script, too bad the movie's already in the theaters."

I was once revealed when I shopped a roller rink and one of the employees had another job at a nearby restaurant that I also shopped. She or he put two and two together and somehow figured out I was a shopper. I now can't get any jobs with that particular MSC.

I guess it's a sense of misguided vindication when retail employees pinpoint who a shopper is. Back when I worked retail, I would have killed to have known who a shopper was, and would have loved it if it was a rotation of only 2-3 people. And my mouth would have stayed shut. If you know who they are, give them service down to the letter of your instructions. Easy way to ace your evaluations and squeeze a few extra pennies out of them.

Likewise. I know Spot the Shopper is an ongoing game with employees spanning many industries, but it makes no sense when they could get stellar reviews. Of course, in a location that's poorly managed and staffed, consistently a pigsty with overall bad service, the manager skirts bad reviews by figuring out who the shopper was and contesting the report.

-------------------------------------------------------
> I guess it's a sense of misguided vindication when
> retail employees pinpoint who a shopper is. Back
> when I worked retail, I would have killed to have
> known who a shopper was, and would have loved it
> if it was a rotation of only 2-3 people. And my
> mouth would have stayed shut. If you know who they
> are, give them service down to the letter of your
> instructions. Easy way to ace your evaluations and
> squeeze a few extra pennies out of them.

TechSavvy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
In in a location that's poorly
> managed and staffed, consistently a pigsty with
> overall bad service, the manager skirts bad
> reviews by figuring out who the shopper was and
> contesting the report.
>
I think that tactic would only work once or twice before head office would start getting suspicious, especially if head office has had no problems with the accuracy of the reports received from other locations.