I am about to accept a reveal audit shop. The MSC is well known. The instructions say I will reveal myself and take some photos. Doesn't say how many or of what. I live close by and the pay is fair for a few photos. Has anyone done any of these? Thanks

I did... spent 19 minutes on site, so had to answer the how did you finish so quick question. Simple photos, simple report --- largest narrative was my answer to above question.

Now if you have to wait for someone to be free it could take a few minutes because they do have to show you a few things that are not readily in customer's view.

Easy peasy. I spent arOund 30 minutes because I had to wait for someone. I took 4 pics.

Very easy. Quick. I took 3 of them...

First rep was calm, cool and collected.

Second rep was very nervous and kept dissapearing in the back room....completely unecessary to act like that...

Thanks all. I am going to see if the shop is still tere. AFTER I get done celebrating. Big Blue is in the Super Bowl. PAH-TEE!

PS The shop is GONE. You snooze, you lose. But, I feel ok about it because I checkeed with you guys before plunging into anything. If the shop shows up again, I will snag it. Meanwhile. Go Giants!

I am doing my second one tomorrow. Like you say easy-peasy. I sent in to four pictures 2 of the store front, and 2 of the outside ad. Same picture different angles.

You're right one of the manager was real nervous. She kept asking me "well, what are they looking for". "Did we passed?" I laughed all the way to my car.

There were four others that were a hour and 15 minutes away from me. But I couldn't get a route together to do them. I really had never heard of the cities and I did not want to get lost in the boonies. But it they show up again locally I am jumping on them. They are fun.

Easy report, easy money.

I did one of these last week. Easy and fun. I'm still kicking myself for not grabbing more of them when they were available.

I am still glad I checked first. The shops will show up again. I have taken assignments and ended up in photo-upload hell, so I am glad I checked. I recently took an assignment with another MSC before checking and I had to delete my app after reading all the horror stories.

Are you able to recommendor make a referral to a likely Mystery Shopping company?

not sure what this means. I have my favorites including Sinclair and Pinnacle. I also like Bare because they have a lot of shops in my area. But I also think they are a PITA and they rate in a very arbitrary manner. I love a few other companies because I know they have work but they don't pay all that well. CORI will eventually pay, but posts jobs at ridiculously low rates to begin with. Harland Clarke is really fair and pays well, but they are archaic IMHO and tend to lose things--at least that has been my experience. I think there are lots of threads about the "best" and the "worst" MSC. I am learning to read all these posts and then form my own opinion. Some folks hate EPMS and Maritz; I have never had a problem and wonder why they feel the way they do (but am also glad, because that means more shops por moi! LOL). I personally will not shop for Second to None because they treated me so disrespectfully; however, even here I am trying to be flexible. Some folks actually like StN and I am thinking I might want to reevaluate. But I am not there, yet....so more shops for those StN fans out there. I won't shop for GfK because they owe me for a bonus and I do not trust them. But, obviously, a lot of people shop for them.

If you want to know who shops tax preparers, I think that gets into that grey area of giving out too much information and violating our "IC" agreements. Some other folks might see this differently. I don't mind making suggestions but cannot give the name of the company. If you are new I would sign up with Market Force, CORI, Sinclair, Person to Person, and a few others. Do some easy peasy shops and then sign up with other companies. Hope this helps.


Jersey
cpstandre Wrote:
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> Are you able to recommendor make a referral to a
> likely Mystery Shopping company?

jersey,
"Making a referral," would mean that you tell your scheduler that you would like to refer me to her/him for consideration for doing those shops. That does not volate your ICA. It is a very good way to help out fellow forum posters without violating your agreement.

Thanks for the response, Jersey. I was actually thinking of the referral programs some of the companies have that make it okay to suggest/recruit shoppers for them .... and they may even pay you a fee.

I thought these H&R Block shops would be a good place to start with another company.

o oops


I see these from time to time, usually from companies I wouldn't dream of recommending? I can recommend you to this company if you want to PM me. They don't have great shops and are usually a PITA. But, I have always been paid. I hope THIS helps!

That doesn't sound too promising. LOL

I am scheduled for the audit shop next week. Are they not aware that they might possibly get audited? Also, did anyone have a manager who actually called and verified you were supposed to be there? I always get nervous that I am going to get a unfriendly reception and be kicked out lol

Don't be too concerned. I've audited everything from tax stores to wireless carriers and gas stations. In all that time I had one woman at a gas station get a little carried away until she called her manager and was told to let me proceed and that's out of several hundred audits. Obviously they don't know when you are going to be there, but they should know you will be at some point. Managers are always the easiest to deal with for that reason. Some employees get nervous and others just couldn't give a rat's patoot.

sassyshopper Wrote:
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> I am scheduled for the audit shop next week. Are
> they not aware that they might possibly get
> audited? Also, did anyone have a manager who
> actually called and verified you were supposed to
> be there? I always get nervous that I am going to
> get a unfriendly reception and be kicked out lol


I had a manager called. He was nervous b/c he was new to the position. He was scared he was letting "jack from jump street" in to his facility to check his books. But I told him to call. He asked for I D. I showed my DL but I would not let him hold it. or write down any of the numbers. After he felt better about the call. I said I am here to do an audit and I will be taking pictures.

Nah, you won't be kick out. It is too HRB benefit to have the audit conducted.

LOL thanks Lisa. There are only 2 shoppers that I know of in my area. At first it was obvious I was the only one, but lately I see shops I normally get have been taken. Anyway, for this reason there are at least 20-30 gas station wholesaler shops (part ms and part audit) ranging in fees from 25-60 dollars. It is the audit portion that has kept me from signing up. Do you think they are worth it? I guess after I do a couple I would be used to it. It seems like an excellent money making opportunity.

If those are CORI shops then you betcha! Where are you? For that many at that price I might take a road trip

Just know going into it that the first few times of doing an audit it will take longer. Make sure you have your checklists so you don't miss anything and if you already know how to use a program that will allow you to resize and rename as a batch it helps a bunch. For $25 to $60 you can't go wrong. Those of us that have had the opportunity to due a number of them have it down to less than 30 minutes on-site and maybe 15 on the report. If you figure the extra time it takes for the first few audits (and take the extra time to be sure you have everything) it can really balance out for you. Try not to do something like scheduling 15 for your first day

I think one will do for the first day lol I am in South Texas. The shops are only 2 in my hometown and all the others are in surrounding counties that I also shop. I just did a Lowes for 40 and BBB for 64 this last week. I don't think they had a shopper here until I signed up because now the March Lowes is only $4! I don't think so lol

sassyshopper Wrote:
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> I think one will do for the first day lol I am in
> South Texas. The shops are only 2 in my hometown
> and all the others are in surrounding counties
> that I also shop. I just did a Lowes for 40 and
> BBB for 64 this last week. I don't think they had
> a shopper here until I signed up because now the
> March Lowes is only $4! I don't think so lol


Wow that is terrific, high paying shops are awesome. I'm doing a Lowes today that is $28, apparently it's been neglected for a while also.

I have done a few gas station audits in the past that had a simple mystery shopping part, and then an audit with lots of pictures. They required closeups of specifics, and closeups and photos of anything found to be wrong; and when that can be an expired or mising sticker it can take some time.
I found that between taking pictures, fighting the wind on my reference paperwork, and waiting for people to fuel up and get out of the way (lol), it would take me about an hour on location. Then it took a while to resize sort and upload the photos as well as fill out the several page report.
The first two shops I did were $10 + $2 reimbursement, and it wasn't worth all the hassle. The last three were $18+$2 reimbursement and I knew better what I was doing so it was worth it. So if your shops are $20+, even if it takes you 2 hours for the audit and report filing, that is still $10/hour which is good pay in my state.

Thank you minuet00, for the helpful advice. I have been so swamped with other shops that I have not signed up for the gas stations yet. I noticed some of the incentives increased in the past week, though

I found a few Block audits with large bonuses on the board and a "name your fee" as well. I did, they countered, I'm going Love it when a plan comes together and that's not an experience I have often with this company.

LisaSTL Wrote:
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> I found a few Block audits with large bonuses on
> the board and a "name your fee" as well. I did,
> they countered, I'm going Love it when a plan
> comes together and that's not an experience I have
> often with this company.


Lucky. It's a rather simple audit, at least the one I've done.

That seems odd since the paperwork says they should take anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes. The only time I've been asked that question was for gas station audits where the expectation was 30 minutes onsite. Has anyone else put down less than 30 and had to answer that question?


Shelly Wrote:
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> I did... spent 19 minutes on site, so had to
> answer the how did you finish so quick question.
> Simple photos, simple report --- largest narrative
> was my answer to above question.
>
> Now if you have to wait for someone to be free it
> could take a few minutes because they do have to
> show you a few things that are not readily in
> customer's view.


BTW, minuet00, luck had nothin' to do with it The rep on the phone said she wasn't sure my offer would be accepted because they still had time to get them done. I told her it was no big deal, they had their numbers, I have mine and it wasn't going to hurt my feelings. The counter offer was well within the range I needed to make it profitable and worthwhile. Win win.

These are straight forward easy shops - loved them.
Good luck.