When I started mystery shopping last year, I did a few car dealership shops. I found that I couldn't do them anymore because I felt so guilty wasting the time of the salesman. I'm under the impression that they work strictly on commission. Because of the economy and because time is money, I feel bad knowing I have no intention of buying a car.

Am I wrong in thinking this way because there are a lot of good paying car dealership shops in my area.

Right, I know the feeling...they can be so long...I was just saying this morning to myself, I'm not going to do any more...especially if they require a test drive!

The last one I had, oh, the kid was so cute...you could tell he was brand new. He went running over to the manager after I told him "I'll think about it..."

I felt bad about that one...

On the other hand, it's not like they can make a sale every time...good experience I guess...

I've only done a couple and I did feel guilty about using up their time when they might have been able to help a real customer.

Also I felt like my inexperience as a shopper made the sales session drag on longer than it should have and that made me feel bad too. (for both me and the salesman!)

Any tips from the seasoned pros here on how to manage these so that we get the info we need without taking up an excessive amount of the salesman's time?

Some of the people that we shop receive bonuses based on mystery shopping. Not sure about the car dealerships but the apartments do, so this is like a job evaluation.

It's not just car dealership!

I do a lot of phone calls for one company posing as someone interested in buying. Sometimes the I spend a heck of a lot of time developing a good rapport with the person I'm speaking to. I know how busy they are and I have lately started to feel a bit of guilt on SOME of them. (Because they ARE so daggone nice and helpful!)

Yes, the recipients of my phone calls are commission only people!

HaveARayDay Wrote:
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> When I started mystery shopping last year, I did a
> few car dealership shops. I found that I couldn't
> do them anymore because I felt so guilty wasting
> the time of the salesman. I'm under the
> impression that they work strictly on commission.
> Because of the economy and because time is money,
> I feel bad knowing I have no intention of buying a
> car.
>
> Am I wrong in thinking this way because there are
> a lot of good paying car dealership shops in my
> area.

i feel terribly guilty too for wasting the time of the salesperson, but i feel worse if i don't make the money because i refrained from signing up for the shop.

My feedback gives them the opportunity to learn to make them better salesmen/women so I do not feel guilty. Im wasting their time no more than they are wasting mine!

I've commented on a post similar to this before and still feel the same way. Any salesperson who interacts with anyone about his/her product is simply doing their job. I do try to go during off hours in an effort to avoid them losing out on a real sale. If I'm not assigned to make an appointment or target a certain person, I usually find them waiting outside to catch me as I get out of my car. Then I know they're not tied up with anyone else.

Having been in commissioned sales for many years before becoming an MSer, I know when I'm working with a good one, one who needs more training or one whose heart really isn't in it. If they take it personally that they weren't able to close the sale, they're in the wrong business or need to grow a much thicker hide to last in sales.

As gigishopper so succinctly says above, we're helping improve their sales skills and providing specific feedback they really can't get anywhere else. You'll waste more of your own precious time feeling guilty and wondering if you should do any more dealer shops. Don't sweat it.

I'm doing 2 tomorrow for the first time in a while because I felt bad after having them really try to sell me a car that I had no interest in buying. But it is actually fun test driving cars and it's a fairly easy report with most companies.

I am so glad everyone else feels guilty like I do. This type of shop was my very first mystery shop. I came home and said to my fiancee..."I can't do these, I feel just awful lying. It is such a big lie."

I didn't have to test drive, but I felt like I needed too. It was like a ball rolling down hill, the lies kept coming and I couldn't stop them. Ugh...I don't think I will again for a very long time.

cvb42jeb Wrote:
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> I've commented on a post similar to this before
> and still feel the same way. Any salesperson who
> interacts with anyone about his/her product is
> simply doing their job. I do try to go during off
> hours in an effort to avoid them losing out on a
> real sale. If I'm not assigned to make an
> appointment or target a certain person, I usually
> find them waiting outside to catch me as I get out
> of my car. Then I know they're not tied up with
> anyone else.

that's a very good idea to go during the off hours. i try to shop during standard 9-5 hours on weekdays whenever i can. unless maybe i'm running on a very tight schedule myself.

SecretAgentMom Wrote:
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> I am so glad everyone else feels guilty like I do.
> This type of shop was my very first mystery shop.
> I came home and said to my fiancee..."I can't do
> these, I feel just awful lying. It is such a big
> lie."
>

cvb42jeb's comment about going during the off hours is a very good one. this could largely avoid the salesperson losing sales to other customers.

yes, we all feel guilty, but we work through the guilt and go back and do it again. we just have to believe that we have a sound basis for shopping. every shop that we do is technically a lie. we're posing as interested customers in products. but we are authorized by the client to lie for greater purposes in this context. i consider that the severity of a lie is directly proportionate to the damages rendered. but the damages here are not substantial, and actually serve a greater benefit for the client and the training of their employees. if we waste the time of an employee and report on a negative experience, then the employee can recieve further training to increase their sales in the long run.

once i purchased 8 diamond rings totaling $10,000 across a chain of 8 jewelry stores. when i returned each one, the individual salespeople were heart-broken, because their commissions were going out the window. but customers do that all the time in real business. they buy things and return things. they waste the salespeople's time. the salespeople have to be tough enough to handle it, or they are in the wrong line of work. the same goes for us. but for you and me, it is just a matter of adapting ourselves to this type of work, by coming to a deeper understanding as to how it benefits the client and their employees in the long run.

> I didn't have to test drive, but I felt like I
> needed too. It was like a ball rolling down hill,
> the lies kept coming and I couldn't stop them.
> Ugh...I don't think I will again for a very long
> time.

you were just doing what you had to do to make the shop believable for the circumstance. it might have looked funny if you didn't test drive the car. i just tell them that i've already driven the car, if the shop guidelines don't require me to drive it. then i save my time and their time.

technically, whenever i perform a shop, i already have pre-decided what lies i am going to tell. i don't make up new lies half-way through the shop. i don't step over the line by telling additional lies that i hadn't already pre-decided about beforehand. basically, i read the guidelines and then write the main 2 or 3 lies on a notecard beforehand, rehearsing them right before the shop. i stay as close to the truth as possible, except where the shop guidelines tell me to deviate from the truth.

Salespeope understand that they have "A Time," "B Time," etc. For car sales, A Time is evenings and weekends. Most of the auto sales shops that I see here require the shop to be done at hours that are not the salesperson's A Time. And I also know that several of the dealerships do give bonuses for good MS reports. Negative reports result in retraining, which can improve the salesperson's income. So, I do not feel guilty.

I've only ever done two and after the first one vowed never to do one again because I felt so bad. The man did everything wrong according to the shop standards but everything right in my eyes. I would buy a car off of him in a heartbeat. The second one I did recently and only because it was heavily bonused. The salesman was a jerk and actually rather mean. It kind of scares me that he has my personal information. Once he receives the report it wouldn't surprise me to find him at my door.

I have done probably 10 to 15 and I don't feel bad about doing the shop. I always use the out that since I am retired I go check out the deals then take them back to my wife who is still working. In fact last year My wife and I went back to a dealership and bought the SUV I shopped.

I have zero guilt about performing any type of shop. The company that ultimately employs or provides the source of income for these sales representatives is paying me to evaluate their service. There's nothing to feel guilty for. You are being paid to perform a legitimate service.

As for the annoying phone calls, this is why I set up a free Google Voice phone number. I can give it out and check it periodically for follow-up purposes, but never have to worry about receiving calls on my primary lines from salesmen I have no intention of buying from.

Hey, zlinedavid, How do you set up the Google phone number? I just got a call from a car salesman who I shopped over a month ago (I gotta give him credit for persistance). But, I sure would like to keep those calls from coming in on my cell phone. Thanks for any clues you have to get it going.

I feel guilty doing these. I especially felt horrible on my last shop when the only vehicle on the lot that I was to shop was in the showroom. I was so hoping and praying that the sales person would not offer the test drive! Of course he did and it took 30 minutes just to get the car out of the show room so I could drive a car I had absolutely no intention of buying.

HaveARayDay: I asked this same question here a while back. I also felt guilty. I received helpful responses pointing out that by investing an hour of his time, the salesman is getting an honest evaluation of his strengths and weaknesses. When I considered it this way, I was able to do the shops without feelings of guilt.

I've since learnt that certain gas stations give their employees $100 for a perfect MS report. These are minimum wage employees. I'm sure the value received by big $$ commission sales staff has to be worth far more than that.

As for lying, are you lying? Aren't you really acting a role? I consider it role-playing, not lying.

To those that feel a sense of guilt about wasting a salesman's time that will ultimately not lead to a sale for him....trust me...it's not the first time and it won't be the last. If you're in sales, you accept dead end leads as a part of the game.

Guilty? Hell no. It's him or it's me. One of us is gonna walk away with more money in his pocket. That's how he views it too. Difference is, I already know which one.

I wish we had a Jaguar dealership around here....

Bena Wrote:
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> As for lying, are you lying? Aren't you really
> acting a role? I consider it role-playing, not
> lying.

if mystery shopping is lying, then all of those actors/actresses in my favorite movies are liers.

No guilt here since I know how important the shops are. I do my best to go on weekdays and avoid the busy times. I also make decisions quickly, in other words I don't have them dragging me all over the lot showing every color and package available. If the closest one is blue then that's my favorite color

Don't feel guilty. My brother shopped a dealership and evaluated the sales skills of the salesman. fast forward a month and his car died. He went back to the original dealer to buy a new car and the salesman was so sleazy and smarmy he walked out and bought from the salesman he mystery shopped.

I did one the other day and thought of this post in the middle of it. Lol It gave me a little twinge of guilt but not much.

Hmm, I've only started doing mystery shopping in June of 2012. And many of the shops I've selected have been car dealership shops. And I don't feel guilty at all.

First off, regardless of if they are working on commission or not, they are making more than we are (the mystery shopper), so why the guilt?

Secondly I feel I'm well suited to car dealership shopping because I have a lot of knowledge about new vehicles from a customer standpoint. And I can particularly evaluate whether a car salesman knows his stuff or is just regurgitating what he heard from someone else.

In just the short time, I've met car salesmen who have made fairly big glaring mistakes about their own car models to other salesmen who truly know their stuff.

And as I read the posts above, yes I met some salesmen who seem to take it personally and get perturbed when they realize they aren't closing a deal. And agreed, they need thicker skin.

I'm actually in the process of attempting to find out what other companies are big on new car shops - and car maintenance shops. So far I've only worked with one company that has a lot of new car shops.

The mystery shopper is in no way evil to be evaluating the workings of a car dealership. And he or she should never feel guilty for doing this kind of job.

I do get an attack of the guilts after P&R shops. Eight diamonds in one day would have had me jumping off a ledge from guilt. During my last P&R of a $100 bracelet I overheard the sales woman, as she walked to the cash register, ask no one in particular "What are you doing to me?" followed by "You're killing me". She managed to give me my receipt with a smile. That day, I felt more than guilty, I felt ashamed and have sworn off P&R. P&Rs do have their place in evaluating customer service. I just can't participate, just yet, because even in this economy retailers are merciless in their quota demands.
Car sales people, on the other hand, are benefiting from our shops. They get the opportunity to rehearse their shtick. One should not have to fill in their blanks, they need to learn to close the sale. I frequently recommend salespeople and dealerships that I've "heard" good things about and I'm not the recommending type.On one of these evaluations, I met a young Toyota salesman, who boasted that had earned more from good reviews than from sales commissions! Maybe that will last for him or maybe it won't. Eventually, I would think, that the dealership would want more input from him?
Lies, what lies? I am interested to learn how a Jaguar, Infinity, Mercedes drives, what justifies that price tag and the answer better be more than union wages, I want to feel the leather interior, experience English/ German/ Japanese/American engineering and yeah in my reality I do need to rethink my needs vs. my wants. Where's the lie?

I've felt guilty returning purchases, but not because of the attitude of the salesperson. If they made some guilt-inducing statement, that would make me less likely to shop the store in "real life," because I would just feel uncomfortable about potentially disappointing someone.

I don't feel guilty doing the car dealership shops, but I won't do them anymore. Very time-consuming for the amount of pay (usually $17).

Also, I've had some salespeople "talk down" to me because I'm female. They'll tell me how pretty the car is, how it has lots of mirrors, etc. Ick.

Phoebe70 Wrote:
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> I don't feel guilty doing the car dealership
> shops, but I won't do them anymore. Very
> time-consuming for the amount of pay (usually
> $17).
>
> Also, I've had some salespeople "talk down" to me
> because I'm female. They'll tell me how pretty
> the car is, how it has lots of mirrors, etc. Ick.

I got an e-mail today offering $25 for a MB shop, so there is hope out there!
One of the problems with NJ , among the other petty ones such as poor signage and the world famous traffic circle, is that dealerships, by law, are closed Sundays which expands/ or not the 72 hour call back time. Does the NJ salesperson get 3 working days to reach out to me? Don't you ladies just love that line?

My all time favorite is the BMW salesman who was convinced that the car was the cat's canary and three minutes into his presentation, showed me the color chart, asked my favorite and wanted to close the sale at once on this last one on the lot. I smiled and gently scolded him with"The color is my husband's job"