I have been working with a major apartment mystery shopping firm (you can guess which it is).

No issue regarding payment...however beware there are several things that have changed.

- Now the want details like the "color of the eyes" of the target (ridiculous)

- The color of the walls and the carpet of the apartment

Additionally...you can not ask for the target and most of the time it turns out to be the manager that will never answer the phone. Last time, I called 15 times in 3 days and after getting permission to ask for the target, I found out that the individual did not work at the firm anymore.

Who reimburses me for the lost time?

And...the editors are getting picky.

Everything is getting harder...but the commissions remain the same!!!!....$25

I have always avoided target shops as there are too many ways to waste your time with no compensation. While I can understand that the client wants an evaluation of specific individuals I have never felt that the reward was adequate for the risk of just spinning your wheels for nothing.

Good comment

anyone else?

Yes yr ago when I first got into MS I did several apt target assignments mainly I am assuming because I have past apt mgr experience and knew first hand what to look for. The jobs were fairly easy for me but as time went on they got harder due to ourtragous requests from schedulers. Sorry to hear things haven't changed much.
dee cedar city ut

I have done a lot of apartment shops most of them with a target. I haven't had any trouble. They pay an extra $2 for a target. But I didn't feel it was any harder than a shop anyone! Thats just my experience. I love apartment shops. The pay is good and they are fairly easy!

I just did an apartment shop billed as a "condo" shop.
When I got there it was a lower end trailer court. When I did the required tour I was told the trailer is split in two with a shower curtain dividing the "condo" into two condos!

That is hilarious. What were they evaluating? The shower curtain?

Too funny. Was it a good paying job? :-)

Gee, do you suppose a good report would graduate the salesperson to single family occupancy trailers or leave them stuck selling shower curtains because they are 'so good at it'?

I have only done only apt. shop as there are few real apts here, but mostly condos and homes for rent by owner or mngmt co's. I did not have a target. I would not do it again due to having to provide real contact info and an ID.

I have done several target shops, but I prefer to avoid them. When I go to the website and do a search, I am looking for "shop anyone". The target shops, in my opinion, don't compensate me for the time and energy that is required trying to get the target to pick up the phone. I find it time consuming to have to sit around and let time go by before I can call back again. Part of my concern with target shops is, I know that you won't believe it, I don't care to own a cell phone. Without a cell phone, I am really grounded at home until I reach the target. I will take on a target shop if I don't have anything else scheduled. Contacting the target is one thing, then I find the paperwork to be redundant.

When I first got into the business I did a lot of apartment shops. After 6 months I decided that they were more trouble than they were worth. Trying to reach the target was but one problem. Many times I showed up for the appointment and the target was not available. They had gone to lunch, on vacation or otherwise MIA. I once showed up for an appointment and the office had been closed for the day. There were many times I just sat and spinned my wheels as I waited for my target. Over the last several years I have found that I no longer have the time for these types of shops.

Yes, the questioning from this side is getting pickier.
In addition to eye color, they want a little story or something that happened to verify that you were really there. Like something you and the target would remember. I mean, what are they looking for? oh, a singing telegram was delivered to the office while I was there.

Many folks must have been fabricating their reports to the apartment shop company.

Not that I am cynical or anything, but . . .

About the only shops I have ever had questioned were ones where there was a bunch of stuff wrong and the report reflected that. I think back to one fast food where there were handwritten signs taped to the customer side of the cash register, the manager was doing kitchen duty without hair restraint (and the hair was just hanging in unwashed strands) and without gloves as she handled food. One of those deals where I nibbled at the fries because they were fresh out of the hot grease so likely sterile, drank the beverage for which I had been given an empty cup and a paper wrapped straw, and looked at the sandwich to make sure it was assembled appropriately before wadding it up back into the bag for disposal because I had no intention of eating it. The store denied that any handwritten signs were present--my notes included the exact text of the signs, though there was no place for that information in the report. The store denied that the manager was there during the time of my visit. Not a problem, I could give a description of the cast that was on her arm down to her hand and its original green color, the shaggy edges of it around her hand and the blackness of those shredded edges, mentioning that it would have been difficult to even get a glove over it. My notes also conveyed the snotty nature and content of her personal comments to and about her staff that could be heard in the dining area where I sat. None of that stuff was there room for in the report, but it was gladly shared with the MSP when they questioned my report. I have never seen that woman at that restaurant since.

My shop notes will always note specific oddities and frequently things that are not so odd just to put me 'back in the situation' when writing the report.

I have discovered that if you do a route shop, that is 2 or more apartment shops at once, they will let you ask for the target so that you can complete them in one trip. Just send an email to the scheduler and tell them the shops you would like to do and how many or tell them the area and they will try to find you shops.

I too have had a bad experience with a major company doing apartment shops. I called and called and finally reached my target. That took me most of the morning. Then I drove to the city the apartment was in. I did the tour and spoke with the target. They refused to pay me for the shop because one of my answers on where I heard about it was, "I saw it in a magazine." When she asked was it a big or little magazine, I said "big." The scheduler said that the magazine they advertise in was a little magazine. Therefore, I did not follow instructions. No pay! I always wondered what they did with all of the information they got from my report. I'm sure they used it!!

I got a $5 reduction in one of my recent assignments because I stated that I had found them "on line" instead of "driving by".

But...in a previous assignment, I called ~20 times with out ever reaching a target and just got a "thanks" from the schedulers.

Next time? I will demand a compensation for time spent on the phone.