Did the MSC lose both of these clients??? I enjoyed both and got quite a bit of income from them, as well. twould be a shame....

They haven't been posted in my area Jan - Feb - March. Looks like they're gone from that MSC and I haven't seen them show up elsewhere. Has anyone seen these clients being shopped by another MSC?

Last I asked Lowes directly and they said they weren't planning on changing MSC's but it's also possible they didn't know they were changing at the time.

I haven't seen them anywhere, either. I really liked both, but especially JoAnn's!

I haven't seen them either. I live at Lowe's on a normal basis, so it was nice to turn my usual visits into money makers. I always looked at the fee as money off whatever I was buying.

These two shops were most profitable for me with this company..missin' them much!

Payless & Michael's are not there either ; ( !!

I loved JoAnns also, got lots of my yarn doing them. All I see are gas stations, BBB, Boston Mkt & KMart. What a shame to lose them. Hope they show up elsewhere.

Oh yeah ~ Payless shoes, too! Those often got to big bonus rates in my area and were *so* easy, and kinda fun. The reimbursement was enough to get some socks paid for along the way.

The JoAnn's, I got doggie-themed fabrics and other items for some craft projects I have in mind, that I haven't gotten around to yet, but still. : )

I haven't seen BBB in my area for some time ~ except for one location about 60 miles away.

I've still got the K-Marts, but those are tedious due to the difficulty of finding the required number of associates in what I consider a reasonable length of time, so I only do those when the pay goes way up.

The DQ's were among my favorites, too, and often got up there in pay. The one right at the end of my street, I would sometimes do even at lower pay just because I liked eating there, and they are only a few blocks away!

Nope, was wondering if Lowe's is anywhere too...I did just see Michaels though.....

I discussed in length in an older thread about the potential reasoning behind them continuing to shed clients.

In summary, the company that bought them, is a medical waste manganment company. The only reason they bought them was for some type of database technology they had that they wanted to use for their waste management. This business adds only a few million dollars in revenue to their quarterly numbers, and they do over a billion in revenue, so it is negligible for them.

Which means as contracts expire, they may be choosing to not renew them and are winding down their operations since they probably don't want to be in the mystery shopping business...

Well, if they do shed all these clients, I just hope I can find the MSC who gets them! And I hope they pay starts out better. Although I did like the way these shops would sometimes be very well-bonused through the original MSC!

As I can see how that may be true of them not renewing contracts...why would they pick up a new shop then? I got a grand email introducing this new shop and how exciting of an opportunity it was. Willowby -something

DQ? I liked doing the treat shops. :-/

I really liked the bonused shops.

There are many shops for this particular msc that I no longer see. I miss the Aeropostale shops. I'd say 50% of my wardrobe is from that store

All I see on the job board for this msc are gas stations.

SecretAgentMom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As I can see how that may be true of them not
> renewing contracts...why would they pick up a new
> shop then? I got a grand email introducing this
> new shop and how exciting of an opportunity it
> was. Willowby -something


Owner could very easily be a friend of someone within the company, and who knows what tax credits etc they get for doing it, then can show a business loss on it. Multitude of reasons.

I'll ask Lowes later today if they have a new msc again

geauxcj, DQ is one of my fav's too, but they don't offer those in the winter, even in FL. Hopefully they're not gone too!!

I think the Aero is "seasonal".

Phoebe70 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There are many shops for this particular msc that
> I no longer see. I miss the Aeropostale shops.
> I'd say 50% of my wardrobe is from that store
>
> All I see on the job board for this msc are gas
> stations.

I'm glad this question was asked as I was also wondering where they went here in Georgia. I too only see the gas station and Kmart shops. I do hope when they show up that whoever finds them will share a hint!

The sexy young one went to a phone app. I know many do not like the phone apps but they are there.

In sunny California there are Jo Ann Fabrics on the boards of one MSC. No fee, just reimbursement and I don't sew.

Forgive me for the last post - it is Anna's Linens - is there a difference?

Lowes customer care just emailed me back. Here is their response:


Thank you for your e-mail. The Mystery Shopper program is administered through XXXX.

In case you are wondering about the XXXX. Same company.

Maybe they are just getting a 3 month break, or something...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/2013 04:54AM by IGOOgleit.

I miss those two as well. There are two JoAnn's fairly near to me, and at least 4 Lowe's within a reasonable driving distance.

I had a long route in North Carolina on Thursday [500 miles, 13 hours, 5 banks]. I stopped and met a friend who works for Lowes and he said they're getting shopped twice a month.

I just did two BBB, both bonus'ed for February-one was almost $30. Have not seen Lowe's. Aero is seasonal, towards end of year.

I had one of the schedulers tell me that the report/form was being revamped. She insisted that Lowes's was not going away. Have not heard anything about JoAnn Fabrics.

I was wondering where Lowes and Joann was as well. There are plenty of DQ shops, and there was a Lowes the end of January. No Joann, and that was always easy money even if I did think it had a dumb question or two to ask.

Personally I would love to mystery shop Lowe's. I don't know how much the shop fee is with Lowe's but they have a great nursery and I need some plants and in this one case I would consider the reimbursement and any fee involved a subsidy towards getting my yard looking great.

The starting pay for Lowe's is only $4. Seriously.

However, the pay has gone up relatively quickly in my area, and I do them once they're $15 or higher. I've had some that pay in the $25-$35 range, and one (or was it two?) were $50.

The shop is fairly easy, if your Lowe's is well-staffed. I've had some experiences where it took FOREVER to find the required number of people. You have to have three greet interactions, just pass an associate in an aisle and report if they greeted you or not. Then observe someone else's check-out. In my Lowe's, the books and magazines are near the checkout area, so it's fairly easy to just browse some literature while you eavesdrop. The sale skills interaction can take a little bit of time depending on what it is you're supposed to be buying and whether or not you have a particularly talkative sales person. Then your own checkout experience. Sometimes I'm in and out in 30 minutes or slightly under, sometimes it's closer to 45 when I can't even find an associate to walk past to see if they say "Hi". And sometimes there's NO ONE in the required sales skills area and you have to wait some prescribed amount of time before you can go somewhere to find someone. They do allow you to page someone after a certain amount of time, too, using one of those buttons in the store where you press for service.

One time I lingered at the assigned scenario item while an associate was working down the aisle. We were in plain view of each other. But they didn't acknowledge me the entire prescribed waiting time. The second the time was up, I approached to get it over with.

But, one of my Lowe's has a couple of really, really neat sales people, too. : )

It helps to go during their busy time.