apartment impossible

I am trying to move up the MS food chain so I took an apartment shop. I think the instructions are kind of goofy. I have to keep calling and trying to get a certain person and make some brief comment if I don't get the target. How long can this go on? My target hasn't answered the phone yet. Plus I've got a relatively short time window.

I have a distinctive voice and am thinking of trying an accent next time to disguise myself. (jk - I'm sure I would laugh.)

I doubt anyone can help.

Create an Account or Log In

Membership is free. Simply choose your username, type in your email address, and choose a password. You immediately get full access to the forum.

More About Apartment Mystery Shopping

I don't like targeted shops for that reason either, lucy. I always feel like the client is trying to put someone out of a job. That role is not for me!

I give it 3 times and then turn it over to the scheduler, as what to do next.

If they tell you to make "endless calls," this is a huge waste of your time and I would drop the company.

An alternative is to have someone else call and ask for the target since I'm guessing this is the MSC who refuses to provide the target's schedule. Normally I will ask a male friend to make that call so if there is any suspicion about a shopper it might throw them off.

As to targeted shops and trying to put someone out of a job, it is certainly possible there have been issues with a leasing agent. More often than not they are targeted just so each agent gets shopped an equal number of times. I have completed video shops for other companies who have let me shop "anyone" because it is the first visit to the complex for that round and it doesn't matter who we start with. Subsequent shops will then become targeted to spread the fun around

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.

Learn the guidelines as well as whether the scheduler is communicative. One requires 3-5 calls a day for 3 or so days; another requires 4 calls over 2 days, and another requires 2 a day for a specified time period. It is not only in a shopper's best interest to complete the assignment, it's also in the best interest of the MSC to get it completed asap. Communicate with the scheduler. If you hit a brick wall with the scheduler, you may want to rethink accepting another.

I like apartment shops and don't shy away from targets, though can't dispute that a no target is sometimes easier. I have only had one assignment where the target absolutely would not be reached, regardless of many tried and true techniques. I was paid a fee, similar to a fee for a closed location.

I usually try to call about 3 or more (if I have time) times per day. The problem is if you have to go the apartment on the same day before dark, you're making lots of calls in the morning. I hang up sometimes, say I have the wrong number, ask if they have apartment available (and say thank you and hang up). Make sure you're not getting a call center. After 3 days, I email the scheduler because probably I need an extension by that time. They always give you the extension and say you can ask for the target.

I like doing apartments, but lately I've found some other shops here in town that are easier and pay more.

Sometimes you're assigned to shop the manager, who doesn't answer the phone so it can be impossible to get them. In this case, they will often give you permission to ask for them.

I never visit the same day as the call since my days are usually planned well in advance. Once the target is reached I get an appointment that works with my schedule.

I had a targeted shop for the manager. I made several calls and the person that answers the phone never gives her name. I ask who(m) I am speaking to, and she says, "Who are you?" I give a variation of my first name and she finally gives her name. I end the call, because it is not the target.

I call back two days later, after emailing the scheduler. Same person answers the phone, and I ask for the manager by name. She asks, "What is your name and the name of your company?" I tell her that I am looking for an apartment.

"Did you call the other day? Well I can help you."

I tell her that I prefer to speak to the manager. She refuses and insists that I speak only to her. I end the call at that point.

Another round of emails and hopefully the watchdog is off for the day.

I call a third day and this time a man answers, never gives his name. I ask for the manager and she is off for the day. The man states he can help me, so I shop him. After all of his questions, he finally gives his name, and it turns out, that he is the owner.

I shop the apartment and write a very long, detailed description of what occurred with the watchdog, knowing that the owner would be reading the report. Hope he enjoyed it. I still wonder if they answer the phone without giving their name.

On two different occasions, I placed calls for target managers and strongly suspected that the person that I spoke with was a "live in" posing as the target. I could not prove that, and then submitted that section of my report. Ensuing appointments with the actual targets were odd whereas the actual target managers did not remember our conversations and sounded completely different from the individuals on the phone. I have been trained to only report the facts............not the little hairs that stand up on my back when I smell a rat.

medowynd Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I still wonder
> if they answer the phone without giving their
> name.

You should have a friend call there & see!

Practitioner of the Nerdly Arts.

How to get off the phone when it is not the target who answered..........Pretend the Kid just got into something bad, you need to rush off the phone.

If you have problems getting your target, if there is a watchdog situation happening, then have a friend call, while the friend has the watchdonoccupiedid then you call, the target should answer, just don't be in the same room as your friend when you make your call.

I recently had an apartment shop, I had an appointment and a Young woman attempted to take the appointment for the target telling me that it was her job to handle all new prospective tenants.
What she didn't know is that it was my job to put what I heard and observed in my report.

What the women were doing was testing me, if I insisted on seeing the target then I might be a MS, but if I didn't insist then I probably wasn't the MS.

What MSC's don't realize is employee's of companies also MS and can alert others when they might be up for a shop audit, or even notice when they or their company are up for a shop.
I really think the tactic the two women were using was to figure out if i was a MS. The presentation was perfect, the attitude was perfect. The personality was Perfect. I never get perfection from a target.
'

I never do targeted apartment shops for precisely these reasons. I just find them too much hassle.

I will reread the instructions for the 90th time. The call is recorded which increases the complication. Plus I have to shop the same day as making the call, before 4 PM and 4 hours after reaching the target on the phone. You can do the math. Oh, plus they don't want you to use a cell phone to call.

EPMS wants the shops completed the same day as the call and the calls recorded. For some targets I have not been able to reach them until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. At that point I am certainly not going to drive 15 or 20 miles only to turn around and drive back home in rush hour traffic, even for their video shops. Instead I make an appointment for another day in order to add on some other shops or personal errands. I also use my cell phone exclusively for recorded calls.

You may want to check and see if those are actual requirements or preferences. It seems every time I actually speak with a scheduler they mention the call and visit the same day and I always tell them it won't be possible.

pony123lucy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I will reread the instructions for the 90th time.
> The call is recorded which increases the
> complication. Plus I have to shop the same day as
> making the call, before 4 PM and 4 hours after
> reaching the target on the phone. You can do the
> math. Oh, plus they don't want you to use a cell
> phone to call.

That's why I only call in the mornings. I have never had a problem with the MSC extending the deadline if I can't get the target in the time they have given me. And I use a cell phone to call because I never stay home all morning.

I did one once where I was supposed to visit 4 hours after the call. I didn't see that part of the instructions and visited two hours after the call. I had another one where I was supposed to make an appointment and not be late. I got lost and got there an hour after the appointment. I was paid for both of these and also for every other apartment shop I have done.

I always get the ones where they want me to be late for the appointment. For me that is really doable

I just had a targeted shop where the MSC gave the dates the target worked. I dutifully called on those days and never reached the target. Every afternoon I emailed the scheduler to let her know what was happening with the shop. Every morning I got an extension.

I was finally allowed to ask for the target by name. Guess what, she was not there that day, but would be there the following day. I called, the same person answered and told me the target was not there. When I reminded her she had told me the previous day the target would be there, she very sheepishly told me the target "no longer works here"!!!!!

The shop got cancelled and I wasted a ton of time.

It's why I dislike targeted shops. I do them anyway, apartment shops usually pay quite well.

I too have a distinctive voice; old smoker's voice with a slight German accent. I use the coughing spell, have to get off the phone excuse, I have my male roommate call, I get my dogs to bark and occasionally I just hang up. These shops are doable, just can be a royal pain at times.

Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.

Click here to login

apartment impossible

Create an Account or Log In

Official List of Mystery Shopping Companies

Mystery Shopper Magazine