I did a grocery shop the other day and while waiting to use the restroom, I saw copies of shopper reports posted on a bulletin board. It was hard to miss since the board was affixed to the wall next to the bathroom. Not only that, I recognized a copy of a list containing questions which shoppers are supposed to ask employees (this list was included in the shop guidelines). At that moment, I felt a sudden urge to to put a bag over my head and hide. Anyway, I checked out the restroom and finished the shop, but I didn't ask any of the questions that I was supposed to ask, and I won't be doing these shops again. I felt betrayed! I also wonder if my report will be on the bulletin board.

I wonder what MSC doing these shops?

A company (restaurant) I worked for 15 years ago had mystery shoppers every week. We were told what they were required to do and told what day they were coming and to be aware and treat everyone like a shopper and if we thought a certain person was one, to tell the manager to be on the look out. The reports we received were posted in the break room.
So it is very common. But sucks for us shoppers who are told to be "discreet" but are sometimes required to ask or do the most unusual requirements that,min my opinion, can give us away pretty easily.
In fact, one company I shop for requires you to get the managers name (at a restaurant) but always states that the managers do not wear name tags so you must ask. I always ask the cashier when I'm paying my bill but act as though "I think I know him/her. What's her name?" But every time I ask, it's like a light bulb goes off and all of a sudden I get special treatment. It's hard to be casual when you're not really supposed to talk to the manager but required to get their name, it's not posted and no name tag. So far my reports have all been paid, but I find it ridiculous.

What's the point of having mystery shoppers and paying to MSC for mystery shopping services if management tells employees when shoppers are coming? It seems like a waste of money.

Store Manager:

"Okay guys! We are likely going to have a mystery shopper today! You'll know them because they STOP in all departments and ask the pre-scripted questions!

Let's be on our toes and when the shopper leaves, everyone act like your normal selves!

Really Plusha! It makes no sense to me at all. Why bother with mystery shoppers if you're going to do that and tell employees exactly what the shopper will be asking. How stupid is that?

There's a couple of places around here which have at least one employee registered as a mystery shopper. The employee then keeps an eye on the job boards and sees exactly when shops will be done at their locations and she lets the manager know. This way they know that a certain day during a certain meal period someone will be in shopping them.

Years ago, I worked for a large Canadian department store. (Eatons; it's gone now ) Part of our customer service training involved mystery shoppers. Each and every sales associate would be shopped once a month, and there were certificates on the wall near the break room for anyone who earn the Gold Standard. It was an effective tool, really, since it used consistently nationwide.

I did not mention the MSC because these are locally owned grocery stores. It makes no sense to me for companies to pay for mystery shops when employees are made aware of when they will be shopped, etc. Defeats the purpose, don't you think? Also, I don't understand why scenarios are not changed on a monthly basis. Having the same ridiculous scenario month after month is dead giveaway for shoppers, in my opinion. I haven't been "made" as a shopper yet, at least I do not think so. Now that I know that reports are posted for all to see at these grocery stores, I refuse to do the shops. It's not worth the $25 reimbursement for a few groceries. Everything in this store is organic, so it's expensive and you don't get much for $25 anyway. I forgot to mention in my original post that I had three of these grocery store shops in one day. I noticed the reports on the wall in the second store, so I had one more store to shop that day. I almost bailed on the last one, but I just couldn't do so since I made a commitment to do all three.

FYI: Stop and Shop, Food Emporium, A&P, Pathmark-all have shops reports posted in public areas.

National Amusements theaters notifies their managers of impending mystery shops.

Are you going to keep mystery shopping? I think posting reports is common. I've seen them posted as well.
I know they are not always posted because a friend said they were told the results of the mystery shop. But how am I going to know which employers post the results?
I agree that doing the same scenarios over and over can be ridiculous and I agree that telling employees when the mystery shopper is coming is defeating the purpose.

rsglenn Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I did not mention the MSC because these are
> locally owned grocery stores. It makes no sense
> to me for companies to pay for mystery shops when
> employees are made aware of when they will be
> shopped, etc. Defeats the purpose, don't you
> think? Also, I don't understand why scenarios are
> not changed on a monthly basis. Having the same
> ridiculous scenario month after month is dead
> giveaway for shoppers, in my opinion. I haven't
> been "made" as a shopper yet, at least I do not
> think so. Now that I know that reports are posted
> for all to see at these grocery stores, I refuse
> to do the shops. It's not worth the $25
> reimbursement for a few groceries. Everything in
> this store is organic, so it's expensive and you
> don't get much for $25 anyway. I forgot to
> mention in my original post that I had three of
> these grocery store shops in one day. I noticed
> the reports on the wall in the second store, so I
> had one more store to shop that day. I almost
> bailed on the last one, but I just couldn't do so
> since I made a commitment to do all three.

I shop some high end grocery stores in resort areas. At a couple I'm pretty sure they know. I rarely used the suggested questions.

On one, which was in a Jewish neighborhood so I thought it should be an easy question for anyone working in the store, I asked if being labeled "certified kosher" meant it was GMO-free. He didn't know the answer but looked it up for me on his smart phone.

A few minutes later he was standing around with a few other stock persons and I heard him tell them about his new-found knowledge. I was not sure if he was telling them about crossing paths with a mystery shopper or if he was genuinely sharing info about products with his coworkers.

Do clients share when they identify mystery shoppers? It might convince the MSCs to change around their scenarios if they realized shoppers are frequently being made. Or to rotate shoppers more frequently.

I see the positives of publicly sharing reports. The average customer might feel good knowing someone is holding the business to its standards. But it's silly if the scenario is obvious and the employees are only on top of their game when a shopper is present.

MS .. It's not the MSC's that write the shops .. it's the clients. I work with one MSC where the report for one client is reasonable as to the content, and the report for another client focuses on integrity questions and the shopper's opinion of the brand. There is another company for which I have stopped doing shops, whose questions on the survey HAVE to lead to positive responses (are the tables clean OR BEING CLEANED).

Most MSC account execs feel that they have to yes the clients all the time or they will lose the account, but don't realize that they need to be the experts and guide the clients as to what should be on the questionnaires.

I was at a Lowes this afternoon and had to use the restroom and I stared at the bulletin board but did not see anything there about us. Whew!! (it might be posted in the lunch room for all we know, eh?)

Lowe's posts mystery shop reviews in the break room At least they did six years ago when I worked for them. However, we did not see the whole report just the final summary.

Plusha Wrote:
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> What's the point of having mystery shoppers and
> paying to MSC for mystery shopping services if
> management tells employees when shoppers are
> coming? It seems like a waste of money.


When used properly mystery shopping can be a excellent part of a training and rewards system for employees.


Anything can be misused and thus a waste of money. However, firsthand experience with a former employer showed me how well it can motivate employees to follow standards and requirements of the business.

One of the electronic chains that I regularly shop has a giant bulletin board behind the register area that says
"Secret shopper scores" and " best secret shopper report of the month"
The person with the best score each month gets some sort of award.

I am almost positive some companies know the day a mystery shopper will be shopping. I have gone to several Big Box stores when I am not on a job - just shopping for my own pleasure - and I do not get the same service. I think they must know at least what week they will be shopped.

Upper management makes the decision to have mystery shoppers and bases lower managements pay on the results of the reports so lower management tells the employees how to get good reports so lower management can get more money.

First of all, theodoramarsigl..take a hike! Get lost.
On a shop the other day, the manager opened the door for me and everything went REALLY well. She knew I was coming. I asked her about it and she said she received an email.

How do you like that?

It just occurred to me the other side of this story.

A mystery shop is like a test.

When you were in school, would you have wanted to have a test sprung on you without warning?

Maybe we should think of ourselves as the test administrators and the bizarre questions we ask as being what they are being required to learn so we can see if they learned it or not.

It may be meant to test them on little-used skills to make sure they still have them.

"Where is the milk?" is asked all the time. "If milk has sat out on the counter for three hours is it still safe to drink?" is a question they are not likely to be asked, but perhaps ought to know the answer to.

A few years back when I first really got into mystery shopping, I was at a Menard's (another chain of hardware stores in the midwest, about as big as Lowe's and HD). Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a note on the wall (might have been near the main service desk) congratulating the store for getting high marks (perfect score) on a Mystery Shop....little did I know some time later, I would be doing a shop at the store myself...as I recall it wasn't perfect but wasn't the worst neither.

If they pay me I'll ask them what time they clocked in, what they had for lunch and what color drawers they're wearing. And I'll ask it in a way that seems completely normal.

even if it's a girl? bra color too?

but yeah, i'll do/ask pretty much anything on a shop if they pay enough.

and make it so they'll have fun answering.

Yes, I have continued shopping. I just do not perform shops for this particular client. These shops are scheduled through KSS. Sometimes the shops are taken right away and other times they are not. I receive emails from the scheduler now and then offering a $5 bonus. The shopper is required to evaluate 10 departments, which includes parking lot, entryway, carts, checkout and bagging.
prince Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Are you going to keep mystery shopping? I think
> posting reports is common. I've seen them posted
> as well.
> I know they are not always posted because a friend
> said they were told the results of the mystery
> shop. But how am I going to know which employers
> post the results?
> I agree that doing the same scenarios over and
> over can be ridiculous and I agree that telling
> employees when the mystery shopper is coming is
> defeating the purpose.
>
> rsglenn Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I did not mention the MSC because these are
> > locally owned grocery stores. It makes no
> sense
> > to me for companies to pay for mystery shops
> when
> > employees are made aware of when they will be
> > shopped, etc. Defeats the purpose, don't you
> > think? Also, I don't understand why scenarios
> are
> > not changed on a monthly basis. Having the
> same
> > ridiculous scenario month after month is dead
> > giveaway for shoppers, in my opinion. I
> haven't
> > been "made" as a shopper yet, at least I do not
> > think so. Now that I know that reports are
> posted
> > for all to see at these grocery stores, I
> refuse
> > to do the shops. It's not worth the $25
> > reimbursement for a few groceries. Everything
> in
> > this store is organic, so it's expensive and
> you
> > don't get much for $25 anyway. I forgot to
> > mention in my original post that I had three of
> > these grocery store shops in one day. I
> noticed
> > the reports on the wall in the second store, so
> I
> > had one more store to shop that day. I almost
> > bailed on the last one, but I just couldn't do
> so
> > since I made a commitment to do all three.

I do not understand grocery store shops where you shop ten departments. I personally think they should assign you ten different shops and split the fee amongst them. That way the $25 shop now shows as $2.50 per shop that you are really doing and would make people think twice about these shops. Remembering 10 names, descriptions, interactions, questions is tough and if anything goes wrong with any one of them, you risk the shop being rejected.

Why should for instance this grocery store chain, whom schedulers have sent me 30 emails a day about begging me to take them, feel they can pay so low for the information they request. Even if the MSO takes 50% of the pay for themselves, realistically I think for all they demand, this is to much. This is 1.5 hours of what they would pay their average general manager and when you incorporate all the hours the MSO, editors and shopper spend to provide this data, it is the same cost ratio...

Seattleshop425 - I agree with your analysis. The fee for grocery store shops I have seen are not enough for me to get out of bed for. The grocery store I am speaking about is a co-op, offering mostly organic food - the fee is $10 and the reimbursement is $25. They do not carry store or national brands -- you won't find Campbell's soup or Kraft cheese. I did not get much for $25.

Speaking which I saw a grocery store chain on a site I've done a competing store shop on which was one department, checkout, and thats it....for a good fee plus reimbursement.....the new grocery store chain is the same fee/small reimbursement but for more departments.....not touching that one until they bonus it out if at all (as there were no stores near me for the shop).

The shop I am referring to requires evaluation of the espresso department. Funny (but annoying) thing is there is no espresso department, unless they are referring to a couple of pump style coffee pots sitting on a table near the bakery or deli departments. In one of the stores, the "espresso department" was sitting on a table near the doors. I looked and looked and looked for the espresso department in this store, but did not see the table until checkout. I had to think fast on my feet while checking out to come up with a question about the coffee. Since I was not allowed to ask an open-ended question, I asked the cashier which blend was used. Of course, he did not know and commented that he was a cashier and not responsible for making the coffee. I didn't appreciate his better than you are attitude and snide remarks. He did not receive positive remarks in the report either.

I did three of these shops in one day and the client questioned each one of them concerning the "espresso department." Apparently, the client thought there were espresso machines in the stores. In my email to the editor, I described in detail the type of coffee pots used, where they were located within the store, etc. In the last email to the editor, I said that I was becoming annoyed because of all of the questions about the coffee and suggested that the client visit his stores to verify the espresso department situation. All of my reports were accepted and I got paid.