"Double dipping" on a shop?

Yes. One shop for "entree"; a different MSC, same location, "dessert only". I wanted to make sure
no one questioned the two discrete shops! Different employees, different time, etc. An employee
DID say something to me, and I just replied, well, those baked goodies were on my mind...so I
caved in and came back to get one! Made a joke of it, "my willpower faded minute by minute! And
it's all your fault, for baking a fresh batch! It smells just too good!"

It was an unusual situation.

cease

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.

Normally I'd say that double dipping isn't an issue if you are shopping two different companies and two different types of shops, but in this case I think it would be wrong to do it. If you were shopping a Macy's and you took a Lush shop (they are in Macy's) I don't think that would be an issue (or a brand name or a Market Place), but in this case it really would be wrong to do it, I think. I use to do a lot of apartment shops and I've seen two for the same place, the same agent and no I wouldn't risk that.

Just my opinion.

I thought this thread was interesting because this morning this almost happened to me.

In my case, I am scheduled to audit a store tomorrow and I have some other stops along the way to make the whole thing profitable.

This morning I got a chance to also do a mystery shop in exactly the same store that I am scheduled to audit.

Sadly the mystery shop had to be done today and the audit isn't until tomorrow. It's 25 miles away so the mystery shop didn't pay enough by itself, and they don't bonus or provide gas money, so it didn't work out.

I think in this case it would not be truly double dipping since it is two completely different scenarios, they would have just happened to be in the same store. I would have done the mystery shop first, then go back in and do the audit.

But I am curious, does anyone see anything wrong with this?

Misanthrope Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hm. Well, I already "double-dipped" on this back
> in April, and it *seems* like my report was
> accepted. I'll wait and see if I get my money
> before doing it again.
>
> EDIT: That actually reminds me of something: when
> your shop is graded by an MSC, does that mean it's
> been accepted by the client?

I was always told that not getting caught does not make something right. I would keep away from this as the scenerio is exactly the same. You are accepting reimbursement from two different places when you only paid once which to me is the wrong thing to do as well. Perhaps with permission and offering to get reimbursed half from one company and half from the other but I doubt most would go that far. And will you report the second reimbursement to the IRS since you got reimbursed already? If the reports are exactly the same I would think it would not be two different vendors as I would think the (let's say coke vendor) would want to throw in some questions specific to the machines they use.

Love that movie, I even named one of my cats Pywacket.

LJ Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
........
>
> When in doubt, I suggest applying "The Bell, The
> Book and the Candle" practice. I won't bore those
> of you who are familiar with it by explaining it
> here, and those who have never heard of it can
> probably Google it.

LOL Boutique. That's the second reference to that movie so far. I've never heard of it. I was referring to an ethics test by the Josephson Institute.

ETA: I'm going to have to look for the movie now.

There are two types of people in this world: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/18/2014 05:49AM by LJ.

I would check with the MSC's (and get it in writing that it is an okay thing to do). As others have said, do not reveal the other MSC to each of them. It could be possible that this is totally fine (as in the case of competitor or vendor or tobacco/alcohol compliance shops) as long as two separate receipts. A bowling alley could have one MSC do the customer service part and the vendor (such as snacks, alcohol, credit card, etc.) being checked with another MSC. The idea here is that it is safer to be upfront and honest.

Shopping across Indiana but mostly around Indianapolis.

I got an okay to do two shops for the same msc at the same location, but I asked first and was granted permission in writing. Being that it was so far away made sense to me, but I checked anyway. All is good.

I have done a vehicle service and a vehicle sales at the same dealership for the same Mystery Shop Co. with their knowledge and with no problem. I just went into the showroom whiled waiting for my car.

I received a shop for a wireless provider, with a certain scenario. Then, lo and behold, I had
another shop for the same location but a different scenario. There was a two-day window.
I contacted the scheduler and told her of the situation and she very kindly cancelled the other.
I don't think I would have been able to do both.

Here's what I was hoping to hear someone talk about: Say I have a shop an an airport and the MSC pays for my parking. At the same time, I have a parking shop and the other MSC also pays for my parking. I only paid for parking once, but I get paid twice. What do you think?

Mystery Shopper since 1998; Author of Make Money Mystery Shopping available on Amazon in the Kindle Store.

LisaSTL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> After seeing the mangled pizza shop go with a half
> dozen MSCs, often concurrently, it crossed my mind
> the client probably thinks they are getting an
> entirely different shopper pool. Clients often
> don't understand we are ICs and how it actually
> works.

I think the pizza shop knows exactly what they are doing. Reviewing the posts on this issue it appears the quality of the picture more often than not is not adequate in the eye of the beholder. The shoppers that posted bought themselves a mutilated cold pizza. The pizza joint got themselves a free report.

Like the Swedish furniture company it takes a while for the "buzz" to reach the shoppers and the shoppers avoid the shops.

Still like PT Barnum said, "There is a shopper (sucker I think is the term Barnum used) born every minute. The Pizza rip off and Swedish furniture shop makes victims of new shoppers as, unfortunately, not all newbies find the forum in time. They take a Swedish furniture shop and pizza shops like an innocent sheep to an unpleasant end. They go quietly into the night painting mystery shopping with one broad brush thinking all shops are scams and rip offs.

Piled Hip Deep, PHD Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Still like PT Barnum said, "There is a shopper
> (sucker I think is the term Barnum used) born
> every minute. The Pizza rip off and Swedish

Barnum never said that. Google it.

Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.

Click here to login

"Double dipping" on a shop?

Create an Account or Log In

Official List of Mystery Shopping Companies

Mystery Shopper Magazine