Remind me not to ever do phone shops, and retail credit card stores

Does anyone have a magic wand, or give me a pinch each time I take on these redundant summaries, and questions. Dragging each question one by one........ repetitive, who thinks of these?????????

I am going to bang my head on my desk. Someone stop me

( lol....

Please help from pushing on the apply icon..... nooooooh don't do it......

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And the newest question on those what is the teenie tiny code on the very bottom corner of the credit card application....

Thanks, I am not alone in the misery, lol. CANADAMOMMY

Repeat after me: "I will never, ever, NEVER take a phone shop, even if it were the last shop type in the world, and if I do, may I be spanked severely!"

I had to do that last month with a particular "pet friendly" cell phone shop.. got sick of the same questions, narratives every other question. I'll try to remember the misery a few months down the road but I'll probably forget. haha

Silver Certified ~ Shopping all of Toronto and beyond

I did exactly one retail credit card shop at a home improvement store, then decided that was enough for me. I felt like I was part of some predatory lending practice. I had to report that the sales associate did not suggest I apply for a new credit card. Those cards often charge 20% interest or more. No thanks, I don't want to be part of that.

I despise phone shops. Yet I still find myself taking one every so often. And the 3 day one I did last week got denied. Maybe that really will be my last.

What do you find so bad about phone shops? I have only done one and am considering doing more. What problems are possible and what should I avoid? Thanks for the info.

Most phone shops are awesome.. There are just some reports that ask you to select your answers and provide a narrative for each section. When do 10 of them it gets annoying after awhile

Silver Certified ~ Shopping all of Toronto and beyond

phone shops are much more energy draining at times though... I believe saving me gas at least. Done medical shops, now those are detailed to the max......

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/2015 04:18AM by ingridjes.

Well, y'all can leave those credit card shops for me. They are easy, fast, and the reports are a snap. And I don't find the credit card interest rates distasteful - most of them offer an extended introductory rate of 0% for at least 6 months, all the way up to 24, especially with the pricing scenarios we're given. Now if you buy something and can't pay it off within that time knowing full well what the interest rate is now and will be then, then you're on your own, but that ain't the credit card's fault.

Phone shops, however, I agree with you there. I haven't done any in years.

But phone shops are such a great way to celebrate obscure holidays! Well.. if you speak Spanish that is...

Somewhere in the Midwest, shopping / auditing full time since 2014. Will use PV-500 for food!

Oh si! Yo le comprendo, y estoy acuerdo.

I've been doing the Medicare phone shops and all was going well until this week. First I had one guy who got pretty defensive and tell me he had some guy call last year who was pretty aggressive and turned out to be a faker (shopper?) and another one where the guy told me he had just gotten into the office and would call me the next day with the info I needed. The calls were being recorded so when the guy called back I had to let it go into my answering machine. When I returned his call he asked me to confirm my home address (a fake one I had made up) and then proceeded to tell me that he had gone to that address that morning and no one by my name lived there. Well, I who kind of pride myself on thinking fast, was struck dumb! I finally get out that there must be some mistake and he says, what mistake? Then I hung up!

So consequently I'm suffering from telephone shop PTSD and have taken yesterday and the weekend off.

I'll gear up and get back at the calls again next week as I have 5 scheduled to do. I try to look at the positive: no need to get dressed as I can do in my jammies while drinking my coffee and no car expenses. I do think they should pay more because although the report isn't difficult the calls still require prep time.

WOw that is the first time I have encountered them saying they actually went by your house. Scary. No thanks.

Why is it scary?

I don't understand the need for an employee to "out" a shopper. That just means that someone else may have to do the shop again. The best thing an employee could do when suspecting a shopper is to just give the best service possible and get a great report.

@ingridjes wrote:

Does anyone have a magic wand, or give me a pinch each time I take on these redundant summaries, and questions. Dragging each question one by one........ repetitive, who thinks of these?????????

I am going to bang my head on my desk. Someone stop me( lol....

Please help from pushing on the apply icon..... nooooooh don't do it......

lol!

I have not done these shops. However, one of my jobs includes research, questionnaires, questions, more questions, still more questions, GAAAAAAH how can there be more #@E$^ questions, and the occasional person who sounds exactly like you do when the questions seem redundant and the survey becomes a bore.

For what it's worth, the questions are carefully crafted and deliberately placed, and this is according to the client specifications.

Are these shops tiresome for you because you have completed so many of them, or do you see/hear anything in the questions which could be expressed differently? Fewer words? Fewer questions? Different flow? Different reporting format? Just curious.

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. - Lao-Tzu

My phone shop story for the day.

Scene: Call an assistance living facility. No planned questions--you are supposed to let them ask all the questions.

Reality: Call and ask for information about the facility. The employee says "I don't really know much or think I can answer your questions. Do you have a certain question I might know?" OH NO!! So I ask a couple of questions and she says she doesn't know. I guess this is why the company is testing their employees.

The good thing is it was a recorded shop. I listened to the recording and it was painful. The dead silence on the line as I waited for her to say anything is horrible.

@ingridjes wrote:

Does anyone have a magic wand, or give me a pinch each time I take on these redundant summaries, and questions. Dragging each question one by one........ repetitive, who thinks of these?????????

I am going to bang my head on my desk. Someone stop me( lol....

Please help from pushing on the apply icon..... nooooooh don't do it......

Personally I have never done a phone shop. Because it is real hard to get any peace and quiet at home. Don't want to be recorded yelling at my stepson to please STFU. I think that would get the shop disallowed.

On another note, if you use windows you can set the scrolling screen saver to NO I will NOT accept the following shops. Have mine set to the blue big box shops from Maritz.

@ingridjes,

I know how to stop doing phone shops!

Just fool around with a certain company until you're not be paid for a few, and that's the end of any phone shop enthusiasm.

I think that the employees at the call centers are trained to just provide the info. requested and not to let on that they suspect you are not a legit caller. The ones to the private companies are different and those people appear to be unpredictable as I found out last week. If they were smart they would handle the call professionally, get a good report and maybe not be on a call list for a while. The guy who went to the "fake" home address - he will likely get reported because that is a big NO-NO unless he has asked and received permission to do so.

Do a shop and have a salesman show up at your house. He now knows your name and address and if he fails the shop.... hmmm no thanks... YES give a fake name and address but still to think they are then going out uninvited for a sales presentation.

@plmccut wrote:

Why is it scary?

I think I saw a thread where someone mentioned there was a web site where one could set up a fake telephone number. I have been doing some phone shops and I keep getting the same guy. With my area code, it's a dead giveaway that I've called before. Can someone give me that website or point me in the right direction for searching for it. I've tried searching "telephone call" and had no luck.

I'm confused about setting up a "fake" number. Would you have to register for a number that isn't in service? If a real number isn't necessary for shop, couldn't you just make one up? I've been known to do that, on the fly, a few times.

I am sorry I was not clear in what I need. My phone number as area code XYZ so if I am calling a call center in say Florida and they ask for my phone number I have to give it to them as they can see it on their call screen. So if I am making say 3 calls a week to the Florida call center, eventually and especially if I get the same person answering, he/she will put it together and realize they are talking to the same person no matter what name I use. I'd like to be able to set up a number to use - is that called VOIP?

VOIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol. It has nothing to do with getting "extra" numbers. If ypou ahve landline service from Comcast, Verizon FIOS, or most other cable companies, then your landline service is provided via VOIP. MagicJet is also a VOIP service, and there are more. No high spped internet access = no VOIP.

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008

As far as I know, I havenot been outed on in-person mystery shops but phone shops are another story. Once I was told I sounded like a robot. Another time I hesitated too much...

google voice free number

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Remind me not to ever do phone shops, and retail credit card stores

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