Johnb, be glad you did bring it up. Otherwise you never would have known about the possible repercussions.

Nsdq, we all don't record everything and have to be careful of what we do record because of the legal consequences.

You may find it funny, the rest of us don't. Make sure you let us know when you go to jail. Maybe people with shipping shops can send you cigarettes.

@Nsdq160th2 wrote:

why don't u record bank shops? I record every freakin thing! everything!!!!!!!!!!!

I have my limits on what I will record. Every site I've worked for, dealing with banks, warn you up front, not to record anything.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/2015 03:30AM by johnb974.

@Nsdq160th2 wrote:

tape it, listen to it.....BURN IT! LOL

That would be one way to do it.

@AlexG wrote:

When I'm in a one party consent state, I'll tape for my personal records as long as guidelines don't prohibit it.

Don't ever use them in the reports though - just have them to fall back on if I've forgotten an important detail.

Also for timing crucial shops I use them. But only in one party consent states. If I ever am in a two party state, I forget my audio record even exists.

One reason I brought it up, I had one site I did apartment shops for. They lied when they told me what I did or did not say during the tour. How would they know, what's said on the apartment tour? I have since deactivated my account with them. Also many people on here, warned not to do business with them.

That company takes FOREVER to pay out - I don't think you're missing out on much.

If there was a dispute I don't think I would submit the tape to the MSC. I just use them for my own personal reference.

Side note regarding recording shops, I had a shop this week (I am in a one party consent state) where the instructions stated clearly that you were not allowed to bring your phone into the location or your beeper or your shop would be declined. I am so glad I remembered to leave my beeper in the car!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/2015 04:53AM by Mbrookes.

I don't know what's funnier, they think people don't carry their phones everywhere or that you have a beeper

Truth be told, I was ok leaving my phone in the car, but I just could't do the same with my beeper.

If you're doing a cell phone shop, many of them don't want you to bring in your own cell phone. I can understand that. They want you to look like a NEW customer or a serious customer. Hard to do that, when you already have your cell phone on you.

"Beeper" really ? The instructions are THAT old?

I haven't had a pager since ... geez, the 80's ?

@AlexG wrote:

That company takes FOREVER to pay out - I don't think you're missing out on much.

If there was a dispute I don't think I would submit the tape to the MSC. I just use them for my own personal reference.

I would never give them a copy. But it does show them to be liars.

Some states will allow it and some don't. Also YOU CAN NOT do it on bank shops. I once had a situation when I carried around a recorder and the play lock came off. It started to play the recordings I had saved. Could you imagine if that happens on a shop? Be very careful. I no longer use it.

There is one shop here, they advised you to turn on your cell phone, place it face down on the table, and record. This was for a pizza place.

I had a car shop once where the salesman was driving over 100mph on an open interstate and bragging about it. When I reported it, he denied it. I sent in the audio recording of the entire visit, with the timings noted. I got paid. And yes, it was in a single party consent state.

@Mbrookes wrote:

Side note regarding recording shops, I had a shop this week (I am in a one party consent state) where the instructions stated clearly that you were not allowed to bring your phone into the location or your beeper or your shop would be declined. I am so glad I remembered to leave my beeper in the car!

What is a beeper?

@johnb974 wrote:

One reason I brought it up, I had one site I did apartment shops for. They lied when they told me what I did or did not say during the tour. How would they know, what's said on the apartment tour? I have since deactivated my account with them. Also many people on here, warned not to do business with them.

You don't need to keep repeating the same thing three times. Maybe your brain has been reprogrammed to the rewind and playback mode. You have already stated that you deactivated yourself with that particular MSC. Time to forget about it and move on to the next company.

Beepers (pagers) are still being used by medical staff (including nurses). See the reasons below:

Cell phone signals don’t necessarily reach the bowels of big concrete buildings like hospitals. Moreover, during emergencies like earthquakes, cell phone service can get overloaded. Pagers, it turns out, are far less prone to such technical problems. In fact, hospitals still cite their comparative reliability as their reason for continuing to use the technology. After all, doctors can’t afford missing important calls. Patient lives are at stake.

Also, never, never, never, record inside a casino! You do not want to meet the folks who will be able to track you if you do so!

walesmanven, that's true. Never record anything, where money is being moved around.

Use your cell phone with a wired headset if anyone calls you on it tell them tell them it plays back a looped recording reminding you that not everyone is out to get you and to breath normally. How does the joke go? The one about the person that has to be reminded to breath and they carry around a recording of their therapist that just has "breath in pause breath out." I bet with a smartphone and the fitness trackers it can even vary the speed of the recording and the length of the pause.

@LisaSTL wrote:

You may find it funny, the rest of us don't. Make sure you let us know when you go to jail. Maybe people with shipping shops can send you cigarettes.

We only send dim sum on shipping shops. Do they allow chinese food in jail?

John974 - As others have pointed out, California is one of the 14 two-party consent states. I live in another one of them, and work (day job) in yet another. The laws DO NOT apply just to phone calls. When you are inside a store, you are not in a public space, it is private property and you are granted entry. When you are doing an apartment shop, you are also on private property. I am hard pressed to imagine a place where a mystery shop might be done which is deemed a public space. This has been discussed many times in this forum. Furthermore, recording in a two-party consent state is a felony. The police can arrest you, and the District Attorney will then prosecute you in court. Will they? I don't know. But I suspect that hiring a defense attorney to defend yourself in court would cost you far more than all of the mystery shopping fees that you have ever collected. Actually, your own recording is going to convict you. The recording itself will be prima facie evidence that you made a recording without the consent of the other party. You will, IMHO, waste your money hiring an attorney. IMHO, you are headed to jail. It is just a matter of when, not if. Since you haven't been caught yet, STOP! I, for one, am not going to contribute to your legal defense fund.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/2015 01:23AM by myst4au.

Makes sense, except that it is usually illegal. So be careful and discreet.

I know that when I go on my Mortgage shops the instructions are bolded to tell me NOT to take recording equipment in because it is a felony. (paraphrasing)

@johnb974 wrote:

There is one shop here, they advised you to turn on your cell phone, place it face down on the table, and record. This was for a pizza place.

They must want you to be identified. That's the only explanation for that.

I am in a one party consent state and I am very thankful for the recordings that I can go back on to jog my memory. Especially when the report asks for direct quotes.

@frugalmommy wrote:

@johnb974 wrote:

There is one shop here, they advised you to turn on your cell phone, place it face down on the table, and record. This was for a pizza place.

They must want you to be identified. That's the only explanation for that.

Anyone who uses the phones built in app that has a big microphone on the screen is asking for trouble.


I prefer to use an app that hides itself as a notepad app that runs in the background with absolutely no indication that its running. You can turn off the screen. It will accept programmable SMS or text in the working notepad app text key words to turn the camera recording on and off and even has a special "Delete all" panic SMS that you can send the device or type in the notepad app to erase all recordings.
Even the location you store the recordings can be very buried deep in a system directory of your choice.

I think the person who wrote this app lives in a two party consent state and is very paranoid.

This is only for Android:

[www.mobilehiddencamera.com]

For audio recording, the best hidden app is SC Secret recorder:

[minuapp.wordpress.com]

I have tried every app for Android and these are the the two best fully stealth apps for audio and video recording.

I have a shirt with a front pocket that is just the right size that I can set a small smart phone (Galaxy Light) in the pocket and the camera just sits above the top of the pocket. I can record with the front or rear camera. I choose to use the rear as it's higher resolution. This is a backup to my other camera. I can go into a shop with two cameras now. I have the key fob camera to catch anything I need to and the cell phone as a body camera to catch whatever is directly in front of me.

@nunya wrote:

Some states will allow it and some don't. Also YOU CAN NOT do it on bank shops. I once had a situation when I carried around a recorder and the play lock came off. It started to play the recordings I had saved. Could you imagine if that happens on a shop? Be very careful. I no longer use it.

That's a very easy fix. Put a plug in the headphone jack...doesn't have to be connected to anything. All you want to do is deactivate the speaker.