Are the Best Buy audits as painful as they look?

Speaking from my own experience, I would have to answer with a qualified yes. Like anything else, they get easier once you get over the learning curve. My first one required several hours of studying the guidelines, and then I wasn't able to complete the audit in one day and had to come back the next day to finish. Now I have to pace myself to make the audit last more than 6 hours.

My experience is much like what mystery2me wrote. The first time, I misunderstood the Telxon login and had a terrible time. I didn't get done by five and had to return on another day. Now that I have the right login, it goes a lot smoother. It usually takes around six hours.

However, the second month, they were still working out the kinks and made changes to the guidelines at the last minute and didn't even have the app you report on updated until after I did the audit, so then I got multiple emails from the editor to clarify my report after I submitted it. I had tried to contact the scheduler for days before the audit to get the updated paperwork from him. I finally tracked him down on this forum and he said the reason he didn't reply to my emails was because he didn't have an answer for me. I don't know how I was expected to do the audit without updated forms and guidelines, so I asked that it be put off a day or at least until they got the information together. He didn't like that idea, either. So, I ended up doing the audit, following the new guidelines that I got the morning of the audit and using the form on the app that was not updated, making chages as I went. Then, I got multiple emails from an editor, who was more confused about the guidelines than I was. Every time she contacted me, my report score would go down, even though her last question was about something I had already answered in the original report.

The upshot is, I would not sign up to do one on the first day of the program for that month. Give them some time to make sure the paperwork and app are updated. You'll save yourself some headaches.

I did get paid in a timely manner.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/17/2015 02:02PM by christinereed.

Hello Shoppers I am in need of Shoppers that are willing to do Best Buy Audits. If you live in the following states listed below please email me at mysteryshoppersneeded@yahoo.com

States Looking For Best Buy Auditors:

WI, MO, MI, KS, IN,ID, IA, NE

You can also sign up at: [www.gfkmysteryshops.com]

I've done these for 2 months now and I agree - figure on about 6 hours. Typical pay is $85-$95. Once you get used to them, they are not bad at all. I usually ask the employee to log in for me because the logins for the gun never work.

Here is what to do about the changes in the guidelines....First, do not stress out about the Rover app not having exactly the same things on the new guideliness. Because nearly everything is the same, just a couple of differences. Print out the new guidelines, look at the very first section and it will tell you what the changes are. Print the questionnaire, too, so you have the updated questions for those few changes. Fill in the Rover app just as it is, even though one or two small areas are not on the new questionnaire. That way your Rover app audit is complete and correct. Take notes and photos of the two or so changes on the new questionnaire to get those answers done. You can log right into Sassie on your device while in Best Buy, using their free Wi-Fi. Go into your audit there, and only put those new answers on the audit on Sassie. Save the report and log out. Yes, that report will seem incomplete, because all the other answers are on Rover. Now when you submit your Rover audit, all those answers will sync to Sassie and populate the fields accordingly. The questions that were not on Rover, were already done on Sassie, so they will be there when the editor checks the report. If you just want to wait for their email request instead, that is fine, but you have to hound GFK to change your report score due to the problems with the two different platforms (Sassie vs. Rover). The editor does not see Rover. This is coding glitch, NOT an auditor error and no deductions should be made on the score. Only 3 editors at that editing company understand this. The others are jerks and have been getting our emails explaining this and keep writing the same requests, via email to the auditors about these same questions that are part of the on-going glitches from month to month. So everyone was asked in December to submit a photo of the POG, even though we did, but the glitch that month LOST the photo when syncing to Sassie. The next month, a certain question number on Rover asked for an answer that was non-numerical, but Sassie had the same question coded for a numerical answer for something else. So that area never synced because the two fields for each platform were conflicting, therefore, Sassie shows a blank for that answer. Those editors asked everyone to provide the answer, as if you never answered it in the first place. We know you cannot submit a Rover audit with unanswered questions, which means this was another glitch. Again, some editors responded that they were aware of the problem and did not deduct. The rest did and ignored the issue. Each month has a new glitch, it seems and older ones finally get fixed. As far as the telxon goes, do not waste time if the login does not work. Sometimes BB does not remember to have the new password and login registerd. So just have an employee log in for you. I noticed new logins do not work for about 4 days, sometimes longer, as all the complaints come in about the auditors not able to sign in. I also save a lot of time doing everything I need to do in one department, before going on to the next and so on.

I have only done one so far. I had a bad experience with the manager of the store and it took me two days. I found out from an employee that I was given a telzon gun that did not work properly on purpose so the store employees would have the ones that would actually scan. I had to enter EVERY SKU number by hand the first day. The second day (after speaking to that employee) I knew which telzon not to get and (other than the manager being a jerk) it went much smoother. I can see how it would get easier as you did more of them I just don't know that I will go back to that location.

I am new to mystery shopping,started 4/24/15, i am enjoying it. I came across auditing shops but have never performed one. What advice do you have for someone that is thinking of trying it? Thank you.

I am doing my first 2 audits next week. I will let you know how they go, for a new guy.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/2015 09:06PM by johns.

I have been doing LOTS of these - sometimes nearly 200 miles away (with awesome bonuses - duh). The first month was really hard. I did 4 stores, and each one took 12-15 hours over 2 days. Now they're a breeze. I know the staff, they know me, and we all work well together. I enjoy them.

I am getting really frustrated with the app vs sassie issues. Every time they contact you, your score goes down - yet the reason they are contacting you is because the app drops information when syncing to sassie.

I also got a 6 on one of my audits for absolutely no reason. No comments, no contact, nothing. I am sick of seeing my average score decreasing because of their own technical problems.

It sounds like a good thing they do the drug test BEFORE you are allowed to do the project.

You may fail the drug test after doing too many of them.

After hearing all the negativity re: GFK I will not shop them. There are plenty of other MSCs that don't give one the hassle that GFK is apparently notorious for. I have signed up with over a hundred MSCs and have no prob getting plenty of nice paying shops. Some of this may be because of my remote location, but no matter. I'm grateful that I can be picky.

As a long time shopper, I would recommend that you do easy ones at first. I have been doing mystery shops since 2002 and would not choose an audit, even now.
Sometimes that challenge will be over your head. I am not criticizing here just recommending because you asked.
Best wishes to you. Try easy before challenging audits. I really do not like them. They take too long and you are not necesarrily paid well (sorry this is not spelled well).

@gbarnes wrote:

As a long time shopper, I would recommend that you do easy ones at first. I have been doing mystery shops since 2002 and would not choose an audit, even now.
Sometimes that challenge will be over your head. I am not criticizing here just recommending because you asked.
Best wishes to you. Try easy before challenging audits. I really do not like them. They take too long and you are not necesarrily paid well (sorry this is not spelled well).

Depending on the MSC and the audit, it can be fun and well paying. The tax company audit season was easy, quick and well paying. The cookie place in the mall audit was easy as well, once I learned how to hit the buttons to get the photos of the oven cycles of each item.

Not all audits are created equal. I personally want no part of the Best Buy audits. I enjoy the Blue & White cell phone store audits. I do select gas station audits (and just - to my surprise - accepted a route of Green and White gas station audits). I enjoy many convenience store audits, and in the past used to do some grocery store audits for the leading supermarket chain in this area. For me, it depends on how long the audit takes and how much it pays. If the audit is expected to take 30 minutes or less, I will seriously consider it. The Best Buy audits are required to take at least 5 hours and can take 2 days and I am happy that other people take them when they get highly bonused, but not me.

@gbarnes wrote:

As a long time shopper, I would recommend that you do easy ones at first. I have been doing mystery shops since 2002 and would not choose an audit, even now.
Sometimes that challenge will be over your head. I am not criticizing here just recommending because you asked.
Best wishes to you. Try easy before challenging audits. I really do not like them. They take too long and you are not necesarrily paid well (sorry this is not spelled well).

The msc is making more of an effort to communicate with auditors and make sure they have the information that they need before the audit, but there are still technical difficulties with syncing the report from the mobile app to the website. Hopefully, they get these worked out.

I self-assigned up to prequalify last week… The job board listing said nothing about the audits needing to be done Monday-to-Friday, but the instructions with the pre-qualification assignment did. I immediately contacted the scheduler to cancel. A couple hours later, got a "shop accepted" email. I replied to the email, explaining why I needed to cancel. (I am not available for these during the week, and would not have signed up had that been described on the job board.)

This morning, I got a shop reminder. I replied to it, explaining how I had cancelled within minutes upon learning about the weekday requirement. The email came back as "out of office." I am wondering if my the first two emails went to an unchecked mail box. Not sure at this point, but someone somewhere is going to think I am a flake.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/07/2015 12:27PM by heartlandcanuck.

Things learned along the way through a Big Blue audit. The Telzon password on one set of instructions was not correct. Another sheet showed there should have been a '4' on the end. I thought that would be the end of asking an employee to log me in every time it cycled off. WRONG! On about the 8th try, I changed the user-name from vendor#### to Vendor#### and it worked fine the rest of the day. I still have not gotten an answer as to whether that Login info is loaded by each store or fed from corporate to all stores simultaneously, so it might not work in your store, but no more chasing down an employee every time the gun had to be reset.

When entering the 10 items for Downstocking, sometimes you get interupted or the scanner won't read and you lose count. Hit "NEXT" like you are going to print and it lists the items. If you have 11, you can select one and remove it. If there are less than 10, hit "BACK" and add another. I mentioned this to an employee and she did not know it, but was glad to find out. I guess she couldn't hold a Telzon, a tablet, and count on her fingers at the same time, either.

I have needed to go back a second day on 2 audits. Both were over 50 miles from home. Those were both a losing proposition. I don't think there is a "learning curve" unless you do several every month. There are only 3 stores within 55 miles of me and I am competing with at least 2 other auditors so it is 3 months between sometimes. The guidelines change more often than that.

Why is it after doing everything, the mobile app still refuses to sync up my audit pages? I did all the restarts and reset