IPSOS smartphone & tablet shops; are they really easier?

I'm doing a tablet shop for IPSOS this week, and am starting to regret it (speaking of regretting taking a shop, the topic of another thread....). Comments here indicate these are a lot easier than they were for the previous MSC. But I'm beginning to doubt they could be easy enough for $12! As it is, this one's across town, so I picked up another, higher-paying shop to do along the way. But I'm still thinking this will be at least a 1-hour shop, between the time in store, especially if you end up waiting the 10 minutes for assistance (although that's reasonable), and the report. I figure around 15 minutes with the sales rep, so if I have to wait, there's almost half an hour right there. I have read the shop guidelines and survey, but hard to tell without having done one of they're all that much easier.... I did a tablet shop for the previous MSC, and it was cake compared to the cellphone shop, but it had a higher fee than this one, too.

Hoping beyond hope I can do this in 45 minutes or less, all told.... How long does it take those of you who do these? Thanks!

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

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Birdie the total time should not exceed 1hr to 1.5 hrs per shop unless you get stuck during a lunch hour rush.

@Pennies4Shops wrote:

Birdie the total time should not exceed 1hr to 1.5 hrs per shop unless you get stuck during a lunch hour rush.

An hour I could just about live with, although not happily, but no way am I going to spend 1.5 hours on a $12 shop!

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/2016 10:41PM by BirdyC.

Sorry but sometimes its hard to locate a associate or the associate hands you a wait slip. Worst case scenario could be 1.5 hours to 2 hours to finish these shops, that's a worse case scenario only.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/2016 10:50PM by Pennies4Shops.

I have done several of their cell phone shops. In each case, I was in and out in 20 minutes or less. The report is check boxes and takes about 10 minutes. Far easier than the previous MSC which did these. I would gladly do more. Is it possible to end up in a location which is crowded? Sure. But that is true of almost every type of mystery shop.

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

I think the tablet shop might even be a little easier and/or faster than the cellphone one. I'm going to go early in the day and hopefully beat the mad rush. This shop is in a department store, not a specialty electronics store, so I expect the associates to not know much--which should make the shop go a little faster. I don't anticipate getting a technophile who wants to tell me every feature of the thing!

Really, the reason I took this shop is that I need to buy a tablet at some point, so I figured this is a research trip for me, too.

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

@myst4au wrote:

I have done several of their cell phone shops. In each case, I was in and out in 20 minutes or less. The report is check boxes and takes about 10 minutes. Far easier than the previous MSC which did these. I would gladly do more. Is it possible to end up in a location which is crowded? Sure. But that is true of almost every type of mystery shop.

Does the same thing go for the tablet shops? Those are closer to me than the cell phone ones.

"All we want are the facts." Sgt. Joe Friday

I haven't managed to get them to assign a tablet shop to me, but I have applying for them and assume that the form will be comparable to the smart phone report since the descriptions and descriptions are very similar.

@goldilox wrote:

@myst4au wrote:

I have done several of their cell phone shops. In each case, I was in and out in 20 minutes or less. The report is check boxes and takes about 10 minutes. Far easier than the previous MSC which did these. I would gladly do more. Is it possible to end up in a location which is crowded? Sure. But that is true of almost every type of mystery shop.

Does the same thing go for the tablet shops? Those are closer to me than the cell phone ones.

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

I recently picked up 10 cellphone shops and lost sleep the night before I started them. I had done cell shops back when I first started (5 years ago) and they always took at least an hour because I would have to wait before I got service. I was very surprised and pleased when I did the 10 shops last week that I had to spend no more than about 20 minutes in the store. 5 years ago the cells were still a kind of new tech to many people whereas today they are not. I was able to do 6 of the cell shops on Sat. afternoon and the other 4 on Sunday afternoon. No more than 20 minutes for each store and the reports were a breeze. Those 10 shops would have required a whole lot more time 5 years ago.

I did a handful of these in last few weeks (all still pending verification). Both types of shops were painless and wish I'd picked more up when they were available in my area. The report only took a few min. to complete. The tricky part for me was remembering and being able to spell the names of all the products. One store had 7 different tablets for the low-end market that I'd never heard of, as well as 1 to 3 models from each of the regular competitors.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/2016 03:17PM by wwin.

In my market, these places are always busy. I get there as early as possible, beat the rush.

I wonder if the report is a pain. In the past they have been, that's why I don't do them as often as I did.

Cheers!

I have the same issue. I suggest you take pictures of the tags so you can remember which models were discussed. Everybody take pictures, so you won't reveal yourself as the shopper. If asked you can say you want to research the item on the internet, show it to a friend or spouse, etc, etc.

Birdie how long did you have to wait before a associate helped you? How long was the presentation plus your time to fill out the paperwork? I was curious how well things went and how much time the entire process took.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/2016 12:07AM by Pennies4Shops.

I did a cell phone shop and a tablet shop for this company and was done within 20 minutes. I was the only one in the store for the cell phone shop. And the tablet shop was at a department store in the electronics department.

I, too, was the only person in the department, got waited on immediately, and was done in about 10 or 12 minutes. The store only carried three brands, and only two to four models of each, so I didn't have much to remember. The salesperson recommended the shopped brand first, so I didn't have to prompt for it. Only thing is he knew just about nothing about the feature set, and, despite my prompts, told me just about nothing about them. Report took about 15 minutes (and that only 'cuz I had to transfer the photo from my phone and upload it.

I can now confirm what others say: The report on this is a zillion times more streamlined and easier than that of the other MSC that had them. It's not confusing, it's pretty logical, and there's no narrative. This $12 was far easier than the $14 shop I had picked up to do on the way. I should've skipped that one and just done the tablet shop!

Now, of course, I'll have to wait for validation, and I hope it won't get kicked back to me because the guy knew nothing.

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

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IPSOS smartphone & tablet shops; are they really easier?

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