What is supposed to be like that episode of Star Trek The Next Generation where they do the diplomatic talk with metaphors.

@MFJohnston wrote:

It's an account opening inquiry I am specifically not supposed to actually ask about anything. Asking about a money order would risk invalidating the shop.

@spicy1 wrote:

Yikes

I never knew I had so much power, that what happens on my shops could ruin your shops.

@johnb974 wrote:

@spicy1 wrote:

Yikes

I never knew I had so much power, that what happens on my shops could ruin your shops.

It does. One shopper does something they weren't supposed to do, the MSC changes the guidelines and ALL shoppers on that project now have to do something like take 20 time stamped pictures, or get a clear audio recording, or find out the salespersons's cousin's second child's best friend's teacher's middle name. This is how some of the more ridiculous shop requirements come to be.

I know one thing. If I was an MSC owner that followed this forum (there are A LOT) I would spend a few minutes looking through the reports of any shoppers named John whose last name starts with a B.

@TroyHawkins wrote:

@johnb974 wrote:

@spicy1 wrote:

Yikes

I never knew I had so much power, that what happens on my shops could ruin your shops.

It does. One shopper does something they weren't supposed to do, the MSC changes the guidelines and ALL shoppers on that project now have to do something like take 20 time stamped pictures, or get a clear audio recording, or find out the salespersons's cousin's second child's best friend's teacher's middle name. This is how some of the more ridiculous shop requirements come to be.

I agree with you there on some of the ridiculous shop requirements. There's no need to stand around a store for 5 or 10 minutes, when the shop is done. It's a waste of the shopper's and store's time.

By the way, there's NOTHING in the guidelines saying you have to be inside the store. It only ask how long the shop took. If you say less then 15 minutes, your shop is denied. Even if you explain why. So you go wait in your car in front of the shop.

He's playing, right. Somehow he thinks this is funny to mess with people, maybe get to see who agrees. I fell into this trap and responded. I've always been gullible. This is as much of a trap as saying that anyone can mystery shop full-time and that if you are well-connected and not a schmuck you can make $60 an hour.

@spicy1 wrote:

He's playing, right. Somehow he thinks this is funny to mess with people, maybe get to see who agrees. I fell into this trap and responded. I've always been gullible. This is as much of a trap as saying that anyone can mystery shop full-time and that if you are well-connected and not a schmuck you can make $60 an hour.

No, I'm stating the facts on doing a shop with ridiculous guide lines. You just don't agree with how the shop should be done.

The MSC doesn't agree with your understanding of how the shop should be done. Tell them that you are in the store for 5 minutes and in your car for 10 minutes and you know what they will say. Aloooooooooooha. The goodbye Aloha, not the hello. Do you actually believe that what you say you're doing is ok? I don't believe you. You must be laughing so hard right now.

@spicy1 wrote:

The MSC doesn't agree with your understanding of how the shop should be done. Tell them that you are in the store for 5 minutes and in your car for 10 minutes and you know what they will say. Aloooooooooooha. The goodbye Aloha, not the hello. Do you actually believe that what you say you're doing is ok? I don't believe you. You must be laughing so hard right now.

I'm doing what the guidelines say. I was there for 15 minutes. They would agree with me, The shop was done, everyone gets paid.

Doesn't matter how small the store is or if it's a kiosk in the middle of a mall. If you can't manage to spend 15 minutes looking at cell phones, you're not trying. You say it's a ridiculous requirement, but did you ever stop to think that the MSC added it at some point because shoppers were just going in, asking the required questions and leaving without behaving like they were actually shopping for a phone? Hate to say it, but you are part of the reason shoppers have to deal with those "ridiculous" requirements.

@TroyHawkins wrote:

Doesn't matter how small the store is or if it's a kiosk in the middle of a mall. If you can't manage to spend 15 minutes looking at cell phones, you're not trying. You say it's a ridiculous requirement, but did you ever stop to think that the MSC added it at some point because shoppers were just going in, asking the required questions and leaving without behaving like they were actually shopping for a phone? Hate to say it, but you are part of the reason shoppers have to deal with those "ridiculous" requirements.

You don't know the requirements of the shop. The shop is about the sales pitch of the employee. They don't care about the phones, only what the employee tells you about the company service. Spending 15 minutes on a shop that takes 5 or 7 minutes adds nothing to the report. The client got the information they required. Anything beyond that is just a waste. Standing around for 10 minutes makes you look suspicious.
By the way, I met the requirements of the guidelines. No where in the report does it tell you to be inside the store for 15 minutes.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/2018 04:54PM by johnb974.

@johnb974
I would suggest that being inside the store and in your car are different things. The entire reason that there is a time limit in the first place is that some shoppers cut corners on doing the interactions properly and tried to get in and out as quickly as they could. The MSC and client put the minimum time requirement on the shop to ensure that the shopper would not cut corners - to dissuade shoppers from cheating. By leaving before the time has passed, you are flaunting the requirement. (If you don't like the requirement, don't take the shop!!) Every time a shopper flaunts a requirement (especially if s/he brags about it!), the MSC and client have to look for ways to make the shop more fool-proof - which makes life on all of us more difficult.

I, too, have had shops where the minimum time required for the shop was ridiculously high. I stuck around browsing for the required time. Then, in the "notes" section of the report, I made a note to the editor explaining that the minimum time was excessive for anybody who was helped immediately. Sometimes, the MSC takes this to heart and changes the requirements. Sometimes, however, the time requirement is in place because that is the amount of time the typical customer at that shop spends in the store. For instance, if you are looking to purchase a new shirt and have taken the time to walk into the store, you are not going to leave after five minutes - you are actually going to be browsing the shirts and looking through sales racks, etc. By not doing this, you are creating a scenario that does not mimic the typical customer and, therefore, not able to give the client proper feedback as to how the employee interacts with you. Moreover, you are in danger of outing yourself as a shopper.

So, yes, what you are describing cheats the client and the MSC. Moreover, it burns all of us by pushing the MSC to make more obnoxious proofs of visits than they would otherwise want. (Really, the client does not want a selfie of you in front of their store. That is put their to stop cheating!) In this industry, our integrity is everything. If you can't follow the guidelines and feel you can alter the guidelines to your own preferences, you should not be mystery shopping.

I have never seen a customer spend 10 minutes looking at phones in these stores. None of their phones work, they are all dummy phones and there are few of them. Many of the dummy phones are behind a glass counter.These are stores in strip malls. This is not like going to a Verizon or Sprint store. There I will spend time looking around and these shops don't require a time period. I'll stop doing these phones shops if there's an issue. They don't pay enough for me to stand around for 10 minutes.

If it's not worth the time, don't do the shop.

That's the other thing that burns us: If folks cut corners because the shop is not worth the pay and don't get caught, the MSC sees no reason to raise the compensation. Again, that burns all of us.

@johnb974 wrote:

I have never seen a customer spend 10 minutes looking at phones in these stores. None of their phones work, they are all dummy phones and there are few of them. Many of the dummy phones are behind a glass counter.These are stores in strip malls. This is not like going to a Verizon or Sprint store. There I will spend time looking around and these shops don't require a time period. I'll stop doing these phones shops if there's an issue. They don't pay enough for me to stand around for 10 minutes.

@MFJohnston wrote:

If it's not worth the time, don't do the shop.

That's the other thing that burns us: If folks cut corners because the shop is not worth the pay and don't get caught, the MSC sees no reason to raise the compensation. Again, that burns all of us.

@johnb974 wrote:

I have never seen a customer spend 10 minutes looking at phones in these stores. None of their phones work, they are all dummy phones and there are few of them. Many of the dummy phones are behind a glass counter.These are stores in strip malls. This is not like going to a Verizon or Sprint store. There I will spend time looking around and these shops don't require a time period. I'll stop doing these phones shops if there's an issue. They don't pay enough for me to stand around for 10 minutes.

If people are cutting corners (as I'm sure some do) than the MSC needs to rethink how their reports are written. Are there unnecessary steps in the report? Do we really need all this information? I've had shops make their reports much simpler in order to get them taken. I've taken shops at lower pay when the reports were simpler.

@johnb974 wrote:

If people are cutting corners (as I'm sure some do) than the MSC needs to rethink how their reports are written. Are there unnecessary steps in the report? Do we really need all this information? I've had shops make their reports much simpler in order to get them taken. I've taken shops at lower pay when the reports were simpler.

No, MSC's do NOT need to change their reports or requirements because some people take the shops and find them too demanding. Shopper need to accept jobs they are willing to do for the pay offered. If you think a questionnaire or guidelines could be improved, then communicate that with the MSC. Make a decent argument, maybe something gets changed. But if you don't feel the shop requirements are worth your time, don't take the shop. Simple.

I did the shop, met their requirements. There was no requirement for me to be standing inside the store for the full 15 minutes.

@johnb974
You stated that you had to stay on site for 15 minutes. You went to your car before 15 minutes was over. Being in your car and at the location are two different things. That IS cutting a corner.

And, yes, people who are shopping for new cell phones do browse the phones on display - even dummy phones. They will read the stats on the displays. They will look at how pretty the phones are. They will see what the newest Apple product is. They will look at the Android. They will see if there is one one sale.

@spicy1 wrote:

This is as much of a trap as saying that anyone can mystery shop full-time and that if you are well-connected and not a schmuck you can make $60 an hour.

I know a dozen or so who do personally and probably another 20-30 that I have not met personally.

Can you stay in your own little corner of the world and do it? Probably not, it gets much harder usually. But it definitely can be done.

Last weekend except for Easter I sure did about $148 an hour Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri and Sat, but normally, no.

Here is how this shop plays out. You print out the report and what is required. No mention of having to spend 15 minutes in the store. No mention of any time limits. You do the shop and fill out the report, when you started and when you left. The shop only took 10 minutes. Another question pops up, that wasn't part of the report, asking "How did you finish the shop in less then 15 minutes?" I explain, there were no other customers. I get a message back, shop denied. Because I didn't spend 15 minutes in the shop. They don't tell you that until AFTER you finish the shop.

The company is not interested what phones you are offered or what phones you see. They are only interested in the employees offering the data plans and services. Looking at the phones is a waste of time, not required for the report. The company is only interested in customer service, not the phones.

It is lying, cheating, theft, against your contract, unneighborly, ungentlemanly, and punishable by law. and plain ignorant that you are justifying it. I hope you get caught

@spicy1 wrote:

It is lying, cheating, theft, against your contract, unneighborly, ungentlemanly, and punishable by law. and plain ignorant that you are justifying it. I hope you get caught

LOL OH PLEASE. I completed the shop as they requested. They ask me to be there for 15 minutes, I was. No requirement for me to be standing inside the store. I could be outside taking the required picture.

@spicy1 wrote:

It is lying, cheating, theft, against your contract, unneighborly, ungentlemanly, and punishable by law. and plain ignorant that you are justifying it. I hope you get caught

Punishable by law? Which law?

Theft is against the law. Even Martha got caught.
You think lying to get $$ from these companies is not theft? Have you read your contract? Where are you people from?

I hope they make an example out of you two.

@spicy1 wrote:

Theft is against the law. Even Martha got caught.
You think lying to get $$ from these companies is not theft? Have you read your contract? Where are you people from?

Who stole what? From whom? I haven't read the OP's contract, and I doubt you have either, but that's a civil matter if s/he violated it, no? What does where one is from have to do with anything?

And let's not get carried away with the "$$." We all know these cell phone shops pay in the single digits. With a bonus.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/2018 11:51PM by gukka.

@spicy1 wrote:

I hope they make an example out of you two.

Won't be me, spicy: I don't do penny shops.