I too have done this Metro PCS shop, and done it in less than 15 minutes.

If your time in & time out show that you spent less than 15 minutes in the store, it simply asks for clarification. It says something like, “FLAG Please indicate how you completed this shop in less than 15 minutes.”

The couple of times this happened, I explained the interaction and why it took the time it did. Never once have I had a shop rejected for that.

Did you respond to the rejection email and ask someone about this?

@Megs7521 wrote:

I too have done this Metro PCS shop, and done it in less than 15 minutes.

If your time in & time out show that you spent less than 15 minutes in the store, it simply asks for clarification. It says something like, “FLAG Please indicate how you completed this shop in less than 15 minutes.”

The couple of times this happened, I explained the interaction and why it took the time it did. Never once have I had a shop rejected for that.

Did you respond to the rejection email and ask someone about this?

It was awhile ago, when I first starting Mystery Shopping. The shop may have been rejected by one editor. Some of us have had bad experiences with a few editors. I didn't want another shop being rejected. I only do these shops if I have another shop in the area. The report really needs to be changed. The question leaves it open to be rejected by any editor.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/03/2018 08:43PM by johnb974.

About the phone shop and the 15 minutes. I did one yesterday. only took 13 minutes. The report asked why I didn't spend at least 15 minutes. I explained why, and the shop was accepted. I think it can depend on who's reviewing the shop.

My problem is the redundancy in the shop format. They ask you six questions yes or no, and then they want you to reiterate those same questions. Lotta times there’s not anything to add to it.

@KimmieFred wrote:

My problem is the redundancy in the shop format. They ask you six questions yes or no, and then they want you to reiterate those same questions. Lotta times there’s not anything to add to it.

I had one shop where they wanted me to respond to every "yes/ no" question. Last time I did that shop.

I really can't believe that John B. has difficulty staying inside of a cell phone store for 15 minutes. I've done so many shops that are required to stay at the location for a minimum of 30 minutes that its easy to pass the time. Here's a hint John- act like a real customer by browsing, take interest in the product by asking questions (particularly ones that you already know the answers to). Heck, even take interest in the salesman if necessary on what they personally think of the product.

Because of shoppers like you that like to be unethical by lying on reports, I honestly hope that MSCs will go directly to video work as a result (where it's impossible to lie).

Isn't that the truth!

@Rousseau wrote:

There's one shop out there that requires one to spend 30 minutes on site. Problem is that store is only about 10 x 15 feet and nearly never has more than one customer in it. So one lingers, and lingers, looking at the same unwanted trinket over-and-over, pondering it, after the clerk has several times sold, resold, and attempted to close the sale...

@Eric in Tampa wrote:

I really can't believe that John B. has difficulty staying inside of a cell phone store for 15 minutes. I've done so many shops that are required to stay at the location for a minimum of 30 minutes that its easy to pass the time. Here's a hint John- act like a real customer by browsing, take interest in the product by asking questions (particularly ones that you already know the answers to). Heck, even take interest in the salesman if necessary on what they personally think of the product.

Because of shoppers like you that like to be unethical by lying on reports, I honestly hope that MSCs will go directly to video work as a result (where it's impossible to lie).

Because there is no reason to spend 5 more minutes in the store. It adds nothing to the report. It's a waste of time. I think this is a difference between men and women on shopping. Women like to take their time and look around. Men like to get the job done and be on our way.

That's not very sexist at all!

Not all women. I usually have a plan when I shop.

@mnleona wrote:

Not all women. I usually have a plan when I shop.

Men have a plan too. Get in there and out as quickly as you can.

That was an incredibly sexist statement and incredibly wrong.

It is well-established in this thread you are nothing more than a cheat when it comes to mystery shopping. Despite thinking you do, you do not know what the client or MSC wants and don't have the right to make up the rules as you go along. You signed away the right when you signed contracts with each mystery shopping company. I am sure I speak for more than myself when saying it would be a joy to see one or more of the companies actually sue you for breach of contract. Unfortunately, they will most likely just deactivate you.

Now here is the richest part of this whole thread. Someone who has claimed to be a Christian, to the point of beating others over the head with it, has admitted to lying and cheating.

yeah, I'm done with bank shops too. I have done so many of them all over TN, VA that I know they all know me when I arrive. All different kinds of banks too, In fact the bank I use now is because of a shop I did for a new account, and wound up actually opening it. Bad move.

How long does it really take for a server to get a doggie bag? One minute, maybe two. What about the 25 minutes it took for your server to deliver your cold hamburger when a hamburger should take 7-9 minutes at the most. Maybe, if the restaurants ”Staffed” correctly, this would not happen. It seems that no one ever talks about a bigger quarterly bonus the restaurant manager makes by Skimping” on servers, bus help, bartenders and kitchen help. There is definitely more than one side to this story. I should know, I was a restaurant manager for a large corporate chain. The quarterly bonus makes up for the low salaries that are paid to salaried members of the management team. Please don’t think that this doesn't happen. It happens all of the time in the restaurant industry and in the hotel industry. In fact, it happens all of the time in the whole retail sector.

@johnb974 wrote:

@Eric in Tampa wrote:

I really can't believe that John B. has difficulty staying inside of a cell phone store for 15 minutes. I've done so many shops that are required to stay at the location for a minimum of 30 minutes that its easy to pass the time. Here's a hint John- act like a real customer by browsing, take interest in the product by asking questions (particularly ones that you already know the answers to). Heck, even take interest in the salesman if necessary on what they personally think of the product.

Because of shoppers like you that like to be unethical by lying on reports, I honestly hope that MSCs will go directly to video work as a result (where it's impossible to lie).

Because there is no reason to spend 5 more minutes in the store. It adds nothing to the report. It's a waste of time. I think this is a difference between men and women on shopping. Women like to take their time and look around. Men like to get the job done and be on our way.

I cannot take umbrage. I am chuckling about a cute cartoon that depicts male and female trajectories through a store. It is just a cartoon, and just a generalizing joke. We can laugh at ourselves because there is a grain of truth in it for some people. The other reason is that I have been in stores where the entire presentation took less than minutes, including showing me all phones, describing plans, and answering my questions. It does not happen all the time. I just know from experience that some shops take longer than others. It would be nice if shoppers had permission or leeway to leave after completing their shops. Would most of us understand, or know from previous experience, that some shops will take longer than others? (I believe that we would, and we would not have to strain to fill time or be miffed if the shop duration exceeds our little expectations. We would just do our shops. As long as we had upper limits for shop times, we could do additional shops if desired.)

But what about you? What say you, forum members? Could you be trusted to complete your shops according to the unfolding of each shop and meet requirements, even if some shops are considerably shorter or longer than others? Is there room for naturalness in the mystery shopping world?

On the other hand, I do not see a link between spending five more minutes in a store and being male or female. It is possible that both male and female mystery shoppers have an actual interest in the products and services for themselves or others. Some people might be waiting for rain to subside. Somebody might be just a few minutes too early for a nearby lunch shop. Why not wait in the store until the restaurant opens?

"But what about you? What say you, forum members? Could you be trusted to complete your shops according to the unfolding of each shop and meet requirements, even if some shops are considerably shorter or longer than others? Is there room for naturalness in the mystery shopping world?"

That you ask these questions begs the question from us, do you mystery shop? We sign on to little individual contracts for each shop. Either we are willing to uphold our contractual obligation or not. If not, the simple solution is to cancel the assignment. After many long routes I know things do not always go according to plan. Most of my apartment shops take no longer than 30 minutes. It does not mean I haven't had some drag out to 60 and even 90 minutes. On the other side of the coin there have been some taking as little as ten minutes. It is part and parcel of the job.

Eric brought up a great point we video shoppers already know, if all shops went to video there would be no question. Video shoppers may not be visible on camera, but every word we speak is heard. There is no doubt if we have completed a shop per specifications.

How hard is it to walk around the perimeter of a store? Or you can just mention that you have to take a water pill for your heart and it wouldn't be so bad if they didn't make you have to go to the bathroom every 20 to 30 minutes. Come on people we are supposed to be able to make things up on the spot and weave them into a convincing story.

I always go into defense mode when I see those kinds of guidelines. I start thinking, what do I do if I'm poking around the perimeter of the store looking for the restroom, and someone asks if I need help, or specifically if I'm looking for the restroom? Or if the staff asks if I'd like to take the rest of my meal home, or if, as they sometimes do, they automatically bring a box for a meal I've hardly touched? It would raise suspicion not to take it home; they might assume you hate the food and immediately be on aware.

@johnb974 wrote:

I did a shop for an electronics store today. The guidelines said to check the restroom, but do not ask where the restroom was. That may tip them off as to you being a mystery shopper. How does asking where is the restroom tip them off? Only mystery shoppers use the restroom?
Another shop I looked at, for a restaurant. The guide lines said not to ask for doggie bag. (do not ask to take home left overs). This could tip them off to you being a mystery shopper. Again, only mystery shoppers take home leftovers?

One fast food shop I had said, only order a small drink and do not accept any upsell. I would think a fast food business would want you to buy anything large. Every other fast food shop I've done has encouraged you to buy a large of anything. It's more money for them. I just find all of this strange from some shops. Personal opinion, whoever writes some of these shops appears to want total control over the shopper.

@LisaSTL:

1. Video does not lie, and it does not tell truth. One video shop shows one perspective. That perspective is open to comparison, interpretation, etc. This is because another video of the same situation might show additional or contradictory information. This is no different than asking a hundred eyewitnesses who had different eye views of one event to report orally on what happened. The likely outcome is that there will not be 100% agreement. There may not be enough information to form the beginnings of an insight into the truth.

In another example, your video of living space might show decor themes and palettes in fewer words than it would take to describe them in a narrative. This is efficient and potentially pleasant. But your video cannot show the effects of design elements in the lives of residents.

Does a video show enough information to convict someone? Or, is more information needed?


2. I now perform only a few mystery shops. After I met my personal mystery shopping goals, I turned my attention to other activities. Overall, my life is better because there is time for my interests. Thanks for asking.

@johnb974 wrote:

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.

I've done at least 20 metropcs shops (which sounds like this one) There is absolutely no way to spend 15 mins if there's no wait. That being said, I've never had my rejected from being less than 15 mins

The moderator deleted my previous post with the excuse it was a personal attack. Pointing out someone is talking about unrelated subjects which proves they have no knowledge of the actual subject is not a personal attack. Had I called the poster a moron, which I did not, that would have been an attack. Apparently the moderator finds it more appropriate to allow posts with misinformation.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/10/2018 06:08PM by LisaSTL.

Hi LisaSTL,

While I have been performing mystery shops, for several companies, for awhile now, I recently signed up for this forum site. Like you, I have also had one of the very few posts that I wrote here, deleted by a moderator. It very much reminds me of the forums I used to visit, back in the day, years ago. Those forums initially had substantial participation, boasting several pages of daily posts from members, seven days per week, many of which would be replied upon every few seconds, all day long. But, when last I checked in on them, about 1-2 years ago, two of the sites were still up but the forums had been removed and the third still had its forums but it appeared to only receive member posts a few times per month. The primary reason I stopped visiting and posting years ago, was due to the over-censorship of some hyper-sensitive moderators who routinely deleted posts and/or banned members, placing them in "time-outs". It was disappointing to see the end results of forums that once were flourishing with high participation of its members' information exchanges and socializing, but not unexpected in the least. That day, I shared these views on that one, barely-still-functioning forum. Out of curiosity, a few days later, I checked on that last post and, ironically, the apparent sole moderator had censored (deleted) it.

As obvious by the occasional automatic messages that I receive from this forum site encouraging 'us' to visit, they want traffic on the site because traffic generates ad revenue. But the irony is that forum owners seem to over-police these sites, perpetuating one of the most significant deterrents for members to use them.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/10/2018 03:55PM by DT.

As to the restroom question, if you ask, "DO you have a restroom?" and not, "WHERE is the restroom?" you have complied with the instruction as stated in this thread. And if the employee attempts or offers to show you, you can say, "I can see that you/the store is busy. Please just point it out and I can get there myself." This might not fly in any given case but it does seem to answer all the difficulties.

@eyelove2shop wrote:

@johnb974 wrote:

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.

I've done at least 20 metropcs shops (which sounds like this one) There is absolutely no way to spend 15 mins if there's no wait. That being said, I've never had my rejected from being less than 15 mins

It may be that a time requirement is a response to some shoppers doing the barest minimum to get in and out quickly. If so, when you take less time but show that you understood the shop requirements and did your best to provide a complete report, the time it took you would become unimportant. I have done a few under-timed assignments and never had a problem explaining it to the editor.