In the past few months, I find myself shopping more and more valet shops. Sometimes, there's another shop I can do in the area while wait. Other times, I bring my laptop computer and do something else for 30 minutes.

It typically pays $12-$20 for a relatively easy shop. Although I feel a little weird using valet for such a short period of time.

Just curious how other shoppers feel about this kind of shop. Yay or nay?

If it is working for you then go for it! I used to do valet shops, until I accidentally got someone fired. Now I just feel uncomfortable doing them.

I love them. I have been able to combine them with hotel gift shops while parked. Also some are near attractions or places I want to visit so I valet then go about my business. Other times I just take my cross stitch and find an out of the way corner to stitch in for an hour or so.

Liz

@JessicaV1979 wrote:

If it is working for you then go for it! I used to do valet shops, until I accidentally got someone fired. Now I just feel uncomfortable doing them.

How did that happen?

Liz

Apparently the employee who took the $20 fee pocketed the money and gave me an old receipt that he changed the date on. The scheduler kept texting me asking me if I was sure about who took the money. After the third time of me telling her that YES, I WAS SURE (!!) she told me that the hotel was going to terminate him based on my report. He was a cute young kid and I felt awful. I’m not saying that he didn’t deserve to be fired for taking the money, but I’m not comfortable being the one who is responsible for it. So now I only do shops that evaluate customer service, and not cash integrity stuff.

Some story ! I bet it happens more frequently than we think. We went to an Applebee's recently and paid with a Gift Card and also bought another one at the same time. The waiter gave me the 'new' gift card and I asked him did he give me the right one. He said he did. After I left, I got home and checked. The gift card said $0. I went back to the manager and he verified it was zero. He gave me a voucher to use. I haven't seen that employee at the restaurant since.

It does feel weird but it's not unusual. If you need a back story, then just act like you planned to stay all day but you forgot another appointment, a family member is sick, or whatever.

The one thing I find awkward is that I never know how to answer if they ask how long I plan to be there. I never know if I should lie. I usually just shrug and say I don't know. Do people normally know how long they're going to be in a place?

The valet shop I do says in the guidelines to tell them an hour or two then show up and get your car in 30 minutes. The valet may be thinking about the short time frame, but I don't care. It's not my business what they think.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/2019 03:45AM by Aquiest.

My standard story if I need one on any type of parking shop is that I am meeting a friend for lunch/dinner/coffee whatever. If they ask what company I tell them my friend is a client/customer/patient and I am calling them from the lobby to find out what suite to meet them at. If I have to leave early I say when I called they told me they were waiting at a restaurant down the street somewhere and asked me to meet them there.

Greenwhite,



You may want to consider this.
I do 15-30 valet parking shops a month looking for cash integrity issues. I know of more than 100 shoppers who specialize in this work. I have mentored many of them. Most of them work for MSCs that do ONLY cash integrity shops and whose clients want a small cadre of specially trained shoppers to do ALL of their cash integrity shops. Unfortunately, the client in your case apparently was not working with a specialized MSC, since many that do parking valet shops are not routinely looking for integrity issues.

The reason that most of the large parking management companies, and hotels, pay for these shops (usually much more than you were paid) is that shoppers' reports (some including video) have shown that they lose thousands of dollars a month, per location, to organized "diversion" of cash by staff. These are not amateurs. Some methods are very sophisticated. In NYC police recently found a stash of over $40,000 in cash in the apartment of a valet parking supervisor. Many of the valet who worked with him were caught, on video, stealing.

That said, if the client in your case was smart, they would have followed up on your report and ordered a series of video shops so that they had irrefutable evidence to show to both the valet and, if necessary, the union steward. The unions do NOT want to waste money on arbitration hearings in defense of members who are on video stealing cash, so they usually advise the perp to quietly resign and depart.

I guess it’s time to invest in video equipment. I have just been doing valet shops to cover parking while I go around.

You did not get the valet fired. He did that to himself. It is not your fault that he chose to steal from his employer.

@JessicaV1979 wrote:

If it is working for you then go for it! I used to do valet shops, until I accidentally got someone fired. Now I just feel uncomfortable doing them.

1cent,
The use of video in valet parking is currently limited to a small cadre of specially trained shoppers. Unless you are in a large city and already doing a lot of cash integrity valet shops, you might not get any valet video at all.

There are lots of reasons to do video, but I would not invest in the equipment and the video training on the off chance that valet video is in your future.

Where are you located?

Well, I am in NYC. I don't know what counts as "a lot" but I do them when they come up. I also do a fair number of bar integrity each month.

Mystery shopping was one of my first jobs in my early twenties. I am only coming back at it full time this year. I am making decent progress to my $ goals. It's amazing how working at jobs after that, managers were not impressed that I caught the potential for theft in purchase orders and whatnot. I think they thought I was planning to steal? Or I risked taking away one of their perks. Or maybe normal people just don't think the same way and find it generally odd.

@walesmaven wrote:

1cent,
The use of video in valet parking is currently limited to a small cadre of specially trained shoppers. Unless you are in a large city and already doing a lot of cash integrity valet shops, you might not get any valet video at all.

There are lots of reasons to do video, but I would not invest in the equipment and the video training on the off chance that valet video is in your future.

Where are you located?

1cent,
Are the valet shops that you do in NYC cash integrity shops where you have to watch exactly where the cash is placed and also use ethnicity in the descriptions of the attendants? Is your scheduler Chris or Scott? If not you may not be working for the MSC that does video cash integrity shops.

It is definitely not the same company. I don’t expect you to direct me to it. I mean, cheers if you will, but I understand protecting your sources. It is worth a lot just to get a glimpse into the possibilities.

@walesmaven wrote:

1cent,
Are the valet shops that you do in NYC cash integrity shops where you have to watch exactly where the cash is placed and also use ethnicity in the descriptions of the attendants? Is your scheduler Chris or Scott? If not you may not be working for the MSC that does video cash integrity shops.

tcent,
This MSC only recruits IF they are short of experienced shopper to fill the demaind a location. Right now, they are fully "staffed" in NYC.

I find two major problems with valet shops:
1) One has to put out $6-40 for the shop (higher amounts for airport valet shops)
2) pay is usually 6+ weeks after the shop ..

I had one MSC (Alta360) deny a shop two weeks after it was submitted because I went to the wrong valet location (there were two) at a hospital, all this after I confirmed which of the two locations to go to! So... unless they are bonused and simple...valet shops are NOT worth it....

I like your suggestion for an excuse when leaving a valet shop. I'd like to try one but drew a total blank on what I should say when I returned after 30 minutes.

Keep it simple:
The doctor got called away on an emergency.
My friend called to say that he/she could not make it.
My appointment was canceled.
Well, that was a quick interview!
The person I was supposed to see call in sick.

Or.... do not say why. It is really not necessary that the attendant know. Now, if he says something like, "Back so soon?" you might answer, but not otherwise.

@walesmaven wrote:

Keep it simple:
The doctor got called away on an emergency.
My friend called to say that he/she could not make it.
My appointment was canceled.
Well, that was a quick interview!
The person I was supposed to see call in sick.

Or.... do not say why. It is really not necessary that the attendant know. Now, if he says something like, "Back so soon?" you might answer, but not otherwise.

I've been known to use a slightly snobbish tone and say, "I said I was ready for my car, thank you".
That usually shuts down any line of questioning.

lucky,
I always admire you !!!

@dpcowboy54 wrote:

I find two major problems with valet shops:
1) One has to put out $6-40 for the shop (higher amounts for airport valet shops)
2) pay is usually 6+ weeks after the shop ..

I had one MSC (Alta360) deny a shop two weeks after it was submitted because I went to the wrong valet location (there were two) at a hospital, all this after I confirmed which of the two locations to go to! So... unless they are bonused and simple...valet shops are NOT worth it....

The company I do most of my parking jobs for pays the same for a valet shop as any other shop and the report is more involved as is the chance you will get asked questions about where you are going. So even though I do them I fell they should pay a bit more. I have started a list of those places where I find it impossible to meet their standards..one that only allows clients in and insists they need to know which person's office you are going to. I managed to talk my way into that lot but then when I left and I said I did not get a validation and was in a hurry so I could not go back up to get one and did not mind paying, the valet insisted on deciding I went to xxx's office and he was going to put my parking charge on that person's account. I felt so bad that I will not go there again. There are many other lots i can park at. And yes, my company does want to know where the cash goes.

The other parking off my list is a chain of small boutique hotels where evidently the client thinks someone staying there for $450 a night would be happy to do a mystery shop parking so they can save a few dollars on their enormous parking bill. The fee for that shop is $5 because you are saving $35-45 in parking rates.