This job is testing my ethics

I signed up for a job that was a little vague. It was to evaluate a store and buy a certain product. I have done things like this before. So, I got the job, read the instructions, and in bold, there was a big paragraph about the real reason for the assignment was to "bring awareness" of the product. You were required to leave a five star review on the store's website. I looked at the current reviews, of which there were only a few, and they were poor. This was on the ISS platform, so canceling a job will hurt your overall rating. I really was in disbelief.

Has this ever happened to you? Where the terms were a little vague, but nothing alarming, abd then it hits you?

I had another job I cancelled. Take a test and purposely fail. I think there might have been a "cheating" part also. I was not told about any of that before I applied. I like taking tests and figured I would be evaluating operations.

Sometimes our ethics are pushed with this.

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There was another shop like that a few years ago. I think it was for an Amazon review.

It really made me think hard about relying on product reviews to make a purchase.

"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton

There were threads last year or the year before on the testing center evaluations. You had to get caught as part of the shop. i haven't seen those in awhile. I don't think forcing people to write a good review if the product is bad is good business ethics.

@HonnyBrown wrote:

There was another shop like that a few years ago. I think it was for an Amazon review.

It really made me think hard about relying on product reviews to make a purchase.

[splinternews.com]

Apparently there's a cottage industry where people write fake reviews for money.

I canceled a job today on the ISS platform and no points were lost. When I canceled I stated it was due to requirements not in the original job listing.

@Niner wrote:

I signed up for a job that was a little vague. It was to evaluate a store and buy a certain product. I have done things like this before. So, I got the job, read the instructions, and in bold, there was a big paragraph about the real reason for the assignment was to "bring awareness" of the product. You were required to leave a five star review on the store's website. I looked at the current reviews, of which there were only a few, and they were poor. This was on the ISS platform, so canceling a job will hurt your overall rating. I really was in disbelief.

Has this ever happened to you? Where the terms were a little vague, but nothing alarming, abd then it hits you?

I had another job I cancelled. Take a test and purposely fail. I think there might have been a "cheating" part also. I was not told about any of that before I applied. I like taking tests and figured I would be evaluating operations.

Sometimes our ethics are pushed with this.

@tstewart3 wrote:

I canceled a job today on the ISS platform and no points were lost. When I canceled I stated it was due to requirements not in the original job listing.

@Niner wrote:

I signed up for a job that was a little vague. It was to evaluate a store and buy a certain product. I have done things like this before. So, I got the job, read the instructions, and in bold, there was a big paragraph about the real reason for the assignment was to "bring awareness" of the product. You were required to leave a five star review on the store's website. I looked at the current reviews, of which there were only a few, and they were poor. This was on the ISS platform, so canceling a job will hurt your overall rating. I really was in disbelief.

Has this ever happened to you? Where the terms were a little vague, but nothing alarming, abd then it hits you?

I had another job I cancelled. Take a test and purposely fail. I think there might have been a "cheating" part also. I was not told about any of that before I applied. I like taking tests and figured I would be evaluating operations.

Sometimes our ethics are pushed with this.

That's good to hear. I emailed the MSC scheduler and explained why like I explained here.

WOW.

I would have cancelled, too

I could make a fortune (literally) writing theses for college students.

I consider it cheating.

I will edit thesis. I will re-write theses, if the student does the required research.

But I will NOT do the research and write the theses to help someone cheat their way through college!

I don't care how much money I could make!!!!

@Niner wrote:

I signed up for a job that was a little vague. It was to evaluate a store and buy a certain product. I have done things like this before. So, I got the job, read the instructions, and in bold, there was a big paragraph about the real reason for the assignment was to "bring awareness" of the product. You were required to leave a five star review on the store's website. I looked at the current reviews, of which there were only a few, and they were poor. This was on the ISS platform, so canceling a job will hurt your overall rating. I really was in disbelief.

Has this ever happened to you? Where the terms were a little vague, but nothing alarming, abd then it hits you?
.

Yeah I have seen that a few times before. I have seen a version of that most recently from ACE. You give a good report and they send you an e-mail asking you to go to social media and give a good review. That gets not the slightest consideration from me. I need to get paid to do that so get out of town with that ACE! LOL!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/2019 04:26AM by Sobrokeigot2dothis.

It's like when you buy an new vehicle and the sales person tells you to make sure to fill out the survey with all tens. They also say they see all the survey results and they get rewarded for the high scores.
There are areas on the survey where I don't feel a ten is deserved, but they will know what score I give. Since all routine maintenance is covered by the dealership for two years, I feel pressured to give the perfect score so I don't get treated poorly when I get my service done.
I haven't filled out the survey yet and now I get calls and emails daily to remind me to fill it out.

Why give a customer a survey if an honest answer is not really wanted?

I have a whole new opinion now of reviews on Amazon after I saw one of these shops. I put on my BS detector when reading reviews and really pay attention to what the reviewers are not saying. Too bad you can't trust reviews anymore. It is hard enough to shop online, sight unseen, without someone out and out lying to you about it.

I always filter reviews and read the poorest ones. That way I can get honest input and learn what problems buyers have had with the product. Not a coincidence that they always list best or most relevant reviews first.

@sestrahelena wrote:

I always filter reviews and read the poorest ones. That way I can get honest input and learn what problems buyers have had with the product. Not a coincidence that they always list best or most relevant reviews first.

Sooo MEE! I do read the reviews on the product/services before making a purchase. It's better save money than sorry. Sometimes, reviews with long sentences and very detailed story most likely to be suspicious in my part. And that made me read the one star or the 3 star reviews.

There are a few sites I have been on where some of the reviews say something about the reviewer got a promo item or the reviewer does product testing for them. I ignore those but I notice a lot of very short reviews sometimes..."it's great" etc. I consider the short ones and the very long ones to be suspect.

The taking-the-test shop pushed me to my limit also. I originally considered cancelling it but didn't because I made a commitment, but I told the scheduler it went against my beliefs. She talked me into still doing it, but i was sorry afterwards as I couldn't do what they requested as my conscious wouldn't allow me to. I still got paid and received a lower-than-usual score on my evaluation. However, I walked out of that test saying two things: One, never again! That was not worth $30. And two, if those proctors didn't know I was a mystery shopper (due to the silly things they required me to do), then I'm a monkey's uncle!

I only do the test cancellation when it is bonused to $50 which is 60 to 65 CAD pay turns out to be decent and the MSC that runs that shop pays ON time! If not count me out!
It is extremely boring nevertheless it is worth it when bonused. The cheating part is always ackward and it is still easy to cheat with a determined mind. Overall, since I have low morals in regards to this why not? I have done it a few times and it gets easier.

The biggest drawback waiting at 8am with nervous people who paid $300 to do the test. Wonder who is really cheating today and who is having second thoughts about their life knowing they WILL fail.

I did a fail-the-GMAT a dozen years ago. It was like an integrity shop at the bar. I was supposed to flunk it, badly, then see if someone offered me extra time or any other boosts.

When you consider the trend of celebrities sending in ringers to take their precious babies' SATs, I see the need for an integrity audit of some sort. This shop would have only caught solicitation of small-time bribes.

@yoya301 wrote:

It's like when you buy an new vehicle and the sales person tells you to make sure to fill out the survey with all tens. They also say they see all the survey results and they get rewarded for the high scores.
There are areas on the survey where I don't feel a ten is deserved, but they will know what score I give. Since all routine maintenance is covered by the dealership for two years, I feel pressured to give the perfect score so I don't get treated poorly when I get my service done.
I haven't filled out the survey yet and now I get calls and emails daily to remind me to fill it out.

Why give a customer a survey if an honest answer is not really wanted?

Surverys are the most useless things invented for customer service. They don't give you an actual snapshot of what service was received and they're very often only done (just like yelp reviews) when you're extremely angry or extremely delighted and nothing in between. I wouldn't worry about giving 10s when they're not deserved, but just keep in mind that on many of those surveys, if you don't get a perfect score, then it's failing. At my boyfriend's job at a car dealership, they have to average 92% individually to keep their jobs. When I worked at CVS, if you didn't get a 100%, you would get written up. It's just a crappy system.

Shopping the South Jersey Shore

@Niner; as a clarification, the issue is more of a bait and switch. That's a paid promotion with a little bit of evaluating thrown in.

Myself...I would have cancelled and left feedback on their social media site about them offering pay for good reviews. That kind of practice is counter to what MSing offers, since it encourages customers to visit based on deception, instead of focusing on creating positive customer experiences.

For dealerships & service calls (that I did not mystery shop) I always respond with an email or answer a call to say that, for a fee, I would be more than happy to give a full account of my experience. They don't bother me after that.

@SteveSoCal wrote:

@Niner; as a clarification, the issue is more of a bait and switch. That's a paid promotion with a little bit of evaluating thrown in.

Myself...I would have cancelled and left feedback on their social media site about them offering pay for good reviews. That kind of practice is counter to what MSing offers, since it encourages customers to visit based on deception, instead of focusing on creating positive customer experiences.

I've quit law jobs because I would not lie. Pretty funny to think I would lie for a $6 bottle of cleaning wipes.

I won't do the "blatant lie" jobs, but one of the app companies does "buy and try" jobs, and if your feedback meets their criteria they offer to pay an additional fee to post your comments on social media. I have no problem with them cherry-picking, I just don't like being asked to lie.

I have done FA buy and try, and I have given honest feedback, which is just like the honest feedback I give for every shop. This shop said to leave a five star review on the store's website, and if you did not like the product, just leave five stars but don't write anything. That's not the solution.

@Niner wrote:

@HonnyBrown wrote:

There was another shop like that a few years ago. I think it was for an Amazon review.

It really made me think hard about relying on product reviews to make a purchase.

[splinternews.com]

Apparently there's a cottage industry where people write fake reviews for money.

There was a article a few months back in a online business newsletter about Amazon sellers paying people to write a good review about products that they sold. Amazon has since put a stop to it.
Anymore I will read a review from several sites when I am considering buying an expensive item. And I never use Amazon for reviews anymore.

@7star wrote:

There were threads last year or the year before on the testing center evaluations. You had to get caught as part of the shop. i haven't seen those in awhile. I don't think forcing people to write a good review if the product is bad is good business ethics.

I have seen this job posted a lot of times the past few months where I live.
I would never take this kind of job.

I recall comments about the 'cheating' at the testing site shop. I know that it is extremely important for the proctors to recognize instances and methods of cheating, but it is difficult for many shoppers to feel good about pretending to cheat. Some shoppers brought grocery receipts and other bits of paper that they could live without, in order to find out whether the proctor was aware of the paper during the exam or not. I would not be brave enough to try that, even though it is for a good cause.

I would not post fake reviews. As a human, I might include personal opinions or experiences, but they would not be falsified to indicate favorable or unfavorable.

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. - Lao-Tzu

On Amazon and other platforms allowing customers to review products, I would never trust five star reviews if (a) the reviewer had only ever posted one review and no more on this or other product sites (b) if more, all their reviews are five star, which suggests they are providing a paid service (c) there are other reviews, of around the same date, from other reviewers that had given very few stars. Always check review dates. Old ones are useless, and always look for consistent themes cropping up from bad or mixed reviews and believe the consistent themes, and only buy from reputable companies whose brand could be hurt by fake reviews.

I would not have done the shop either. If or when I post a review they are usually negative. That being said, years ago I worked in a public library selecting books for students in the elementary schools and high schools. One day, a teacher called me and asked me to do his doctorate reserach for him. When I refused, he threatened to report me so I gave him the phone number and name of my supervisor and advised her of what might be coming. She laughed.

I don't do jobs that require me to do or pretend to do something illegal. I don't do reviews on request, or even for money, i only review things that i feel strongly about reviewing.

As a 20 year college teacher, I would definitely do the integrity check for test proctoring. I don't have any moral or ethical problem with "pretending" to cheat to make sure that rules are being followed, any more than I have a moral or ethical problem with "pretending" to be interested in a particular product that I actually have no intention of buying. As a mystery shopper, I am giving the proctor, salesperson, or whatever, every chance to perform their job correctly and appropriately. Proctors who allow cheating by being a sloppy proctor need to be redirected into doing a better job. And those who encourage cheating by actively participating in it need to be removed from the system. However, I would never take the job writing fake reviews, and I would definitely report the project back to the MSC.

Hi. If the store was part of a franchise, contact the corporate offices anonymously. This is a bad apple they don't want.

As for Amazon reviews, the request for 5* offers are often sent with the package. Those who post suspicious reviews can have their accounts terminated. It's not a cottage industry--more like a castle. Check Craigslist for all the ads.

I use two browser extensions to identify the fake reviews and re-rate the product: Fakespot, and reviewmeta.com. You can also cut and paste without installing the extensions. Neither usually agrees with one another, but you will see how they work.... for example many short positive reviews all on the same day. Or all the reviews are by people who have never reviewed another product.

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