I got shopped!

Pretty sure I got mystery shopped at my day job today (mattress store). All our locations in the district disappeared from the board after the price got raised to $12. Had a great time doing a more or less by the book presentation, but couldn't resist sharing my story about how I got a sale when the store down the block harassed someone into leaving for taking pictures because they thought he was a mystery shopper. Fun lady to work with. If I hadn't seen her take pictures of the store and signage before she came in I wouldn't have guessed. Anybody else have a good story about the shoe being on the other foot?

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I worked at pizza hut and we got mystery shopped. The problem is they always did a carryout customer, and it always followed the same template. So basically I trained my staff to treat everyone who fit that template as a mystery shopper so we always got a perfect

CEO The Mystery Shoppers Depot
US Wide route shopper with 12k+ shops completed over 48 states and 6 countries.
Airbnb host based in Chicago and 10% discount if you mention this forum

@kojak666 wrote:

Pretty sure I got mystery shopped at my day job today (mattress store). All our locations in the district disappeared from the board after the price got raised to $12. Had a great time doing a more or less by the book presentation, but couldn't resist sharing my story about how I got a sale when the store down the block harassed someone into leaving for taking pictures because they thought he was a mystery shopper. Fun lady to work with. If I hadn't seen her take pictures of the store and signage before she came in I wouldn't have guessed. Anybody else have a good story about the shoe being on the other foot?

Wait, does the MSC require taking the exterior photos BEFORE the shop? I was thinking of taking a few of these in my area (where they are plentiful) now that the rate has gone up to $12. Can't see the guidelines because this MSC won't let you see them until you sign up. This chain has BIG windows, crazy to make people take the photos beforehand. Or was this shopper just careless?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/2020 10:18AM by KokoBWare.

The MSC doesn't state when the pictures should be taken. Personally, I like taking the photo afterwards because I know then where the employee's desk is located or where they are in the store to pick a discreet place in the parking lot. Those store windows are big and often cover more than one side. Granted, taking a picture before time stamps your entrance and it's a risk for me I'll forget to take the photo as I gratefully exit.

The only stickler is that you must get the name of the employee and they likely do not have a name tag. The few I have done, the employee has introduced himself at some point luckily. I always feel unnatural when I casually ask for their name to "follow up" with them later. Otherwise, a very simple shop to report.

@jrossetti wrote:

I worked at pizza hut and we got mystery shopped. The problem is they always did a carryout customer, and it always followed the same template. So basically I trained my staff to treat everyone who fit that template as a mystery shopper so we always got a perfect

Why treat only the mystery shopper template customer that way? Wouldn't it be better to train staff to assume every customer is a mystery shopper and treat them accordingly.

Ha a mattress ad popped up when I opened this topic!

People are not doing mattress shops for $12.00 are they? That would be a $20-30 starting price.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/2020 05:35PM by sbobgal.

@jrossetti wrote:

I worked at pizza hut and we got mystery shopped.

I also worked at Pizza Hut - 25 years ago, just a few years before I started doing it myself, I was always scared of the m-shoppers. But I was naive to think that the corporate executives did the shops themselves, so I was always careful when going to the big fancy houses.

Speaking of... funny story - I delivered once to a million dollar home and this 90+ yr old lady looking like she was on bedrest answers and says she just wants one pizza. So I gave her one and charged her half the bill, taking the other pizza back to the store with me. When I explained to my manager that the customer didn't want both of her pizzas, he said "Yea, we got the phone call; you went to the wrong house".

They sat at $8 for a while. The deadline got extended twice. Then they raised it to 12 and they all disappeared. Not that I'm eligible to do them but I wouldn't mystery shop myself for $8.

@kenasch wrote:

@jrossetti wrote:

I worked at pizza hut and we got mystery shopped. The problem is they always did a carryout customer, and it always followed the same template. So basically I trained my staff to treat everyone who fit that template as a mystery shopper so we always got a perfect

Why treat only the mystery shopper template customer that way? Wouldn't it be better to train staff to assume every customer is a mystery shopper and treat them accordingly.

Of course that was the expectation. However if business needs dictated we needed to speed up calls it wouldnt be done on regulars and people we were all but certain were not shoppers.

Theres no reason to do it with people who order the same thing weekly or who are obviously not interested in new products or suggestive sells yet corporate would disagree.

If you want a good shopper program, dont use an obvious template that stays the same as its a joke.

CEO The Mystery Shoppers Depot
US Wide route shopper with 12k+ shops completed over 48 states and 6 countries.
Airbnb host based in Chicago and 10% discount if you mention this forum

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/2020 07:07PM by jrossetti.

@Aquiest wrote:

@jrossetti wrote:

I worked at pizza hut and we got mystery shopped.
I also worked at Pizza Hut - 25 years ago, just a few years before I started doing it myself, I was always scared of the m-shoppers. But I was naive to think that the corporate executives did the shops themselves, so I was always careful when going to the big fancy houses.

Speaking of... funny story - I delivered once to a million dollar home and this 90+ yr old lady looking like she was on bedrest answers and says she just wants one pizza. So I gave her one and charged her half the bill, taking the other pizza back to the store with me. When I explained to my manager that the customer didn't want both of her pizzas, he said "Yea, we got the phone call; you went to the wrong house".

I've had Executives do the phone call shops on occasion and they would often do it (carryout) if they were doing store visits in your area. But unless they lived in your trade area you'd probably never get them as a delivery.

CEO The Mystery Shoppers Depot
US Wide route shopper with 12k+ shops completed over 48 states and 6 countries.
Airbnb host based in Chicago and 10% discount if you mention this forum

You don't have an ad blocker??

@sbobgal wrote:

Ha a mattress ad popped up when I opened this topic!

People are not doing mattress shops for $12.00 are they? That would be a $20-30 starting price.

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

The medical center I worked at reported that they had hired a mystery shop company to do phone calls to the registration people in our clinics. Knowing the poorly built questionnaires I have seen often as a mystery shopper I went to my boss and offered to look over the form they had settled on and criitique it for them. My actual job was in research and research design among other things. She never took me up on the offer. A few months later in another meeting they said they had stopped the mystery shop phone calls program as the data they were collecting was not helpful. I never asked or found out which company they were using.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/2020 07:50AM by sandyf.

I have worked off an on as a demonstrator for 19 years or so. Twice I have a woman show up. One, after listening to my speech pulled out a camera the other showed up at 5:00 PM when the demo was supposed to be over. Lastly, I was told that a mystery shopper was going to shop a demo and was asked to do the demo as I usually showed up!

Is there a good android phone app? Thanks!

@kojak666 wrote:

Pretty sure I got mystery shopped at my day job today (mattress store). All our locations in the district disappeared from the board after the price got raised to $12. Had a great time doing a more or less by the book presentation, but couldn't resist sharing my story about how I got a sale when the store down the block harassed someone into leaving for taking pictures because they thought he was a mystery shopper. Fun lady to work with. If I hadn't seen her take pictures of the store and signage before she came in I wouldn't have guessed. Anybody else have a good story about the shoe being on the other foot?

And that is why they say to take them as you leave the store.

@anniemaria wrote:

I have worked off an on as a demonstrator for 19 years or so. Twice I have a woman show up. One, after listening to my speech pulled out a camera the other showed up at 5:00 PM when the demo was supposed to be over. Lastly, I was told that a mystery shopper was going to shop a demo and was asked to do the demo as I usually showed up!

I have read this several times but still don’t understand your last sentence.

The demonstrator/shopper was shopped?

@kenasch wrote:

@anniemaria wrote:

Lastly, I was told that a mystery shopper was going to shop a demo and was asked to do the demo as I usually showed up!

I have read this several times but still don’t understand your last sentence.

I take this to mean that they specifically asked the writer to do the demo (to be the demonstrator) that day because others fail to show up. They wanted the demo to actually occur (they wanted a demonstrator who would show up) on the day that someone was known to be coming to mystery shop it.

I agree with JustForFun. I used to shop demos, and it was surprising how many times the person who was supposed to be there was not. Several times after I reported no demonstrator in the store, I got calls from the ms companies saying that the demonstrator was emphatic that she was at the store and doing her job. Nope. Calls to the store managers confirmed that they never showed up. I have also done demos and exit surveys where I was sure I was shopped. No worries; I was doing the job I was hired to do, and I was glad to have that "evidence" of a job being done according to my instructions.

It's sad that there is a certain amount of unethical behavior in these types of jobs. MS, demos and exit surveys may not pay as much as career oriented jobs, but they are so helpful for those of us who cannot commit to full time, standard hours or who want/need to supplement our incomes with IC work.

When I worked fast food (small restaurant, local) we were shopped monthly. It was a one page handwritten report. The shopper always accepted my up-selling and was easy to spot, since nobody else accepted mushrooms and cheese on their burger.
Middle aged, Caucasian woman with brown hair, always alone. Always ordered a simple burger, which had increased from $2 to $9 by the time I was done with her order.
We had an awesome whipped cream fight one time when the shopper was there. We completely thrashed the dining room. Epic. Probably looked like a scene from Animal House.

My husband is shopped a lot. He's the guy at Costco trying to get you to buy DirectTV or internet or a phone. But corporate only shares bad reports with the district managers. He'll tell me how many sales he made and I always wonder how many of them were shoppers.

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