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Mystery shop with a hidden code

May 31, 2022 03:01PM
I got an e-mail about a bank mystery shop. Part of the e-mail tells you you must use a code to report your shop. It says "The code is hidden somewhere in the Shop Specification document."....do we need to use a secret decoder ring? Now not only do you have to hand write the report, you have to search for a hidden code. Has anyone done this kind of shop?
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May 31, 2022 03:25PM
This only means that you are supposed to read the shop guidelines and the code is in there.

Since I don't see how you would complete a shop correctly without reading the guidelines, the code requirement does not strike me as any additional work.
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May 31, 2022 03:35PM
Strategic Reflections, pre-2022, had such a requirement, but the code was clearly indicated in the guidelines. Maritz had a code that required printing at least a cover page. Neither of the above were ever the slightest of problems.

Both of the above MSCs were favorites of mine, with neither any longer in existence.
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May 31, 2022 04:54PM
The code is clearly visible. OP, get a life outside of complaining about one MSC, please.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
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May 31, 2022 05:27PM
Its different but a way for the MSC to get shoppers read the guidelines. The only time it might be challenging to find is if a shopper did not read "all" of the guidelines and then went searching for the code. That would be like one of those pictures with 500 frogs in it and you have to find the one that is different.

I did one of these shops in May. Don't know that I would do one every month, but there is no cash outlay and I got quite a lucrative bonus (3x). My crystal ball says I'll be reading the guidelines, finding a code, and handwriting a 11-page report in my future.
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May 31, 2022 05:48PM
Finding the code does not prove you read the guidelines. It only proves you found the code. Other companies have you take a test. That does prove you read the guidelines.
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May 31, 2022 07:16PM
Not necessarily. It can in theory only mean that someone found the answers by going to the appropriate section in the guidelines to pass the test. Neither method is 100% full proof, but that is what the MSC's intentions are = to read the guidelines.

@johnb974 wrote:

Finding the code does not prove you read the guidelines. It only proves you found the code. Other companies have you take a test. That does prove you read the guidelines.


Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/2022 07:18PM by Zek.
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