What do you do on a cell phone shop when a brand promoter walks over and starts answering questions.

While doing a cell phone shop and having the store employee answering questions, a brand promoter has walked over and started answer the questions. You are there to talk to the store employee, not the brand promoter. What do you do? I've had to tell them I need the store employee answer. ( I know it gives me away)

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The last time that happened to me I included the promoter's name in the report and included the fact that they jumped in.

@johnb974 wrote:

While doing a cell phone shop and having the store employee answering questions, a brand promoter has walked over and started answer the questions. You are there to talk to the store employee, not the brand promoter. What do you do? I've had to tell them I need the store employee answer. ( I know it gives me away)

Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. Eleanor Roosevelt

Kathy is correct. You are to give a real representation of what happened. If I had been the employee, I probably would have thought that was very rude of you, unless you managed to phrase it in a very non-rude manner.

Sometimes employees are asked to "rate" the mystery shopper, too. More than one shopper has been deactivated because an employee rated them as rude!

@ceasesmith wrote:

Kathy is correct. You are to give a real representation of what happened. If I had been the employee, I probably would have thought that was very rude of you, unless you managed to phrase it in a very non-rude manner.

Sometimes employees are asked to "rate" the mystery shopper, too. More than one shopper has been deactivated because an employee rated them as rude!

The problem is the brand promoter was just doing their job. If I report it, I risk losing my pay. How could the employee report the mystery shopper when they are not suppose to know who they are?

You could say something like "The Associate began to answer the questions (and was doing a good job/was doing the best he could) when the Promoter walked over. He answered the question, then took over/did not allow the Associate to continue the interaction/dominated the rest of the interaction."

@johnb974 wrote:

The problem is the brand promoter was just doing their job. If I report it, I risk losing my pay. How could the employee report the mystery shopper when they are not suppose to know who they are?

Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. Eleanor Roosevelt

Some employees figure it out thru experience. Some clients share shopper reports with employees as a training tool. Some shoppers give themselves away by questions, comments, etc.

Also, I've had questions come back after a report was submitted. During a gas shop, the cashier did not acknowledge me or state my purchase total. He wasn't rude, just simply did not communicate as the brand expects. I reported as such.

A few weeks later, I got a inquiry from the MSC asking if such and such took place. After getting my report, the station reported back who they thought was the shopper as rude. As it turned out, it was a different customer who came in on the same day but at a different time. The program manager told me the matter was resolved via tape that verified my interaction and the other customer's. Case closed.

This is a different scenario, but the point being sometimes clients do report back on a shopper after receiving our reports. And, as Ceasesmith mentions, certain circumstances can be a reason for deactivation. There is no question in my mind if the tape was not available, I would have been deactivated from that location. When it comes down to a he said she said scenario, the one with the most power will prevail (revenue = the client).

@johnb974

How could the employee report the mystery shopper when they are not suppose to know who they are?[/quote wrote:

Basically everything we do is videod and get reviewed some times.
I had a customer jump in and answer my grocery store question \o/. I reported what happened, I got paid.
Best to ask the mystery shop company what they would prefer you to do.

In California, businesses cannot have any audio recording. They can only have video.

Security cameras rarely have audio as far as I know. Still, businesses review the video recordings and often know who the mystery shopper is. I know I've been reviewed and had feedback. I was told not to go through the check out before my grocery cart. I suppose they know which transaction to watch by the time on the till receipt.

Any way, when a customer jumped in and answered my question that I had asked, I reported what happened. Only the mystery shopping company/client can decide if that's suitable or not. In that case, I was paid.

@johnb974 wrote:

In California, businesses cannot have any audio recording. They can only have video.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/2022 02:30PM by prince.

@johnb974 wrote:

While doing a cell phone shop and having the store employee answering questions, a brand promoter has walked over and started answer the questions. You are there to talk to the store employee, not the brand promoter. What do you do? I've had to tell them I need the store employee answer. ( I know it gives me away)

Put it in the report. I've never not been paid when goofy stuff happens during a shop. And some goofy things have happened.

A Dad shopping the Ark-LA-Tex and beyond.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/18/2022 08:45AM by ShoppingDad.

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What do you do on a cell phone shop when a brand promoter walks over and starts answering questions.

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