I just had my worst-ever mystery shop.
My task was to go to this gym as an unannounced walk-in, on a specific day (Tuesday) at a specific time, which they said was "Between 10am and 4pm but not over lunch breaks". I didn't get told when lunch breaks were, but assumed it was either 12-1 or 1-2, effectively giving me a timeline of 10-11 or 2-4. Okay. Whoever the problem person is they are going to be on at that time. Okay. No problem. It's a targeted shop. The implication was that the bosses were suspicious of some bad behaviour going on by whoever was rostered on at that time. No problems.
The first problem was the location. It said one location on the broad list, but when I clicked accept, it was 70 km further away, an extra hour away. This was problematic not only because it was an extra hour out of my way, but also because I then had to create a scenario to justify being there. I had to say that I lived there, and then, because they had never seen me, I figured I would say that I had just moved in. So I imagined I was going in on my lunch break, but that I was working somewhere that had flexible lunch breaks. Curiously, I used to work somewhere that had that, and the rule was you could take a lunch break whenever you liked so long as it wasn't during a meeting, so some days I'd take it at 10am and other days at 4pm. And that worksite had an office near to there. So I was going to say I was doing a work from home day. And that meant wearing a suit and tie. Anything less than that was going to raise red flags. So I showed up with a suit and tie.
The second problem is that it was set up like a country club, meaning that not only couldn't you enter the gym without a pass, but you couldn't get in through the outer gates. I tried to look for a public entrance but there was none. I could go in through the underground carpark or the overground one. That was it. I circled around the place 3 times before I figured out that the overground one would probably let me in. Nobody was walking in that way, so I looked very suspicious.
The third problem is that this gym had people working out facing the street. They had big windows for people on treadmills if they wanted to work out that way, but on the 2nd floor, so they could see people on the street but people on the street couldn't really see them.
So people saw me walking around.
I know they did. There was no doubt that they did. People tried to run me over on purpose. They were suspicious as hell. But what could I do? There was no public access!
So I snuck in through the aboveground carpark, dodging people trying to run me over on purpose. There was no footpath part of it - I had to walk through the cars.
I walk in and they had 3 receptionists. 2 were for gym members only and 1 was for visitors. They did not like that I was there, but they talked to me. I asked if it was okay and they said yes, then called someone.
Then they told me to leave.
I was dumbfounded. Like hang on I've travelled for 2 hours to get here and you're turning me away without seeing me?
I didn't know what to do. There was no option in the brief for what to do if they wouldn't let me in.
They did take my name (first name only) and phone number to call me if and when they'd let me have a look at the place, but I wasn't allowed to do that per the brief, as it was meant to be a walk-in, not a booked tour. Booked tours are different bookings.
I went over it with the Mystery Shopping Company and they gave me one-word replies hours apart, telling me what to do one word at a time, and not really very helpfully. At first they thought that I'd abandoned it, but I had photos and time stamps. Then they let me submit it and told me that if they call me back I should decline, and I could say that I was declining because they'd turned me away. They told me to submit the report, so I did.
5 hours later, I got a phone call from them.
For some reason they didn't know my name, and didn't give me theirs. Then they told me they don't do walk-ins.
Then they were asking me if I'd ever even worked out before. I said yes. They then asked me when. So I said how I had once trained for the Olympics.
She burst out laughing.
For 30 seconds she laughed her head off.
I really had trained for the Olympics. I never got in, but I was supposed to be going. I qualified as our 2nd representative. Twice. I just had idiot flatmates who stuffed it up for me on purpose, because they think it is funny. It was a story I'd told all 6 of the gyms I'd been to, because it was true and I could prove it and it was relevant. It was a part of my narrative that I used for every visit.
The others didn't laugh. One of the others said I could still make it. Others said that it showed that I could work towards a fitness goal. But this one laughed.
She said that she thought I was joking, and asked me which sport and where I came.
I didn't answer.
I told her she was so rude and I had lost interest in joining.
So I hung up on her.
I am not even sure if I will be paid for this.
Why would a company say that they wanted a walk-in and then not do walk-ins? Why say that they have a public access when they don't?
I mean, if they want to run it like a private country club, that's their business, but if they're going to do that, don't book a mystery shopping company as a walk-in!
Oh, and don't advertise it as one suburb and then say it's a different one 70 kilometres away when you open it up.
This is my new record-holder.
I'd love to know if anyone has ever had worse.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/2026 11:59PM by ozshopper.
My task was to go to this gym as an unannounced walk-in, on a specific day (Tuesday) at a specific time, which they said was "Between 10am and 4pm but not over lunch breaks". I didn't get told when lunch breaks were, but assumed it was either 12-1 or 1-2, effectively giving me a timeline of 10-11 or 2-4. Okay. Whoever the problem person is they are going to be on at that time. Okay. No problem. It's a targeted shop. The implication was that the bosses were suspicious of some bad behaviour going on by whoever was rostered on at that time. No problems.
The first problem was the location. It said one location on the broad list, but when I clicked accept, it was 70 km further away, an extra hour away. This was problematic not only because it was an extra hour out of my way, but also because I then had to create a scenario to justify being there. I had to say that I lived there, and then, because they had never seen me, I figured I would say that I had just moved in. So I imagined I was going in on my lunch break, but that I was working somewhere that had flexible lunch breaks. Curiously, I used to work somewhere that had that, and the rule was you could take a lunch break whenever you liked so long as it wasn't during a meeting, so some days I'd take it at 10am and other days at 4pm. And that worksite had an office near to there. So I was going to say I was doing a work from home day. And that meant wearing a suit and tie. Anything less than that was going to raise red flags. So I showed up with a suit and tie.
The second problem is that it was set up like a country club, meaning that not only couldn't you enter the gym without a pass, but you couldn't get in through the outer gates. I tried to look for a public entrance but there was none. I could go in through the underground carpark or the overground one. That was it. I circled around the place 3 times before I figured out that the overground one would probably let me in. Nobody was walking in that way, so I looked very suspicious.
The third problem is that this gym had people working out facing the street. They had big windows for people on treadmills if they wanted to work out that way, but on the 2nd floor, so they could see people on the street but people on the street couldn't really see them.
So people saw me walking around.
I know they did. There was no doubt that they did. People tried to run me over on purpose. They were suspicious as hell. But what could I do? There was no public access!
So I snuck in through the aboveground carpark, dodging people trying to run me over on purpose. There was no footpath part of it - I had to walk through the cars.
I walk in and they had 3 receptionists. 2 were for gym members only and 1 was for visitors. They did not like that I was there, but they talked to me. I asked if it was okay and they said yes, then called someone.
Then they told me to leave.
I was dumbfounded. Like hang on I've travelled for 2 hours to get here and you're turning me away without seeing me?
I didn't know what to do. There was no option in the brief for what to do if they wouldn't let me in.
They did take my name (first name only) and phone number to call me if and when they'd let me have a look at the place, but I wasn't allowed to do that per the brief, as it was meant to be a walk-in, not a booked tour. Booked tours are different bookings.
I went over it with the Mystery Shopping Company and they gave me one-word replies hours apart, telling me what to do one word at a time, and not really very helpfully. At first they thought that I'd abandoned it, but I had photos and time stamps. Then they let me submit it and told me that if they call me back I should decline, and I could say that I was declining because they'd turned me away. They told me to submit the report, so I did.
5 hours later, I got a phone call from them.
For some reason they didn't know my name, and didn't give me theirs. Then they told me they don't do walk-ins.
Then they were asking me if I'd ever even worked out before. I said yes. They then asked me when. So I said how I had once trained for the Olympics.
She burst out laughing.
For 30 seconds she laughed her head off.
I really had trained for the Olympics. I never got in, but I was supposed to be going. I qualified as our 2nd representative. Twice. I just had idiot flatmates who stuffed it up for me on purpose, because they think it is funny. It was a story I'd told all 6 of the gyms I'd been to, because it was true and I could prove it and it was relevant. It was a part of my narrative that I used for every visit.
The others didn't laugh. One of the others said I could still make it. Others said that it showed that I could work towards a fitness goal. But this one laughed.
She said that she thought I was joking, and asked me which sport and where I came.
I didn't answer.
I told her she was so rude and I had lost interest in joining.
So I hung up on her.
I am not even sure if I will be paid for this.
Why would a company say that they wanted a walk-in and then not do walk-ins? Why say that they have a public access when they don't?
I mean, if they want to run it like a private country club, that's their business, but if they're going to do that, don't book a mystery shopping company as a walk-in!
Oh, and don't advertise it as one suburb and then say it's a different one 70 kilometres away when you open it up.
This is my new record-holder.
I'd love to know if anyone has ever had worse.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/2026 11:59PM by ozshopper.