That is a surprise they would ask for your SSN. I would have thought twice. There has to be other ways to look you up.

shoppinalong, I think that is just their terminology. We are referred to as agents, mystery shoppers, auditors, field reps and any number of other things. A rose is a rose.

Nope, Lisa,

go back to what Bestmark anonymous wrote that I posted,

she/he is making a distinction between mystery shopper and field representative.

so what's the difference ?

With Bestmark, I am guessing that a field rep is the people that do the audits at thier big box electronics stores. I am guessing this because they are in the "field" representing Bestmark during these audits. Just a guess.

Wanna tell me where that post is. It's late and I'm watching the Olympic opening ceremonies so I can see the U.S. uniforms that were made in China, lol!

I still say it doesn't much matter what they call us. Most of us do the same work.

Lisa

you mean you dont read the whole thread ??? tsk - on page one of this thread

SecretAgentMom,

sounds more like it - would you please go back to page 1 of this thread and read about it.

Thanks

got an early morning shop tomorrow - gotta go

My dirty little secret, I don't go back and read the whole thread. And I don't have anything early morning tomorrow

okay, here's the repeat :

Re: Using mystery shopper databases to market products?

I have received a PM email from Bestmark about our discussion of being asked to "give our opinion " on a survey without pay, and our objection to such as a misuse of the mystery shopper database.

Since I am not the only one concerned with what we consider an abuse of the database containing mystery shoppers' contact information, I have advised the writer from Bestmark that they really should have addressed this matter on this thread.

The following is the correspondence for your opinion:

BestMark_Inc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Shoppinalong,
>
> The email you received is not a mystery shop, or a
> shop at all, in fact. It is a one-question poll
> with the *offer* to participate, including a
> chance to win $100 from said client.
> Participation obviously is not required, and it is
> up to the shopper if s/he chooses to participate
> in order to be entered into the drawing.

The intention is absolutely not to take advantage of
> our shopper base; the intention is actually the
> opposite. We are expanding programs and
> incentives for our field representatives by
> providing additional opportunities for monetary
> compensation beyond regular mystery shops.
>
> Please let me know if you have any questions or
> would like additional clarification regarding
> this.
>
> Thank you,
> BestMark, Inc.


ReplyFrom Shoppinalong ;

Dear Unnamed Bestmark Representative,

If you read the entire thread on the matter, it is the opinion in general of the professional mystery shoppers that this is an improper use of the database containing the mystery shoppers' email addresses.

You say "it is "not a mystery shop". Then why are you improperly using the database of mystery shoppers containing our mystery shoppers' e mail addresses ?

You say it is an opportunity for the MSC to expand its client base and provide more jobs for "field representatives". Then why are you not emailing only your "field representatives" although generally IMHO mystery shoppers are considered your "field representatives".

Either way, it is also the opinion of the mystery shoppers on the posted thread , that Bestmark and other MSC's ARE being paid for this survey on behalf of the client but expect mystery shoppers and/or field representatives to fill out this survey for free. It is usual to pay people of our caliber for surveys.

Yes, it is up to the shoppers who receive your survey whether they choose to participate for free and to have their name entered in a drawing for $100 worth of cosmetic product. However, in my opinion it is still a misuse of the mystery shopper database, especially since you write "this is not a mystery shop".

You really should be posting this private message on the forum thread that addresses the use of mystery shoppers' emails contained in MSC databases for other matters than mystery shopping.

Since I am not the only mystery shopper who thinks we should be paid for our opinions on surveys by MSC's it is only fair to address this to all mystery shoppers participating in the discussion.

Shoppinalong

I wanted to look at their website, but mine was one of those that had the password reset and it's not saved. After finding it I took a quick look around the site. Everything seems to refer to either a shopper or an auditor, nothing about field representatives. Since they now differentiate between shoppers and auditors, maybe field rep was adopted to to somehow encompass both.