Shopping for this company is a waste of your time and money; the time you will spend to complete their convoluted surveys you will not even make minimum wage - you are better off working for minimum wage. Working with these guys is no fun; they will give you the third degree to complete itsy bitsy details in their online surveys (that crash and malfunction frequently).

The whole shopping experience is contrived and un-natural and designed to please their clients and not truly find out what actually happened during the shopping. The support is patchy and even a slight error will de-rail the whole survey. They have weird rules completely abnormal to what you will do during a normal survey.

Don't waste your time and do something fun and rewarding. These guys are waste of time and money - you wont even make back the gas money you spend shopping for them.

Premier Service is an amazing company! I do not work for them BTW. I've shopped with them for a year and a half and always get 10s on my surveys. If you answer the questions in your answers with detail, they will not have to give you the third degree. My only gripe is that their gas surveys can be long but otherwise they are wonderful. They always pay on time and schedulers quick to get back to you.

It sounds like you messed up on the gas shops, hope you learn from it because the general expectation of detail in shops is with every company and you can't do a half assed report and expect to be compensated.

tripadvisor1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
The whole shopping experience is contrived and
> un-natural and designed to please their clients
> and not truly find out what actually happened
> during the shopping. The support is patchy and
> even a slight error will de-rail the whole survey.
> They have weird rules completely abnormal to what
> you will do during a normal survey.


Sounds like you had a bad experience. Better luck next time with another company. That's the beauty of being an IC - we can choose who we work with and what assignments we take.

One comment: Most MSCs design their shops to please their clients. The clients are paying for the shops and many times have very specific scenarios in mind.

I do find the reports by Premier Service to be a bit more work than reports for similar shops at other companies. But I like working for them. They have some interesting projects that can be done from home. I haven't done them due to time constraints, but I wouldn't want to deactivate.

My elderly aunt will phone me and tell me her shopping experiences and tell me to report that. I am always telling her that I am only there to answer what is asked not what I think.

As Austin mom says it is all about what the client wants.
Good luck on your next shop

Don't know this company and haven't worked for them but over my years as a mystery shopper I have learned that we are not always there to find out what actually happens. Sometimes we are there to provide glowing reports that please a client and make them feel good about their staff.

The gas shop the OP is talking about is lengthy in the amount of questions. You don't have to write a lot of for the narrative section, just a few detailed sentences about your experience, anything that stood out, etc. They do tell you how many questions will be in the survey before you apply and dependent on your experience, you'll have more or less questions. I always advise to only apply for one assignment, view the questionnaire and see if you still want to do it. It's not like you didn't know what you were in for when you do that.. And Premier Service does not joke about quality. Just look at their expectations. There are worse non-Canadian companies out there to shop for IMO. Hope you have a better experience next time.

Re: Premier Services - I am in the process of trying to complete a data collection project for a cost of living survey. The job pays $300.00 yet I have already spent about 60 hours on the project and four days after turning the project in I was told that there are more corrections to be made, so it looks like another 20 hours of work. So, I am not happy with the incredible amount of time I had to spend to collect the data and the lag time in finding out I have more work to do. I contracted with someone else to do some work and will not be able to complete their project until the week after next. After all, I have to keep earning and not spinning my wheels. I am also wondering why my work was not proofread before it was presented to the client. I sent a rough draft halfway through the project and was told it was perfect! I had to complete 16 pages with 22 items per page that I had to find in grocery and big box stores.

I usually shop them for one restaurant I love to eat at. No issues on my end. It's especially worth it when they tack on bonuses.

Premier Service is at the very, very, very TOP of my list, though lately I have been busy with other MSCs since they have shops mostly on cars and others I choose not to do. Know why?

I was a rookie when they started as MSC and they had shown me respect and recognition. Twice or more, they strongly backed me up when the clients asked them to remove me from their D/Base. To this day I feel a symbiotic relationship with them. They respected me as I do them. I treasure my relationship with them.

From my many years experience as a shopper, I know Premier Service does not sacrifice their shoppers to keep their powerful clients. That was exactly how I felt as a new shopper. They gave me a chance not only to prove the clients wrong but to give credence to my integrity. They believed my reports and ME, based on what they knew of ME, from my records with the company and relationships with their people.

I did not have a backer but myself. Just my lowly records vs their powerful clients who wanted me off their Database because I 'disparaged' their important employees/ managers's customer service acumen or performance through my reports.

I remember every moment of that time and wished I knew about this Forum. There was nobody else to ask advice. It would have been easier to accept to lose a measly $15 (and be done with mshopping) than cope with this nonsense.

I put my husband's condition at the back of my mind and asked my scheduler to please allow me to answer their accusations, point by point. And I did! They later told me that they viewed the statements of the manager to be embellishments. Unbeknown to me, many of those behind the MSC were backing me up, as they knew me. Only afterwards did they let me know and asked to please continue shopping for them. I was even told that the CEO was with them.

Baptism of fire! When it happened again, although in a much milder way, I was more experienced and believed that the most important proof was my integrity and reputation.

Premier Service will always be at the top of my list and it does affect me to hear negative things said about them. The special projects they have really require a lot of hard work, time and determination. They must be accepted with that thought in mind. When they say they give them to the best, believe it! Prompt payment would be no issue at all.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/2015 12:50PM by risinghorizon.