Seems like a scam to me.

*******Begin Email Coversation*******

Sorry for the confusion, the email was sent out as a mass email to all US residents.

The company is Albatross Global Solutions ( www.albatrossasia.com) and we are a market research firm, and this particular project is a mystery shopping project for a luxury brand we work with. We do mystery shopping with many luxury brands and mainly work in Asia, but do have some projects in major cities in the States.


The project is quite easy, and requires our shoppers to visit the store and evaluate the customer service. There will be a survey to fill out, and in total, it takes about an hour. The payment is 50 USD, and we will pay using a Western Union transfer.

If you or anyone you know would be interested, and also in the other cities listed below, let us know.

Sorry to bother you!

Best Regards,


Candice LIN

Area Manager Southeast Asia

Tel: + 66 2686 3485

47th FL, 195 Empire Tower, River Wing East, South Sathorn Road

Yannawa, Sathorn, Bangkok Thailand 10120

Albatross Global Solutions

"What gets measured gets achieved"

www.albatrossasia.com


SINGAPORE OFFICE: 28C Stanley Road Singapore 068737, Tel: +65 3151 0890 - HONG KONG OFFICE: 19/F, Simsons Commercial Building, 137-139 Johnston Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong, Tel: +852 6112 3624 - SHANGHAI OFFICE: Room 401B, 299 South Urumqi Road, 200031 Shanghai Tel: (8621) 64730084 - BEIJING OFFICE: 1809, SOHO New Town tower 5, 88 Jianguo Road, Chaoyang District, 100022 Beijing, Tel: +86 (010) 85803003 - TAIWAN OFFICE: 3F-8, No. 297, Le Qun 2 Rd, 104 ZhongShan District, Taipei, Tel: +886 (0) 2 8502 7686 - JAPAN OFFICE: Shinbashi Tokyu Bldg. 2F., 4-21-3 Shinbashi Minato-ku Tokyo, 105-0004 Tel: +81 (0) 3-6895-7430 - KOREA OFFICE: Kangnamgu Nonhyundon 211-20, KangNam Building 4F Room 441, Seoul, Tel: +82 511-8851 - - PARIS OFFICE: 6, rue du Faubourg Poissonniére 75010 PARIS, Tel: +33 970 448 226

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-----Original Message-----
From: ME
Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 11:06 PM
To: Candice Lin
Subject: Re: New Mission in the US

I might be interested but I need to know more about the project and your company before I would do so. How did you get my name? I do not recall having signed up with your firm. If you plan on sending me a check up front, you can keep the check as I am not falling for that scam.

Thank you,

ME

On Jul 21, 2010, at 1:17 AM, Candice Lin wrote:

> Hi there,

>

> We have a new project with a luxury jewelry brand and we are looking for shoppers in the following cities:

>

> BOCA RATON

> COSTA MESA

> HONOLULU

> LAS VEGAS

> LOS ANGELES

> MIAMI

> NEW YORK

> SAN FRANCISCO

>

> If you have any friends, forward this email to them!

> We are looking for females and males to visit the stores in the month of July and August.

>

> If you're interested, please let us know,

>

> Thanks-

>

> The Albatross Team

>

>

Western Union money transfer?

Whatever are you waiting for? Jump on that one.ha

Albatross is likely an appropriate name.

That's what I was thinking.

if it smells like garlic, walks like a duck, it's a scam...they are so obivious, and we are so smart!!! Wouldn't take the time to mail them back, even though they have your info., now they really do.

Irene, I honestly wasn't sure if I had signed up with them, or if they had changed names. I have dealt with a Christine Lin at an Asian MSC but it had a different name. I wasn't hppy with her answer, though.

Thing is, Albatross is a real Asian MSC and part of the MSPA.

Having a poorly chosen name for a company with clients moving into America, a unfortunate choice for payments and a poor command of English, they appear like a scam but I believe are indeed trying to offer a genuine MS opportunity.

Please also consider that scammers specifically avoid the cities on that list since they have the impression that urban shoppers are more lucid regarding scams.

I still don't want the job, but I think it's real.....

If it is the same company that I dealt with a Christine Lin previously, they paid via PP. :-)

Albatross, huh? Maybe it is good luck in their part of Asia. :-)

I live in Malta and saw an add from them, I filled out the form but haven't heard from them yet. Anyway, I'm curious to see how they operate and what they are looking for and if they are even familiar with this little tiny country. And yes, they pay via PP.
Does anyone have any experience working with them?

I've worked for Albatross recently but the website is albatrossonline.com, not albatrossasia.com

They are real. I did a luxury brand shop for them, and I see jewelry shops appear in my area from time to time. They have a representative in the US with whom I skyped before doing the assignment. It took a long time for me to get my payment, but it arrived via PayPal.

It seems that most of their assignments are not in the US.

Write to their US email and ask. It is a legitimate company, but check with the Albatross US folks first if you are concerned. Good luck.

docjeun Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I live in Malta and saw an add from them, I filled
> out the form but haven't heard from them yet.
> Anyway, I'm curious to see how they operate and
> what they are looking for and if they are even
> familiar with this little tiny country. And yes,
> they pay via PP.
> Does anyone have any experience working with them?

I've worked for Albatross. Did two jobs for them and everything turned out well. Paid via PayPal. I'm based in the US but the jobs were not in the US.

On a personal note, I spent three glorious weeks in Malta a couple of years ago. It was by far one of The Best Vacations I have ever taken. Beautiful island, delicious food, perfect weather. Planning to return soon. You're so fortunate to be living there.

I don't visit this site often but thought I would provide an update to my experience with Albatross in the event that it will help someone new to MS or new to that company.

About me:
-fairly new to MS, did my first shop in December 2013 for Albatross
-I have only done MS for Albatross, so I'm not able to compare them to any other companies
-to date I've done about 15 assignments

Pros of Albatross:
-As I've gotten to work with the staff in the NY office, I have to say that they are really nice, responsive, helpful and understanding
-Depending on the assignment, the pay turnaround time is decent. I would say that more than half of the jobs have paid in less than one month while the rest have been a month or longer (one paid 2 months later). I've learned that this can depend on timing of assignment (and when they submit jobs for payment - I think they run payments once per month so it either gets in for that cutoff or goes to the following month) and when assignments for an entire brand are closed out.
-They only work with luxury brands which can be fun pretending you're buying stuff for up to 50k
-The required certifications get easier after you do one or two; you get the idea of how to answer them even though they may be worded a bit oddly, especially if you live in the US (they're HQ'd in Asia).
-There are sometimes gifts from the brand in return for your work. Initially I thought this was BS but I've received one gift so far valued at around $50 (hopefully I get some more). It came serveral months after the shop I did and it was really nice.
-Be reliable and do a good job, and the more select jobs that will come your way. Some assignments are a purchase where you have a budget and get to keep the item. I noticed that some of those came my way after a few months.

Cons of Albatross:
-The initial certification is long long long. They are HQ in Asia and some questions they ask seem intrusive in the US culture. But get thru it once, and it becomes much easier.
-There is a lot of work that goes into a shop. Again, being new to this (and not having a comparison point), I do get frustrated at times. You sign up, get accepted, take a certification for the brand/assignment, speak with someone in NY to make sure you understand the assignment, study and prepare before going into a luxury store where you can easily spend 30-45 minutes, write up a long and often repetitive survey where the database is slow. It's easily several hours if you count the prep work, travel to the shop, write up, etc. That's a lot of work (and back and forth) for $25-35 which is the average amount you receive per assignment. The employees in the NY office are understanding and sympathetic about this. If you don't pass a certification, you can retake it or have the NY office clear it for you. Ideally it's to make sure you understand what you're doing. I hope they will upgrade their database in the near future. At least you can save your work and go back if you need to take a break.
-There is a short required turnaround time for entering info after a shop (24 hours).

So in summary, obviously I like doing these enough to keep at it.