Which Mystery Shopping Company is Your Favorite?

My favorite(s) are the 17 or so MSC's I regularly shop for. The schedulers are easy to reach and the jobs pay fair for what's entailed. They are good to me and in return, I deliver and get paid.

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@JASFLALMT wrote:

My favorite MSC currently is Alta 360. They have a lot of convenience stores in my area that are very close together and super easy. I can do 5 shops in an hour and I submit the shops on an app on my phone.
But aren't their rates super low for those shops?
@AnneAshley wrote:

@JASFLALMT wrote:

My favorite MSC currently is Alta 360. They have a lot of convenience stores in my area that are very close together and super easy. I can do 5 shops in an hour and I submit the shops on an app on my phone.
But aren't their rates super low for those shops?

In my area, they are only $6 with a $4 reimbursement, but I can do 4-5 of them in an hour and that includes report time. That's $24-$30 an hour pay plus the added purchases which adds great value to the shop. I get granola bars and Vitamin Waters pretty frequently which are great to have on the road when I am doing other shops. Or I can get candy bars and Tootise Pops to send to my friends' kids for post office shops. And the shops do get bonused near the deadline as well.
My favorite is a tie between New Image Marketing and Expert Solutions. Both have guidelines that rarely change, reports and photo requirements that are easy to submit and in the case of Expert Solutions have nice bonus shops toward the end of the month that I grab when possible.
JAS, are those convenience shops with Alta 360 the ones that require 6-8 photos, including canopy, overall, etc?? I ask only because I also do some for Alta that are lottery based, and don't include the photos, unless bathroom has issues or pumps missing squeegee/water. I find these easy, and can do 4-5 an hour too, if they are close together. Pay is same as the ones you do. In my area Alta has other gas/convenience shops, but with all the photos they require, I stay away from them, due to the pay not being high enough. But I do like the other ones I do.
I guess it varies from region to region. My shops at one time required a lottery purchase and photos of anything amiss (in the restroom or outside). Now it's no lottery sad smiley , but it's a curbside appeal photo and photos of anything amiss. It's the same stores as before, but I liked getting free lottery tickets and I was allowed to keep the money if I won anything (and I did win some small amounts from time to time). Anyway, there are 50 of these stores within a 20 mile radius of my house, so I do them every month. I get a couple extra bucks for the ones that are more than 10 miles from home and I use them to fill in between my post office shops, so that's what I have been doing a lot of the past six months, without having to travel far from home.
That's awesome, JAS! The most I've ever won with the reimb lottery tkt so far has been $20.00. Usually it's $4 or $7, and not that often. But...it's fun! I only do about 8 a month. I could do lots more, but I just don't want to be all that busy. With several other shops that I do for a few more MSCs, I just try to keep myself limited at this point. Time was, back 10-12 yrs ago, I was shopping a lot more. But this is fine with me. Speaking of favorite companies, I like The Source (AKA Trendsource), Alta 360, Harland Clarke (esp with bonuses!), MF when they have shops I like doing and don't take that long for the fee, IPSOS, Customer Impact when they have their merch shops on the Go Spot Chek app, & RBG.
Albatross, Service Sense, Ardent, Customer Impact, Service with Style and Reality Check.
I'm searching regularly for good companies to do shops for and wonder if you'd share the names of ones you check regularly?
Also, I'm in Iowa, anyone have any Iowa specific company referrals?
Willkins, it's really hard to recommend anything for your area because I don't live in your area, and companies that shop in my region may not have anything there. I have no idea which MSCs shop in Iowa. But the companies we have been discussing in this thread so far are a good place to start. Then there is a list of companies on this website (see link below).
@Wilkins260
Similar to what @JASFLALMT had to say, if you mentioned the types of shops you were seeking (retail, grocery, convenience store, gas stations, new cars, apartments, etc.), you might get some suggestions... There are 200+ very good companies. It's a matter of you finding the company that fits your needs in terms of types, intensity and geography of shops.

@Wilkins260 wrote:

I'm searching regularly for good companies to do shops for and wonder if you'd share the names of ones you check regularly?
Also, I'm in Iowa, anyone have any Iowa specific company referrals?

Hard work builds character and homework is good for your soul.
If you like shopping for apartments go to www.ellismysteryshopperjobs.com and sign up. Shops start at $45.
The starting price with Ellis depends on your region. I've seen it as low as $30 and as high as $45 for starting payment. Be aware that the reports are long and narrative-intensive. I've done many and spent about an hour on each report. Some folks have reported spending more than twice that.

I will say that EPMS is a great company.

Hard work builds character and homework is good for your soul.
My # fav is now (this minute) Mercantile, doing a new home for them and of course their restaurants, they are nice, the best.

Live consciously....
I am a member of the unofficial Servimer fan club as well. My absolute favorite company which seems to have an extremely loyal following here on the forum.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/2018 03:03AM by starrynight.
Although I haven't completed any assignments in the last 12 months, my favorite has to be Sinclair. Awesome schedulers that are amazing to work with!

Arguing with fools is like playing chess with a pigeon...
...No matter how good you are, the pigeon will s@^t on the board and strut around like it won anyway.

Not scheduling for ANY company.
As a newbie to MS, what advice can you give in how to choose the companies when there are so many? Secondly, do you find it difficult to keep up with all the ones you have?

Happiness comes when you- Believe in what you are doing-
Know what you are doing- And love what you are doing.
Market force was my favorite. They really cut down in shops in my area!
@roxanne9153 wrote:

I'm probably in the minority, but I like Market Force. Jobs are automatically assigned, it is easy to reschedule for a new date and reports are easy to do. The pay may seem low, but so is the work required of me.
@Mphsgal
Folks who shop a lot sign up for most of the companies in time.... I would start like this: Start signing up with the companies most frequently mentioned on this forum as they are the largest ones and most likely MSC's to have work in your area. Then, if you decide this is for you, sign up for about five a week (or whenever you are sitting around bored). You'll plenty of work before long. I found that by simply reading the forum, folks would mention companies that sounded interesting and I'd choose them for my next one...

Hard work builds character and homework is good for your soul.
Thank you for the mention!
@terispears65 wrote:

I also do not have a favorite. I have been doing this 5 years this year and it mostly depends on the scheduler. A company can be great but if your scheduler is not flexible, your rating can be affected and you can be unsubscribed. I try to find the type of shops I enjoy now vs the pay or the company. I have worked for all except MF because I thought yall meant the curse word lmbo! Right now I have several shops schedule and am working with Ath, BARE, SecretShopper, SeeLevel, Ipsos, Isecretshop and a few others. I like gym, apt, smartphones, and banking shops as they pay the highest. Happy Shopping Everyone!

Marketing | Business Development
Phone: +1 800 296 6699
www.bareinternational.com
That’s so cool! I’d want to test out products. Do you do the product testing with several different companies or do you have your favorites? smiling smiley
@Mum wrote:

@MFJohnston wrote:

Nice.
They don't get over $42 in my area. At one point, when there were a slew of them left at $42 near the end of the month, I asked for $50 and was informed that they could not go over $42. I declined - and they stayed at $42. I've done car shops for other MSC's for up to $100. (Not including the really high end vehicles that I've done for $150.)

Wow..$150!! That is some serious money. The best I have received is $350 for trying out a coffemaker from Globaltest Market a few years back. Since I found MS, I do very few surveys and product testing.
JAS- I’ve been unable to find post office shops......what MSC offers them?

Happiness comes when you- Believe in what you are doing-
Know what you are doing- And love what you are doing.
I’ve done several of these but I wait I brill they are bonused or I can submit an offer. smiling smiley It’s ridiculous to ask for all that for $15 shop fee.

@guysmom wrote:

JAS, are those convenience shops with Alta 360 the ones that require 6-8 photos, including canopy, overall, etc?? I ask only because I also do some for Alta that are lottery based, and don't include the photos, unless bathroom has issues or pumps missing squeegee/water. I find these easy, and can do 4-5 an hour too, if they are close together. Pay is same as the ones you do. In my area Alta has other gas/convenience shops, but with all the photos they require, I stay away from them, due to the pay not being high enough. But I do like the other ones I do.
@CarooXO wrote:

That’s so cool! I’d want to test out products. Do you do the product testing with several different companies or do you have your favorites? smiling smiley
@Mum wrote:

@MFJohnston wrote:

Nice.
They don't get over $42 in my area. At one point, when there were a slew of them left at $42 near the end of the month, I asked for $50 and was informed that they could not go over $42. I declined - and they stayed at $42. I've done car shops for other MSC's for up to $100. (Not including the really high end vehicles that I've done for $150.)

Wow..$150!! That is some serious money. The best I have received is $350 for trying out a coffemaker from Globaltest Market a few years back. Since I found MS, I do very few surveys and product testing.

@CarooXO Sometimes survey companies like viewpoint forum, springboard america, pinecone and global test offer product tests along with surveys. About 8 years ago, I used to do a lot of surveys but slowly they dried up to the point that I turned to mystery shopping. If you want to do product testing or website testing, I guess you could sign up with betabound, user interviews and cos like those. My husband loves to test out new gadgets. Sometimes you get to keep them but mostly they have to be returned. Either way, you get paid a good amount of money for those things. He got a $200 Lowes gift card for testing out their site a couple of years ago. These come once in a while. I hope that helps!

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2018 10:52PM by Mum.
My favorite MSCs are the ones that pay well, not the ones that lowball pay its shoppers. I am not completing a shop for a MSC at a cost unless the shop is in my route on my way driving home from my full-time job.
I'm not allowed to name which MSC shops which clients since that is a violation of the Independent Contractor Agreement I signed with them and also against forum rules, but I can steer you in the right direction. Send an email to Judith@summitscheduling.com and she can help you out.

@Mphsgal wrote:

JAS- I’ve been unable to find post office shops......what MSC offers them?
OMG first time I've heard of Servimer; googled and found an embarrassing website. Typos galore, sentence fragments, extra space or no space between sentences ... I can only imagine what their shops must be like.

>The Servimer founder applied this analogy at the time when Servimer was formed. While being tired of the mystery shops providing only positive information about customer service. See Approach page the founder needed services that describe operations AS IS and in details required by the industry. Similar to the 1957 novel about the Second World War by Scottish writer Alistair MacLean Guns of Navarone, where militafy intelligence of the island was done by the fortress expert pretending to be a drunk and precisely evaluating the locations of the coastal artillery guns, Servimer has internal shopper training system that takes inexpereinced shoppers and produces recon specialists for certain industries.

So are they also pretending to be drunk? Hard to imagine a page like that being written, edited, uploaded, and maintained on the web by a professional.

@walesmaven wrote:

Servimer for certain! The shopper support is awesome. The managers and schedulers have almost all done hundreds (or even thousands) of these shops and empathize as well as support their shoppers. They have walked in the shopper's shoes and appreciate what we do. When things go wrong they work to get us paid. Shoppers have cell phone and IM contact with managers/schedulers from the field.
@ShopWhisperer wrote:

OMG first time I've heard of Servimer; googled and found an embarrassing website. Typos galore, sentence fragments, extra space or no space between sentences ... I can only imagine what their shops must be like.

>The Servimer founder applied this analogy at the time when Servimer was formed. While being tired of the mystery shops providing only positive information about customer service. See Approach page the founder needed services that describe operations AS IS and in details required by the industry. Similar to the 1957 novel about the Second World War by Scottish writer Alistair MacLean Guns of Navarone, where militafy intelligence of the island was done by the fortress expert pretending to be a drunk and precisely evaluating the locations of the coastal artillery guns, Servimer has internal shopper training system that takes inexpereinced shoppers and produces recon specialists for certain industries.

Would you mind posting the link to that site you are quoting?? Here is Servimer's official web page, and you can click on ANY of the tabs at the top, and you won't find anything written like you have quoted above. I'm wondering if you stumbled on a "phishing" site or something similar. Or you could have stumbled on an incompleted web page that was trashed but still left in cyberspace somehow. Here is their official web page, and again, click on any tab at the top, and you won't see anything like what you've quoted here...[servimer.com.tempdomain.com]
Ardent has become one of my favorite MSCs...I do their shops twice a month and they reimburse AND give a nice fee....plus that Michelle is awesome to work with! Hopefully this client will open up another place or two in the Chicago area.

I also like Ipsos for their electronic shops, Merc Systems for their Storage Unit Shops, and Alta360 also for their Storage Unit Shops.

A couple of years ago I enjoyed working for Customer Service Experts when they had the airport shops....hope to get back into that sometime.

Silver certified (since 2009) and willing to do shops all around the greater Chicago, NW Indiana, and Southern Wisconsin areas (including airports!.
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