I accepted my first fine dining assignment with Coyle. Tell me your favorite tips and tricks!

Have many hours available to write the report. I spend five hours for these reports. Good luck. Maybe other people have discovered tips and tricks. The only tip I can impart is to be able to write like a pro and pay attention to details, especially times.

My tip would be work for a different company.

@bgriffin wrote:

My tip would be work for a different company.

They have many nice assignments. They are also the most demanding MSC I have worked with. But, because of Coyle, my reporting for every other MSC is 1000x better and I think my writing has improved. I once had a debate about whether a clause was an independent or a dependent clause, and comma useage. This has caused me to pick up some grammar and writing books. I would not have done that otherwise. I appreciate the push to excellence that comes from working with Coyle. I appreciate their high standards. We choose who we work with, so in the end, do what makes sense in your life.

That doesn't change the fact that they are a crap company



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/2019 09:17PM by bgriffin.

Just parrot the example. None of the reports should take more than 90 minutes.

I just can't do them in 90 minutes and the hotel ones take a day......

@caro555 wrote:

I just can't do them in 90 minutes and the hotel ones take a day......

Agreed.

@bgriffin wrote:

That doesn't change the fact that they are a crap company

I like them for what they are. They have more fine dining shops compared to other companies. I might get one from an MSC, and another from another random MSC, but Coyle has a steady stream. I did not mean to "like" that they are a crap company, but not every MSC is for everyone.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/2019 11:48PM by Niner.

Well judging by the post reaction my opinion seems to be the one most agree with. Which they probably like. They don't like mystery shoppers and have a poor opinion of them. I've said it before and will say it again I don't understand why they are even discussed here.

They are discussed because they are a mystery shopping company. They work with mystery shoppers because that is their business model. We choose which companies we work with, that's the beauty of this. We don't have to complete shops for them, or we can choose to work with them.

Actually they DON'T work with mystery shoppers. They prefer upper middle class professionals who want the experience without paying for it. They do not like mystery shoppers. They have a low opinion of mystery shoppers. And if you ever let them know that you are a professional mystery shopper they won't even assign you a phone shop.

That is too bad. I don't know how they get people then. I was raised by my grandparents, who had a depression mentality. If we were to win the lotto, I would still live like that. I would not spend money on a $200 dinner or a $500 hotel. I can't imagine why people who were not raised like that and could afford it would want to write Coyle reports.

@Niner wrote:

I would not spend money on a $200 dinner or a $500 hotel.

According to BG you're not a "real" mystery shopper. You're just too cheap to pay for dinner....

@SteveSoCal wrote:

@Niner wrote:

I would not spend money on a $200 dinner or a $500 hotel.

According to BG you're not a "real" mystery shopper. You're just too cheap to pay for dinner....

Well, I am too cheap to pay for a $200 dinner! I would rather invest that money into an index fund. I don't do this for a living. Maybe I'm not a "real" shopper. Better not tell the mystery shoppinh companies (shhhhhh....).

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2019 09:23AM by Niner.

Make sure to note the time on every interaction. I use screenshots on my phone, so I can note the time without calling attention to myself.

@Niner wrote:

I would rather invest that money into an index fund.

If you are good about making those investments, you'll get to a place eventually where you might be willing to just pay for the dinner.

Not all MSCs are equal and not all assignments are either. I'm on the tail end of one of the longest reports I have done for them. It was a great experience but I'm starting to wonder if this one was really worth it after all the time invested in reporting. It's getting to a point where I earn better money at my other job than in reimbursements, hour-for-hour.

My advice to anyone working for Coyle; Enjoy the experience! That's you real paycheck.

These days, I enjoy the MSing because it pushes me into new territories I might not have gone to on my own....and I ate ant eggs last week. Yeah...ant eggs i.e. Mexican Caviar!

Show me another MSC that pays you to eat ant eggs with a wine pairing?

@SteveSoCal wrote:

@Niner wrote:

I would not spend money on a $200 dinner or a $500 hotel.

According to BG you're not a "real" mystery shopper. You're just too cheap to pay for dinner....

Who does Couple prefer?
A professional mystery shopper who makes their living as a mystery shopper?
A person who makes $250k in their normal job and doesn't mind doing a report in exchange for reimbursing their dinner/cruise/resort stay?

Well, we make that and I work for Coyle and don't mind doing a report in exchange for reimbursement. Sample of one. They obviously have other people working for them though. Coyle has never seen my paycheck or bank statement.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2019 03:04PM by Niner.

My point is that Coyle looks down on people who do this professionally as being beneath them.

We are two people. How do you know what they are looking for, and someone from Coyle actually said to you that they want six figure income earners? I just read an article from someone who I am sure was describing Coyle. Here's my guess- they want professional writers. You need to be able to write like a published author.

[ediblephilly.ediblecommunities.com]

@bgriffin wrote:

My point is that Coyle looks down on people who do this professionally as being beneath them.

C'mon BG...you are throwing a bit of your personal bias into that statement.

I get it that you are offended at them not being willing to utilize you, but your initial statement above is the reality. They prefer to utilize people that could otherwise be typical guests of a restaurant or resort. Nobody is looking down on anyone else, or feeling like full-time shoppers are beneath them.

In their experience, those who MS for a living have not been the best performers on assignments in the past. End of story.

My personal opinion is that FT shoppers get frustrated with Coyle, and don't perform well, since the pay is not equitable with the work. If you do not appreciate the compensation-in-kind component of the work, it will have little value for you.

Now, it turns out that there are some assignments you would be a good fit for, and those particular assignments ARE desirable to you, so your issue is that you don't fit the overall model of a Coyle shopper and therefore don't have the option to perform the assignments you want from them. The problem as I see it is with the disparity in the industry and the bar being set too low by many other companies...and you just got stuck in the middle of that.

@SteveSoCal wrote:

In their experience, those who MS for a living have not been the best performers on assignments in the past. End of story.

You just said exactly what I just said I was just more blunt about it.

And I would love if someone could explain why my multiple attempts to do as they wanted and start with phone shops was met with multiple deleted shop applications and ignored emails but my email request to be removed from their database got a reply in 10 minutes.

bgriffin, after reading your posts here on the forum over the years, my guess is that Coyle is missing out on a great shopper who could fit in with their model but was not allowed the chance due to being a "route mystery shopper." I'm sure you would know how much to tip a concierge, which wine would be appropo with dinner, navigate international air travel, etc. I also don't believe, as Steve stated above, you really would want to do those things for the "experience." Typical mystery shoppers doing cell phone stores and gas stations definitely are not what Coyle is looking for in their shoppers.

Oh don't get me wrong. I am a poor fit for 95% of their shops. I have no desire to go to a five star resort. My best friend's brother is the CEO of a famous 5 star resort in Singapore. I fly free anywhere I want to go and I can stay there free anytime I want to. why would I do a report for something I don't pay for it anyway. I don't enjoy $200 dinners. I prefer hole-in-the-wall local type of restaurants and when I travel I prefer to go experience things instead of the hotel being the experience. My rewards accountsgenerally have a couple of hundred thousand points in them at any given time. I can go anywhere I want whenever I want without doing reports.

What I don't like about them is the fact that they assume because I am a professional mystery shopper that I do not have the ability to do any of their shops including the 5% that I would be exceptionally qualified for.

in their defense I do understand that most of their shoppers are wanting to follow the track of do phone shops then mid-range dining than upscale dining then mid-range hotel then resort hotel then cruises. I have no interest in any of those shops. what I don't understand or when they get clients that don't fit into that nice little track they insist on working on the same principles. you would think they would either treat those shops differently or not get them in the first place as they aren't a very good fit with their core shoppers. at the same time they refuse to go out of their core Shopper pool for the shops that don't fit them after complaining that people who would be good fits for them don't fit into their core Shopper pool

You don't have to start with phone shops.

I was told you had to start with phone shops so I applied for phone shops and my applications were deleted



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2019 05:46PM by bgriffin.

I never did a phone shop for them before fine dining. I don't shop for them regularly though due to my dislike for long narratives and their particular style, although I've stayed at fine resorts over my lifetime and golf and love massages and could do them, but uh...not now anyway.

It's not just about being able to order wine, or knowing what to tip a concierge.

BG and I are not that different in our approach the MSing. We both treat it like a business and we both get offended when we are not treated with respect. I just enjoy high-end dining more than him and make the majority of my income through a different means.

While I think the BG is a very good shopper, he is a terrible fit for Coyle, and I am guessing that they may have inferred that at some point along the way. The reason for that is what I stated above already; He and I both speak our minds freely and approach our businesses professionally.

I am thoroughly frustrated with Coyle on a regular basis, and make it known to them, but since they rely on me for specialty projects and I have a history with them, they tolerate my constant complaining. The last thing they need is someone else like me who is constantly pointing out inaccuracies and flaws in their system...especially one who doesn't like fine dining. Why go through the trouble of bringing someone in to your system that can only facilitate a small number of your assignments?