I am currently with EPMS and I am trying to broaden my apartment shopping. Can you please share what company you work for or know of that shops apartments in the US? Here is a list actually of the shopping companies that I have already signed up with, but I have either never seen apartments at all in their database or non in my area. I am in Arizona btw. Thanks for any info!

Sorry copy and pasted did not show in my original post, here is my list:

All-Star Customer Service Inc.
Apartment Shoppe
California Marketing Specialists (SASSIE)
Corporate Research International (CoRI)
Excel Shopping & Consulting
Jancyn Evaluation Shops
LeBlanc & Associates
Locksley Group Ltd. (*RE)
Marketing Endeavors LLC (*RE)
Market Viewpoint (*Housing)
Measure Consumer Perspectives (*PM)
Primo Solutions LLC
Secret Shopping Services (SASSIE)
Service Alliance
Service Impressions (SASSIE)
ServiceProbe
ServiceTRAC (*Housing)
Shoptalk Service Evaluations
Confero Inc (*RE)
Imyst Inc
Northwest Loss Prevention Consultants
BARE International

How about Canada? I have done a couple with Pemier.

Be careful about using recorded phone conversations. Do not trust the Mystery Shopping Companies to give you legal advice. Contact your State Attorney General to find out if it is legal for an Independent Contractor to record a telephone call or hidden camera recording. Some of the companies listed in this tread promote these recordings which are not legal in my state.

vanster,Audio recordings in states that limit their use are legal IF both parties have consented. Please be specific about what state you say has made audio recordings "illegal." The state's attorney general will be able to cite the circumstances under which such recordings would be legal, but she/he will NOT know whether or not a specific company has complied with those requirments. BIG difference!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/06/2011 08:46PM by walesmaven.

I do not care for Calif. marketing handled through Kern. I de-actived over 2 years ago, trust me. I do work for Bare Int'l, although pay is a little low, no worry about getting it. Kern also handles many apartments.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2011 04:31PM by Irene_L.A..

Wavesmaven, please refer to your own posting. Both parties have to consent, either on the recording directly or in an advance written form. But as I pointed out, different states have different requirements, just as different Mystery shopping companies have different Independent Contractor Agreements. In my State (Washington State) an authorization signed by an apartment community employee only covers the companies and individuals specifically named on the document. If the Independent Contractors name is not on the release and you do a shop those results in an adverse personnel action, that independent contractor can be sued for wiretapping. Also some of the Independent Contractor Agreements specifically require that the Independent contractor is responsible for all legal bills for themselves as well as the Mystery Shopping Company. Also here is another tidbit, covert video recording in a model apartment is also prohibited by law in Washington State unless the video has the consent of everyone recorded on it.

I am just trying to advise other shoppers that what a mystery shopping says and what the state law is can be radically different. Washington State conducts small business seminars on how to comply with security and workplace monitoring. I am sure that other states as well as schools of business, community colleges, business associations and chambers of commerce conduct workplace conduct and ethics seminars for shoppers to attend.

Basically what I am saying is, call up your State Attorney General’s Consumer Affairs office and give them the shop scenario. The advice they give may be well worth the phone call. Or of course you can trust the “Experts” and just hope you are complying with your states privacy laws.

In AZ the law states that only one party needs to consent to being recorded, audio and/or video... so that means that if I am mystery shopping someone, I know I consent to being in the recording therefor it is legal.

Vanester,
That is exactly why I asked which state you had referenced. I have not claimed to be an expert in state laws. But, I try to ask the right questions to determine what and where my exposure might be in each state. Does Washongton State's rule about video in model homes state that if a sign is prominently posted informing visitors that video recording is in place, and the party then enters the premises, this constitutes informed consent to the video recording? If not, what would constitute informed consent? I ask because many of the states where I video shop have such provisions and I am interested in how consent might be achieved in your state. Of course, in most states, video recording in not an issue at all; it is the audio recording, in two party consent states, that is the legal issue. If one hears that familiar message, "This call may be recorded for training and (etc.) purposes) you are hearing the "informed consent" message that says, in effect, "If you continue with this call, you have consented to being recorded," in every state of which I am aware. I have yet to shop Washington State, btw.

Remington also does apartment shops. They offered a bonus if you have a gold certification. They also offer a bonus if you submit you report within 12 hours. Although they will asked for clarification usually about a day or 2 later. Which will disqualify you for the bonus. I did 1 shop for them that took hours to complete because it required about 10 narratives.

The law in Washington requires on video consent whenever you are not in a public enviroment. The seminar that I attended made it clear that being on a tour of a model apartment did not meet the standards for public enviroment. The area was entered through use of a locked doorway. Also because no signage was posted indicating that audio and/or video recording was being conducted.

The law in Washington State on recorded telephone calls makes it very clear that all parties must be informed a call is being monitored or recorded at the beginning of the phone call. None of the sytems that I used before becoming informed complied with this requirement.

I actually had a scheduler/owner of a video recording training company in Florida, tell me that her training would would allow a Shopper to be legal in all 50 states. Yet, Her company is not registered in this state as a business. Our state requires anyone doing any business activity in the state to register and obtain a "Foriegn business registration." In this case foriegn means out of state.

So my point is these people will say anything to make a buck off of you.

Do you have contact information for the Locksley Group? I would love to sign up with them. Thanks!


kveltri Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sorry copy and pasted did not show in my original
> post, here is my list:
>
> All-Star Customer Service Inc.
> Apartment Shoppe
> California Marketing Specialists (SASSIE)
> Corporate Research International
> (CoRI)
> Excel Shopping & Consulting
> Jancyn Evaluation Shops
> LeBlanc & Associates
> Locksley Group Ltd. (*RE)
> Marketing Endeavors LLC (*RE)
> Market Viewpoint (*Housing)
> Measure Consumer Perspectives (*PM)
> Primo Solutions LLC
> Secret Shopping Services (SASSIE)
> Service Alliance
> Service Impressions (SASSIE)
> ServiceProbe
> ServiceTRAC (*Housing)
> Shoptalk Service Evaluations
> Confero Inc (*RE)
> Imyst Inc
> Northwest Loss Prevention Consultants
> BARE International