Secret Shopper

don't do it, they want $30 just to see their database.......you can give $25 just for tell you it's not worth it

 

Then you can apologize to all the salespeople for wasting their time. I used to work for a very large and well known retailer which paid on commission, and the thought of someone coming in to the store just to "test" me and preventing me from assisting paying customers was annoying. I don't have any respect for the companies that organize these or the companies that take part in them, especially at the wages they pay. If they're so concerned about staff performance, perhaps they should instead invest in training them properly.

 

my mother-in-law has been doing this for yrs. companies want reviews of how they are doing so she gets sent in and shops, she gets paid for her time and reimbursed for whatever she bought. they do have a $$ limit but it varies. restaurants do this as well and the one that keeps her busy 5days a week is the 'gas station' shops. conoco phillips bought 76 so they have been doing a review of all the gas stations, she has all the stations in a 100mile radius to review. as you can imagine this takes some time. it pays great and now she knows where every bloddy one is.

my in-laws are retired so it gives them something to do and they make decent money doing it. not enough for a younger person to live off but when you have no big bills and spare time it's great. i think they make about 2~3k a month depending on the shops.

i think it's a good idea, retail is full of people that should not be in a people orientated inviroment. employees always know when a DM is coming round, but the secret or mystery shopper can show up when ever. if you're doing your job right then you should have no worries but if you're not, well then maybe it's time to rethink your job.

netfreak, the company my mother-in-law works for has them purchase goods so they are paying customers. not sure if they all are like that but this one is.

 

Do you think Bugatti does that kind of stuff?

 

BMW does and so do all the major Supermarket chains. Along with Nordstroms and most of the other major retailers.

BMW also competitive shops M/B, Jag, Aston and others. I do not know if they still do it but in the past they would, if the salesperson did a good job with them, send the salesperson a letter letting them know that they had been shopped. They would let them know they had done a good job, thank them for their time and send them a giftcard of $50 to $100 for their time.

 

my in-laws did do a shop for BMW, want to know how much they got paid for it? .38c per mile and $20 for the 'time'. that's it! so sending over $50~$100 for the sales guys' time is a completly wastefull use of limited income.

now on the flip side, Chevy paid out $100 big ones to check out the new caddies, go figure. they didn't get that one though, high demand.

 

just so you guys know, most of the shops only pay out mileage and $10~$30. that's it. then you still need to spend an hr or so filling out the paper work. reviews, questionairs etc.. so for a time/money issue it's a lost cause. but it's a big draw to the retired people as it gives them something to do. and keeps thier income below the state allowance so as not to affect your SS pay.

 

The supermarket company I work for has their own army of secret shoppers on the company payroll. If they are "made" by the store employees as being a shopper they are transferred into another district. If they are made again, they lose their jobs.

We get shopped at least once a week and a large portion of our annual bonus is based on the scores the shoppers give. It can get quite annoying when a brand new checker is hit on their first day because they did not offer carryout for someone who had a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread or did not thank them by their last name. Yep, my bonus can be greatly reduced by a 16 year old not caring just once with a mystery shopper........................

 

I absolutely despise the reports I get back when "secret shopped." I'm in the restaurant industry, and the corporate bigwigs are big on so called "perfect shops." Most of the shops I have gotten, in my opinion, were complete bs. There seems to be only integrity holding these people accountable, and with a few exceptions, that seems to be very lacking. We finally had video cameras installed, and when going back to look at the evidence there are typically numerous errors. Wait times, cashier names, items ordered, etc. I'm trying to get my company to stop wasting money on this supposed service, and give me a little more flexibility when it comes to hours for training my employees. When I am held accountable for scores received from secret shoppers, I would like to know that they are also held accountable for their accuracy in reporting. Sorry, secret shoppers just touched a nerve. It seems to me, most are in it just for the free food.

Tim