Ever been screwed on a mystery shop?

[DrFaroohk]

I happened to spot a mystery shopper once. I could tell by the things she was looking at and the way she was going about the store that she was either with corporate doing a spot inspection, or a mystery shopper, or at the very least way more interested in the store than a normal customer.

So I made sure to do everything right and say everything right when she came to my register, and yet she still marked me off for all kinds of stuff, saying it wasn't fair that i knew she was a mystery shopper. Corporate backed her on it, probably to get out of paying out the whopping 20 dollar gift card prize.

[JLRodgers]

Some people just aren't cut out to be moles -- or secret shoppers.

I personally think that a secret shopper person should not only not stick out - but you shouldn't have any clue who they were even after getting a detailed report of what was going on when they were there.


But why would she knock you down because you knew she was one? How could she know exactly what you would or wouldn't do if you hadn't of known?

[KellyHabersham]

[QUOTE=JLRodgers]Some people just aren't cut out to be moles -- or secret shoppers.
QUOTE]

I agree on that......one of my then co-workers at Macy's had a nasty encounter with a secret shopper from the corporate offices once, and going by what I was told happened, the woman had no business working as a shopper. (either that, or there was a specific scenario she was told to act out)

[Tigress]

One day, while helping a customer process a warranty camera repair, she emphasized that she needed the camera back quickly because she uses it in her job as a mystery shopper.

I paused for a minute (only partly because her shirt was so loose that I could clearly see her red satin underwire bra) and said, "I didn't hear that." She looked at me kind of strange before I added, "You could lose your commission as a mystery shopper by revealing that you are one."

I didn't think to ask WHY she would need a camera for mystery shopping. But she was an okay customer, if a little clueless and fitting the definition of "po' white trash".

[bean]

So far I don't think I've been shopped, but I got a glance at the criteria for passing a shop as a cashier.

One that stuck out that would probably get me - customers cannot see us eating/drinking anything, nor can they see evidence of food/drink at the register.

I can understand food, but I always keep a bottle of water at my register and refill it multiple times through the day. I usually keep it under the counter, but when I've got a line 3+ deep for over an hour, I'm going to stop for a second while a customer is writing a check and take a gulp of water. I'm only human yanno.

Store policy is we can have a drink at our register, as long as it's out of sight and not in an open container (spill proof cup or some kind of bottle, I grab a small bottle of water and refill it through the day). Most cashiers ignore the out of sight rule and just keep their drink next to the receipt printer, and so far management has never said a thing as long as it's in a bottle.

Another thing that would get a lot of our cashiers - we're supposed to count bills back to the customer. I always do that anyway, I've caught myself either giving too much or not enough a couple of times by counting it back. But I see a lot of cashiers that just hand the money to the customer and state how much it is.

[Kinoo]

I've had the mystery shopper at a few jobs, the worst was when I managed for a particularly nasty hotel group. They used a combo of mystery shoppers & customer comment cards that went into a locked box, opened only by the office manager/owners PA. They'd be photocopied & faxed back to you with "please explain" on them from the owners. Most of the time they'd been filled out as a joke by the regulars (mostly staff from the competition right next door) not realising the amount of trouble they were getting us into. Impossible to try & explain to the humourless owners that I knew who wrote it & No, that never happened.
The mystery shoppers were dreadful too, complaining about things like style of music playing being inappropriate (jukebox = no control) and mentioning the other clientele negatively. Um, I can't help if you own a pub on the cities biggest entertainment strip, next door to chinatown, but your mystery shopper has an issue with being outnumbered about 300 to 1 by young asians. There's a very good reason you felt uncomfortable Mr & Mrs Middle-aged Anglo. There is no way in hell you'd be drinking in my bar unless you were getting paid, which you are, so wait your turn at the 4 deep understaffed bar, be polite, do not give yourself away even more by insisting on a receipt during happy hour, drink your cheap nasty house spirit mixed not quite standard to try & catch me out, and please just go away.
Oh, and if your going to do me the favour of not actually gracing my bar with your presence before you write a detailed report to the owners about how truly awful your night was in said bar, at least bother to find out who is working that shift, as we use a rotating roster so it'll be different to last time. The owner really hates it when I point out that you obviously never set foot in the place that night, cause he looks stupid, he already paid you and believed you when you said you had no receipts for all your expenses due to the incompetant staff, and he's gonna take it out on me regardless.
Grrrrr! I hate mystery shoppers!

[AirHostess]

Apparently I didn't smile enough or call them 'madam.' I never call anyone sir or madam.

Meh. Either way I didn't care. It won't stop me getting a new job or anything. Plus the company is so useless it's most likely been filed in the wrong place.

The company is losing 800 million pounds, it's going to take a heck of a lot more than a smile and calling a customer madam to save their asses.

[trailerparkmedic]

I do some mystery shops, but unless you burn my food or completely ignore me, I'm going to give you pretty good scores. I just remember getting marked down on one when I worked at a grocery store because I wasn't perky enough--that's really what the comments said!

[Kiwi]

From what I have heard on the msn money boards (there are a few mystery shoppers on there) they have to find stuff wrong or they risk not being paid. They have to give extreme amounts of detail on every aspect and its not exactly a high paying job.

I applied to be one myself once and got through the interview but was denied because I had worked in retail for too long and they thought that would make me bias and give the employees to much slack... whatever

Its like managers telling you that your doing great, but they have to give you a crappy review because corp doesn't like it when to many people get high scores.

[JLRodgers]

....they have to find stuff wrong or they risk not being paid....

I wonder if companies not paying if nothing bad happened treat their employees like crap.... that's one huge lack of trust and stuff there, thinking your employees are bad, and then paying someone to prove you right.

[McGoddess09]

Ugh. I hate mystery shops. We get them every month.

One time, I was working up front and right away, I could tell who was a mystery shop. If it's one person, ordering a meal, nothing special, they ask for nutrition information or their receipt, it could be them.

I saw this lady picking apart her sandwich and writing stuff down while taking care of lobby. I told my manager as I grabbed a coffeepot and went out to refill coffeecups and ask how everything is going with their meals. I cleaned already clean spots.

We got the reviews back. Front counter got a 100%, but one coworker in DT messed it all up because he was so slow. We got a 40% in DT.

I was pissed!

[Lace Neil Singer]

Sometimes I wonder if these people have an agenda; ie, they're determined to find fault. -.- Once this woman was really rude and offensive to me, and then marked me down in the MS report as not smiling or looking at her. Luckily for me, and unluckily for Ms Mystery Bitch, a supervisor had witnessed the whole thing, and intervened on my behalf to say that the MS was acting really nastily and therefore not neutral like they're supposed to act, so the report was scrapped. I think the MS in question was sacked, cuz they're not supposed to be actively rude; they're meant to blend into the background so they can give a genuine version of events.

We also had an MS report marking down the toilets, which was pretty unfair. -.- After all, we have a cleaner going in there several times a day, but they can't be expected to police the customer toilets twenty four seven. After all, it only takes one disgusting pig a few minutes to pee on the floor and trash the place. -.-

[CaroPhoenix]

The only time I've ever encountered a mystery shopper was when I worked Roy Rogers.

We'd get one about every month. They only came in during the day, which was my shift. We always got a 100%. The reports were always glowing about the front end (my position). I always got Roys Bucks so I could pay for my lunches or whatever. The Store Manager (Denzel) and the District Manager (can't remember his name but he was big ... like santa, but no beard and he was bald) loved me!

Mr. Rum, worked for Roy Rogers for like 6 months. He was dinged on his 1 mystery shop. He didn't ask if they wanted fries with what they ordered. The person ordered a sundae. He just didn't think to ask about fries because who wants fries with a sundae. Yeah, he's hated mystery shoppers since then.

[JLRodgers]

The person ordered a sundae. He just didn't think to ask about fries because who wants fries with a sundae.

I've actually done that before -- of course it threw off the waiter, but it was hot and I was craving salt, but wanted something cold... so it seemed logical

But yeah... normally... wouldn't happen.

[joe hx]

some people like to dip their fries into frosties.