Mystery shopper woes

[blas]

I agree with the above statement. One simply cannot send some John Doe off the street who's never worked a day in retail in his life, then send him to evaluate a store. Of course he'll give low ratings if he has to wait in line, if someone's name tag is crooked, if an employee's shoe is coming untied........geez louise!

Also, NO MYSTERY SHOPPERS during the holiday season, and that specifically includes Black Friday. I think any Mystery Shop done on Black Friday should go right into the paper shredder. To expect any store to be completely organized and have every customer checked out in 5 minutes is completely insane and ridiculous. People go into wild monkey mode during that time of year....some stores appear looted for heaven's sakes! Employees have been working for hours and hours without breaks because customers won't leave, they've dealt with arrogant assholes demanding VIP treatment all day....uh uh. No way.

I think mystery shopping may be a good job and pay well if you need the money, but I think too many people who have no experience in retail just go into it just to get people in trouble or fired.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

My company has the WORST mystery shoppers.

Our store is a manager training store, and the last one said that they didn't see a manager on duty...there were FIVE on duty that day! FIVE!

We were even mystery shopped on black friiday and the Saturday before Christmas this past season. Two days where its basically impossible to keep the store tidy (ppl just throw stuff everywhere) or get a customer thru the line and out the door in under 5 minutes (and this is with 9 registers running nonstop).

Last year, I was helping out and ringing even though I'm not a cashier and I got a negative evaluation for not thanking the customer by name. Why, you ask? She paid cash (unless I'm supposed to thank Mr. Washington on the bill!) and bought a freaking ICED TEA!

Methinks corporate was looking for any reason to ding your store and keep raises down. Any at all.

The mystery shops on Black Friday and the day before Christmas give it away. You can't reasonably expect the store to be in tip-top shape, with all the employees bright and perky and taking their time to help you out like you're the only person in the store, and getting every customer in line checked out in five minutes or less.

Oops, my bad! You can if you're a suit! That's why the one corporate suit who visited my store on Black Friday 2005 started pissing and moaning about the shelves not being straightened.

[Jack7957]

I'm on a MS list, but they keep wanting to send me to do just two stores in the area. One is a book store I don't want to go to because it's always a pain to find parking where it is. The other is a sporting goods store, where part of the shop is asking about certain guns/ammo, which the only knowledge I have is aiming and pulling the trigger.

[powerboy]

I'm on a MS list

How do you get onto an MS List. i could always use the extra money

[Jack7957]

How do you get onto an MS List. i could always use the extra money

I saw an article one day years ago about being a Secret Shopper that gave the names of some legitimate companies to sign up with. One thing to remember is you do not need to pay to become a secret shopper. There are some websites out there that promise you can be one for "a small fee".

[ThePhoneGoddess]

well whaddaya expect? Ever looked into most of those MS websites? A lot of them are scams themselves, therefore they attract scammers---and other general idiots.

Most MS programs, once you've signed up and paid the fees, you will occasionally get a list of stores that need rating. It's up to you when you wanna go; they don't tell you the hours or anything. It's a really weird system they got going.

[bendertiger]

Hell yeah! Score one for the staff Corporate supporting the employees?

[CaroPhoenix]

My husband and I HATE mystery shoppers.

Hubby got mystery shopped when he worked (very briefly) for a Roy Rogers restaurant. He was marked down because he didn't ask the requisite: "Do you want fries with that?" question. The Mystery Shopper ordered a sundae. He got a "talking to" by his manager.

When I worked for Roy Rogers (not the one my hubby worked at - I didn't know him back then), I was always Mystery Shopped. I always got 100%. There was one time I didn't get a 100% and the DM was like, "The MS was probably stupid." I always got free food and Roys' bucks to buy my food. Aaaah ... those were the days.