As a mystery shopper, you likely spend a lot of time and effort picking and choosing the best assignments to complete. After all, some assignments are far easier to complete than others, and some pay much more than others do. While you do want to spend some time choosing the best assignments to work on, you also want to take a closer look at your own mystery shopping providers to ensure that you are working with the best providers available.
Why The Provider Matters. You may think that making money as a mystery shopping boils down to picking out the best assignments and you may consider who you work for as a secondary consideration. This isn’t necessarily the case at all, though. The fact is that a poor provider can have all kinds of negative effects on your job. It can make you waste your valuable time searching tons of bad assignments on a job board to find that needle in a haystack. It can make you take up extra time completing site visits and reports, and often these providers are those who are nit-picky with the answers you provide on a report, which means they often may come back to you with revisions. This takes up even more of your time. Some providers even ask you to make unethical changes to your answers, which puts you in a high stress situation and further takes away time and energy from other assignments.
Taking a Closer Look. Clearly, who you work for as a mystery shopper really is very important to your job. Working with a bad provider can actually affect your paycheck, your happiness as a mystery shopper, and your time, too. Take a closer look today at those providers who you are working for who seem to be a constant thorn in your side. If you’re not sure if your experiences with them are a fluke thing or if they are really a bad provider to work for, hop onto the mystery shopping forum online and take a look at what other mystery shoppers have to say about them. You may find that mystery shoppers have already posted a message or two about them, or you can start your own thread to get the feedback you want.
If You Are Working With a Bad Provider. If you have made the decision that you are indeed working with a bad provider, you do want to make an effort to end your relationship with that provider as soon as you can. This sounds as though it would be a complicated, emotional event, but as a mystery shopper it really is just as simple as not asking for new assignments to work on with that provider. You can finish out the assignments you have already requested, and then find another provider or two to work for you. You can keep your eyes and ears open on the forum to gather some information about a provider who other mystery shoppers are enjoying working for.
The bottom line as a mystery shopper is finding providers who are easy to work for and who pay relatively well, too. This is not a job where stress and a paycheck have to go hand in hand, so if you have a provider who you are not happy with, you do have the power to do something about it starting today!
One unethical mystery shopping company: Ath Power Consulting.
Another is Franchise Compliance. they do not pay and indicate they do on your account. When you send them emails or call, they simply do not respond to any correspondence. Yet, they requyire extensive amounts of time and then also require long reports. I spent over an hour working with a Bathfitter salesperson and then 15 minutes completing the report for a $20 fee. I never received payment. Now this is what they did: I performed the shop in May of this year. In June they placed ‘Paid’ on my account. The date they indicated was 09/15/2011in the future. I sent over six emails, maid sevral calls and sent messages to the scheduler. Nothing was done to corret the issue. I still have not received payment. They ignored all my correspondence. I have seen similar stories on the MS forum. BEWARE OF FRANCHISE COMPLIANCE.
Sorry about the ‘unedited’ comment above. When I think of this client, my addrenaline begins to rise.
Stay away from Channel Watch…I’ve been waiting over two years for payment.
Has anyone work for a company called CRG? I have not heard back from them since my November shop with them, and I have not receive feedback nor payments either.
I have worked with Ath Power since 2006 and have never had any problems with them. I find them easy to work for and get paid on time.
Kiki,
CRG states on their website that you will be paid the end of the following month. This means your November shop will be paid at the end of December. This is not uncommon for MSCs
I also have worked for ath Power for years and have never had an issue with them. Good assignments. Fair feedback on reports and published pay policy.
I live in Washington state and have been trying to find more reputible companies to shop for. Does anyone know of any good companies for this area?
has anyone worked and been paid from Secret Internet shopper and is this company legitimate I am about to send them my tax info
Does anyone know anything about Mistery Shopper Market Research? I received email weekly.
Hi
Is Marketforce blue portal going broke. I have worked with them for several years ok just 2 but they always paid on time even if just once a month and their forms are the simplest to fill out. Out of desparation last year I picked up a couple of Macdonalds shops.I ran into all kinds of problems as usual order taker messes up my order processes it as a take out instead of drive in and incorrect menu items. To cut a long story short I had to have my receipt corrected in almost all the shops. When I explained to the editors about this they said I blew my cover and should not have walked in if the shop was a drive in or made any attempts to confront the cashier. All in all I had 3 out of 4 shops cancelled. I told the editors that the only way to prove I did a shop was with a receipt . I think they have just hired a bunch of idiots to check on reports or they do not want to risk loosing a major client because of a confrontational mystery shopper. I am no longer working for them as I felt used having spent my entire weekend stuffing my face with burgers for no pay.Any thoughts on this company would be appreciated. Have they gotten so big that it has gone to their heads and think mystery shoppers are trash to be disposed off at will or are they desparate for cash and will get it any way they can including from shoppers the major source of their income.They do not have high paying or even fun assignments. They just have the nicest forms that require little narratives.Their bonus assignments do pay well when you can get them
Cynthia, In the paperwork it says only ask once for a receipt. I would advise reading your paperwork more carefully next time!