Hourtoo Alliance Rules and Regulations
This agreement is created as guidelines for the Hour Alliance located in the game of Dragon Storm in the Leviathan World. These rules and regulations arebin addition to the terms and agreements published by GLU. Hourtoo Alliance (herein referred to as HA) members are asked to confirm the reading of and agreement with these terms within 7 days of there acceptance. Amendments, corrections, or Additions to these rules should be sent by in game messaging to one of the Archdukes or the Sovereign of HA for their consideration.
A. Volunteer status
All members of HA have joined voluntarily. Any member feeling that HA is not a good match shall resign on their on accord without repercussions from HA members for a period of 3 days. To claim this grace period member must message a HA leader before the act of resigning. This grace period will allow for a search for a new alliance. Any member expelled by hierarchy action shall be afforded no grace period and are subject to attack from within or without HA.
B. Protection Status
HA members agree to stand by and protect their fellow members to the best of their abilities. This includes any unprovoked attack from any other kingdom regardless of alliance affiliation. Any unprovoked attack from another alliance should be reported to an HA leader before retaliation if possible. This will allow for negotiations to take place before declaration of hostile activities. Any unprovoked attack upon any HA member from within another alliance or from an unallied kingdom shall be considered an attack against all.
C. Attack Orders
No attack against any other kingdom serving under an alliance is authorized without express attack orders given from the Sovereign or Archduke. Any attack against a non-alliance kingdom is authorized, but this activity does not give protection status to the HA member. Members are encouraged to attack non-alliance kingdoms as a method of furthering their own games. If it is obvious that a attack is from multiple sources that would constitute a unwritten alliance, the HA member attacked may ask for assistance from HA members.
D. Hierarchy Structure
HA shall consist of the Sovereign, Archdukes, Dukes, Counts, and Knights. If a member feels he no longer can fulfill his post efficiently he may ask to be voluntarily demoted. Any promotion shall be ordered by the Sovereign or an Archduke. Any member is encouraged to recommend for promotion any other member who through example has distinguished himself or herself as worthy of such promotion. Promotions shall be made solely on the need of HA as a whole with consideration to exemplary activities of the member considered.
Sovereign......the sovereign is the highest rank in HA. His job is to make decisions in the administration of these rules as is best for HA and all members. He will make final ruling if available on any disagreement between members or expulsion order. He may appoint any member to any position he desires. He shall call for specific responsibilities not called forth by these rules.
Archduke......assigned to this post by the Sovereign. The Archduke may be assigned a specific job description, such as Minister of Negotiation, War, Administration, etc. Any order from an Archduke shall be considered as coming out of the mouth of the Sovereign. The Archduke shall have the responsibility to order hostile actions against any kingdom in the absence of the Sovereign.
Duke........assigned by the Sovereign or Archduke..........the Duke shall be assigned responsibilities as set by the assigning leader. Dukes may also be awarded duke status by exemplary service as a count or knight. The Duke may also be assigned a number of Counts to advise (especially as the alliance matures).
Count.........assigned by the Sovereign or Archduke or Duke (after consultation with a superior position). The count will be assigned certain Knights to guide. The Count shall monitor the activities of their Knights and consult with their superiors when corrective action is necessary. The Count will also praise his Knights as appropriate in private or public. Any negative feedback should be done with discretion. The Count shall recommend expulsion of a member for non activity or insubordination.
Knight...........the Knight is the entry level of membership. The primary responsibility of the Knight is growth and support. The knight should monitor and continue his own growth and give specific actions in hostile actions as requested by his superiors. The Knight is expected to grow over time. If there are life situations that prohibit growth, these situations should be shared with the Count in order to exempt the Knight from disciplinary action. A Knights progress shall be noted by his assigned Count each Friday. If the Knight shows zero growth after 7 days (each Friday) he shall be counseled for any exempt condition. If no exemption exists, said Knight shall be given a 3 day grace period to show interest and growth in the game. If the Knight cannot be reached by message or does not respond, he shall be subject to expulsion . Under these circumstances the expelled member may reapply for inclusion if desired and shall be offered a grace period. The Knight will be considered for promotion to count at level 20. He will be promoted upon recommendation of his Count supervisor and affirmation of alliance need by a Duke,Archduke, or Sovereign.
E. General Rules and Deportment
Each member is to treat all with respect. This includes chat activities on either chat channel. If a member is observed in activity that clearly reflects negatively on HA, he or she should be asked to transfer to ally chat for discussion or messaged in a respectful way. Disallowed activities include vulgar or indecent language of any kind and Includes but is not limited to use of any language that is racial, suggestive or sexual in nature. Prohibited activities also include any attempt to circumvent the GLU sensors by spelling words differently or spacing words out.
Chat on the World chat should be light and friendly. This is the major recruiting area of the game. Any negative communication here can taint the HA reputation and set the alliance up for failure. Chat on the ally channel shall be on a subject chosen by the chatee and should also be light and friendly. We should respect each other and feel like family. Chat on this channel during hostile activity should be war planning only and frivolous communication should be reserved for later times.
Any member in violation of these rules and regulations shall be considered to have separated themselves from the spirit of HA. This member should be questioned by a HA leader and counseled to conform to these regulations. Any member not willing to conform to these regulations or otherwise is insubordinate when approached may be at HA leadership discretion be subject to expulsion.
This ends the rules and conditions section of this blog. Additions will be added above this line as appropriate.
Information below these lines will be attack suggestions and other temporary information and as such will be removed as sensitive information is disseminated.
The spirit of the R&D above are that the Knight is an entry level and as such is under probationary service. As the alliance matures there may be situations where less and less Knights exists. In this case there may be members of the same rank asked to continue to supervise other members of that rank. This is satisfactory as we go forward.
Attack....this personal comment from RYTEC1. In the past couple of weeks there have been a couple of situations where we have attacked other alliances and non-alliances for aggression to an HA member. The game is all about kingdom and alliance building and an important part of that is attacking opponents. However, I am concerned that our members reveled in a perceived victory that was less of a victory than believed. If we had gone against a battle savvy opponent, said opponent would have allowed avfew attacks, and then would have sentries up in front of large blocks of army and caused these armies to be destroyed. Also an attack order for 9 pm should mean 9pm. Not 8:45. I will give a couple of examples of strategy next.
Pre attack preparations include making sure of battery strength of your device and using resources down as efficiently as possible. A strong vault in my opinion is better than a strong sentry. A strong vault will make you not vulnerable to any size attack. A strong sentry although important will not keep you from being attacked and defeated by a much stronger opponent.
If you are going against an experienced alliance, it is sometimes best to avoid the top players and drain the underlings. Then as the underlings complain and the top dogs will attack you and give you the opportunity to choose when you place troops in sentry for defense and when you stand down. Remember it is always easier to replace resources than troops.
In a major conflict, there are no unimportant players. For instance, a smaller level 7 player with a small army can send a single dragon out front of others troops to clear the sentry. A single dragon will be exhausted but not destroyed and will live to fight another day.
If you have 15 minute speed ups available, save them for battle. You can send a medium size army with no dragon escort at your opponent. Their oracle sees them coming and puts the appropriate force in sentry. Your opponent figures to leave his forces in sentry because he knows he can defeat your incoming army. As you watch the timing on your attack flag....as the time for your army is seconds from impact....you hit the speed up for your dragon and he immediately jumps over your troops and crashes into the sentry knocking out scores of your opponents troops.
If you have time to plan attacks, you may ask for timing reports. Your members then will go and simulate an attack but not push the button for attack. You will find some members may be 2 minutes from your opponent and others may be 11 or 12 minutes away. This difference in timing can be used to your advantage.
It is always a chance that during attacks, their is a desire to overwhelm your opponent. That is not normally it really works. An astute player will be patient until his opponent sends troops. Sometimes this means watching as your attack report shows a defeat for you. But as your opponent gets greedy and he sends a larger army, you may have the opportunity to place your strength in sentry and destroy their army.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Saturday, January 21, 2012
My Wyndham Timeshare Experience
Notes began on 10-20-2011 You know from time to time you talk to a customer service rep or salesperson and failed to remember something you wanted to discuss with them. So I began to put down thoughts on our ongoing relationship with Wyndham. The results follow.
Background…..My wife and I have always enjoyed vacationing. In the early years of our marriage, we went on a few sales presentations but did not buy. I finally told my wife, if we could not afford to buy I did not want to go to another sales presentation with no thought of buying. In the early 90s, after several years of motel vacations and sharing with my Mom and Dad, we planned a week in Orlando and Disneyworld. Several months before planning to go, I got talked into a visit (and sales talk) at Branson. The presentation was still too expensive in my opinion, but the last person offered what was called the Discovery program. This program allowed us to test the waters (so to speak) at a low cost. So we decided we could use the $2400 for accommodations in Orlando to buy the Discovery program……and use the Discovery program to pay for a week near Disney World…and have a few mini-vacations left over. The program did show us a level of luxury that we had not been accustomed to. At a later visit to Branson, we traded our Discovery in for a small vacation packages. In subsequent years, we have upgraded our weeks into multiple weeks, then points, then Wyndham Club Access, then VIP Gold status.
We always felt we were doing something for our family that we could afford. Of course needs and financial situations change over a lifetime.
Last November (2010) we made the decision to upgrade our timeshare to Wyndham Access VIP Gold. This decision now seems to fall into the category of “What were you thinking?” The increase in the maintenance fees coupled with an additional outlay has somewhat cramped our budget. We have been faced basically with plenty of timeshare to use with very little money to travel to them. While on an early fall trip to Branson, we mentioned this concern, which led to an appointment with Ryan Gist. When we visited with Ryan Gist, he presented us with some possible ways to use the Wyndham Rewards card to offset our maintenance fees. I am not criticizing his or anyone’s style, just sharing personal experiences and expectations that we may have had in error. It continues to be a theme when we visit with Wyndham that they will help with any problem……just be prepared to open your checkbook again.
Our expectations of the card was to get a fast start out of the box. This was to be accomplished by getting 2 cards , one for DY and one for RY. Then we would receive 12000 bonus points for each card after its first use. . Then we would put our “initial Wyndham purchase” on these cards and receive 1 reward point for each $1 spent. The problem here was the terms and conditions said “initial Wyndham down payment”. The word “down” in the terms and conditions means the $698 on the RY card received 698 bonus points, but the $1967 charged on the DY card received 0 points. I have spoken to 2 Barclay managers and they speak a doublespeak that does not answer “why does this transaction get NOTHING?”.
The emails I have sent Barclay seem to be answered by a robot. In most cases my direct question is ignored and replaced by more quotes from the terms and conditions and smooth but repeated apologies. Also I have pointed out emails from their agents that contradict each other.
After some major league frustration with Barclay customer service, I sent an email to bransoncustomercare@wyn.com. This email (10-18-2011)trickled down to Terry Williams and I received a response from him. Terry sent us 2 certificates good for a week each at an RCI resort. Terry stated that these weeks are actually more valuable than the bonus points promised. I called RCI and to use these certificates would cost us $249 for each. So use of these certificates requires a processing fee that actually takes funds out of our pocket equivalent to 2 months maintenance fees. This clearly makes these awards not usable to us. This may be a good certificate to give to friends and relatives, but if I do that I am still charged a guest fee…Wow. Also the time next year that we had scheduled for a large family getaway was November, and these certificates expire in October.
Update 11-02 I received an email today from rci@email.rci.com. It was an advertisement for a BOGO promotion. For $249 I get a week in an RCI condo plus an additional week only usable in March-May 2012. We get these offers regularly plus $199 specials, which calls into question even more---Why was the certificates referred to above valuable at all???????
I also have done some comparison on the value I receive from the rewards program(Wyndham Rewards Visa Card). Since I have used my Discover card for several years, I had that experience to draw on. Of course, the main thing we used our Discover points for was restaurant gift cards, so I will use that as an example.
The Discover card awarded us 1% back. A restaurant card for $50 was discounted to $45 on the Discover redeem process. So this meant we could get a $50 gift card for every $4500 spent (about every 2 months). Discover also ran specials of 5% often. This meant during each quarter our reward dollars grew much faster . Examples for 2011..July – Sep - Gas and Hotels…..Oct – Dec…..restaurants and fashion, etc.
The Wyndham reward visa gives you 2 reward points for each dollar spent. The published redemption price for a $50 gift card requires 12,500 reward points requiring you to charge $6,250 on your card to qualify. I do understand that you get 3 reward points for each $1 spent on certain Wyndham hotels, but we can almost completely disregard this because we have the great condos to spend our time in and will rarely if ever use this feature. Also although it was mentioned in our sales presentation that the visa card has 5% specials, I see no mention of this on their website.
It is obvious to me at this point that all reward cards are not created equal. The use of reward points versus percentage back causes one to have to really think on which is better. We signed up for the Visa Reward Card because of the anticipation of it helping on out maintenance fees, but 10,000 reward points are required to offset our maintenance fee by $60. So at the best case scenario, we can use WRVC and receive $60 off of our maintenance fee----or we can use Discover the same amount and receive $100++ in restaurant cards. It is my opinion that it is going to take at least twice as long to reach the goal with the Wyndham Reward card as it would with the Discover card. Of course the main use of reward points would be to offset our maintenance cost. This may prove to be a very, very, slow process, especially since Barclay has not allowed the bonus points discussed above.
Also, I should comment here about the 0% for six months promotion on the card. I talked to a Barclay rep about my ongoing use of the card. He said that I should consider the purchases and the initial Wyndham purchase as 2 different entities. He explained that the latter was at the 0% rate but my purchases would be at 14.99%....which meant I should pay off enough to pay my purchases each month to avoid interest charges. Unfortunately that is not how it really works!!! In order to avoid interest charges you must pay off the whole balance. This means…..as long as you have ANY balance on the card, you will be charged 14.99% on your purchases beginning from the day you make the purchase. This interest rate negates any small reward point accumulation that you get.
So my evaluation of the Wyndham Reward Visa Card would be 1) The value of the rewards is well below the value of Discover and other cards. 2) The 0%APR is of value only if you do not use the card for other purchases (and of course, that is what you signed up for). 3)The 12000 bonus points that Ryan Gist told us about (showed us the brochure on his desk) was not referred to specifically in the terms and agreements, therefore was disallowed by Barclay. 4) The $1967.07 charged on the card for our initial Wyndham purchase was not shown as a “down payment” so did not qualify for any points (I still can’t get anyone at Barclay to explain why. They said I had to wait 30 days to appeal unawarded points. After the 30 days, I did so, and now they gave me a claim number and said it would take another 30 days. 5) The customer service at Barclay has been very poor. I have sent and received over 20 emails. Many of the emails received contained information that were contradictory to each other. I have grown to prefer emails because you have something in black and white to refer back to for proof. I have also called their customer service 6 or 8 times. Many of these conversations did not give me correct information. I also was contacted by 2 managers and faxed in more than 8 documents. With all the time and effort spent, I have received no help in resolving my issues with the card.
Update 11/19 Today I migrated all my auto-pays back to my Discover card. I have decided the WRVisa was not worth using.
Update 11/20/2001 Note: after the 30 day wait, the 1967 points referred to above did show up.
I realize there is the possibility that some of the problems we have had was just miscommunication. Like hearing “initial Wyndham purchase” instead of “initial Wyndham down payment”. We told Ryan that we did not want to have “buyers remorse” when we walked out of his office. He said that we probably would have some measure of it no matter what we decided. For the 2nd time in a row after a Wyndham transaction we do feel remorse for what we ended up doing. The 1st remorse was when we made an additional $20,000 investment to go to VIP Gold, and struggled after to keep up with the additional payment and the maintenance. Ryan’s answer was to invest a few more thousand dollars into more points and use these additional points to convert into maintenance. We opted instead to do a trial “Discovery” program with Terry. We are hoping we can learn how to work this so it will help. Some of the features of this program have not held up to scrutiny. We will probably use the additional points on condos instead of cruises because the limited itinerary’s of the cruises. We are beginning to feel that even the $2500 spent on the Discovery program was just another ultra-expensive week in a condo.I don’t know what the future holds, but I don’t see us using the frozen price feature after we pay our last 2 investments off. We are just hoping to find ways to ease the maintenance burden on ourselves and our kids.
During our sales presentation with Ryan, he reviewed the “safe house” concept. I can see where this concept has some value for us, but there is one big gap. If we desire to safe house a large unit for November or December, with the intention of cancelling it and upgrading into it, we are faced with a large number of cancelled points that we have no time to use (if we could find any availability, that is).
We are very disappointed in our beginning relationship with Wyndham Rewards Visa Card and our ongoing relationship with Wyndham. I am going to print these thoughts out and make it required reading to anyone that knocks on our door at a Wyndham resort.
Selling your condo yourself
One of our concerns has been….and continues to be….the cost of maintenance. My wife and I really enjoy our timeshare. We have accumulated 500,000 points in the Club Wyndham system. This gives us perpetual ownership in the system enough to satisfy our vacation needs and the needs of the families of our 2 children. It also gives us a perpetual cost in the form of maintenance fees. The fees are also revalued each year and who knows anything that is going down in price these days. As we evaluate our costs, we find that if we multiply our maintenance fees by 12 we come up with a sum that is in our budget a major cost. If we took that yearly maintenance by itself, that would be enough to rent a condo for a couple of weeks.
So I began to look for ideas to defray this maintenance burden. A trip to Branson (and a talk with a rep there) gave me some ideas. I had some points that I may not need so…. Idea #1…..let extra holidays sell some of my points. Not a bad idea, but it seems that every good idea is full of pitfalls. You have to give up your points 30 days or more before the time of check-in. Extra Holidays cannot guarantee they can rent your condo. If they can’t you just lose your points (bummer). If they are successful they will keep 40% of the collected revenue (bummer). And most of the time the rental is not the high price you would think…instead it is a low cost sales 3 or 4 day weekend……not really worth you giving up your points for.
So in an effort to find a way to defray some of the costs, the representative at Wyndham Branson recommended that we find a high volume time and try to sell a week. So I embarked on a new experience…idea #2. Late in 2010 I booked two units….a studio and a 1 bedroom…in New Orleans for a 4 day weekend that included the BCS Football Championship. I thought ”what a great time to book a condo. The teams will be announced on Dec 4, 2011, and 150,000 rabid college football fans will be looking for a place to stay. And they will only find $300-$500 a night hotel rooms….AND MY CONDO.” The ad was put on Tuscaloosa craigslist because Alabama was one of the teams that was announced to participate (the other was LSU, which is within driving distance of New Orleans). The ad looked like this on Craigslist.
Reservations available January 6 -9 in New Orleans La Belle Maison Resort. This reservation allows a Friday check-in.......exploration of New Orleans all week end.....go to the big game on Monday (Roll Tide)......then celebrate the victory on Monday night (or drown your sorrows....not). Resort is two blocks from French Quarter. Also easy and affordable access to all areas of the city by trolley.
The reservation is for a 1 bedroom condo. The condo sleeps 4....1 king bedroom and 1 queen sleeper sofa in the commons (living room) area. The total rent for the 4 nights is $1000.
The resort is a five star resort and can be viewed at https://www.wyndhamvacationresorts.com/ffr/index.do and then explore our resorts. The resort is rated #3 of 146 hotels/motels in New Orleans by TripAdvisor.
If interested you can email me for payment arrangement and I will send a reservation confirmation in your name.
For anyone asking for other times.....the holidays...(Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, followed by the BCS Championship), are all huge in New Orleans. There is no other availability in this resort until after Jan 10th. Emails with requests for these times will be ignored.
The reservation is complete and does not require any type of sales presentation. The reservation does not include game tickets.
also available.....a smaller studio condo for $700..412 sq ft....assorted sleeping arrangements.......same time frame, check-in, location etc.
· Location: New Orleans, 2 blocks from French Quarte
· it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
PostingID: 2748879415
So I sat back and waited. And then the emails came. I recieved an email from someone wanting my condo for a honeymoon. The honeymoon was paid for by the person’s employer. And since they only wanted to write one check for everything, they wrote the check for an extra $3000. They asked me to keep an additional $100 for my trouble and send the extra to their “travel agency” in Texas. Of course by now everyone who is reading this is smelling a scam. Yeah….me too. I must admit I got a little bit of enjoyment stringing these scammers along and in the meantime involving 2 city police departments and the financial fraud department of Columbia University. But when it all shook out, I spent my time with no results. Over the next few weeks , I received numerous emails from obvious scammers. I also received numerous emails telling me to advertise in a different location for free for better results. Of course free doesn’t REALLY mean free in this case. I also heard from numerous people who thought since I was trying to sell my condo, I must be interested in the newest and greatest work from home opportunity. I also got numerous emails (phishing expeditions) from “craigslist” stating that my account had been compromised and I should share sensitive information with them.
The truth is my adventure into selling my condo myself gave me absolutely nothing but a email client crammed full of spam.
On Nov 18, as a VIP member I was able to upgrade the studio into a 2 bedroom. I did this more as an exercise to gain experience, than a desire to get a larger, nicer unit. My expectation is I will have to cancel both units in a day or so.
On Nov 21 2011, I got an email expressing interest in my 2 BR. Unlike the dozens of emails I have received before, this one seemed to be from a REAL person. The email was from a legitimate email address (not a hotmail or gmail) and was signed by what seemed to be a real person. After a couple emails, I suggested payment through paypal. She agreed. One hour later I received the $1000 in my paypal account. The next morning (after Wyndham processing) I sent the guest confirmation. I transferred the $960 ($1000 minus the 3% commission) to my personal checking account and all seems well. I must say after the numerous negatives I have to say about my Wyndham experience, this was finally a positive I needed.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Mystery Shopping made Easy
Feb 17, 2009
So why would anyone care to read my blog. Well I have done a few things.....some of them interesting. I spent the last 3 years overseas...working on Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands. Before that I spent 31 years at Xerox (so I blew up a couple of copy machines in my time).
Recently, I got involved in mystery shopping. I have seen some interest in the subject, so I think I will begin my blogging experience with my thought process on that. Please stand by for more.........
After I spent 3 years overseas, I dreamed of travel....of leisure...of time with my grandkids. Although I still have many of those dreams, $4 a gallon gas, medical payments, bills, and many other things I hadn't given much thought to in the last 3 years slowed my plans. I immediately found that just to drive to Branson for an extended weekend now demanded a big plan just to cover the gas cost. I began to consider mystery shopping because when my wife and I decided to drive to Bryant or Little Rock to shop, I could pick a mystery shop up to pay for the gas and maybe get a free meal out of it.
So here are some of my thoughts about mystery shopping.....
What you need to be a mystery shopper-secret shopper-shop auditer-service sleuth-customer service field agent-service checker-spy in disguise-service impressionist-shopper critique-video eye-etc.-etc.-etc.
Internet connection: Well, since you are reading my blog on the internet, you must have that covered. Most of your assignments will be viewed and reported on the internet.
Email: Your assignments will be generally sent to you via email. You will confirm and accept the assignments via email. I would suggest that you get an email account specifically for your mystery shopping. This will allow you to keep your personal email separate from your mystery shopping. I would suggest getting this email from your current internet provider (my AT&T DSL account allows 10 alternate addresses). If this isn't possible, a Gmail, Yahoo, or other free account will work as long as you can easily and frequently check it. I have my business email set up to be sent by my email client (I use Microsoft Outlook) into my mystery shopping folder. That way when I check mail I can see quickly whether I have any shopping queries.
Timing device: This would be a watch with a digital second hand or a stop watch. Remember your timing must be exact and discrete.
Printer: Most of your assignments will have paperwork that needs to be printed out for various reasons. A fax machine or scanner is also necessary to send in receipts to get reimbursed.
Bio: Most of the mystery shopping companies require you to write a bio for their application. I would suggest you write one and save it into a text file to copy and paste into your applications. This bio is just an introduction to the companies of your skills. A great bio is generally not a big deal. You should tell them who you are and give some information about your shopping experience. I told them I was available as a single shopper or my wife could accompany me if that was desirable. I told them of my shopping experience in exotic places (Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, etc.) and of my experience on cruise ships. I said I enjoy fine dining, but also go to the drive-in for a burger from time to time. I spoke of my 31 years of customer service experience and that I had to be in situations where I had to account for others lack of good service techniques. Of course, you should put in your bio a few personal traits....I am detail oriented....I do well at multi-tasking---I am thorough at reporting dialogue---etc. And when all is said and done....check your spelling and grammar.
Transportation: This is another no brainer. You have to have a way to get to assignments. In some cases you will need to drive through a restaurant to evaluate that portion.
Other tools: Several items may be needed according to the shops you accept. A digital camera is required on some shops. Other specialty tools may be needed....like a meat thermometer....but in most cases the shopping company will say what you must have and reimburse you for the expense of unusual items.
Time: Of course, you must be available. Sometimes the time of the shop is very specific.I recently saw a shop for IHOP that required for you to take someone with you. It payed $25 but required you to evaluate service from 11pm till 5am. This would have been a great shop for someone going to work (regular job) at 5am and wanting to take in a breakfast before work. Many of the shops, however, just want you to shop during normal business hours in a given time period, usually a week or more.
Some shops, also need a specific age or sex of the shopper. I have seen numerous shops that require a participant to be between 18-25….this because the shop is to check to see if the store asks for an ID when buying tobacco products. Interestingly, these shops normally will not pay for the products. After the ID is asked for you are instructed to announce who you are and award a price to the cashier (or a slip to the manager if you find noncompliance).
Ok, that is some preliminary information.
So, how much can I make doing this? And how do I get involved?
There are several ways to get involved in mystery shopping. The first is through a shopping clearing house. Another approach is to go directly to the shopping companies.
A mystery shopping clearing house generally will charge you a subscription for information about different jobs. They get these jobs from many different companies and offer them to you. In most cases you will accept the job and still have to go register with the individual company. The plus of this approach is you get a lot of information thrown at you, so you get an excellent overview of what is available. The minuses from this approach are several.... It typically will cost you $30 or $40 for a 90 day subscription. The assignments you get may not be the best. In other words, some companies send requests to the clearing houses after they are turned down by their "premier" shoppers. Examples of clearing houses can be found by googling "mystery shopping". I do not want to recommend individual web sites for two reasons...First, although I have subscribed to one in the past, I do not recommend doing so....And secondly, I don't want to recieve any nastygrams from irate webmasters :)
There are many different shopping companies; so many that you will not want to get involved with all. I will include a list toward the bottom of this article.
And what about pay..... The typical shop pays anywhere from $6 to $25 or more. The more detailed the shop the better the pay. The shop usually comes with some reimbursement of products bought....whether a meal or $2 to allow you to evaluate the cashier. The pay occasionally goes up as the company’s needs increase...or they will offer a $5 or $10 premium to get the shop completed. My recommendation and comment is....you might want to keep your day job. Some people make a good amount of money, but it takes multi tasking at its best. Some of the shopping companies limit the number of shops per day (Like who can actually eat three lunches?) I personally, shop just to get a little extra from time to time.
The shopping companies cover a number of types of shops.
The most numerous shops you can accept are fast food audits (McDonalds, Sonics, Wendy's, Burger King) These are walk up, drive through. and sometimes both. They typically pay $6 - $12 plus reimbursement of the meal. You must report several timings exactly to the second and must order from a particular menu selection. You must be very careful here. If you are required to buy a medium burger, fries, and a coke......and the order taker talks you into up sizing...that can nullify your shop. FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!
Other restaurant shops are regularly available. Some mid scale shops like IHOP, Bonanza or Ponderosa Steak House, Sizzli' Steak House, Colton's Steak House, Cici's Pizza, and several delivery places are common. These also occasionally require you to bring at least one other person, eat from the buffet and order a steak, or order from the bar. You should look at the instructions carefully to make sure you will do what is required. But from time to time, I can stand a free steak....what about you?
Also some shops require you to do things that I am just not willing to do……like buy a dress or other item and immediately take it for a return and refund. So read the instructions and make sure you are comfortable.
Another common ask is theatre checking. Some companies want you to count the seats used on a movie at its first showing. At other times they want to check the trailers shown (either for content or to see a particular logo displayed). These typically pay $9 to enter the theatre plus $2 for each screen viewed. So you change theatres every 15 minutes till you get your 5 screens (most allowed) then you watch the last movie for free.
There are also a large number of gas station shops. These generally require you to use the gas pumps (and take digital pictures), buy something from the store, and visit the rest room (not necessarily in that order :) These shops are sometimes checking for specific things...like if the signage has been changed or the credit card rack is sitting beside the cash register.
Other offers include merchandising. These are not mystery hidden shops, but are offered regularly. Typically a company wants someone to straighten up their air filter stock at Wal Mart or check the battery display at CostCo, or check the Go Phone display at Fred's, etc. etc. These assignments typically pay $10 or $12 for 30 minutes of expected work. If you can double dip (get several assignments at the same store...from the same or several shopping companies) it may be worth it, otherwise you have to be the judge.
You can see by my discussion you will probably want to keep your day job. But there are many assignments you may enjoy.....and several ways to make it more profitable. The main way I have already alluded to....double dipping. I was asked to do the trailers on the movie "Twilight", then the same company asked me if I could also do "Bolt" and another company wanted me to check the trailers for Texas Instruments to see if their DLP logo trailer was running. So I got paid $9 for each job plus $4 for the first 5 trailers and $2 for the last 5 trailers. I made $57 for the 2 1/2 hours I was in the theatre, but turned down the free movie because I had to eat lunch at Sonic:) Oh, well. The next trip to the theatre I had my grandson meet me after I was there an hour, and my shop paid for my movie (actually I watched it for free and still got paid for the shops).
There are also times you can line up several assignments. An example would be a shop at Best Buy to evaluate the expertise in the camera shop. There may also be shops to evaluate their competitors at Wal Mart and Sam's club. So you go to the shop at Best Buy (30 minutes - $12) go across the street to Wal Mart (30 minutes-$12), then go across the street to Sam's Club (30 minutes - $12). As a bonus the shopping company reimburses you for the $40 Sam's Club membership. You do, however, spend another 45 minutes online reporting when you get home. But in my case......my wife and I wanted to go shopping anyway :)So, what about some specific company recommendations?
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So , are there really companies that will hire me to be their mystery shopper??
Well, by the end of this article you may be wishing you hadn't asked that question.
There are many companies that are looking for new shoppers. The paperwork could be overwhelming if you don't go slowly. My suggestion is that you limit your exposure to a few at a time.....say 4 or 5. Register with these 4 or 5 companies and after the flurry of emails and you settle on whether you are interested in their offers, you can then cull the ones out that you are not interested in. Go back to these and opt out of their email traffic. Then go register for a couple more. As time goes by, you will settle on a hand full of companies. You can always go back to your culls from time to time and see if they have shops listed that look interesting to you.Here are some initial suggestions. Remember, however, what is interesting to me may not interest you at all.
DSG Associates handle all of the Sonic Drive-ins and seem to look for shoppers often http://www.dsgai.com/.
Trendsource handles several types of shops, but they have bunches of Krogers. They pay $5 + $9 in groceries. If you are near several Krogers you could get your food bill reduced by taking these shops. http://www.msishopper.net/
Incidentally, while I was making this entry, I recieved a call from a Trendsource rep. She asked if I could take a shop for her. When I heard it was in a town 35 miles away, I declined saying it was just too much travel. She asked if she raised the fee and paid me 50 cents a mile travel would I do it. Since it is on the way of a planned trip I am making in a couple of days, I am considering it.
Corp Research Int handle Exxon, several banks, Cici's Pizza, Western Sizzlin', Shoe Carnival, Brookshire Foods, and others. http://www.mysteryshops.com/
CFA handles mostly merchandising (Dollar General, Wal Mart), and some theater shops http://www.certifiedfieldassociate.com/
The following is a list......a long list....but certainly not a comprehensive list of other shopping companies. Some are aimed at more merchandising shops; others are only mystery shopping. Some may be US wide; others may be local (like only Pittsburgh). Each of these was checked and were active the morning of Feb 17, 2009. So here goesA&A Merchandising Ltdhttp://www.aamerch.com/
A Step Above Servicehttp://www.serviceevaluations.com/evaluators.htm
A Top Shophttp://www.atopshop.com/
Ann Michaels & Associateshttp://www.ishopforyou.com/
Associate Consumer Evalhttp://www.acemysteryshopping.com/shoppers.asp
Amusement Advantagehttp://www.amusementadvantage.com/
Anonymous Insightshttp://www.a-insights.com/
Anonymous Shoppershttp://www.asapittsburgh.com/job-opportunities.htm
At Your Service Marketinghttp://www.aysm.com/jobs/#ShopperAuditor
Best Markhttp://www.bestmark.com/become_a_shopper.htm
Beyond Hellohttps://www.beyondhello.com/secure/index.htm
Beyond Marketing Grouphttp://www.beyondmarketinggroup.com/
BEShttp://www.mysteryshopperservices.com/
California MarketingSASSIE
Campus Consultinghttp://www.shopaudits.com/whatismysteryshopping.htm
Certified Reports, Inchttp://www.certifiedreports.com/
Check Mark, Inchttp://www.checkmarkinc.com/newhome/index-flash.html
Check-Up Marketinghttps://www.checkupmarketing.com/mainsc.html
Cirrus Marketinghttp://www.cirrusmktg.com/html/shopper_info.html
CKA GroupJoinNow
Conferohttp://www.conferoinc.com/conferoinc/mysteryshopping.html
CRGhttp://www.crg2000.com/ProShoppers.htm#ProShopper
Consumer Impressionshttp://www.consumerimpressions.com/jobopp.htm
Count on Ushttp://www.ucountonus.com/services/mysteryShopper/application.asp
Coyle Hospitalityhttp://www.coylehospitality.com/shoppers.html
Customer 1sthttp://www.customer-1st.com/shopper/faq.asp
Customer Perspectiveshttp://www.customerperspectives.com/opinion-research.html
Customer Service Expertshttp://www.customerserviceexperts.com/pages/resource1.html
CV Marketinghttp://www.sensusshop.ca/shopper/
Data Questhttp://www.dataquestonline.com/mystery.html
DSG Associateshttp://www.dsgai.com/
Feedback Plushttp://www.feedbackplus.com/shoppers.htm
Focus on Servicehttp://www.focusonservice.com/
Full Scopehttp://www.fullscopemysteryshopping.com/Shop/NewShop/shopNew1.asp
Graymark Securityhttp://www.graymarksecurity.com/web/
Green & Associateshttp://www.greenandassociates.com/
Greet Americahttp://www.greetamerica.com/joinus.htm
Hilli Dunlaphttp://www.dunlapenterprises.com/
Howard Serviceshttp://www.servicesleuths.com/shoppers_whatYou.php
Imaginushttp://www.imaginusinc.com/main/secret.html
imysthttp://www.imyst.com/shoppinginfo.asp
Infotelhttp://www.infotelinc.com/become.htm
IntelliShophttp://www.intelli-shop.com/shoppersignup.html
J M Ridgway Companyhttp://www.jmridgway.com/shopper_resources/index.htm
Jancyn Evaluationhttp://www.jancyn.com/work.php
JC & Associateshttp://www.jcandassociates.com/
Ken-Rich Retail Grouphttp://www.ken-rich.com/employme.htm
LeBlanc & Associateshttp://www.mleblanc.com/
Maritz Researchhttp://www.virtuoso.maritzresearch.com/about/default.htm
Mar's Surveyshttp://www.marsresearch.com/Employment.asp
Market Viewpointhttp://www.marketviewpoint.com/shoppers.htm
Mass Connectionshttp://www.massconnections.com/
Michelson & Associateshttp://www.michelson.com/mystery/become.html
Mystery Guest, Inchttp://www.mysteryguestinc.com/MGI/SContactUs.asp
Mystery Shoppershttp://www.mystery-shoppers.com/shoppers.asp
Mystique Shopperhttp://www.mystiqueshopper.com/shopper.html
NSShttp://www.mysteryshopper.net/employment/index.htm
Nationwide Serviceshttp://www.nationwidesg.com/pages/10/index.htm
Northwesthttp://www.nwlpc.com/aboutus.asp
Performance Edgehttp://www.pedge.com/evaluator_menu.aspx
Pacific Researchhttp://65.119.21.227/shopper_application/welcome_letter.asp
Premier Servicehttp://www.premierservice.ca/become/agreement.php
Professional Shoppershttp://www.proreview.com/mysteryShopping/
PulseBackhttp://www.pulseback.com/evaluators1.asp
Quality Assessmentshttp://www.qams.com/
Quality Servicehttp://www.qsispecialists.com/
Quest for Besthttp://www.questforbest.com/shoppers.htm
Restaurant Evaluatorshttp://www.restaurantevaluators.com/new_eval_register.asp
Rickie Kruh Researchhttp://www.rkrmg.com/
Ritter & Associateshttps://ritter.shopmetrics.com/shoppersignup.asp
RQA, Inchttp://www.rqa-inc.com/
Satisfaction Serviceshttp://www.secretshoppingservices.com/shoppers.html
Secret Shopper Comphttp://www.aboutfacecorp.com/shopper_become.html
Secret Shopping Serhttp://www.secretshoppingservices.com/shoppers.html
Sensors Qualityhttp://www.sqm.ca/NewSQMsi.nsf/become.htm
SAIhttp://www.servad.com/emp_opp.htm
Service Alliancehttp://www.serviceallianceinc.com/
Service Checkhttp://www.servicecheck.com/sup/FAQ.htm
SEChttp://www.serviceevaluation.com/iss/public/WhatIsBA.asp
Service Excellence Ghttp://www.mysteryshopsplus.com/shoppers/shoppers_welcome.htm
Service Impressionshttp://www.serviceimpressions.com/4prosshoppers.php
Secret Shopnethttps://www.experienceexchange.com/ShopperApplication.do?language=EN
Service Performance Ghttp://www.spgweb.com/shoppers.php
ServiceProbehttp://www.pwgroup.com/sprobe/helpwant.shtml
Service Qualityhttp://www.service-quality.com/msa.html
Shoppers, Inchttp://www.shopperjobs.com/mystery_shoppers.htm
Shoppers' Critiquehttp://www.shopperscritique.com/contact/pro_Shoppers.aspx
Sights on Servicehttp://www.secretshopper.com/
The Solomon Grouphttp://www.thesolomongroup.com/?pageID=staff
Spies in Disguisehttp://www.spiesindisguise.com/secure/login.asp
Texas Shoppers Nethttp://www.texasshoppersnetwork.com/
Trend Sourcehttp://www.trendsource.com/Agents/signup.aspx
Video Eyeshttp://www.videoeyes.net/
Service Researchhttp://www.serviceresearch.com/shoppers/shoppers_wanted.php3
Second to Nonehttp://www.second-to-none.com/
ABA Quality Monitoringhttp://www.aba.co.uk/apply.php
Allied Corporate Protectivehttp://www.alcops.com/employ.html
Bare Associateshttp://www.baievaluators.com/
Mystery Shopper, USAhttp://www.bmiltd.com/shopperapp.html
Byers Choice Inc.http://www.byerschoiceinc.com/
Consumer Connectionhttp://www.consumerconnection.net/
Courtesy Countshttp://www.athpoweronline.com/index.norm.php
Ellis Propertyhttp://www.epmsonline.com/shoppers.html
Hindsight Shoppershttp://www.hndsight.com/shoppers.html
Service Sleuthshttp://www.servicesleuths.com/shoppers.php
JKS Inc.http://www.jks-inc.com/apply.html
Secret Shopperhttp://www.secretshopper.com/info/shoppers/shopperIntro.asp
Nationwidehttp://nationwidesg.com/pages/10/index.htm
National Shopping Servicehttp://www.nssmysteryshoppers.com/
Quality Marketinghttp://www.quality-marketing.com/shoppers/index.html
Westcoasthttp://www.westcoastmysteryshopping.com/bams.php
Mystery Shopper Services http://www.mysteryshopperservices.com/website/app_disclaimer.asp?DepartmentID=31
Business Insightshttp://www.businessinsights.com/
Shop Auditshttp://www.shopaudits.com/
ICCDShttps://www2.iccds.com/signup/newprofile.cfm
**Golden Resources http://hometown.aol.com/cgr315/index.html
BMIhttp://www.bmiltd.com/shopperapp.html
Service Quality UShttps://www19.servicequality.us/aresp.html
KSShttp://www.kernscheduling.com/
Shop'n Checkhttp://www.shopnchek.com/shopper.html
SQMhttp://www.sqm.ca/
To be successful you should treat your shopping as a business.....because it is. Keep good records. Your mileage, printer supplies and paper, all your meals, and many things you buy are required for you to be in business and are tax deductible.Make detailed explanations in your reports. I recently did a computer shop at Sam's Club and could not find an associate to ask questions. I went to the jewelry dept and had electronics paged for customer assistance. I waited a few minutes and approached a guy in cell phones, but was told he was an outside contractor. I documented my efforts, and although the shop didn't go as planned, the company was pleased with my efforts.Also check your reports for misspelled words and grammar (unlike my blog :).
I have mentioned several times in my article here another little factor that is needed in a successful mystery shop---multi-tasking. On a Sonic Drive-in shop, as the carhop comes up to your car, in addition to the normal business transaction, you must check the exact time of delivery; you must listen for the greeting; you must observe the clothing for Sonic logoed wares; you must get the carhops name; you must recieve the receipt without asking for it; and if you don't receive a receipt, you must ask for it before the carhop retreats. and you must do all this and more without exposing the fact that you are a mystery shopper. The task can be daunting, especially when you get 3 miles down the road and you discover one of the many important details that you did not do.
Because of the before mentioned scenario, my wife goes with me on any shops that she is allowed. That way I can ask her to observe a couple of trivial items or ask an important question. Two sets of eyes are normally better than one.
As companies are pleased with your efforts you will get calls for harder or better assignments.
There are also some certifications that you may want to look into after you get further into shopping. These include MSPA certification and others. I don't think it makes a difference, but some of the companies say they send their shops to MSPA Gold certified shoppers first.I hope this little excursion has been interesting for you. If you have questions or would like for me to comment on an aspect that I may have missed, let me know at rytecproducts@sbcglobal.net
Have fun shopping
Randy
RYTec Consulting
So why would anyone care to read my blog. Well I have done a few things.....some of them interesting. I spent the last 3 years overseas...working on Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands. Before that I spent 31 years at Xerox (so I blew up a couple of copy machines in my time).
Recently, I got involved in mystery shopping. I have seen some interest in the subject, so I think I will begin my blogging experience with my thought process on that. Please stand by for more.........
After I spent 3 years overseas, I dreamed of travel....of leisure...of time with my grandkids. Although I still have many of those dreams, $4 a gallon gas, medical payments, bills, and many other things I hadn't given much thought to in the last 3 years slowed my plans. I immediately found that just to drive to Branson for an extended weekend now demanded a big plan just to cover the gas cost. I began to consider mystery shopping because when my wife and I decided to drive to Bryant or Little Rock to shop, I could pick a mystery shop up to pay for the gas and maybe get a free meal out of it.
So here are some of my thoughts about mystery shopping.....
What you need to be a mystery shopper-secret shopper-shop auditer-service sleuth-customer service field agent-service checker-spy in disguise-service impressionist-shopper critique-video eye-etc.-etc.-etc.
Internet connection: Well, since you are reading my blog on the internet, you must have that covered. Most of your assignments will be viewed and reported on the internet.
Email: Your assignments will be generally sent to you via email. You will confirm and accept the assignments via email. I would suggest that you get an email account specifically for your mystery shopping. This will allow you to keep your personal email separate from your mystery shopping. I would suggest getting this email from your current internet provider (my AT&T DSL account allows 10 alternate addresses). If this isn't possible, a Gmail, Yahoo, or other free account will work as long as you can easily and frequently check it. I have my business email set up to be sent by my email client (I use Microsoft Outlook) into my mystery shopping folder. That way when I check mail I can see quickly whether I have any shopping queries.
Timing device: This would be a watch with a digital second hand or a stop watch. Remember your timing must be exact and discrete.
Printer: Most of your assignments will have paperwork that needs to be printed out for various reasons. A fax machine or scanner is also necessary to send in receipts to get reimbursed.
Bio: Most of the mystery shopping companies require you to write a bio for their application. I would suggest you write one and save it into a text file to copy and paste into your applications. This bio is just an introduction to the companies of your skills. A great bio is generally not a big deal. You should tell them who you are and give some information about your shopping experience. I told them I was available as a single shopper or my wife could accompany me if that was desirable. I told them of my shopping experience in exotic places (Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, etc.) and of my experience on cruise ships. I said I enjoy fine dining, but also go to the drive-in for a burger from time to time. I spoke of my 31 years of customer service experience and that I had to be in situations where I had to account for others lack of good service techniques. Of course, you should put in your bio a few personal traits....I am detail oriented....I do well at multi-tasking---I am thorough at reporting dialogue---etc. And when all is said and done....check your spelling and grammar.
Transportation: This is another no brainer. You have to have a way to get to assignments. In some cases you will need to drive through a restaurant to evaluate that portion.
Other tools: Several items may be needed according to the shops you accept. A digital camera is required on some shops. Other specialty tools may be needed....like a meat thermometer....but in most cases the shopping company will say what you must have and reimburse you for the expense of unusual items.
Time: Of course, you must be available. Sometimes the time of the shop is very specific.I recently saw a shop for IHOP that required for you to take someone with you. It payed $25 but required you to evaluate service from 11pm till 5am. This would have been a great shop for someone going to work (regular job) at 5am and wanting to take in a breakfast before work. Many of the shops, however, just want you to shop during normal business hours in a given time period, usually a week or more.
Some shops, also need a specific age or sex of the shopper. I have seen numerous shops that require a participant to be between 18-25….this because the shop is to check to see if the store asks for an ID when buying tobacco products. Interestingly, these shops normally will not pay for the products. After the ID is asked for you are instructed to announce who you are and award a price to the cashier (or a slip to the manager if you find noncompliance).
Ok, that is some preliminary information.
So, how much can I make doing this? And how do I get involved?
There are several ways to get involved in mystery shopping. The first is through a shopping clearing house. Another approach is to go directly to the shopping companies.
A mystery shopping clearing house generally will charge you a subscription for information about different jobs. They get these jobs from many different companies and offer them to you. In most cases you will accept the job and still have to go register with the individual company. The plus of this approach is you get a lot of information thrown at you, so you get an excellent overview of what is available. The minuses from this approach are several.... It typically will cost you $30 or $40 for a 90 day subscription. The assignments you get may not be the best. In other words, some companies send requests to the clearing houses after they are turned down by their "premier" shoppers. Examples of clearing houses can be found by googling "mystery shopping". I do not want to recommend individual web sites for two reasons...First, although I have subscribed to one in the past, I do not recommend doing so....And secondly, I don't want to recieve any nastygrams from irate webmasters :)
There are many different shopping companies; so many that you will not want to get involved with all. I will include a list toward the bottom of this article.
And what about pay..... The typical shop pays anywhere from $6 to $25 or more. The more detailed the shop the better the pay. The shop usually comes with some reimbursement of products bought....whether a meal or $2 to allow you to evaluate the cashier. The pay occasionally goes up as the company’s needs increase...or they will offer a $5 or $10 premium to get the shop completed. My recommendation and comment is....you might want to keep your day job. Some people make a good amount of money, but it takes multi tasking at its best. Some of the shopping companies limit the number of shops per day (Like who can actually eat three lunches?) I personally, shop just to get a little extra from time to time.
The shopping companies cover a number of types of shops.
The most numerous shops you can accept are fast food audits (McDonalds, Sonics, Wendy's, Burger King) These are walk up, drive through. and sometimes both. They typically pay $6 - $12 plus reimbursement of the meal. You must report several timings exactly to the second and must order from a particular menu selection. You must be very careful here. If you are required to buy a medium burger, fries, and a coke......and the order taker talks you into up sizing...that can nullify your shop. FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!
Other restaurant shops are regularly available. Some mid scale shops like IHOP, Bonanza or Ponderosa Steak House, Sizzli' Steak House, Colton's Steak House, Cici's Pizza, and several delivery places are common. These also occasionally require you to bring at least one other person, eat from the buffet and order a steak, or order from the bar. You should look at the instructions carefully to make sure you will do what is required. But from time to time, I can stand a free steak....what about you?
Also some shops require you to do things that I am just not willing to do……like buy a dress or other item and immediately take it for a return and refund. So read the instructions and make sure you are comfortable.
Another common ask is theatre checking. Some companies want you to count the seats used on a movie at its first showing. At other times they want to check the trailers shown (either for content or to see a particular logo displayed). These typically pay $9 to enter the theatre plus $2 for each screen viewed. So you change theatres every 15 minutes till you get your 5 screens (most allowed) then you watch the last movie for free.
There are also a large number of gas station shops. These generally require you to use the gas pumps (and take digital pictures), buy something from the store, and visit the rest room (not necessarily in that order :) These shops are sometimes checking for specific things...like if the signage has been changed or the credit card rack is sitting beside the cash register.
Other offers include merchandising. These are not mystery hidden shops, but are offered regularly. Typically a company wants someone to straighten up their air filter stock at Wal Mart or check the battery display at CostCo, or check the Go Phone display at Fred's, etc. etc. These assignments typically pay $10 or $12 for 30 minutes of expected work. If you can double dip (get several assignments at the same store...from the same or several shopping companies) it may be worth it, otherwise you have to be the judge.
You can see by my discussion you will probably want to keep your day job. But there are many assignments you may enjoy.....and several ways to make it more profitable. The main way I have already alluded to....double dipping. I was asked to do the trailers on the movie "Twilight", then the same company asked me if I could also do "Bolt" and another company wanted me to check the trailers for Texas Instruments to see if their DLP logo trailer was running. So I got paid $9 for each job plus $4 for the first 5 trailers and $2 for the last 5 trailers. I made $57 for the 2 1/2 hours I was in the theatre, but turned down the free movie because I had to eat lunch at Sonic:) Oh, well. The next trip to the theatre I had my grandson meet me after I was there an hour, and my shop paid for my movie (actually I watched it for free and still got paid for the shops).
There are also times you can line up several assignments. An example would be a shop at Best Buy to evaluate the expertise in the camera shop. There may also be shops to evaluate their competitors at Wal Mart and Sam's club. So you go to the shop at Best Buy (30 minutes - $12) go across the street to Wal Mart (30 minutes-$12), then go across the street to Sam's Club (30 minutes - $12). As a bonus the shopping company reimburses you for the $40 Sam's Club membership. You do, however, spend another 45 minutes online reporting when you get home. But in my case......my wife and I wanted to go shopping anyway :)So, what about some specific company recommendations?
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So , are there really companies that will hire me to be their mystery shopper??
Well, by the end of this article you may be wishing you hadn't asked that question.
There are many companies that are looking for new shoppers. The paperwork could be overwhelming if you don't go slowly. My suggestion is that you limit your exposure to a few at a time.....say 4 or 5. Register with these 4 or 5 companies and after the flurry of emails and you settle on whether you are interested in their offers, you can then cull the ones out that you are not interested in. Go back to these and opt out of their email traffic. Then go register for a couple more. As time goes by, you will settle on a hand full of companies. You can always go back to your culls from time to time and see if they have shops listed that look interesting to you.Here are some initial suggestions. Remember, however, what is interesting to me may not interest you at all.
DSG Associates handle all of the Sonic Drive-ins and seem to look for shoppers often http://www.dsgai.com/.
Trendsource handles several types of shops, but they have bunches of Krogers. They pay $5 + $9 in groceries. If you are near several Krogers you could get your food bill reduced by taking these shops. http://www.msishopper.net/
Incidentally, while I was making this entry, I recieved a call from a Trendsource rep. She asked if I could take a shop for her. When I heard it was in a town 35 miles away, I declined saying it was just too much travel. She asked if she raised the fee and paid me 50 cents a mile travel would I do it. Since it is on the way of a planned trip I am making in a couple of days, I am considering it.
Corp Research Int handle Exxon, several banks, Cici's Pizza, Western Sizzlin', Shoe Carnival, Brookshire Foods, and others. http://www.mysteryshops.com/
CFA handles mostly merchandising (Dollar General, Wal Mart), and some theater shops http://www.certifiedfieldassociate.com/
The following is a list......a long list....but certainly not a comprehensive list of other shopping companies. Some are aimed at more merchandising shops; others are only mystery shopping. Some may be US wide; others may be local (like only Pittsburgh). Each of these was checked and were active the morning of Feb 17, 2009. So here goesA&A Merchandising Ltdhttp://www.aamerch.com/
A Step Above Servicehttp://www.serviceevaluations.com/evaluators.htm
A Top Shophttp://www.atopshop.com/
Ann Michaels & Associateshttp://www.ishopforyou.com/
Associate Consumer Evalhttp://www.acemysteryshopping.com/shoppers.asp
Amusement Advantagehttp://www.amusementadvantage.com/
Anonymous Insightshttp://www.a-insights.com/
Anonymous Shoppershttp://www.asapittsburgh.com/job-opportunities.htm
At Your Service Marketinghttp://www.aysm.com/jobs/#ShopperAuditor
Best Markhttp://www.bestmark.com/become_a_shopper.htm
Beyond Hellohttps://www.beyondhello.com/secure/index.htm
Beyond Marketing Grouphttp://www.beyondmarketinggroup.com/
BEShttp://www.mysteryshopperservices.com/
California MarketingSASSIE
Campus Consultinghttp://www.shopaudits.com/whatismysteryshopping.htm
Certified Reports, Inchttp://www.certifiedreports.com/
Check Mark, Inchttp://www.checkmarkinc.com/newhome/index-flash.html
Check-Up Marketinghttps://www.checkupmarketing.com/mainsc.html
Cirrus Marketinghttp://www.cirrusmktg.com/html/shopper_info.html
CKA GroupJoinNow
Conferohttp://www.conferoinc.com/conferoinc/mysteryshopping.html
CRGhttp://www.crg2000.com/ProShoppers.htm#ProShopper
Consumer Impressionshttp://www.consumerimpressions.com/jobopp.htm
Count on Ushttp://www.ucountonus.com/services/mysteryShopper/application.asp
Coyle Hospitalityhttp://www.coylehospitality.com/shoppers.html
Customer 1sthttp://www.customer-1st.com/shopper/faq.asp
Customer Perspectiveshttp://www.customerperspectives.com/opinion-research.html
Customer Service Expertshttp://www.customerserviceexperts.com/pages/resource1.html
CV Marketinghttp://www.sensusshop.ca/shopper/
Data Questhttp://www.dataquestonline.com/mystery.html
DSG Associateshttp://www.dsgai.com/
Feedback Plushttp://www.feedbackplus.com/shoppers.htm
Focus on Servicehttp://www.focusonservice.com/
Full Scopehttp://www.fullscopemysteryshopping.com/Shop/NewShop/shopNew1.asp
Graymark Securityhttp://www.graymarksecurity.com/web/
Green & Associateshttp://www.greenandassociates.com/
Greet Americahttp://www.greetamerica.com/joinus.htm
Hilli Dunlaphttp://www.dunlapenterprises.com/
Howard Serviceshttp://www.servicesleuths.com/shoppers_whatYou.php
Imaginushttp://www.imaginusinc.com/main/secret.html
imysthttp://www.imyst.com/shoppinginfo.asp
Infotelhttp://www.infotelinc.com/become.htm
IntelliShophttp://www.intelli-shop.com/shoppersignup.html
J M Ridgway Companyhttp://www.jmridgway.com/shopper_resources/index.htm
Jancyn Evaluationhttp://www.jancyn.com/work.php
JC & Associateshttp://www.jcandassociates.com/
Ken-Rich Retail Grouphttp://www.ken-rich.com/employme.htm
LeBlanc & Associateshttp://www.mleblanc.com/
Maritz Researchhttp://www.virtuoso.maritzresearch.com/about/default.htm
Mar's Surveyshttp://www.marsresearch.com/Employment.asp
Market Viewpointhttp://www.marketviewpoint.com/shoppers.htm
Mass Connectionshttp://www.massconnections.com/
Michelson & Associateshttp://www.michelson.com/mystery/become.html
Mystery Guest, Inchttp://www.mysteryguestinc.com/MGI/SContactUs.asp
Mystery Shoppershttp://www.mystery-shoppers.com/shoppers.asp
Mystique Shopperhttp://www.mystiqueshopper.com/shopper.html
NSShttp://www.mysteryshopper.net/employment/index.htm
Nationwide Serviceshttp://www.nationwidesg.com/pages/10/index.htm
Northwesthttp://www.nwlpc.com/aboutus.asp
Performance Edgehttp://www.pedge.com/evaluator_menu.aspx
Pacific Researchhttp://65.119.21.227/shopper_application/welcome_letter.asp
Premier Servicehttp://www.premierservice.ca/become/agreement.php
Professional Shoppershttp://www.proreview.com/mysteryShopping/
PulseBackhttp://www.pulseback.com/evaluators1.asp
Quality Assessmentshttp://www.qams.com/
Quality Servicehttp://www.qsispecialists.com/
Quest for Besthttp://www.questforbest.com/shoppers.htm
Restaurant Evaluatorshttp://www.restaurantevaluators.com/new_eval_register.asp
Rickie Kruh Researchhttp://www.rkrmg.com/
Ritter & Associateshttps://ritter.shopmetrics.com/shoppersignup.asp
RQA, Inchttp://www.rqa-inc.com/
Satisfaction Serviceshttp://www.secretshoppingservices.com/shoppers.html
Secret Shopper Comphttp://www.aboutfacecorp.com/shopper_become.html
Secret Shopping Serhttp://www.secretshoppingservices.com/shoppers.html
Sensors Qualityhttp://www.sqm.ca/NewSQMsi.nsf/become.htm
SAIhttp://www.servad.com/emp_opp.htm
Service Alliancehttp://www.serviceallianceinc.com/
Service Checkhttp://www.servicecheck.com/sup/FAQ.htm
SEChttp://www.serviceevaluation.com/iss/public/WhatIsBA.asp
Service Excellence Ghttp://www.mysteryshopsplus.com/shoppers/shoppers_welcome.htm
Service Impressionshttp://www.serviceimpressions.com/4prosshoppers.php
Secret Shopnethttps://www.experienceexchange.com/ShopperApplication.do?language=EN
Service Performance Ghttp://www.spgweb.com/shoppers.php
ServiceProbehttp://www.pwgroup.com/sprobe/helpwant.shtml
Service Qualityhttp://www.service-quality.com/msa.html
Shoppers, Inchttp://www.shopperjobs.com/mystery_shoppers.htm
Shoppers' Critiquehttp://www.shopperscritique.com/contact/pro_Shoppers.aspx
Sights on Servicehttp://www.secretshopper.com/
The Solomon Grouphttp://www.thesolomongroup.com/?pageID=staff
Spies in Disguisehttp://www.spiesindisguise.com/secure/login.asp
Texas Shoppers Nethttp://www.texasshoppersnetwork.com/
Trend Sourcehttp://www.trendsource.com/Agents/signup.aspx
Video Eyeshttp://www.videoeyes.net/
Service Researchhttp://www.serviceresearch.com/shoppers/shoppers_wanted.php3
Second to Nonehttp://www.second-to-none.com/
ABA Quality Monitoringhttp://www.aba.co.uk/apply.php
Allied Corporate Protectivehttp://www.alcops.com/employ.html
Bare Associateshttp://www.baievaluators.com/
Mystery Shopper, USAhttp://www.bmiltd.com/shopperapp.html
Byers Choice Inc.http://www.byerschoiceinc.com/
Consumer Connectionhttp://www.consumerconnection.net/
Courtesy Countshttp://www.athpoweronline.com/index.norm.php
Ellis Propertyhttp://www.epmsonline.com/shoppers.html
Hindsight Shoppershttp://www.hndsight.com/shoppers.html
Service Sleuthshttp://www.servicesleuths.com/shoppers.php
JKS Inc.http://www.jks-inc.com/apply.html
Secret Shopperhttp://www.secretshopper.com/info/shoppers/shopperIntro.asp
Nationwidehttp://nationwidesg.com/pages/10/index.htm
National Shopping Servicehttp://www.nssmysteryshoppers.com/
Quality Marketinghttp://www.quality-marketing.com/shoppers/index.html
Westcoasthttp://www.westcoastmysteryshopping.com/bams.php
Mystery Shopper Services http://www.mysteryshopperservices.com/website/app_disclaimer.asp?DepartmentID=31
Business Insightshttp://www.businessinsights.com/
Shop Auditshttp://www.shopaudits.com/
ICCDShttps://www2.iccds.com/signup/newprofile.cfm
**Golden Resources http://hometown.aol.com/cgr315/index.html
BMIhttp://www.bmiltd.com/shopperapp.html
Service Quality UShttps://www19.servicequality.us/aresp.html
KSShttp://www.kernscheduling.com/
Shop'n Checkhttp://www.shopnchek.com/shopper.html
SQMhttp://www.sqm.ca/
To be successful you should treat your shopping as a business.....because it is. Keep good records. Your mileage, printer supplies and paper, all your meals, and many things you buy are required for you to be in business and are tax deductible.Make detailed explanations in your reports. I recently did a computer shop at Sam's Club and could not find an associate to ask questions. I went to the jewelry dept and had electronics paged for customer assistance. I waited a few minutes and approached a guy in cell phones, but was told he was an outside contractor. I documented my efforts, and although the shop didn't go as planned, the company was pleased with my efforts.Also check your reports for misspelled words and grammar (unlike my blog :).
I have mentioned several times in my article here another little factor that is needed in a successful mystery shop---multi-tasking. On a Sonic Drive-in shop, as the carhop comes up to your car, in addition to the normal business transaction, you must check the exact time of delivery; you must listen for the greeting; you must observe the clothing for Sonic logoed wares; you must get the carhops name; you must recieve the receipt without asking for it; and if you don't receive a receipt, you must ask for it before the carhop retreats. and you must do all this and more without exposing the fact that you are a mystery shopper. The task can be daunting, especially when you get 3 miles down the road and you discover one of the many important details that you did not do.
Because of the before mentioned scenario, my wife goes with me on any shops that she is allowed. That way I can ask her to observe a couple of trivial items or ask an important question. Two sets of eyes are normally better than one.
As companies are pleased with your efforts you will get calls for harder or better assignments.
There are also some certifications that you may want to look into after you get further into shopping. These include MSPA certification and others. I don't think it makes a difference, but some of the companies say they send their shops to MSPA Gold certified shoppers first.I hope this little excursion has been interesting for you. If you have questions or would like for me to comment on an aspect that I may have missed, let me know at rytecproducts@sbcglobal.net
Have fun shopping
Randy
RYTec Consulting
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