Podcast – Chiarelli’s Deli

Here is a piece of audio that I recorded for a Journalism project this semester.  Just click here.

Senioritus – Let’s Mystery Shop It

As a busy student of UNLV, and also the student of life it seems, I am running in to all sorts of craziness this semester.  Apart from this being one of the most hectic schedules I have taken on here at UNLV, I have also had a plethora of bombs dropped on my personal and professional life as well. 

This got me to thinking of how a student must appear to professors and their peers when more than a week’s classes are missed, or assignments are just overlooked.  How is a professor or classmate to know if you have just been a victim of severe senioritus, or if you are dealing with more than that?  Maybe professors and peers could give a hoot anyway, but the issue has been weighing heavily on my mind the last few weeks.

So I have concluded that mystery shopping just may be the answer.  Would it be possible that the university could install a system of what you could call attendance honesty mystery shopping?  Members of a student’s classrooms could be in on it, and professors could evaluate students as well. 

I’m working the kinks out, but I think this could be the solution to all of my problems this semester.  More to come.

More Examples

I found this video on MySpaceTV.com today and thought it gave excellent examples of what mystery shoppers can expect to find when diving in to the mystery shopping world. 

The evaluation form examples are informative, and the tips provided can come in handy when new to the business.

Maximum Paid Surveys and Mystery Shopping

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Fancy Pantsy

I’ve found an excellent website that offers up to date stories about hotel, spa and restaurant mystery shopping.  Because these are the shops favored by most mystery shoppers around the country (and world really), I thought I would share with you a link to the Coyle Hospitality Group mystery shopping schedulers here. 

Be aware though, only about 2% of the researchers, i.e. mystery shoppers, are chosen for these jobs.  Because they are in such high demand, only the best are considered.

Is Confusion a Feature or a Benefit?

There are plenty of ways for companies to assess the level of sales and service being provided by their client’s employees.  Most often schedulers will send evaluation forms for shoppers to complete, including a narrative piece about the interaction at the end.  Being a part of the scheduling world, there is a trend I have been noticing within our shopper database.  Even after assigning a shop to a mystery shopper and discussing each question on the evaluation before they head out, there is one mistake that many shoppers make.On our individual evaluation forms for credit unions and banks, there are questions regarding whether or not the employee discussed the features or benefits of the financial product the shopper asked about.  Often shoppers have no idea what a feature or a benefit entails.  Below I have identified the definitions of each. Features: These are anything that a product does regarding it’s functionality.  Also, features include any prices involved, fees, other add-on’s, etc.  For example, if you are discussing a checking account, features could be that the account offers a 1.25% quarterly interest rate, there is a minimum balance requirement of $100, and it comes with a debit card.Benefits: This includes anything that the consumer could, duh, benefit from.  The word “free” is a definite tip off.  Things like free checks with a checking account, the ease of paying bills with online bill pay, or the security of a VISA card would all constitute as benefits of banking with the financial institution. 

It sounds like the distinction would be an easy one, but amazingly this difference is one that many shoppers have a difficult time with.  When trying to decide whether something is a feature or a benefit, ask yourself, “does this put a smile on my face?” 

More often than not, if you’re smiling, you’re benefiting.

Canadian Crisis

Recent mystery shopping scams involving phoney cashier’s checks in the Memphis area have police on their toes.

 The innocent victims of the false shop are receiving envelopes from a Canadian postmark containing a check and instructions on how to complete the mystery shop.  Little do they know, the $4,997 check they are cashing to complete several retail shops is ready to bounce back in to their lap.

After completing the routine retail mystery shops, wire transfers come in to play.  Using the money they have received from the cashier’s check, they are to wire the money to a ficticious Canadian address.  When all said and done, the check will bounce and leave the unsuspecting shopper with a significant debt.

Keep your eye out for any mail claiming to be too good to be true.  The majority of the time, that is the case – and no wants to be called the fool.

Nice to Meet You, Suzie Schmidt

“And what type of rate were you looking for in an auto loan, Ms. Thomas?”

I stared blankly for a few moments at the loan officer I sat in front of.

“Uh, well something good I suppose,” was the only thing I could get to dribble out of my mouth.

This is one of the remaining moments in my memory of the first experience I had with mystery shopping.  Newly hired to my position at the scheduling company and green to the world of mystery shopping, I had been shoved on to a plane with one of my colleagues and sent to Los Angeles where I would get my first taste. 

“In order to really grasp the idea of what we are doing here, you should really get first hand experience,” my manager had said.

So there I sat, 19 years old and oblivious to what a good auto loan rate was, or what an auto loan even really entailed, and feeling like I was being mystery shopped by the loan officer at the credit union.  I stumbled through what felt like an hour of interrogation (which totaled about three minutes), and then I ran to the parking lot, forgetting everything about the interaction but the overwhelming nervous feeling in my stomach.  Had she asked how she could help me in a friendly manner?  Did she shake my hand?  What about questions? Had she asked me any questions?  I was in shock, and the memory banks had been drained when my internal emergency alarm had gone off.

My coworker strolled to the car, with a smile on his face and brochures in hand. 

“How’d ya do?” he questioned.

“Horrible, she must’ve thought I was a giant idiot.  What’s a good auto loan rate?” I said in a faint voice.

“Relax,” he said. “Besides, you’ll never see her again, so what does it matter?”

These words were the hand that flipped the light switch.  He was right – what did it matter? Why was I so concerned if this woman thought I was strange?  And what the hell was a good auto loan rate anyhow?  And then things started to get juicy.

We had six different assignments to complete, and this had been the first.  On the next five visits we made, I could’ve won an Academy Award.  Suddenly I was Suzie Schmidt, the 24 year old housewife and mother of 1, newly married and just “looking for some information on an auto loan for my hubby.”  Or maybe I was Mary Macintosh, single and loving it, and a new resident to L.A.  Every branch of the credit union was my stage, and I could almost hear the applause as I left the doors.  I had found my niche.

So, although my friend and coworker probably doesn’t even remember saying the words, “What does it matter anyway?” has been something I live by in this business.  Of course, I take what I am doing very seriously, but what does it matter anyway if I want to be Suzie Schmidt? 

Scams, Scams, and More Scams

Here is an interesting clip that I thought complimented my last blog on mystery shopping scammers: 

San Francisco MSPA 2007 Conference

Ok so I might have been a bit hasty in the blog I posted regarding the MSPA’s disregard for North American conferences.  It looks like there is a whole heap of them in the next couple of months, and the next is scheduled for Oct. 6 in San Francisco. 

Check out other locations here.  My apologies, MSPA!  You da bomb.

Damn…Bamboozled Again!

Recently I had a friend who mystery shops for me take up an offer from another mystery shopping company for what seemed like an aweful lot of cash.  As she was telling me about the job, everything began to seem a little fishy. 

First she was to go to a couple of retail stores like the GAP and purchase $100 worth of merchandise, and the company would then reimburse her.  The forms to fill out looked legit, and the first shop she completed ran smoothly.  For a moment I thought that I may have been on the wrong side of the money tree.

 When the company started asking her to complete wire transfer shops, however, I warned her that something was up.  I’ve never heard of a mystery shopping company asking for things like your bank account number.  You’d of thought that would tip her off.  Duh.  But, being the trusting person she is, my friend went ahead with the shops and ended up losing around $4,000 to a company that suddenly vanished. 

This is one of the more obvious scams out there, but there are plenty lurking in prettier packages and waiting for you to slip up.  When you’re shopping, make sure before giving up cash or disclosing personal information that you are working with someone legit.  One helpful Web Site that can confirm legitimacy is the Better Business Bureau Online.

Otherwise, you’ll end up bamboozled!