Mystery Shopper

I am going to make this all one post till I catch up. I will break it down by shops till I catch up in about a week.

How I got Started

It all started out as a curiosity. You see, I was trying to make money on the markets and going nowhere. Then in the summer of 2008 the market crashed, up 400, down 500. It was all over the place. That is when I decided to get out and look at other means of income.

I received an email, as part of all the SPAM emails, I received on taking surveys. This email invited me to join mystery shoppers and get free meals, make money, get free services etc. At first I was hesitant because looked like another “I’ll take your money” and you get nothing, type of deals. But my curiosity got the better of me so I joined.

Well I’ll take a chance with $9.95 and see what it is about. I signed up the first of January 2009. I remember working in my office that weekend learning about how to be a mystery shopper. Wow there was more to it than I thought.

The Grocery Store

My first job was shopping at a local grocery shopping chain. I read all the requirements for days and went back and reread them again. One of the things I was suppose to do was count the open regular lanes, express lanes, and U-Scan lanes. Count the number of customers in each lane, 2 minutes after I enter the store.

I must have walked up and down the counting the lanes and the customers for 10 minutes. I am sure someone noticed me walking up and down pushing a cart with nothing in it. Then it dawned on me, I needed a system. Rather than do it all at once, I would break it down into small parts, like we did for outages at nuclear power plants I used to work at. So I broke it down where I would first count the lanes that were open, U-scan, the Express and finally regular lanes. Then come back a second time and count the customers in each of the three types of lanes. It worked!

After I had completed the first task, I went on to do a cleanliness inspection of the floors, the meat counter, milk and butter coolers, etc.. I had been walking around for 15 minutes doing my inspections and did not have a thing in the cart. I needed to get something in the cart, so I grabbed a loaf of sour dough bread and threw it in the cart.

As part of my shop, I had to talk to the employee behind the meat counter or the fish counter. This store had a common counter where there was fish and meat. So I went and asked the attendant some stupid question, got his name, noticed his clothes were clean and he gave me eye contact, all the stuff I needed to give him a passing grade.

Then I was off to find three more back end employees working to see if they would give me eye contact, be polite, and give me a greeting. Lucky for me, I had the wife’s shopping list so I could play the dumb husband and pretend I didn't know where anything was. This was actually true because I hadn’t been in this store in years and did not know where anything was.

So I found my three back end employees, these are the ones that aren't hanging around the cash register, like the people who stock the shelves. These people were pretty nice and met all the requirements that corporate had told me to look for. They made eye contact, smiled and appeared please to help me out.

So with that task done I headed for the cashier with my items. I had about six items and the one that was required, is a large item, such as case of water in the lower rack of the cart. My job at the cashiers was to get the name, did they make small talk, was the cashier pleasant, and did they find the item in the bottom rack of the cart.

I was suppose to forget about it and not mention till they announced the total. Well the darn thing is in plain view and it is hard not to spot it or forget about it. So I put my coat between me and the view of the lower rack of the cart. Which helped my case for not knowing about it. Well the poor cashier missed it and I had to bring it up after the total was announced to me.

I also had to ensure the supervisor was around the front and was available for assistance. They were.

Well that was my first grocery shop and took me about 55 minutes. Still remember the wife's words when I got home, you were gone that long and this is all you bought. I spent 28 dollars on things we needed, was reimbursed for 18 dollars, so I look at as if I got my groceries for half price.

My second grocery shop went quicker, I had much less prep time and was out in 35 minutes. This particular shop requires you to spend at least 20 minutes in the store doing the evaluation. The hardest part I find is finding three back end employees. There is just not that many. So of like cops, where are they when you need them.

More on my fast food shop in a couple of days.

The results, well I haven't been back to the store yet, but my wife has. One of the items I had to look for was if the cashier asked you if you wanted to apply for one of that chains credit cards and if it was also on the receipt. In both case the answer was no, no one asked me if I wanted to apply for their credit card nor was it mentioned on the receipt.

My wife told me when she went to the store yesterday, the cashier was pushing their credit card. I didn't even ask her about nor did she know that was one of the attributes I dinged them for. She mentioned it because of the force used to pressure her into applying for one. She felt it was unusual. Then I looked at her receipt, and sure enough, there it was, apply for their credit card.

Bottom line, action is taken based on what you report. Hmmmm, I wonder if the cashier who missed the item on the bottom of the rack still has a job?

The Fast Food Shop

My next shop, oh I should define what a shop is. A shop in this business is defined as an assignment. So my next shop was to have breakfast at a fast food restaurant. Now the particulars for this shop was to go by myself, order one breakfast in, sit in there at least 20 minutes, then order a breakfast at the drive through. So for this shop I get 10 bucks and two breakfasts. ( after inspection of the breakfast and tasting it I took it home to the wife.)

Now this was one of my most interesting shops to date. Let me set the stage, I live in North Pole, Alaska, here is my blog on living here Alaska.Well on this day it was -55 degrees that morning, and they are particular on what you order. You had to order the meals they specify and medium drinks and you can't order bottled water. Like you can have coke, sprite, coffee etc.

So I strut up to the window, doing my timing and all and order a breakfast meal and a diet coke. The clerk said they had no coke. OK, I'll have coffee. Then he says they don't have any water, so all they had was bottled water and milk. Well I knew I could not order water, and didn't remember any thing about milk so I ordered milk. I HATE MILK!

The clerk asked me if it was for here or to go. I said here. Then he gave me a strange look but went and got my meal. I took my meal and went and sat down. Remember I said it was -55 degrees, and I had to stay there for 20 minutes, well when I sat down I realized the building didn't have any heat. The cooks were wearing parkas and everyone who came in went out and sat in their warm cars. You could actually see your breath. No wonder the clerk looked at me strange. I was the only one eating in!

Well as soon as 20 minutes was up I left and threw the milk away. So I go through the drive through and play dumb and order my meal and a diet coke. The clerk explains they have no water because the water lines froze. So I ordered MILK again.

When I wrote my report I explained what was going on with the weather, the frozen lines and why I ordered milk. Must have been accepted because the company I reported to have accepted me to have lunch at four other fast food locations in February.

The Oil Change

My next shop was to get my car serviced by receiving a free oil change valued at 55 dollars. I received no money for this shop, but was reimbursed for the cost of the oil change. My task was to observe the shop in regards to cleanliness and promotions, the employees interaction with the customers, the process ( did it follow the corporate requirements on what information was provided to the customer) and how the employees performed their jobs.

One of the first items I was to observe was if I was acknowledged in a certain amount of time, and yes I was. I was directed to a stall, the car door was opened for me as required, and I was properly greeted. I was also to observe if all the employees in the work area wore safety glasses. I could report they all had safety glasses. Some wore them over their eyes and some on top of their heads, which protects the top of your head not your eyes. I am sure this was not the expectation of corporate.

Then I was shown by an employee what the manufacturer recommends, in regards to service for my car, based on the number of miles the car had been driven. And if I wanted that service performed. No, I was here for the oil change. I was shown an air filter, which they claimed was mine, I had no way of knowing, and asked if I wanted it replaced. No, oil change only. Then I was rushed into the waiting area. Everything was in such a panic.

The waiting area was clean, bathrooms were clean and the TV properly tuned to the college bowl games. There must of been about 10 of us in the waiting room, but only about 4 cars being serviced. While in the waiting room, I observed the work on my car. Wow, what precision they performed too. Appears each had a job, one to drain the oil, another to put oil in, one to check the tire pressure, etc.

After about 20 minutes, my car was ready, the clerk took my money, was suppose to be cordial but to the clerk I was just another car being serviced and hardly acknowledged me The clerk showed me the tire pressure on each of my car's tires, all the fluids being topped off, the amount of oil in the car, etc. Now the next requirement that was to occur, was for me to be escorted to my car and the door opened for me or my car door left open. Well I was not escorted, and the door was not open when I got to the car. Thank goodness, it is still about -50 degrees.

The car was vacuumed properly but they were suppose to also clean the outside windows. I guess the employee who was suppose to do that was sick that day. I could still see the dirt left, where the windshield wipers could not reach. The survey I filled out after the shop, asked the question, how was I treated as a customer. I thought about that for a minute and responded with, "I felt like I was on an assembly line." Do not think this is what corporate wanted to hear.

The Restaurant

Of all the shops I did, I liked this one the best. I was able to take the wife and we could each spend 20 dollars each on a meal, with 15% tip and I got paid 20 dollars. 10 for me and 10 for the wife. She was necessary for what I think is two reasons. One is when you go to a restaurant, you rarely see some one person eating by themselves. So to avoid drawing suspicion to a mystery shopper, they allow you to take a guest. I should mention here that we are required to act dumb if someone approaches you and asks if you are a mystery shopper. The response should be, "what is a mystery shopper'

The second item they would like two to go is that they want both bathrooms evaluated for cleanliness. Well the only thing that went right for the restaurant was the bathrooms. They passed without a negative comment.

We started by evaluating the outside, I was not required to evaluate the outside since there was snow cover, but I did comment on the trash on top of the snow. Plus commented that the paint was peeling off the building and the benches were in need of painting.

I also commented to the wife that the big sign advertising the restaurant was dirty compared to the other signs advertising other stores. It wasn't till I got home and started going through the evaluation form that I realized the sign wasn't dirty, it just was not lit. being lit is a requirement.

We struggled through the front door, lots of water and ice, causing very slippery conditions. I commented on this and also stated that we went to several other businesses that day and their entry ways were clean and free of ice and water. So another negative.

We ordered our meal, the waitress was very nice, but when she left after taking our order the water that was on her tray came off and landed on our table and me. She never even noticed it. Negative.

While we were waiting of our meal, one of the items we were to evaluate was the booster seats for infants. Now we didn't have an infant so this was going to be a challenge. Fortunatley for us, two couples came in with infants. We were sitting right by the storage space for the booster seats and were able to evaluate them as they came by. They appeared to be in proper working order, but when the waitresses pulled them out of storage food crumbs fell on the floor. Both times! Another hit.

When our meal came, mine was the usual, hamburger. The bun was soaked half way through with what I gathered to be butter and the burger was over cooked and dry. My wife said her meal was OK, not great, but alright.

We paid for the meal. The cashier must have been having a bad day, cause she hardly acknowledged us at all. Took our money and said thanks, with an expression that told me she didn't mean it. As we were walking out the door, the manager, asked us to return in a very pleasant voice. She was the only one who made us feel welcomed. We made that a positive comment.

Now one of the questions on the evaluation is " Will you return". My response to that was no. The reason, I explained, is that whenever I go out for a meal at lunch time, in a restaurant, I always order the same to compare restaurants. My meal at this one was the worst one I ever had. Hamburger was overcooked and very dry.

I am going to do a drive by next week to see if they have corrected the outside items I commented on.

So far, with the shops I have done, I have concluded that the expectations of corporate, are not the same expectations being implemented in the field. I went to the grocery store with the wife yesterday, and the cashier asking about if you want one of their credit cards didn't last. It is still on the receipt but not asked by the cashier. ( see my write up on The Grocery Store)

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The Postage Store