Jon@TheMoneyShed said:
well...
how did your first assignment go then?
Well Jon - I had fun! I really enjoyed it ;D
For my first mystery shop I chose a visit to the cinema. Bearing in mind I worked it out that it's been AT LEAST EIGHT YEARS since I went to the flicks!!
I hope my experience might be helpful to anybody else thinking of giving traditional mystery shopping a go - the good bits and the bad bits.
For your first assignment with Market Force (MF) you're only allowed to choose one from the list of those that are available to you in your designated area. Once you've made your choice, the others are no longer visible. I downloaded all the information I could from all the listed jobs ie the Assignment Notes and the Questionnaire Preview for each, just to give me a really good grasp of what each type of job involves before they disappeared.
Once I selected my job I had to choose the date of the visit, and then answer a set of questions to check I was fully informed about what I had to do (you gather this information from the Assignment Notes). They were sneaky little questions designed to catch out the unwary! For instance, there was one of those horrible "double negative" questions: the notes said to check the toilets, so the question was "I understand that I do not need to check the toilets - yes or no". So you have to get your head round the fact that you need to answer "No - I
do not understand that I
do not need to check the toilets". Lol - I'm assuming I got it right as I passed their screening test (unless you're allowed to get some questions wrong - they didn't say).
During my visit I had to buy a ticket to see a film, and purchase something from the kiosk before the film and an alcoholic drink at the bar afterwards. The "pay" was a measly £3.25 and the "reimbursement" was £10. I ended up about a quid out of pocket, but I really don't mind. Forget earning a minimum wage doing this! There is no wage. I was there for three hours in total.
And so to the report. Oh yes - you lose the will to live!! The Preview Questionnaire does not prepare you for the depth you have to go into when you actually submit your online report. Sigh. I had to ask for an extension as I vastly underestimated how long this takes, so missed the deadline. Luckily they took pity on me and did not deduct any "points" for bad behaviour! You are given a running score that can attract deductions if you're naughty, meaning you might miss out on particular jobs. I also had to upload images of my receipts.
As a new shopper you're allowed three attempts to get your report right. Once your report is accepted you will usually be released into the wild to get on with whatever is available. I heard nothing about whether or not my report was good enough - I had to assume it was as I logged on the next day to find my payment was confirmed and there were more jobs waiting for me
There are 11 jobs available for me to choose from now, and I'm allowed to have up to 8 booked at any one time. The bookie jobs are there, along with supermarket tasks, pubs, meals.
All in all I had a cracking evening out, and even got chatted up by a Very Nice Man in the bar afterwards
I will give mystery shopping a good bash as, although the "pay" itself is pitiful, you get "stuff". For me this is ideal as my extreme frugality (is that a word?) prevents me from doing too many fun things like this. This is the beauty of The Money Shed - I've discovered methods of earning or generally having a life that I never knew existed.
Oh and by the way, a fellow Shedder missed a trick as Market Force does indeed operate a referral system - somebody on here could have earned themselves £1.50 - tsk!
Happy to answer any questions.
I have a question for experienced mystery shoppers please. There are a couple of audit jobs available at a supermarket - checking dates of stock. The pay is better, but it looks like the job itself takes ages. Does anybody recommend these types of job? Or not?