Any Mystery Shoppers out there??

[hawkinsd]

A friend told me about someone she knows who is a Mystery Shopper. The entire office received a free delivered lunch just for completing a survey about the food, service, etc.

Is anyone familiar with becoming a Mystery Shopper and how it works? Can you recommend a good website?

Thanks!

[Dkick]

I am a mystery shopper, and my office just had pizza delivered for free (of course, I will have to write a report)! My family and I eat out once or twice a week (some pay up to $100 in food and drinks), and I do lots of other mystery shopping also. I would recommend [Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now] You will find a large list of places to apply there. If you want to start: apply, apply and apply some more. Do as many applications as you possibly can. There are tons of tips and information on the Volition Bulletin Board, or feel free to write if you need more information.

[hawkinsd]

Thank you for the tips. I will check it out.

[Tracir]

I have been mystery shopping for:
[Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now]
for several years and I make over $100 a month.

Also, I belong to:
[Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now]
but I haven't done any for them yet- they have great ones where you get reimbursed for hotel stays and restaurants- they have them for awesome upscale restaurants here in Atlanta but they have several other cities. I can't seem to hit the site on the day they offer the new shops- they are always gone when I check it.

There is also:
[Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now]
They seem to do mostly apartment evaluations and I haven't done one yet there either.

Let me know if you have any questions about secretshopnet. They are a nice company to work for.

Traci

[apeller]

Another one is [Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now]
They seem to have everything from pizza to nice restaurants to stores.

[annmarie1130]

I did a shop at ChiChi's a couple of months ago. (I deleted the name of the shop-thanks for the heads up angelia729). I haven't signed up for any other shops, but was pointing my sister-in-law to them to sign up and she noticed that they wanted SS#-never paid much attention when I was signing up, but anyone that has done this for awhile now-do they report this for your tax return? Do you have to "claim" this money??? Thanks so much as I have been thinking about signing up for more and just don't want to pay UNCLE SAM-he gets enough of my money!!! Ann Marie

[bobthecat]

I do mystery shopping for a company called Confero [Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now] . So far, I have only shopped for oil changes, but I haven't paid for an oil change in my car or my husband's in over three years! This is particularly good because I have a 4WD truck, and oil changes get pricey. I just have to answer a survey about it. I know they also have shopping and dining mystery shops in other parts of the country, but here in the DC area, it's all oil changes. Any kind of free shopping is good by me!

L

[bonniejeanne]

I have done a couple of mystery shops for mysteryshops.com. Both of them were for Logan's Roadhouse. They send cards in the mail that are good for me and a friend to eat there, and pay for part of the tip later. I just have to fill out an online form afterwards about my experience there. The only part I don't like is having to remember all the times that everything is ordered and delivered. But I get to take a friend for a good meal and all I really pay is the tip (unless you get more than is covered by the meal cards).

[shopgal]

Thank you very much for giving out the Mystery Shopper links.....I am currently a Mystery Shopper for Shoney's [ over a year now ] and I at times so tired of them..even though they pay great.... I sbbmitted my name to a couple of the ones you had listed, I hope to hear from them soon..Thanks so much agian!

[Dangergirl]

Be careful with Mystery shopping. I did it about 7 times last spring and the company I worked with did not pay me until 1 1/2-2 mnths later. You do get reimbursed, which is great, but if you pay by credit card then you are paying on the interest in the end. All I got were Fridays too, which my family got real sick of, and I had to do bar audits, which means sitting at the bar and ordering a drink. That is hard to do if you have kids. My hiusband would have to take my son to another store or someplace for 1/2 hr while I did the bar audit and then meet me for dinner.

[angelia729]

jsut a quick note on all this,, but do yourselves a big favor,, DO NOT post the company & the places you shop for in a public message board forum ie i work for XYX Mystery shop company & i just visited Bubba's bar n grill to do a eval.... its very much against the contract you signed for them.. and yes they do read message boards.

[apeller]

Originally posted by angelia729
jsut a quick note on all this,, but do yourselves a big favor,, DO NOT post the company & the places you shop for in a public message board forum ie i work for XYX Mystery shop company & i just visited Bubba's bar n grill to do a eval.... its very much against the contract you signed for them.. and yes they do read message boards.

I totally agree. If you do mystery shopping you should not post where you do evaluations, but since they are all advertising for people to apply, there is no reason not to mention the name or link of the mystery shopping company. The same rules apply to Pinecone or Vividence.

[angelia729]

also not a good idea to take your kids with you,
and average pay is around a month delay from when you turn in your shop.. all companies state their pay rates & time frames up front.. some companies are more reputable than others.

[apeller]

While it is a pain to do the bar check with a child around, we have been doing this as a family. I have also noticed that some places do not mind a child in the bar area just so long as they are not sitting AT the bar. We can all sit at a table, do the bar check, and usually get happy hour appetizers at the same time. My DD thinks it is so much fun and she helps make sure we get all the names right. My family has been having a great time with this whole experience. We have had 6 great meals since I started doing this in July.

[bobthecat]

In response to Angelina who mentioned keeping quiet about specific companies and mystery shops we might do, the only reason I did mention it here is because it is relatively confidential and I have never used my name or likeness on this website. Nobody knows who I am or what I look like. If you have your photo posted, with your name and your family names, that's a little different. If you maintain your confidentiality, it is great and very helpful for others to learn about this really fun and interesting field.