Why Mystery Shopping Sucks
My One-Day Career as a Private Contractor
My skills don't easily translate to an at-home job. They really don't translate to a flexible job of any kind at all, since I need to be in a lab to do the work I'm good at.
So I hopped online and went to this work-at-home-mom website to try and find a new career. I'm not into any of that TupperwareCandlesAvon Party business so I skipped past all that and that's when I found Mystery Shopping. A whole big list of Mystery Shopping companies who pay you to shop at stores and write reports tattling on the people who work there. Long ago I worked in retail and I've been ratted out myself by many a Mystery Shopper. I figured I knew pretty much what to expect from the gig. I immediately signed up with five companies, took the little tests they make you take to show that you are indeed literate and can follow directions, read the contracts and then, high on the idea of what a great cash flow opportunity this could be, I accepted a bunch of work.
It wasn't until I got into the details that I realized what a scam this shit is. My first assignment was to go to a pet store with a list of SIXTY items and, without arousing the suspicion of the store workers, hunt down each item and record its price. Then I was to go home and enter it all into the computer by midnight the same day and submit it for approval. And do you know how much they were going to pay me as a reward for performing this task? SEVEN DOLLARS.
I blew it off, which wasn't as easy as I thought seeing as how I received several angry phone calls and emails and finally they kicked me out of their shopper database for being unreliable. Keep your seven dollars. I could find seven dollars in change on the ground at the park if I put a little effort, and much less time, into it.
The next job (with a different company) was to evaluate a daycare center. I was to call during business hours and have a detailed phone conversation for fifteen minutes, asking questions according to a checklist. I was then to visit the daycare unannounced and do a tour, again asking questions according to the checklist and remembering very specific details like everyone's name or description of appearance, how many children present, and a million other little things about the general state of the facility. I would then come home and write up a detailed report about my findings, elaborating on the eighty-question checklist, all using perfect grammar and punctuation. There was a clause in there somewhere reminding me to hang on to my notes for several months because sometimes companies don't like their report, especially if there is anything negative, and try to challenge your findings. And do you know how much this little task paid? Twelve dollars. TWELVE DOLLARS ARE YOU KIDDING ME? It wasn't even close to my house, and besides what am I going to do with twelve dollars? It's a half day of work, which ends up being three dollars an hour. No thanks.
I'm still getting requests to do jobs. Apparently there's a big fast food chicken emergency and I've been receiving frantic emails all morning for someone, ANYONE, to go to KFC and buy a snacker sandwich to see if the cashier will try to sell a drink to go with it. The location is twenty miles from my house and the report is three pages long and life is too short, man. Oh yeah, and it pays ten dollars. Plus the cost of the food. Never mind that I would rather drink Windex than put anything from KFC in my body (this of course does not count when I am pregnant. I had a KFC emergency during my pregnancy that was harsh and I ate twelve dollars of greasy chicken and it was so good I wanted to rub the bones all over my body after I was done and drink the leftover gravy-pregnancy is not a pretty time in a girl's life), those snacker sandwiches look disgusting.
So that's the story about how mystery shopping will not be my new career path. I haven't blocked the emails yet because I'm still waiting for a dream shop assignment to come through. Something like being reimbursed for testing and evaluating every coffee drink at a Dunkin Donuts. Until then I'm working on some other stuff but one thing is for sure, I'm not cheap labor.
Published by Jaeme Smith
A scientist and freelance writer, Jaeme's work has been featured online and in print. View profile
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- mystery shopping will not be my new career path
- I'm not cheap labor
- It's a half day of work, which ends up being three dollars an hour
17 Comments
Post a CommentMystery Shopping is little more than "sweat shop" labor. The pay, for the amount of time and gas involved, is ridiculous. 3 days ago when I started I was so pyched...until I found that A) with the price of gas -driving to the assignments cost as much if not more than what the job paid B) the required paperwork was ungodly and took hours to complete C) MUST fluff the shops cos if anything negative the company will kick you out of their database D) being stuck in traffic, stop lights, dodging bad drivers etc. most of the day for practically nothing?? At the end of the day, its a big time rip off.
What the editor described was a pricing audit shop - and I always decline those unless they bonus up the fee and pay 50-60 bucks (which happens on occasion).
Also, you aren't "Ratting" on anyone...I've worked on both the employee and management side. What you are doing, is telling the client how their employee is performing. The client WANTS that employee to do as well as possible its in the best interest of everyone involved...so its about improving service, not ratting out people.
If that is your mindset then this is definitely not something you should be doing.
The best thing to do is sign up with 12-15 companies that do shops in your area and then:
A. schedule 3-4 shops in the same area the same day, so you aren't trekking back and forth
B. be consistent and write good reports for them.
Why? Because you will waste less time and gas by doing A and your pay and the types of shops you will qualify for, increase and become more diverse once you have
I have heard a lot of people complaining about Direct Scheduling not coming through on their word nor their contract and I'm in contact with a class-action lawyer right now. If interested, send me an email. The lawyer wants to know what kind of response there is to know if he wants to take the job. An email for this specific cause is action_against_dss@yahoo.com.
I agtree with Barb. I just reported Melissa Benson and Direct Scheduling Serivces to the BBB. I'm still waiting to be paid for $34 worth of shops completed in April. It's June 25th! I've also reported her to the company I did the shops for her and let her know they need to find a more credible company. Do you want a good, reputable mystery shopping company? Second-to-None! I'm still with them. They pay as per their agreement, assignments are easy to complete, and the pay is the comparable to most other companies. Check them out at second-to-none.com. I've dropped every one of the six agencies I was shopping for except these guys. They're awesome!
The followinf mystery shopping company sucks: DIRECT SCHEDULING SERVICES AND MELISSA BENSON. They lie and are fraudulent and do not sjop for them.
I dont like mystery shopping. Maritz doesnt tell you up front, but you need to bill them to get paid. I didn't know, so I didn't get paid for my Chevron shops. I'm done. Plus! I hate ratting on people! Not my deal.
Oh and one of the mystery shops I did, they cancelled on me because I missed one question. I mean seriously? Totally NOT worth my time.
Ive done like three mystery shops so far. I do everything asked, come home and fill out the survey, and for whatever reason, I have gotten an email on all three asking for more information......wanting me to provide a novel for every question they ask. I end up wasting 4-5 hours doing these stupid shops for 10 dollars which is equaling to $2-$3 an hour.
In response to Jeff: I consider mystery shopping to be a great source of part-time income because I can pretty much set my own hours and the work is not monotonous. Sure, that $7 or $10 job looks cheap, but the fact that with some companies, you can do a few more of these jobs in different locations in the same day, that's when it all adds up. It is possible to earn $50 - 75 a day, but it's probably not going to be with just one company. Assignments that pay that much in one shot are rare. Also, I live in a major metropolitan area, so it's not difficult for me to find assignments. Some do earn a living off of this. But, I think most MS'ers do it for the part-time income (as with me). However, it goes without saying that MS is not for everybody. But, in no way, is it a rip-off.
I agree with the editor. I have signed up for so many mystery shopping jobs. Most of them require me to sit through a 20 minute ordeal, then take a test with tricky answers which takes another 30 minutes to get through, go to the places and take pictures, remember a while bunch of things, then come home and fill out a questionaire and upload pictures for 10 dollars. its SO not w orth it. I dont see how some of you are making 50 to 75 dollars a day, and if you are, what mystery shopiing company are you using? ive signed up for about 2 dozen places, 75% of them dont even have anything within 30 miles of where I live. I dont see how anyone could make a living off of this.