I woke up this Monday morning and had all my ducks in a row. Paperwork was in my trusty-red leather-three-ring binder and my day of airport shops was all set. If you’ve never done these, they’re kind of neat. It’s similar to building a route of shops, in a mall, or on the road. I…
A bullet whizzed over my head and I hit the dirt. “They didn’t say anything about getting combat pay in that bonus” I thought as I cowered behind a jeep in the parking lot. It all started when a desperate scheduler called me to take a last minute shop in what can only be described…
College admission shops that you’ll find on mystery shopping job boards are aimed at “for profit” institutions [think the schools you see advertising degrees on TV]. Usually, these shops have very specific aims regarding what is promised during the admission process. First, you admissions officer, or counselor, cannot promise that you will get a job,…
Second To None is a privately owned mystery shopping company headquartered in Ann Arbor, MI. Jeff Hall, the current CEO, founded the company in 1989. Today, Second To None serves clients in the food and beverage, retail, healthcare, financial services and hospitality industries as well as in the public sector. They have an A+ rating…
Company Overview: Albatross Global Solutions is a worldwide mystery shopping company with some 20 offices in various cities around the world. The business was founded in 2005 by Christophe Cais and Nicholas Jeanjean, both 1991 graduates from the Institut Superieur de Gastion. The company website is http://www.albatrossonline.com/. The company’s shops tend to focus on high…
While planning a recent, multi-day route, I discovered I could work out of one small North Carolina town for the duration of the trip. I was looking for a motel and checked the reviews of the chains where I can get points–Hilton, Quality, and Wyndham. The online reviews where substantially less than stellar for all…
In last week’s issue of Mystery Shopper Magazine, I related a situation that I was told by a fellow shopper. It was a rather unique set of conditions that came together and presented an opportunity for him. I did encourage shoppers to keep an eye out for “similar situations”. I received a phone call from…
I dabbled briefly in mystery shopping in 2009, which I should not really count, since I had no idea what I was doing and it was such a short-lived venture. My specialty was Maritz and whatever they dared to send my way. Fast forward, four years later: We relocated from the frozen tundra of Illinois…
In an attempt to become one stop financial service stops, banks have expanded beyond their traditional checking/saving/CD’s and have expanded into stocks/bonds/mutual funds and other investment vehicles. It’s this second group that are the focus of Bank Investment Shops. Banks are extensively regulated while stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc. are subject to many fewer regulations….
From the early 1980s until the mid-1990s, I had an incredible job with American Airlines at a major airport. The wonderful job was made even more wonderful by the awesome employee recognition programs. One such program, which recognized exceptional customer service, was called “Run Through the Warehouse” and was held in a large building on…
In conjunction with the above announced changes coming to Mystery Shopper Magazine, we are looking for 2-3 shoppers who would commit to writing 3 articles per month on either an MSC or a Shopping Assignment. We are also looking for a shopper with a good knowledge of the current technology and how that technology can…
Jacob and I have been discussing for a while how we envision Mystery Shopper Magazine growing in the future. Also, Jacques’ business has been growing, so he has been devoting less time to shopping and has decided to retire as a contributor to the magazine. As a result of these conversations and contributor changes, there…
Occasionally on www.mysteryshopforum.com, a shopper will “vent” about some aspect of a shop, and the “venting” will usually end with some form of “I could make the form better.” A shopper recently sent me the following. He asked me to remain anonymous. “A few weeks ago, I went out to dinner at an ethnic restaurant…
I was recently in Atlanta, Georgia doing some shops and I had the opportunity to meet a fellow shopper for a late lunch [no, it wasn’t a shop]. We were talking about shops we’ve done when the discussion turned to how our experiences affect the shops we do. Or perhaps a better way to say…
UPDATE: WARNING: WRAPMATCH.COM APPEARS TO BE A SCAM. WE DO NOT RECOMMEND THEIR SERVICES. I had honestly believed that I had come across a way for shoppers to make some extra money while driving between shops. The plan sounded good…better than it turned out to be. I received an e-mail from a friend this morning….
Sometimes we as shoppers get too complacent or maybe too comfortable with a given assignment, to the point that a similar assignment comes along and we don’t give it the due diligence that we should. Case in point, I’ve done over a dozen mystery shops each for both Tommy Hilfiger and Old Navy. The shops…