Company Overview: This is another mystery shopping company that focuses on one niche industry. In this case, that would be banking and financial services.
Pinnacle Financial Strategies has been in operation for over twenty years. In late 2010, it acquired Granite Starr Mystery Shopping as an adjunct to its other consultative services. At one time, this MSC was also known as PROS Mystery Shopping.
The company is headquartered in Houston, Texas and has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.
Pinnacle offers a variety of mystery shopping scenarios. Those include phone evaluations, in-person audits, internet reviews, and competitor studies.
This MSC pays once a month on the 10th via PayPal for assignments completed in the prior month.
Go to www.pinnaclefinancial strategies.com to register. Click on “Learn More” under the Mystery Shopping category at the bottom of the page. Under “Information For Shoppers”, choose and click “Become A Shopper”. This will take you to a standard Sassie-based registration process.
Once you are registered, you can look for open assignments on the Pinnacle job board. This comes in two types: the “classic”, meaning the typical Sassie job board we are all familiar with, and the newer innovation, that is map related and gives you three options for searching. The first is near your home, the second is near your actual location, and the third is an address that you input manually.
Be sure to also check for opportunities on the Mystery Shop Forum job board, as Pinnacle posts assignment notifications there frequently.
Pinnacle’s main website is professionally done and has a logical organization of information. Additionally, you can check out their shopper newsletter that has tips and tricks to improve your performance and/or make your endeavors easier.
Posters on www.mysteryshopforum have nothing but good things to say about Pinnacle. Comments include: “Love this company!”, “highly recommend Pinnacle”, and “one of my favorite MSCs”.
Payments are made to shoppers in a consistently prompt and reliable manner. The pay itself is considered generous, especially when bonused. Several shoppers stated that the pay is very reasonable for the work involved.
As far as the work goes, Pinnacle states that most evaluations are quick and easy, and most shoppers agree. They go so far as to say that the reports are short and simple, and that the assignments are straightforward.
The staff of Pinnacle gets high marks as well. Postings include such statements as the following: “Great to work with”, “accommodating and flexible”, and best yet, “treats its shoppers like they are a valuable asset.”
Time and again, forum members said that they have not experienced any issues of any kind with Pinnacle, including those that have been working with them for a number of years.
Some mentioned that they have seen a bit of a drop-off in the number of assignments, but at the time of this writing, many areas had a great number of opportunities.
Personal Experience: Unfortunately, although this sounds like a stellar company, this MSC has not yet posted any assignment opportunities in my area.