Grassroots for Mystery Shopping (Grass Roots Group Mystery Shopping)

Member Name: rosebud2001

Product:	Grass Roots Group Mystery Shopping
Date:	14/10/08 (700 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Interesting way to make a little money

Disadvantages: You won't get rich!

Mystery shopping is always something that fascinated me - you get paid to shop - right?

Well yes, but its more than that!

I do nearly all my mystery shopping via Grassroots - I find their payment system fair and speedy, and their assingments interesting.

To join, you have to register and give Grassroots a lot of personal information to enable them to build a profile of you so they can see if you fit into the demographic their client wants opinions from. This doesn't take long to do but they do require quite a lot of information so if this makes you uncomfortable this might be the time to pull out.

Grassroots send e-mails when assignments become available in your local area. You do need to be quick however - these assignments are handed out on a first come, first served basis and several times I haven't been around when the e-mail came in so I missed out.

The e-mails do not tell you what is involved - they take you to a page where the client name is listed and the address, along with the dates they want you to do the mystery shop. You have to accept, and only then will they tell you what they want you to do.

As a mystery shopper you cannot divulge who the clients are but invariably they are familiar high street names.

You need to be observant and prepared to mystery shop.

Grassroots send you the Assignment Briefing which they recommend you print off and read over several times. This is excellent advice as it gives you the opportunity to go over what they require of you and to get straight any "scenario" they want you to follow when you do the assignment.

You are advised you must wear a watch and know exactly where you are going. You will invariably be asked which establishments are to either side of the place you are going to do your mystery shop so they can confirm you did indeed visit the correct store. It pays to double check exactly where you are going because if you visit the wrong branch you won't get paid!

There can sometimes be very specific questions they want you to answer in your results so you have to be 100% certain of what is expected of you.

Grassroots request you fill in your results from your mystery shop within 24 hours of the assingment taking place but my advice is to do it as soon as possible. If you cannot get to a computer hand write the details into your printed Assingment Brief (in a private place!) as soon as you can and then enter them online at the first opportunity.

Grassroots pay £10 per assignment and this is paid directly into your bank account. You are responsible for tax on this so you need to consider contacting your local Tax Office for advice on this. They pay twice a month, on the 1st and 15th of the month.

I have found contacting them to be quite easy - I had to reschedule one mystery shop due to my daughter being ill and this was not a problem. I also had to contact them after I went to perform a mystery shop but the establishment I had been sent to was closed for refurbishment!

I am pleased to say however that they were happy to reschedule this shop and paid me double so I was happy and they were too.

Mystery shopping won't make you rich but its a nice way to earn a little pin money and to let your voice be heard by retailers and I highly recommend Grassroots as the place to start.

Summary: Let the shopper's voice be heard with mystery shopping