A MYSTERIOUS EXPERIENCE (Retail Eyes)

Member Name: pornstarx2

Product:	Retail Eyes
Date:	10/12/06 (892 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Free stuff, money for doing something you love & its fun

Disadvantages: There can sometimes be a lack of work

A QUICK INTRODUCTION TO MYSTERY SHOPPING
For those of you who haven't heard or experienced mystery shopping I will explain. A lot of companies have lots of staff that are front of house and hold the companies' reputation in their hands but the big bosses don't have a true perception of how the staff act whilst in working hours. This is when they send in a person who pretends to be a customer into their company to record how the staff act and to see whether all procedures are followed.
A mystery shopper is usually sent in to make a purchase or sometimes just to make observations they then report back to the agency they are employed by which is then passed on to the company. In this case I reviewing the company called www.retaileyes.co.uk who supply mystery shop jobs within the UK and Europe.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO BE A MYSTERY SHOPPER
To be a good mystery shopper for any company you need to be very observant, have an eye for detail, have a desire to make shopping a nicer experience for everyone, have a bit of time on your hands and to be able to make mental notes and be able to produce accurate reports.
If you tick all of those boxes you need to go to retail eyes website and sign yourself up.

SIGNING UP
The sign up process for retail eyes is nice and simple not like some of the competitors who have a really gruelling recruitment process. All Retail eyes ask you to do is make sure you have access to the internet, a fax machine or scanner, computer knowledge, reliability and the ability to remain anonymous. You then just need to complete a small form with your name, address, telephone number, sex and how far you are willing to travel for a job.
Once your application has been received you will be asked to produce a short essay as to why you would make a great mystery shopper. Once you have done this and your application is complete you will then be sent your password by email.

STARTING UP
Once you arrive on to the homepage you enter your email address under user name and then type in your password that they have provided you with. It is a good idea to save the settings if you are at home as the password is like 3h4m7789743hh or something similar.

GETTING WORK
The website is really easy to navigate and has recently been improved so you just need to click on available work and you are provided with a list of local jobs that need assigning. There will also be a selection of job in different countries or at airports for those of us who are luck to be going away.
If there aren't any jobs in your area or you are travelling further a field one weekend you can click on search for jobs and type in a town and see if there are any jobs going there.
Once you have seen a job you fancy just, read through the job notes and accept the job. There are no boring questions or training to be completed which is great all you have to do is schedule your shop in the online diary and you are in business.

WHAT TYPE OF WORK WILL I BET GETTING
The work can be quite varied and sometimes you can get 3 jobs in a week and sometimes you can go 3 weeks without a job.
Jobs that are usually on offer are restaurants, pubs, opticians, casinos, bookmakers, dentists, shops and fast food outlets.

WHAT IS THE PAY LIKE?
The pay isn't amazing but it soon mounts up at the end of the month and you are only doing something you normally do. You usually get between £5 to £10 for each job. The higher the pay the more difficult the job. Some jobs are easier than others. You need to take into consideration that you are also getting something for nothing as well as your fee so you cant really complain. If you mystery shop a restaurant you get a free meal, a bookmakers a free bet (and if you are lucky enough to win you get to keep the winnings too) a free prescription from the chemist and a free purchase from the shops. So if you can get work it is nothing to be sniffed at. The best job I have seen on the website was for Gala Casino. The fee was only £5 however you had £50 to spend on a meal for one and the rest on gambling so you couldn't really lose and you could have ended up taking home a packet! I really wanted to complete to the job but that weekend I was away which I was really annoyed about,

CLOSING AN ASSIGNMENT
Once you have completed you mystery shop you need to usually return your results within 24 hours. I usually print the questionnaire from the assignment and take it with me on my job so I can remind myself what I am looking for, once I have finished the job I fill in the questionnaire whilst the memory is fresh and then I go home and copy it into my computer.
Once you have filled in the results page you can spell check your work and read through everything to make sure it is correct and then it goes off to the proofreading team.

On some assignments you are required to take a photo of the place you are mystery shopping because there are usually a few of these outlets in one place or the wrong places keep getting mystery shopped. If this is the case just take a pic on your digital camera and you can upload it at the beginning of the assignment regardless of the size of image.

At every mystery shop you will be asked to request a receipt for some you don't but 99% of them do. You can either send your receipt via email, fax or mail. Receipts are really important if you don't provide one you wont get paid and also if you deviate from any of the questions you need to ask staff your payment will also be deferred.

GETTING PAID
You get paid for all your jobs in cold hard cash, which is great, no vouchers or points to be redeemed for prizes just straightforward money.
Money is sent out on the 15th of each month and is paid either by cheque or you can choose to pay by bacs which is a lot easier but not so easy to track if you have a lot of money coming in and out,

MY EXPERIENCE
I have took part in quite a few mystery shops the easiest being going to a nearby pub for a pint of Stella. You got reimbursed £5 for the drink and I got £5 for doing the job. All I had to do was answer 12 questions about the layout of the bar drinks and crisps. It was so easy and I got free money and a pint out of it!
The most complicated job I took part in was a visit to HMV I had to ask the staff some questions about DVDs for my imaginary daughter and I then had to make a purchase and return it within an hour. The job was quite complex and there were quite a few questions I had to answer, but I got £10 for doing it so I wasn't bothered.
I have also completed an optician mystery shop which was great as I went for an appointment and claimed £7 for the job and £25 for the eye test but I didn't have to pay for that so I ended up getting £32.00 which was a great bonus.

Mystery shopping is a great thing to do to earn yourself some extra money and it isn't any hassle at all. Retail eyes are a good website as the website is really easy to navigate and you know where you are with them because the show all your accepted jobs on your homepage and they also show your completed jobs and at what stage they are at such as proof reading or paid, so it is really useful. The front page on your homepage also shows how much money is owing to you, which is handy so you can track how much you will get on the big payday.

In my experience I would certainly recommend Retail Eyes to you all as they are a great company to work with they keep in regular touch by email, they have a contact telephone and address and are always willing to help with any questions.
If you do join up please put in word of mouth as the recommendation and use my email address stephgirlx2@yahoo.com as I get 50p for a referral.

xxxxxHappy Shopping xxxxx

Summary: A really good site to have a look at