I mystery shopped a couple years ago and stopped for personal reasons. I started back with isecretshop last month because I really had fun doing the shopping. I enjoy being the "secret agent" and trying to get my story past the target. I have completed four assignments so far and found the instructions to be easy to understand and the reports quick and easy to complete. Good luck with your first!

I have only been with ISS for a month now, but in the few shops I have completed I have not seen any grammatical problems. As long as the instructions can be understood, there should be no problem. We can only be responsible for our own work product and should strive to do the best we can. As long as I can understand what is being asked of me, the assignment will be completed. 

Has anyone else had problems getting web based inquiry shops from Campus Feedback?

I have requested eight or nine shops, from three different schedulers, and they have all been declined. All of the shop instructions say that they can be completed as either a prospective student or a parent (me).

The only contact that I get back is the generic form reply that the request has been declined.

Any advice?

Dave K.

Thanks for the advice.

Well, so much for asking the scheduler. I sent an e-mail out three days ago with no response.

If it's all about the badges I can almost understand. But how can you get the rating if you are never assigned the shops?

I guess I'm just going to have to bombard the MSP with requests until I get some assigned.

Welcome back Jan. I did shops a few years back for a company that did primarily apartments and fast food, but then stopped. Like you, I'm retired so I have a little more time.

I kept getting e-mails from ISS so I decided to give it a go again in January. I'm starting to enjoy it again as I get back into a groove. I like ISS because of the varied types of shops. I also signed up with a couple of other companies just to keep things interesting. I haven't been disappointed yet. I just wish I could be a fly on the wall sometimes when a location had been told they were mystery shopper.

Have fun with your part time "career".

Dave K.

P. S.

I live in North Texas as well. In the Denton area.

I mystery shopped another company a few years back that primarily focused on apartments. Not being a young man anymore, I got quite a few raised eyebrows when I told the target that I wanted an apartment.

Things started to get a little easier when I started to tell them that I was getting a divorce and needed a place to live. I think it helped quite a bit...but don't tell my wife. I actually had one target joke around that she just might be looking for a room mate! She kept saying that as the manager, she had a free apartment at the complex. It took a lot of talking to get out of that one.

When I came back to mystery shopping I decided to shy away from apartments for a while. I just might take someone up on their offer and then the divorce thing would get real in a hurry.

Have fun with your shops!

Dave K.

Gracias!

Welcome Naresh!

I'm shop the North Texas area, mostly around D/FW Airport and north. There are a lot of opportunities up here, especially if you want to try different types of shops.

Have fun!

Welcome Dan!

I lived in SoCal for about 20 years before relocating to Texas. I still have a lot of friends out there. The nice thing about your area is that it is so congested! Really! There are a lot of varied opportunities out there. I'm in a semi-urban area with a lot of distance between some of the shops. I'm sure glad my car gets good mileage.

Have fun with the shopping out there.

Dave K.

If you are looking to get through security to complete a shop, it's not going to happen unless you are an airport or airline employee. Security is tight and even employees cannot use their access badge for personal reasons. If they do they can lose their access and also receive a hefty fine from TSA.

Your lunch is your own time but specific companies may have policies on what you can do on company time.

Bottom line, it's hard for "outsiders" to do airport shops. One of the exceptions that I have seen in my travels is Denver airport where a lot of the shops are outside of security.