Another thread reminded me of this so I thought I'd write about it - I used to do it when I lived in Dorset and it was good fun plus you get paid for the stuff you buy has anyone else done it?
basically I used to have to go to a place such as a petrol station/shoe shop/ restaurant etc... at a specific time and spend a certain amount which I was paid. You need a good memory because there's a list of questions you need to fill in about the service you got,the name of who served you and description, whether they gave you extra info... and obviously the staff mustn't know what you are up to!! Then you submit the answers by email within 24 hours.
Some weeks I'd get no work others i'd get about 3 or 4 so got some nice freebies. If you have to buy something you don't want you can take it back and get a refund and keep the money. each job was usually worth between £10 - £30.
I'm going to re - register with them again to see if I can get any now I live in a different area.
if anyone wants the company website pm me

i use to be a manageress of a supermarket and we had loads of mystery shoppers in. We failed quite a few times as they wanted us to run after the person outside the shop which we weren't insured for. I didn't mind mystery shoppers doing there shopping and hiding things underneath but i have to say when they get them to do shop lifting and run out the doors i don't think that is not fare on the staff.

Blimey I never got asked to shop lift!! - and I wouldn't do that anyway!!

yep we had a woman with kids in a pushchair hidding things and a man who kept going out the enterence door filing his car boot up with our products.

My best ones were defo shoes!! from a well known company - and I just lurve shoes!! even got to choose which ones I wanted!!

is it hard to become a mystery shopper. What checks are needed?

You need to apply with your details, current & past employment and give names & contact details of 2 refferees.(who they won't contact without telling/asking you?

oooh, i'd love to do this for real! lol, can you send me the info? dont know when i'd find time but what a good excuse to go shopping!

did you do it locally or in other towns because my sents of direction isn't very good i need an A-Z just to leave the house lol

You can choose how far you are prepared to travel - I used to go withing about 20 miles - sometimes if they were stuck I'd go further and get extra costs.

Well that's something I'd definitely be interested in, as I have a lot of spare time on my hands.

The only bit of mystery shopping I did was when I was a new recruit at a popular high street bank. One of the regional customer service managers drove me around various branches in and around South East London so I could act as a customer and make a note of how my transactions were handled by the staff. It helped me see things from the customer's perspective and plus I got the day off work! (Sort of).

As an everyday consumer I am used to 'grassing' up employees wherever I shop, who I feel have given me a bad service unnecessarily. I hope I don't sound too evil!I have been in customer facing jobs for six years and I do feel there is no excuse for providing poor service if the customer is being reasonable and not rude and stuff.