Are Mystery Shopping Services All Scams?
By Ripoffs Scams, on November 5th, 2009
I recently responded to a newspaper ad seeking mystery shoppers. The company, Zenith Consulting, sent back a form e-mail a few days later with details on the job and a request for confirmation of address, phone number, etc. I haven’t responded yet whether or not I’ll take them up on the job. In fact, I won’t respond till I know whether or not Zenith Consulting is a scam operation or if all mystery shopping services are scams. Anybody out there work for Zenith or any of these other outfits?
I can’t speak for the particular company you’re referring to (check with the Better Business Bureau and see if they have any complaints), but I did mystery shopping a long time ago for extra cash. Don’t remember who it was for, but it wasn’t a scam. It can be, however, very time consuming and not always worth the amount of money they pay. Wells Fargo was one of their big clients, so I was going into a lot of banks and rating the service I received and whether or not they offered me certain products. The problem was that I only got about $15/bank, some of the banks were kinda far away, and it took me a while to fill out the report afterwards. You must be very specific as to what you experienced: names, exact products offered, sometimes physical descriptions of people. You can often do retail stores or restaurants which seem like more fun, but you have to pay for what you buy/eat and then wait a long while to get reimbursed for it. So, if you have a lot of time on your hands and can remember lots of little details, then go for it. I found it wasn’t worth my time.
I don’t know anything about Zenith but I know mystery shopping isn’t. The store I work for has mystery shoppers come in once a month to critique our customer service. If you want to do something like that look one up that doesnt look like a scam online. There are a ton out there.
i would not give them your social security number yet. I’ve heard many people who have done secret shopper and they have had a lot of fun. You have to do it VERY often to make any sort of real money, but it’s a pretty good time. I would make sure they’e not looking for any suspicious info from you (Credit Card #s, etc.) and that they’re not asking money fromyou. If they do that, get out of there!