Banks Not in Service
Herald Sun - Australia
Poor bank branch service and unhelpful call centres are forcing Australians to use internet banking despite online security problems. Once people hit the internet sites, however, the poor service there only further increases their level of frustration, driving them to seek even less traditional bank options. …

The Coffee Club Townsville wins Franchisee of the Year Award
Queensland Business Review - Spring Hill,Queensland,Australia
Now in its third year, the Franchisee of the Year award is judged on criteria including quality of the application, financial performance, a mystery shopper, store visits by the judging panel, and an assessment by the Franchise Relationships Institute. …

NSLC Looking for Undercover Shoppers
ChronicleHerald.ca - Halifax,Nova Scotia,Canada
The Nova Scotia Liquor Commission has issued a tender looking for mystery shoppers. … “That’s where you go into your retail outlet testing certain scenarios and performance of the staff at the store on the standards that we try to reach,” Rick Perkins, a spokesman for the Crown corporation, said Thursday. A company called Spot Check Services, which is based in Regina …

Online Shoppers Let Down by Customer Service
silicon.com > Retail & Leisure - London,UK
UK online retailers are still letting down web shoppers where it comes to customer service. In a mystery-shopper exercise conducted by customer service software maker Talisma, 45 per cent of retailers failed to reply to customer emails - and only 47 per cent of those who did provided accurate and complete information in their response. …

We All Have Our Own Bank Bugbears
Telegraph.co.uk - Britain,UK
What do you think of your bank’s customer service? … A report published last week showed how poor British banks are at customer service when compared with overseas rivals. It said standards were far higher in the US, Spain, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Germany and South Korea, to name but a few. …

IRD Helpline Not So Helpful
New Zealand Herald - New Zealand
The Inland Revenue’s helpline staff are ill-prepared for new tax changes and much of the information they’re giving out is incorrect, a Business Herald investigation has revealed. The Business Herald conducted a series of “mystery shopping” phone calls of the help lines last week and the vast majority of the answers received were incorrect. …

U.S. News

Hospitals Try To Cure Impersonal Service
KMBX-TV - Kansas City,MO,USA
The modern decor is offset with low lighting.She throws her car keys to a valet, breezes through the door, grabs a cappuccino from the lobby’s cafe and greets the smiling clerk on her way to check-in. This is not the Ritz Carlton, but it could describe the patient experience at one of hundreds of American hospitals trying to take their offerings to the next level. …

Anderson Presents Plan of Action
Pembroke Mariner - Marshfield,MA,USA
Selectman Don Anderson took a step toward progress Monday night when he presented his suggested Goals and Actions plan to the board. … Anderson’s short-term solution was to implement “mystery shopping” of town services, to assess quality and accountability. He also recommended the creation …

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Server beware: Patron Could be a Spy
Philadelphia Daily News - Philadelphia,PA,USA
“We’re observing things that owners often don’t hear about, but should be,” said Ken Alan, who runs Secret Site Services, a local boutique mystery-shopper …

I SPY …
Philadelphia Daily News - Philadelphia,PA,USA
Mouse over the image to find some of the ten things food spies look at when rating a restaurant’s service, food and ambience.

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Mystery Shopper Survey (April 2007)
Bang & Olufsen of Brighton - Brighton & Hove,UK
We’ve just received our ‘Mystery Shopper Report’ from Bang & Olufsen. Mystery Shoppers are despatched to Stores all over the country and, equipped with concealed video cameras, actually reco…

Mystery Shopper Finds Information Hard to Come By
Communitycare.co.uk - Sutton,UK
As part of the “mystery shopping” exercise, service users were asked to telephone council departments and NHS organisations requesting simple information …

Mystery Shopper Case Studies
Communitycare.co.uk - Sutton,UK
Clive Arup - Multiple sclerosis sufferer:  ‘I didn’t know whether the voicemail message was just going into the ether’ …

Police Force to ‘Spy’ on its Officers
The Northern Echo - Darlington,UK
A police force in the North-East is to become one of the first in the country to “spy” on its own officers. …

U.S. News

On Sly, Workers Rate Hospital Service
Boston Globe - Boston,MA,US
The note-taker is a mystery shopper, one of a new breed of hospital employees in Boston and nationwide who secretly watch fellow workers to see whether …

Secret Critique
Boston Globe - Boston,MA,US
Excerpts from mystery shoppers’ March/April report on visits to outpatient clinics at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. …

Secret to Good Customer Service is no “Mystery” at the BX
EmeraldCoast.com - Sandestin,FL,USA
Becoming a Mystery Shopper is a twofold process. Completing the online registration at www.aafes.com is the first step; the second step is being “invited” …

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Polite Steak House Staff Earn Accolades
Mississauga News - Mississauga,Ontario,Canada
Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Mississauga was ranked first out of 98 franchise outlets in Canada, Mexico, Asia and the United States in a “mystery shopper” …

Lottogate will Haunt the BC Liberals, like Bingogate did the NDP
Parksville Qualicum News - Parksville,British Columbia,Canada
If the mystery shopper found any problems, the retailer would get a visit from a BCLC sales representative, presumably to help them upsell and extract more …

Mystery Shopper System to Assess City Office
Chosun Ilbo - Seoul,South Korea
Mystery shopping is used by market researchers to measure the quality of retail service. Office staff will be rated on how well they counsel clients with …

Which? Blows Cover on Loan Protection
Scotsman - Edinburgh,Scotland,UK
More than half of the 41 loan providers contacted by Which? in a mystery shopping exercise automatically included the cost of payment protection insurance …

Company Rewards Exceptional Employees
SUN Weekend - Antigua and Barbuda
In order to generate an unbiased review of the CSR’s service, Francis explained that a mystery shopper is enlisted to anonymously visit each station in …

U.S. News

New Boss Vows Lean CTA
Chicago Tribune - Chicago,IL,USA
“Mystery shopping” will be used at the CTA to help determine how well the agency is serving riders’ needs, Huberman said. …

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Taking the Mystery out of Mystery Shopping
Bank Marketing News By Michaelene Minkus, MSM Consulting Group
Gathering valid data on how well your institution’s staff is performing is vital. … How do you collect this objective performance data? One of the best ways is through mystery shopping. You can then use this data to set a benchmark, assess your needs, and hold the entire staff accountable - from the manager to the receptionist to lenders. You will also uncover exactly …

Keeping Customers in the Loop: Ten Ideas to Help Employees Sell the Organization
American Chronicle by Kevin Billingsley, Perception Strategies
Do you know what kind of marketers your employees really are? What do your employees really know about your offerings and are they willing and able to deliver on that knowledge?

Walking the Thin Line Between Excellence and Mediocrity
Hotel & Motel Management Magazine by Doug Kennedy, Kennedy Training Network
They don’t relay on the opinions of one quarterly mystery shopper inspection report, nor brand-sponsored guest comments/surveys, nor any other single metric …

Mystery Shoppers Enhance Tradeshow Performance
American Chronicle by Susan Friedmann, The Tradeshow Coach
Lets face it. After youve spent weeks, even months, planning, preparing and practicing your exhibit routine, youre no longer objective. … Yet it is critical that our tradeshow performance be excellent. … This is where the mystery shopper comes in. By stopping by your exhibit and doing a little covert surveillance, the mystery shopper can provide you with a …

Top Performing Sites - Online Customer Service Excellence
the e-tailing group
The e-tailing group’s 9th Annual Mystery Shopping Study is complete and we are once again pleased to recognize the merchants that excelled at online customer service.

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Snapped Up Award
Devon 24 - UK
The awards are judged on feedback from a national mystery shopper survey, which evaluates standards of customer service, the presentation of the store and …

Mystery Shoppers Prove Men get Better Deals than Women in Showrooms
Auto Industry - UK
Men get a better deal in car showrooms than women, according to mystery shopper research carried out by What Car? and women’s car buying website evecars.com …

Mystery Shoppers Take the Bus
Northwich Guardian - Northwich,Cheshire,UK
“We want to build on those successes, and our new mystery shopping contractor has a big part to play in helping us achieve more success. …

Evaluation of Consultation in Community Pharmacies with Mystery Shoppers
The Annals of Pharmacotherapy - Greifswald, Germany
In-depth elicitation of symptoms and details of patients’ situations must be improved. Relevant training should be provided, including use of software to identify drug interactions. Mystery shopper studies give valuable information for …

U.S. News

Customer Feedback: In-Store E-Surveys
Bank Technology News - FL,USA
Mystery shopping helps financial institutions measure teller product awareness and service acumen, but one Tallahassee, FL-based regional bank found it …

Faux Shopper Keeps It Real
Fort Worth Star Telegram - Fort Worth,TX,USA
In Fakheri’s Dallas Mystery Shopper Program, trained volunteers call the city’s nonemergency 311 number and report code violations and other neighborhood …

Loud Music Can Turn Off Diners
Columbus Dispatch - Columbus,OH,USA
“Younger, hipper fast-casual restaurants are intended to be slightly louder than a fine-dining restaurant,” said Annika Stensson, spokeswoman for the National Restaurant Association. But that’s probably not a great idea for fine-dining establishments, said Robert Welcher, who owns Restaurant Consultants Inc. and a sister mystery-shopping …

Mortgage Officers Scarce at NYC Banks
BankNet 360 - New York,NY,USA
In February, Home Equity News conducted a two-day-long mystery-shopping survey of 25 branch locations composed of 13 banks in Manhattan and Brooklyn. …

Option ARMs Frowned Upon by Many Bankers
BankNet 360 - New York,NY,USA
When a Home Equity News reporter posed as a potential homebuyer in a mystery-shopper survey at 25 New York banking locations, those that offered option ARMs …

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Mystery Shopping Offer Legit or Scam?
NBC12.com - Richmond,VA,USA
“Mystery shoppers” are not uncommon. Legitimate companies pay them to test out the customer service in restaurants and department stores. But scam artists use the job as a front to bilk victims’ bank accounts.

Consumer Advocate Warns Against Counterfeit Cashiers’ Checks
KLAS-TV - Las Vegas,NV,USA
There is the sweepstakes or lottery scam, the check related to an Internet auction sale and the third is the mystery shopper scam. …

Phony Employment Scams Banks, Customers
WLWT - Cincinnati,OH,USA
“You get invited to become a retail mystery shopper and what you end up getting is a bogus check in the mail from a con artist,” said Mindy Brockstein of …

Mystery Shopping: Too Good To Be True?
WOAI - San Antonio,TX,USA
And to so many San Antonians, mystery shopping is an offer too good to pass up. The News 4 WOAI Trouble Shooters are going mystery shopping to see what you …

Work from home! Make thousands of dollars a month!
WOAI News 4 Troubleshooters Video - San Antonio,TX,USA

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Finding Right Shopping Job Can Take Time
Akron Beacon Journal - Akron,OH,USA
Mystery shopping has… for lack of a better word… a mysterious glamour attached to it. If you love to shop, why wouldn’t you want to get paid to shop?

The Perfect Job — The World of Secret Shopping
WTOL - Toledo,OH,USA
Some call it the “Perfect Job.” Imagine being able to shop at the best stores all over the Toledo area, and get paid to do it. For some — it’s a great way to make a living …

The Perfect Job — Secret Shoppers in the Toledo Area
WTOL11 Video - Toledo,OH,USA

Spies Among Us
Boston Globe - Boston,MA,USA
Tom Mills, who owns Service Sleuth, a shopping service based in Taunton, and serves as president of the Mystery Shopper Providers Association, North America …

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Dubai Hotels take up to Three Days to Respond to Clients
ArabianBusiness.com - Dubai,United Arab Emirates
A mystery shopping experiment commissioned by InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) has revealed Dubai hotels take up to three days to respond to clients …

Dubai Land Department Leads in Customer Satisfaction
Middle East Events - Dubai,United Arab Emirates
The DGEP’s “Mystery Shopper” programme dispatched qualified monitors who assessed the quality of service in compliance with international standards. …

Consumer Protection Minister Unleashes Mystery Shopping Army
WA Business News - Northbridge,Western Australia,Australia
The State Consumer Watchdog will use new ‘mystery shopping’ stings to catch traders across Western Australia who flaunt laws designed to protect consumers. …

Royal Plaza Hotel sets new Industry Standards
e-Travel Blackboard - Sydney,NSW,Australia
The business hotel has turned the ubiquitous “Mystery Shopper” challenge, into an effective tool for re-enforcing its belief that quality ‘branded’ service …

Mystery Shopping in Rye
Rye & Battle Observer - Rye/Battle,England,UK
RYE businesses have been finding out what the town is like from a shopper’s point of view. Six have been taking part in a Mystery Shopper exercise which was …

Poole’s Top of the Shops
Dorset Echo - England,UK
Sixteen retailers have made it through to the Quay Thistle Hotel final after passing stringent mystery shopper assessments. …

Hidden Cameras Used to Film Library Staff
East London and West Essex Guardian Series - UK
… town hall bosses have decided to send “mystery shoppers” carrying concealed recording equipment into libraries to monitor staff performance …

Many UK ISPs Failing Customers
MyCustomer.comr - London,UK
A mystery shopper, working for independent customer service auditing agency Talisma, found that nearly half of the emails sent to 50 UK-based ISPs were …

St. Kitts Tourism Authority Measures Level of Customer Service
Sun St.Kitts/Nevis - St. Kitts and Nevis
This was a mystery shopping exercise. Three pairs of analysts visited the island for four nights each, to assess service levels based on a mystery shopping …

U. S. News

Hotel Seagate Addresses City’s Nuisance Citation
Toledo Free Press - Toledo,OH,USA
The secret or mystery shopper analysis of the Hotel Seagate was conducted April 20 by IntelliShop, LLC of Perrysburg for the City of Toledo. …

Technology News

Wireless Intelligence: EmbraceMobile’s Surveys-To-Go
SensoryMetrics.com by Mitch Brisebois
They also have more complex solutions for interview assistance, mystery shopper data collection, and longitudinal studies (measuring various factors over time). The benefit of wireless, form-based surveys is that they provide instant …

Industry News

LRA Worldwide Announces Promotions for International Consultants
Newswire Today - London,UK
… explained John Roberto, an LRA Senior Vice President and the Managing Director of the firm’s Quality Assurance & Mystery Shopping practice. …

CheckUp Marketing to Exhibit at National Hospitality Industry Show
Carolina Newswire - NC,USA
CheckUp Marketing, a mystery shopping service provider, will raise this question at the 2007 National Restaurant Association, Hotel-Motel Show®. …

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