Author: Admin

  • Confero Consumer Protection Alert – Warns (Again) About New Mystery Shopper Scam Using the Name – Paul Williams

    July 5, 2012

    The warning we posted about "Paul Williams" is still valid (see the original post here). . Fortunately, the would-be shopper contacted Confero rather than "Paul Williams. See her comments below. Please note that we NEVER send checks to mystery shoppers, asking them to cash checks and keep part as a payment. All Confero payments are issued to shoppers via PayPal AFTER the mystery shop has been completed, submiitted to Confero and accepted by our client.

    I got a letter in the mail today from Survey America, signed by a "man" named Paul Williams. The letter is asking me to be a Mystery Shopper. Along with the letter came a check for $2,860.00.
  • Confero Consumer Protection Alert – Warning About Mystery Shopper Scam Using the Name Kelvin Ford

    June 4, 2012

    We received information today that someone using the name Kelvin Ford, posing as a representive of Confero, is asking people to wire money through Western Union. Please do not mistake the person calling himself Kelvin Ford as a Confero representative. He is not. Please do not fall for his scam.

    As a reminder, Confero NEVER sends certified checks to mystery shoppers and Confero NEVER asks shoppers to wire transfer money. Read more about mystery shopping scams and learn what to do if you are a victim of a scam

    If you think someone is trying to scam you, please read our How to Spot a Scam article to find out what you should do!

    We appreciate the consumers who contacted us to let us know about this. Thank you!

     

  • Confero Consumer Protection Alert – Warning About Mystery Shopper Scam Using the Name Paul Williams

    June 1, 2012

    We received information today that someone using the name Paul Williams, posing as a representive of Confero, is asking people to wire money through Western Union. Please do not mistake the person calling himself Paul Williams as a Confero representative. He is not. Please do not fall for his scam.

    As a reminder, Confero NEVER sends certified checks to mystery shoppers and Confero NEVER asks shoppers to wire transfer money. Read more about mystery shopping scams and learn what to do if you are a victim of a scam

    If you think someone is trying to scam you, please read our How to Spot a Scam article to find out what you should do!

    We appreciate the consumers who contacted us to let us know about this. Thank you!

     

  • Mixed Messages and Mixed Research: Mystery Shops, Customer Surveys and Social Media

    May 31, 2012

    On the spot restaurant reviews, customer service remarks, and feedback on wait times. Whatever customers talk about online, managers immediately learn about customer feelings when they monitor social media. While these instantaneous comments are an important part of understanding customer opinions, the feedback is very different from customer experience services such as mystery shops and customer satisfaction surveys.

    Casual online comments travel fast, and make a substantial impact on potential customer buying decisions as well as employee morale. Onsite and telephone mystery shopping results help companies reward employees for positive sales behaviors and fine tune training efforts. Customer opinions through web or mobile surveys provide honest input about employees and services. With these differences in mind, and the added complexity of random online comments, many companies wonder how all three types of research fit together.

  • Top 10 Mystery Shopping Uses

    May 31, 2012

    Last year, we wrote a well-received article about 25 business types for mystery shopping programs, drawing from our years of experience with a variety of clients in many industries. From convenience stores to upscale retailers to restaurants and medical practices, mystery shopping reports go a long way toward revealing how well employees interact with customers on a daily basis.

    So, how do our clients use mystery shopping? Mostly, mystery shopping is used to find out about those things customers won’t tell you in surveys or social media comments, or issues you can't discover by asking customers. If our client has a customer service delivery process or set of procedures in place for fulfilling a brand promise in front of a consumer customer, chances are the process can by mystery shopped.

    We’ve compiled our top ten list of mystery shopping uses here.