BestMark Mystery Shopping Reviews
First time shopper for bestmark-and last time shopper. I was looking to make a few extra bucks and drove to another city for an oil change that was suppsed to be reimbursed-plus a 20 dollar check received. When I submitted my survey, I got an email a few hours later saying my shop was cancelled due to the wrong vehicle used...but it called for a 2008 or later chevy...which was used. I emailed and called and emailed for clarification. However, no one picks up the line or emails you back. I think it may be a scam and will submit to the BBB. Total time lost=4 hours inc. survey which took 1 hour to complete. Do not fall for it.
If you have more time than money this is a great opportunity to shop and get paid for it, get free meals, get free oil changes and some cash for other things. It's very simple and if you follow the rules you won't have any of the problems people here have complained about. There isn't any thing dealing with western union or paying money to them. The only ask for your ssn because if you make more than a certain amount they have to turn your pay into the IRS and you'll have to pay taxes on it. But if you just do it every now and then for a little extra cash or a free meal (with a guest of course)
You won't get rich. But doing the shops are great. And if you want to earn more you can do audits.
I performed a mystery shop and did the online survey as well. I got an email a few days later saying that the shop was cancelled because I didn't do the survey. I went online to see if I could verify that I had done everything and they had removed all records that I had uploaded the receipts and did the survey. I called the office and they said they never received it and they only had records of me looking at instructions.
Needless to say that's the first and last shop with Worstmark I mean Bestmark.
Hi, i'm a little nervous about this check that i received in the mail. Is this a real check. They want me to western union some of the money, keep a certain amount & spend the rest at one of the retail outlets they provided. Is it a scam or is legit??
This is a total scam - please take the check to your bank for more advice about your next move.
So not a scam people. I've never had them ask for anything like that.
Scam. I rec'd one and the account on the check is closed.
It's a scam by someone using their name.
An individual would have to be desperate to do this work. They will give you 1 hour of pre-shop study material(all their specifications as to just what and how you must do everything, including a test) ... then 1 1/2 to 2 hours to complete their detailed shop and driving time, then another hour to complete the actual paperwork submitted online with all the details of the 'shop' written up for them. In my case, it was $15.00 offered for what would have been 4 hours of work plus gas expense out of my pocket. I did not do the 1st shop requested because of this negative financial impact.
I unfortunately did the same thing. I am a shopper, not always a buyer and always a critic. It sounded interesting. After printing 15 pages of questions/instructions and determining the actual time put in (about 4 hours), plus gas and the ink and paper costs, for eleven dollars and fifty cents, I did not complete the first shop. I would be losing money. They still send me shops, however I haven't found any worth responding to.
They are very unfair, even when they send you on a shop with misinformation. Now since I cancelled my next shop, I'm not going to be paid for the shop I did, even with the misinformation.. I don't want any part of them anymore
So not true. They don't send you with misinformation. You have to pay attention. But hey, don't do it. More shop for me
I wasn't sure if this company was legit and wasn't going all the way to MN to check. I didn't want to give out personal info online. Thanks for the reviews.
Was this for the audit section because this is like getting a job and they pay you a whole lot more than $10. Some of the jobs are anywhere from $130-170 to do an audit on a store.
I mystery shopped for BESTMARK until they docked my pay for a late submission. Their policy is review deadlines are at 10 am, I submitted mine at 10:02 am. Two minutes? You are going to haggle about two minutes. The customer service personnel at Bestmark then berated me when I told them I thought this was bad for business and fostering an unpleasant working relationship. I will not be working for a company that squabbles over 2 minutes, I don't care what their policy is. My policy is work for people you respect, and I don't respect nickel and dimers, and neither should companies looking to hire them to mystery shop for them.
Hmm. I read the comments above and have not had the same experience. I've been mystery shopping for 2 years and BestMark is one of the companies that I consistently work for.
I can tell you that when you mystery shop, you need to pick and choose your jobs carefully. Some jobs take much longer than others. For example, when I started out, I did grocery store shops for another mystery shopping company. The pay was around $15 which included a $7 reimbursement for a purchase and $8 payment for the shop. However, the survey report was 5 pages long and extremely detailed.
Once you get to know each mystery shopping company and the stores they work with, you get a feel for which shops are worth your time and which are not. Also, many times you have to take a few of the less paying jobs first in order to be invited to do the better ones. You need to provide yourself to the shopping company. They want to see very thorough, detailed, well written reports submitted on time. For example, after 2 or 3 grocery shops, that same company started calling me to do online insurance shops which pay well and I love!
Regarding the comment above about submitting a report late, unfortunately, mystery shopping companies are notorious for disqualifying the shop (and not paying you) if the necessary information is not submitted on time, even minutes late. There are two reasons for this. First, every good reputable mystery shopping company STRESSES the importance of careful observation and timing. If they can’t trust the shopper to turn in their report on time, how can they trust the report itself? Next, just like the shopper, the company itself has a deadline to meet. Once a shop report is submitted, the company must review it and qualify it, and they are typically on a deadline as well. If the company cannot get the shop submitted because it was late, the COMPANY doesn’t get paid either.
There are two addition things I wanted to mention. First, you will not get rich mystery shopping but you can make $100 - $200 a week (In goods and services) if you pick and choose your jobs wisely. Never fall for the "Make $1000 with 2 hours work ads...they are just scams"
Laslty, I just wanted to mention that all legitimate mystery shopping opportunities can be found FREE through the Mystery Shopper Providers Association (MSPA) at www.mysteryshop.org. This organization has a free, searchable database of jobs available from their members. In my experience, the only legitimate places to find mystery shopping jobs are either through the MSPA search or searching their member’s website directories.
Never “subscribe” to a service such as Shadow Shoppers. They are basically just providing you the same database that you can access 24/7 for free. I hope this helps.
This is very beneficial information. Thank you for sharing.
OMG.. but you had 24 hours to get the shop done and submit. Why wait till the last minute to do the survey. Do it after you have completed the shop. Goodness. Information above not true.
As a college student in California with it's declining economy, finding work can be rough. You'll try almost anything to make a few extra dollars here and there. One avenue is being a Secret Shopper or Mystery Shopper. This is basically where companies reimburse you to visit businesses and rate them on their service. Secret Shopping isn't what it used to be though.
Back in the day, businesses themselves would hire shoppers to see if their employees were slacking on the job. Nowadays, you can sign up with companies like BestMark who try to match shoppers with businesses all over your area to "shop."
After signing up with BestMark, you're able to choose how far you'd like to travel to "shop." The three different options available to me within a 50 mile radius was to try out an upscale restaurant in San Diego, purchase a video game at an all gaming store, or pretend to go car shopping. The reimbursement amounts was anywhere from $5 to $25.
Nothing that's going to make you rich but it is a few extra dollars. I'd say that if you have the time to throw away, why not get a little money out of it. But for someone who is looking for real income, this is definitely not the way to go.
I haven't tried any other Secret Shopper sites out yet so nothing to compare it to, but based on BestMark, Secret Shopping is not a way to to support yourself financially.
