Mystery shopping for a little extra cash

I am not promoting any sites, I don't own any nor am I affiliated with any.  I just wanted to share my surprise.  A long time ago I signed up for one of the mystery shopping websites, thinking it would be fun.  I didn't do anything with it for a really long time.  Then a few weeks ago, I saw an email alert that an apartment across the street was on the list, and it paid $35 to shop it.  So I signed up, read all the directions, and completed it successfully.  I did another last week, and will do another today.  All apartments so far.  So in a couple of weeks, I've made $100 for not much effort at all, and my lease is up at the end of this month so I got to view what is around me on top of it.  Believe me, I am completely surprised and now I'm looking at it a little differently.  So I just wanted to tell my friends on LCB who might be looking for something easy to do once in a while for a little slot money, this is not a scam if you sign up with the right places.  I'm going to try a fast food one next week for the first time:)

Yeah toodles, do be careful. U know the saying "3rd times a charm?" Well, they could be just reelin' u in by makin' good on the 1st 2 & then WHAM! The 3rd 1 could be the 1 where they have u go 2 a place where they are waiting there 4 u & plan 2 cut u up in little pieces.  JK

Hope I didn't just scare the heck outa u with that crap. But seriously.....be cautious & I hope it all goes well 4 u.

Sounds like really fun...

I have always heard that those sites were hocus pocus but at the same time heard some people actually make some good money doing so.

Oh that's sounds so cool. We could all use a little extra slot money 

Toodle, what do you do, just walk in like you are going to rent it, view the apartment, and observe things such as the agent and surroundings?

That does sound like fun too, restaurants, stores, apartments.. and yes they do have scams for this stuff, my daughter did a different one and was scammed, so we do have to watch out, but i know there are some reputable ones out there, becuase we know someones gotta do it, we see ratings on places all the time and those people are hired to try them out

I heard all the scams out there too, which is why I never even looked at the emails.  But when I saw my zip in the email title, I thought what the heck it's right across the street.  So I read the instructions, called up, and went over.  This one site is a legitimate company, they strictly do apartment complexes all over the US. 

You aren't really rating the apartment complex itself, you are shopping the leasing agent.  2 of them I was given the person's name to shop, you have to call until you get them on the phone, ask them specific questions and pay attention to if they ask your info, ask you to view the property, how they treat you etc.  Then the next day or so, you go in person and shop them in person as if buying an apartment.  You note their dress, their personality, the way they interact with you and how they sell the property and the units.  Even how they show off the apartment you are viewing, if they point out anything positive, if they have a good come back for any negatives you say -you are required to say something negative, like 'I'm not sure the layout of the living room will work with my furniture', to give them a chance to suggest how it WILL work.  The one I went to today did not give me a name, so I shopped whoever I got.  Also, the calls are recorded, you call into a special line that directs you to the apts., and it records it all.  This is a good thing, because when filling out your report it is hard to remember exactly what the person said.

It is fun, look for the BBB sign- better business bureau.  I'm actually kind of disappointed there aren't more apts. in my area, I could do this all day lol

I just want to warn everyone that since I posted on here publicly, I have received a few emails suggesting I mystery shop for them.  You know, harmless stuff like accept cheques from overseas, take them to a Western Union, Cash them, and keep a couple hundred bucks out of it then western union the rest to whomever in scammeraqua, scamtry.  This is the only place I have talked about this publicly, and it's a completely different email than what I use for business stuff so I know they connected the dots from here.  So I'm putting out a warning, do not, and I repeat do not do anything with anything like this other than report it as fraud, or spam. 

And again, look for the BBB sign. 

Yeah, my daughter got the western union scam, they sent her a legitimate looking check for a certain amount, i forget the actual amount just say 3000.00 she was supposed to deposit the check, and immediately make a money order or send a western union for half of it, the other half she was suppose to shop with (keeping the goods) and also pay her. She took the check to the bank and was told by the bank it was a scam, the check is authentic but it would of come back insufficent funds, meantime she's taken half of it and sent it

    Hi Everyone, Perhaps I can shed a little light on this... I have been shopping for several years and it is very nice extra money, but... and this is a big but... ALL CHECK CASHING OFFERS as described above are SCAMS and legitimate sites warn you constantly about them.
    There are hundreds of legitimate sites/companies out there though. I have done apartment shops just as described and no end of other fun and interesting things... keep in my always though that this is not a "get rich quick" pastime and any offer that sounds like you will is almost always a scam just as you have been warned... never take a check and send them money, there check will bounce after they have your money and you lose big time.
    Shoppers are needed worldwide and there are associations I can't mention here... I am not promoting other websites... but the associations can provide a great source of real shopping companies and information...
    Reimbursement for nice meals is real... and there are ones with cruises and vacations and such, but most are just regular places you go everyday and you make a few bucks at a time doing them... I shop for about 30 different companies myself and can pick and choose what I want to do... some reports are simple, some are onerous (I don't do those twice!). Some jobs take you a couple of hours and some take 10 minutes... some require a small purchase for which you are reimbursed with your pay... but be aware - most companies pay you in about 60 days from when you shop so it is not "quick" money... Katt

Yes Kattboots that's the one caveat. If they want you to send money elsewhere, then it IS A SCAM.

My Mother did this some years ago for small shops, just checking the treatment of a buyer (And she did buy, but got the moneyback) but if you receieve an email about this RUN!! DELETE!!

They sad thing about my daughter was, to sign-up it was 1.99 off the debit, we called them and asked several times, "is it only this one time fee" the fee was for the training and tests and to get certified, her answer several times was yes, this one time fee, well a few weeks later she got charged 19.99, and then it started month (they had another charge IF you wanted to have the better and more connections, jobs and shops that it would be 19.99 per month) we told them NO not at this time to only charge the 1.99 to get the test and certification and the smaller amount of connections.. this is how it all started

My mom also did Shop N Check (sp) and enjoyed it a lot.  It was mostly Jack In The Box surveys.  They were so involved, though-like a four page survey, keeping track of the receipt, calling in, remembering names and not getting a choice of your meal.  There were others, though.  She once got to go to an appliance store, and if the salesperson was up to snuff, she got to go back in and give them a reward of $100.  I did a few of these also, but the best one was for floral delivery.  This one they sent me the money ahead of time, I got to order six different floral arrangements (around $25 each) and keep them plus got a little check for my time.  I think the Jack in the Box ones you got to spend like $6 and got a mileage reimbursement and about $6 for your time.

As for the financial scam, I never thought anyone actually tried those.  Then  I married Jake, who went crazy manic over every scam out there.  He would spend hours on the email, trying to make money from nothing.  He got one of those checks, took it to the bank.  They called the police, and he was almost arrested.  They said everyone knows those are fake and so he was trying to scam the bank.  I had to go down and have a very unpleasant conversation with a very rude cop when Jake came home crying and hysterical about the incident at the bank.  I tried to let the cop know that Jake was just 100% idiot, but ended up having to contact the city attorney and report the "crime" and complain about the police in downtown San Antonio.  They didn't care about the person(s) sending the check-they wanted to harrass the poor sucker who bought the scam.


http://www.zefrank.com/

wanna see some funny stuff?  Try out ze's page and watch the "request" video first, to tie into this post (you know the Nigerian email request scam).  Ze's got some other really really cool stuff.  The direct link to the request is: http://www.zefrank.com/request/

While you are there you really may enjoy watching "condi".  Actually you may enjoy most everything there.  Trust me!

Ok guys and gals I got my first small check of $40!  whoohoo

too bad I spent $125 at Online Vegas earlier today in about 20 mins:(