gapbuster.com

...now been a member of Gapbuster.com for about three months, and have completed about forty assignments for various clients. In that time, I have made around £170 (inclusive of reimbursements for items purchased).
I have really enjoyed the majority of assignments, and have also come across a couple of small problems when completing them. A typical example was during a BP assignment, where I turned up at the petrol station and it was closed due ...
...Fortunately these are quite rare, and do not affect the general running of the site.

I would recommend Gapbuster.com to any person out there who enjoys shopping, wants to help encourage excellent customer service and has enough time in their day to complete the assignments.
  ... more

Whenever I go out, I always appreciate good customer service. It can be too easy to take this for granted, but having previously worked in a service industry (banking) for eleven years, I know what a difference it can make to a customer, and that it costs nothing to be polite and be helpful.

It also frustrates me when the customer service falls below what is acceptable - or in some cases, outright rude. This can range from not giving me, the customer, full attention (such as chatting to colleagues whilst serving), or not handling complaints well.

Whilst I was working for the bank, we used to have "mystery shoppers" come in once a month. These shoppers posed as customers, and carried out a day-to-day transaction or made an enquiry about one of our products or services. They were actually assessing our customer service skills and product knowledge, which was then sent via our head office back to our branch. At the time, it felt a bit "big brother", but it was accepted as a way to ensure that our service levels remained high at all times.

A few months back, I stumbled upon a review here on Ciao about an online site that carries out mystery shopping for major companies. The review sounded interesting, so I checked out the site, and promptly signed up. The site in question is called Gapbuster.com.

Gapbuster was formed by a New Zealander named Phil Prosser. He realised how difficult it was for a company to assess the quality of service throughout all of its locations on a regular and reliable basis. Now based in Melbourne, Australia, Gapbuster has become the worlds largest "brand experience" agency, with offices throughout the world, and employs over 50000 "experience evaluators" in over thirty countries.
Some of the biggest companies in the world use Gapbuster as a method of testing if the service offered in their outlets meet customer expectations.

The name "Gapbuster" is derived from identifying the difference between the realities of the service on the front line in a particular location, and comparing it with the clients service goal - usually quality of service and quality of products. The difference will show a gap, which Gapbuster then helps the client to reduce and continually assess the situation.
This is done by sending out mystery shoppers, or "experience evaluators", to report on the level of service received on a particular visit. He or she must complete a questionnaire examining every detail of the experience, from the exterior look of the location, whether the interior was clean to the service received from the member/s of staff.

Onto the site itself, when you first visit www.gapbuster.com, you are presented with an attractive welcome screen, where you must select in which language you wish to view the site. This emphasises the fact that this is a worldwide company.
The next screen provides an introduction to the company, and the chance to view further information about Gapbuster from a series of dropdown menus.
This screen also provides a link for existing shoppers to login, and for people who would like to become mystery shoppers to register. By clicking on "Click Here To Shop For Us" takes you to a different section of the website that explains the requirements to become a shopper for them, which comes down to certain personal qualities, transport, a bank account in order that you can get paid and a PC with internet connection, printer and scanner.

If you wish to proceed and apply, you need to complete an online application form. This is quite detailed, and also requires you to provide two references who may be contacted before your application is accepted.
It is important to remember that you are actually applying to become a sub contractor for Gapbuster, and that they have to protect their reputation by only selecting people who are suitable for the position - hence your application may be refused !
It is difficult to state how long this process may take - my application was process and accepted within three days, whilst I have known others who are still waiting after six weeks !

Once you have received an email confirming your acceptance, you can access the members section of the website.

The members section is divided into eight sections as follows...

Home:
======

This page offers links to the main sections of the site, along with links to frequently asked questions.

Orientation:
=========

This is an important section of the site - before you can do any mystery shopping, you need to be trained to ensure that you're assignments are carried out to the high standards expected of you.
The orientation is divided into two sections - General and Client Specific. Every mystery shopper must complete the general section, as this forms the basis of the mystery shopping training.
Once this is completed, you will be able to select some assignments. Others, however, require further training at the request of the companies involved, and you will need to complete the client specific training and pass a test before you can select these assignments.

The orientation takes the form on an online training course, which takes between 15 and 30 minutes to complete, with a test at the end.
It is clearly presented, well written and very relevant to the role. The tests are very easy to pass providing that you paid attention in the training stage. You get up to three attempts at most tests, which sounds a lot, but you need to achieve 100% in order to pass !!

WebSelect:
=========

In Webselect, you get to choose the assignments that you wish to do.
When you first click on this, you are presented with a page of important information and news. This should be read on a regular basis as is has a direct effect on some of the assignments.
On the next page, you can search through the assignments on offer by searching either the client or the area of the location.
Searching by region brings up a huge list of suburbs and towns, and it can take quite a whilst to scroll through and find all the local towns near to you, but it is a good way of finding mystery shopping within traveling distance.
Alternatively you can search by the client. This lists all the companies for whom Gapbuster are currently assessing, and you can choose the company, then check the locations that they want checked.
The number and variety of assignments on offer vary every day, and can literally change by the hour !

Once you have found an assignment that you are interested in doing, you are offered a selection of dates that are available. You choose which date suits you best, and click on "Add To Basket". When you have chosen all the assignments you want, you submit your basket and await confirmation emails.

WebExpress:
===========

WebExpress is the section of the site in which you get your paperwork, and submit your assignment back to Gapbuster.
To get your paperwork, you need to enter your assignment number that you receive on your confirmation email. This then brings up the paperwork which you then need to print out.
The paperwork gives you all the information on the assignment - what is required of you and what you need to assess. This needs to be completed as soon as possible after the assignment, but must not be taken into the location being assessed.

Once you get home, you then need to submit the details to Gapbuster - this is done by selecting "Express Assignment", the site's online tool.
This is basically an online version of the paperwork, on which you need to copy the information from your paper copy. This needs to be done within eight hours of completing the assignment, or you may not be paid for your efforts !!
It is essential that all the information is copied across correctly - remember that the stores and staff are being marked on what you enter at this point !
After you have finished, you need to file and keep the paper copy for up to 12 months in case Gapbuster wish to audit your work.

My Assignments:
==============

This is an online record of your selected assignments, but also allows you to amend the date or cancel the assignment. This proves very useful when managing your time when selecting assignments.

My Profile:
========

This is just a small window where you can check your information, such as address and bank details.
It is essential that this information is kept up to date !

XE Zone:
=======

The "XE Zone" is a community area and information section, which provides up to date information, hints and tips on completing assignments, competitions and member information.
Whilst this is not an essential part of the site, it is a nice way to find out a bit more about other members, and is a more social side to the website.

Enquiry:
======

This is a communication page, where you can message departments within Gapbuster with any questions or problems you might have.
You will find that it is very difficult to get in touch with Gapbuster directly, so this is the best form of communication.

That basically covers the website, but it's important to know a bit more about what you're letting yourself in for should you decide to enroll as an experience evaluator.

There are many assignments on offer, each with different requirements and specifications, and this changes on a daily basis depending on clients and what's available.
At the time of writing this, current clients include BP, McDonalds, PC World, Dixons, Goldsmiths, TK Maxx, Jessops and many more well known names.
The assignments range from making an in store enquiry to eating a meal or making a purchase, but typically take between 5 and 30 minutes to complete.
Payment is normally decided by how much work is involved, but an example would be a McDonalds assignment, that requires you to purchase and eat a meal on-site and assess the premises - taking around 30 minutes - would pay £5.00 plus £4.00 costs, totaling £9.00.
The assessment would involve filling in the paperwork with around 80 questions - so there is a lot to take in !!

Sometimes you are asked to complete an audit - this is a much more in-depth assignment which normally involves identifying yourself to a manager of a site, and completing a thorough site inspection.
These can take up to 2 hours, but payment can be as high as £30 for these.

Sometimes, when assignments need to be completed within a short timescale, Gapbuster offer "premium payments" - added cash incentives to encourage you to travel a bit further to complete one.
Also, you may receive occasional phone calls from Gapbuster asking if you can help them out by completing an mystery shop at short notice - these also usually carry an extra payment.

There can be quite a bit of work involved, for relatively small payments, but the work is fun and if you are required to make a purchase you normally get to keep it.
You also need to consider that you do not get paid travel expenses or other costs (such as parking), and this can make an impact in your payment.

Payments are made once a month directly into your bank account. An important point is that Gapbuster do not pay into building society accounts or online bank accounts, so a high street bank account is essential.
Payments are made gross of tax, so you should also declare the payments on any tax returns that you complete.

I have now been a member of Gapbuster.com for about three months, and have completed about forty assignments for various clients. In that time, I have made around £170 (inclusive of reimbursements for items purchased).
I have really enjoyed the majority of assignments, and have also come across a couple of small problems when completing them. A typical example was during a BP assignment, where I turned up at the petrol station and it was closed due to a tanker delivery. I had to wait for around 45 minutes before the station reopened and I could complete the assignment. Despite the delay, I still only got £8.00 worth of petrol paid for, so this was quite a long shop for the payment involved.

Overall, the website is very good. It is reliable, nicely presented and achieves what it sets out to do. The site is not superfast - even on my broadband connection, it takes a good few seconds to load each page.
There are a few flaws on the site - or rather ways that the site could be improved. I would like to see a tool to enable a search on date - quite often I find I have a free day, and would like an easier was to search on what assignments are on offer in my area for that day.
There has also been a few problems whilst submitting my assignments, which means I have to contact them and await a reply before resubmitting. Fortunately these are quite rare, and do not affect the general running of the site.

I would recommend Gapbuster.com to any person out there who enjoys shopping, wants to help encourage excellent customer service and has enough time in their day to complete the assignments.
 

...less