Congratulations to Diana K. from Battle Creek, Michigan. She was randomly chosen as the winner of our recent MSPA Gold Certification DVD Contest. In April we asked mystery shoppers, "What is the one thing an employee or business can do to turn a negative customer experience into a positive one." We got a lot of great feedback from mystery shoppers, including Diana's winning entry:

"When a negative experience happens a supervisor or manager can personally apologize before it becomes a bigger issue. They can offer to correct the issue with an equal or better product or service. For example, I purchased a laptop and the battery would not charge, so the only way I could use the laptop was when it was plugged in. I took the laptop back to the store and explained the problem. I was given a replacement battery which we checked at the store to make sure that it was going to hold a charge and I received a coupon for a free computer tune up good for the next year. I also just received by email a $25 gift card to be used online or in the store. They made a loyal customer out of me by going the extra step without me having to make a major issue of this problem."

Read the full article here. 

Be sure to keep an eye on the Compass Job Board the next few months. In addition to our regular monthly mystery shops, we have lots of new and exciting mystery shops on the way!

• Our college campus mystery shops are back! We need mystery shoppers between the ages of 18 and 30 to conduct these mystery shops on college campuses, nation-wide! These shops require mystery shoppers to visit dining facilities on campus. What college student doesn't love a free meal? If you know any college students who may be interested, please refer them to us ASAP!  

When was the last time you updated your Confero Compass Shopper Profile? Probably when you first registered with Confero, maybe several years ago. Now is the perfect time to take a few minutes and update the information in your shopper profile!

Why is it important to keep your Shopper Profile up to date?

• We use your physical address to determine which mystery shops to send to you. If you have relocated, you may not be getting relevant mystery shopping opportunities.

The Mystery Shopping Providers Association (MSPA) recently announced that another Gold Certification Seminar will be held on Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011 at the Tropicana Hotel.

Confero, Inc. was recently notified about a new email scam. The scammers have used Confero's reputable name and the name of our company president, Elaine Buxton. The scammers created an email address e.buxton@aol.com and have contacted consumers and offered them mystery shops paying up to $120 a piece. This is a scam! Elaine Buxton's email address is not e.buxton@aol.com. Confero staff members will only ever contact mystery shoppers via their conferoinc.com email addresses. Also, Confero NEVER sends certified checks to mystery shoppers and Confero NEVER asks shoppers to wire transfer money.

Thanks to Hurricane Irene, everyone is probably aware that hurricane season is upon us. This time of year the weather can be unpredictable. In the world of mystery shopping everything runs on a tight schedule full of deadlines. Our schedulers keep a close eye on the weather forecasts for various parts of the country, depending on where they have shops scheduled.

As of September 2011, Confero will be restructuring our payment policy. We are changing our payment timing to help alleviate some of the confusion around when mystery shops will be paid. We found that our once per month pay cycle was limiting and we have worked to make payment terms equally advantageous for shoppers who conduct shoppers early in the month and those who shop later in the month.