Recently posted in a Yahoo group: Sorry, this smells to high heaven. Perhaps our friends at team Toyota might render an opinion? Thanks, Bob Wilson
Bob, I believe the actual Mystery Shopper Pros at www <dot> mysteryshopperpros <dot> com is legit. 0 BBB complaints in 30 months BBB Review of Mystery Shopper Pros in Budd Lake, NJ There are various companies with slight variations on that name that aren't legit.
The number of posts I've seen where owners have trouble with Dealerships correctly doing a Prius Oil Change....I almost hope it isn't a hoax or con. It would be a good way for Toyota to get real feedback about what dealerships are doing and how competent they either are, or aren't. If it's a hoax or con what is the point? How would "Mystery Shoppers Pro" be getting any benefit? If they never ask for money from you...then the worst case scenario would be you schedule an Oil Change...thinking you will be reimbursed and you never get reimbursed....which would seem to me simply to be a waste of everyones time... My "I'm being Conned" paranoia would certainly keep me from giving them any money directly and/or sharing information about my credit cards or bank accounts...but otherwise???? If I needed an oil change anyway, what would you have to lose? PS. If it's not legit, I really do feel a program like this could be beneficial to Toyota. Might get dealerships on their toes if they know, hey this "simple" Oil change might be The parent company watching....might not have so many stories of overfills and other screw ups.
I don't know about that site but mystery shoppers are real and do get paid. They only catch is that you have to do a lot of documentation and take pictures on some stuff. I did it for a month or two a few years ago and did get paid but it was not worth my time so I quit doing it.
Could be an effort by Toyota to scare the dealers into falling in line as otherwise they have no control whatsoever how they, the (St, d) ealers, "manage" their business. Most US states have laws that prevent marque management of dealer activities.
+1 "She who must be obeyed" used to do this ... & so when the mystery shops needed to be completed by "a couple" ... (yuck) yours truely got dragged into it, more than once. Mystery shopers will do everything from restauraunts, to new homes, to every thing in between. The nicest thing you might get out of it is a nice $150 meal at a cool restaurant. But like TheForce says ... your so busy secretly documenting things that it's hardly enjoyable. I like how the auto service "reward" for your troubles is a "synthetic" oil change ... supposedly $45 ... while the DIY price is maybe $15. Hardly worth it. They'll get what they pay for. .
Bob, Mystery Shopper Pros is the real deal. I am Prius owner and have signed up with them to take advantage of this deal. I take my car to Towne Toyota (that's how they spell it) to get my car serviced and fill out an evaluation online afterwards. I have done this 3 times now over the years. They paid me a flat $60.00 to get it done and that is to cover the cost of the oil change and my time. From what I understand they are a contractor for Toyota and advertise that they do this for all the Toyota dealers in at least NY, CT and NJ. If they do it for any other states I don't know. I don't know all of the details but I do know that I usually get paid in about a month from the time I do the shop. It may not be for everybody but it works for me. Jim
does towne overfill your oil? do you have the oil tested to see if it's what they say it is? how do you know if they replaced the filter? thanks! you do know this thread is 3 years old, right?
Mystery Shopping is for evaluation of service standards being upheld, as well as showroom standards. They dont test oil or anything like that, but if employees were good and followed the protocol, and if place of business was clean and had everything it has to do. It is done for every possible industry, from clothes stores to McDonald's to car dealerships. They give you a list of things to pay attention to and you write it up later for small fee and reimbursement of small expenses.
so they can put the wrong oil in, overfill it and leave the old filter on, but if the service writer is smart looking and curteous and they have free lattes, all is well?
as long as they follow protocol and uphold standards, yes. If they mess up the actual service or repairs, that goes to toyota in form of complaint in any case, from the customers and they quickly ramp up if dealer is "bad". but when it comes to mystery shopping, it is all about protocol and standards, for any business. people can get fired for not giving you napkin @ McDonalds as later on they review the tapes to make sure report is correct .
Mystery shoppers (my wife has been one of them) are generally hired to evaluate what they can evaluate--generally existence and quality of service, and things you can sense--taste of food, visual pleasingness and cleanliness of surroundings, etc. I would hope that Toyota has expert testers who do things like go home and test if the shop is adding the right kind of oil, etc. But I don't know if they do this.
Haha. I'm enjoying reading the comments here. Bob, mystery shopping of automotive dealerships is a real thing. I know because I actually work for a company that performs mystery shops (but not the company you mentioned). One thing to note is that from what you posted, I'd say this is by no means a national Toyota-mystery shopping partnership. It's a regional company partnering with regional dealerships. But it only means better customer service for the rest of us! *Edit - I can't stress strongly enough to research the company prior to signing up with anybody. We constantly have trouble with fraud - people who send out fake checks, emails, or calls saying that they're us. Do your homework like one poster checked the BBB. Do your homework!
