# Wyndham free week certficate



## hapstersmom (Jun 7, 2012)

I hope this is not an inappropriate place to ask this...

I own 308K points at Wyndham Waikiki Beachwalk on an every other even year use. 

I was introduced to the resort, which is 2 miles from my home, when I visited the complex for a 3 night stay as a mystery shopper, where I had to sit through and surreptitiously tape record the 3 hour badgering (oops...sales presentation.)

We liked the resort, but even had I wanted to purchase through W, which I would not have, I could not do so, as it was a paid mystery shop assignment. Several months later, on December 30, 2009, I got the TS as a resale on Ebay, for under in 1K total costs.

It took many phone calls, lots of deed-sending and 12 months for Wyndham
to transfer to us, hence lost use of the unit for that year. They also assigned me an RCI number that belonged to another member, and that just got straightened two weeks ago.

Due to all these issues, they sent me two certificates for a week. They have lots of restrictions, mainly around time of year, and of course, place. 

I cannot use these personally, as I teach, the times of year conflict with my teaching schedule.

Does anyone know if I can sell these, or make a reservation for someone using these?

TIA for any insight.


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## Timeshare Von (Jun 7, 2012)

>>>Does anyone know if I can sell these, or make a reservation for someone using these?<<<

You would be best served to contact Wyndham directly to find out what other use restrictions there are beyond what's printed on the certificate(s).


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## hapstersmom (Jun 7, 2012)

Thanks, Yvonne. I was trying to avoid the PITA factor of dealing with Wyndham. Nothing they say is ever what it is, in the end, for our personal exp. YMMV. Lord knows, I really hope everyone elses' exp. with W is better than ours!


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## Cheryl20772 (Jun 7, 2012)

*Welcome to TUG!*

What an interesting story you have to tell.  Congrats on being brave enough to be a mystery shopper.  I did it once at a car dealership and know how gutsy you have to be.  Once was enough for me.  

Congrats again for seeing the value and beauty of Wyndham resale ownership.  

Wyndham should be happy to let you bring in fresh bodies for their sales staff to take a stab at.  They might require you to provide a guest certificate if you are not the one using the certificate week.  Do you have someone lined up already to use the time?  You have to provide a name at time of reservation and I would just go ahead and do it and tell reservations the name and ask if you need to provide a guest certificate.  Then you'll know.

This is just my guess... I don't know nooothing!


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## Hobo1 (Jun 7, 2012)

Call Wyndham member services and explain that the certificates cannot be used because the dates conflict with your work schedule.

They should re-issue the certificates or extend the dates.

Good luck and welcome to TUG.


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## Rent_Share (Jun 7, 2012)

Cheryl20772 said:


> What an interesting story you have to tell. Congrats on being brave enough to be a mystery shopper. I did it once at a car dealership and know how gutsy you have to be. Once was enough for me.
> 
> This is just my guess... I don't know nooothing!


 
Since so many of the Mystery Shopper Ads are scams, I take his posts with a 10 Pound Salt Block


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## chriskre (Jun 7, 2012)

Rent_Share said:


> Since so many of the Mystery Shopper Ads are scams, I take his posts with a 10 Pound Salt Block



Not all of them are scams.  I used to do some mystery shopping in my city here going to restaurants and rating everything, writing exhaustive reports for a measley $25.  It's more hassle than it's worth IMO but if you're bored or retired it makes for a free way to entertain yourself.   

The assignments were quite interesting at times.  They'd give you a block of time to sign up for, tell you exactly what to order and then you have to practically keep a stop watch with you to see how long it took them to greet you, how long it took to bring you water, bread, the meal, drinks, desert, etc.  Then you go home and fill out the questionaire online and wait.  You pay up front and then wait what seemed like a gazillion years for your $25 plus meal reimbursement.  Sometimes I even forget I had done them when the check arrived.  :rofl:


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## Cheryl20772 (Jun 7, 2012)

Rent_Share said:


> Since so many of the Mystery Shopper Ads are scams, I take his posts with a 10 Pound Salt Block



As I said, I, too, have worked a mystery shopper gig.  There are legitimate companies "out there".  It's not the rosey job it would seem to be up front.  As chriskre wrote, there are tedious questionaires to complete.


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## Rent_Share (Jun 7, 2012)

never mind


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## Timeshare Von (Jun 7, 2012)

chriskre said:


> Not all of them are scams.  I used to do some mystery shopping in my city here going to restaurants and rating everything, writing exhaustive reports for a measley $25.  It's more hassle than it's worth IMO but if you're bored or retired it makes for a free way to entertain yourself.
> 
> The assignments were quite interesting at times.  They'd give you a block of time to sign up for, tell you exactly what to order and then you have to practically keep a stop watch with you to see how long it took them to greet you, how long it took to bring you water, bread, the meal, drinks, desert, etc.  Then you go home and fill out the questionaire online and wait.  You pay up front and then wait what seemed like a gazillion years for your $25 plus meal reimbursement.  Sometimes I even forget I had done them when the check arrived.  :rofl:



I also worked as a mystery shopper for NorthCourse, a division of RCI for a couple of years.  For many of our assignments, they supplemented our vacation travel plans with generous payment plus we got to keep the freebies (cash, tours, etc).

So no, they are not all scams and this OP should be treated with a little less skepticism.


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## hapstersmom (Jun 7, 2012)

You can consider this a scam if you want, but Wyndham mystery shops it's sales reps (ya, I know, rather hard to believe, considering their egregrious lies as a company) several times per year. Each resort is shopped at least once. It is done for different programs...sometimes for the Discovery owner, sometimes for a regular owner, sometimes as if the person was a newb off the street, and sometimes for people getting a free weekend in exchange for the badgering.

I don't really care if you believe me, Rent_Share. I know the truth, and many other people do, too. W does this, they use a specific company that I cannot name due to my IC contract, and there are mystery shoppers around the country who get paid to endure the pain and forward the digital record to W via a specific mystery shopping provider. If you think MSing is a scam, why not try visiting some forums dedicated to shoppers, such as http://www.mysteryshopforum.com/index or http://forum.volition.com/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=3. 

_*However, it's really beside the point, really, since my question is about *the certificate I got in response to all the pain W brought us.**_

Thanks to everyone who responded with help.


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## jjmanthei05 (Jun 7, 2012)

Do you still have the recording? There may be some people on the Wyndham board interested in obtaining a copy of it. 

Jason


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## hapstersmom (Jun 7, 2012)

jjmanthei05 said:


> Do you still have the recording? There may be some people on the Wyndham board interested in obtaining a copy of it.
> 
> Jason



I do, but I cannot provide it. As a paid shopper, I signed a contract, and that contract prohibits me from discussing or disclosing the contents of the recording. I honor my contracts, even if W is not so great at honoring their owners.


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## csxjohn (Jun 7, 2012)

hapstersmom said:


> ... I honor my contracts, even if W is not so great at honoring their owners.



Good for you!


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## Rent_Share (Jun 7, 2012)

He Buys in December 2009 -

Has Free Weeks Three Years later from a delayed transfer still valid, just now expiring

Lives 2 Miles from Waikiki Beach but buys a Timeshare in Honolulu (2 Actually (308 K Points) - Redifines "Drive To", not many can drive to Hawaii)

Registered June 2010 posts twices comes back today and makes 18 posts

I can't help but smell something fishy


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## hapstersmom (Jun 7, 2012)

Rent_Share said:


> He Buys in December 2009 -
> 
> Has Free Weeks Three Years later from a delayed transfer still valid, just now expiring
> 
> ...



The first three are true, EXCEPT the certificates *were just issued*, and are good for 2 years.

Are you a troll or something? Get up on the wrong side of bed? Perhaps JEALOUS?

I didn't come here to SELL them, I asked questions about them. I can't imagine why this bothers you so DARN much!!!!

BTW, have you even looked at my username? I am a she, not a HE. And if you look up my first post, from mid-2010, the story backs itself up. I don't need to explain myself to you, and won't. You must be a paranoid and unpleasant person to be seated with at a dinner party. I am glad I won't be.


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## hapstersmom (Jun 8, 2012)

Timeshare Von said:


> I also worked as a mystery shopper for NorthCourse, a division of RCI for a couple of years.  For many of our assignments, they supplemented our vacation travel plans with generous payment plus we got to keep the freebies (cash, tours, etc).
> 
> So no, they are not all scams and this OP should be treated with a little less skepticism.



Yvonne, though I only did 3 MS assignments for W during 2009 and 2010 (one as a supposed Discovery member where W set up a phony Discovery # in advance, and two as "walk-ins" from the booths on the street in Waiks, my exp. was similar to yours for NorthCourse. They funded my payment, which was more than fair by MS standards, allowed me/us keep the gifts offered (which totaled $250 in spending $ on a gift Visa each time), gave me a so-so hotel restaurant breakfast on the walk-ins, and paid in advance for the three day stay at Waikiki Beachwalk, so I did not even have to wait for reimbursement, like I do for the fine dining assignments I do to enhance my lifestyle here in ever so expensive HNL. 

Once I became an owner, I was then ineligible to shop for a while. Then they changed the program, and I was again. But there was nothing I could fit in due to my teaching schedule and the hub's work schedule. This year, they significantly changed the program to make it WAY less attractive. For owners, they now make you use your own points to stay, and only pay you $250 for the glory of getting badgered plus wasting your own points. No more for me, until they change it back to the old way. I notice that a LOT of these are going unassigned, and I am guessing that other owners feel the same way as I do. SO not worth it!

:zzz:


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## hapstersmom (Jun 8, 2012)

Cheryl and chriske, 

Yep, I shop.  To pay down my student loans as my campus teaching job is so lowly paid, I will be dead before it is all paid off in full.


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## Cheryl20772 (Jun 8, 2012)

hapstersmom said:


> Cheryl and chriske,
> 
> Yep, I shop.  To pay down my student loans as my campus teaching job is so lowly paid, I will be dead before it is all paid off in full.



Let's hope not!  I know it's a total drag to have to pay all that back.  My husband and I managed to and our 3 kids are working theirs off now too.  It's doable and you will.

You're totally right, about it being unfair to expect you to use your own points to do a "shop".  That is work and points are expensive.

It was a shopper's report that caused Jim Faucett to lose his sales job at Wyndham.  He was just doing what all of them do, but it was against their own policy manual.  That's why he went public with his story and exposed the manual.  They apparently have some kind of "do as I do" rather than "do as I say" thing going on there.


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## pacodemountainside (Jun 8, 2012)

hapstersmom said:


> I hope this is not an inappropriate place to ask this...
> 
> I own 308K points at Wyndham Waikiki Beachwalk on an every other even year use.
> 
> ...



Fairfield   sales  people used to pass these out all the time and Wyndham occassionally, but have not seen recently.

On the front they say you have to pay $250. On the lower left of back restrict useage to  a few quiet weeks at low demand weeks. Probably do better with a last call or get-away.

I think on bottom back they  say only you can use in tiny print..  Best case  standard RCI restrictions on seliing would apply.


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## pacodemountainside (Jun 8, 2012)

*Mystery Shopper Scam Exposed!*

How the Mystery Shopper Scam Works.

I got a flattering e-mail about being specially selected to become a shopper and make lots of money.

The typos, grammar, etc. in original were my first clue.

Then, it said they needed W-4 form filled out including SSN. To top that they need bank account number and routing code so they could direct deposit all the money I would make. Being the type that likes to rattle timeshare sales people cages I sent back phony info, note name was Big Al and spam catcher e-mail address! 

US Bank said they would not accept genuine cashier check for collection, must less  cash!

I wonder if this is what frustrated time share sales people retire to doing!?


To:: dines9212@mypacks.net 
Subject:: MYSTERY SHOPPER FIRST ASSIGNMENT/GET IT DONE ASAP.
Date:: May 25, 2011 12::45 AM
Dear Big Al::

This e-mail is to notify you about your first assignment. The company has issued out a payment to you for your first assignment which means your weekly payment of $200 has been issued to you with some funds which you will use in executing this Assignment.

Read and make sure you understand all that is stated below to avoid any mistakes. You should receive money orders from one of our companies which is part of your assignment. The package tracking number is (EO 994 162 049 US) from USPS courier service.You can track it at http:://www.usps.com. Payment was issued to cover the assignment bills and also your weekly wages and Assignment.


Once you receive the money orders, you should take the payment to your bank and deposit the money orders and make immediate withdrawal then deduct $200 as your weekly wage including the western union charges.

The remaining balance should be used for the below assignment. Follow these instructions below.

1ST ASSIGNMENT::
You will be Evaluating Wal-mart store and Western Union outlet in your City. Cash the Money Orders at your Bank then Go ahead with Wal-mart Evaluation .The money orders you received covers all expenditures including evaluation, shopping , transport and your compensation
( salary=$200 ) for these surveys .You are to purchase Goods of your Choice for your own Use not more than $50,at any Wal*MART store close to you and also you will be using Western Union services to send the balance to another Mystery shopper to carry out his own Assignment.As a secret shopper, you should go there and study how to send money and memorize all you see at the outlet.
We want you to report back to us with the following information::

GUIDELINES
-How long it took you to get services.
-Ambiance/Outlook of the Shop/Outlet
-Smartness of the attendant
-Customer service professionalism
-Reaction of personnel under pressure
-Information that you think would be helpful
-Your comments and impressions.


Below is the expenditures breakdown::-
Money Received .... $876
Transport/Miscellaneous..$20
Salary .................$200
Wal-mart .................$50
Western Union ..............$606


As a secret shopper your job is to observe any thing useful going on in the outlet. Make sure you observe everything you see in there because you would be asked some other questions when you return. So then you would go ahead and make a western union money transfer to another mystery shopper for another assignment. We want you to deduct your weekly payment of $200 and have the remaining funds (minus the western union charges and also $50 for whatever you will be buying at Walmart) sent to the information below for proper preparation of our next Mystery Shopper.

TRANSFER THE REST OF THE FUNDS THROUGH WESTERN UNION TO THE BELOW INFORMATION::

RECEIVER'S NAME :: PHILIP RONALD
Address::25th Street
CITY:: MALATE
STATE:: MANILA
COUNTRY:: PHILIPPINES
ZIP CODE :: 0913



Send Money to be available in Minutes.

Also to further finalize this Assignment, you have to get back to us with the Necessary report of Walmart and also with the below western union transfer information for the money you sent to the other mystery shopper::

1. Senders Name and Address
2. 10 Digit Money Transfer Control Number {M.T.C.N}
3. The amount transferred after deducting western union charges.

This project shouldn't take you more than a couple of hours to execute and the time limit matters to us, with that we can also determine your efficiency and the commitment you show towards working with us. Do get back to me with the Reports and Transfer information.

Looking forward to work with you on this project .And remember to pretend to be a client who wants to Shop and send money so they won't detect you are a secret shopper.
Mike Morris 

   :hysterical: :ignore:


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## hapstersmom (Jun 8, 2012)

And I would add on the scam side of MSing, the scammers often use the names of legitimate MS companies, which complicates it further. Anytime
anyone is offering payment upfront for something, well, that is a scam, as real MS companies pay anywhere between 2 weeks to 90 days after the contract has been completed.


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## Cheryl20772 (Jun 8, 2012)

Also, a real MS company will not usually just offer you a job out of the air.  You have to apply to work for them just like any other company.  You are not usually their employee, but they probably want to see some kind of references and history.  Then you pick your jobs from the available ones they provide.  If you apply and have some special skills, they might request you for a particular job, but not out of no where an offer to go shop Walmart.  That's definitely a sign of a scam.

As stated, they pay way after the job is done... never in advance.  I got a check in the mail.  No routing numbers and such and never such a high pay.  Back when I did it, $25 or $30 per job was probably high.  

Would you take $25 to pretend you wanted to buy a car and hassle with the car sales person for maybe an hour and then say no and leave; so you could go fill out a detailed report on how it went?  It was $25 I didn't have before, and it satisfied my curiosity about how Mystery Shopping works, but not really what I want to do.

My first experience with "shoppers" was as a store manager.  My boss told me that shoppers would be possibly visiting the store and I would never know it.  I wondered if it was real or if he was putting me on.  So I found out they were real!


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## Timeshare Von (Jun 8, 2012)

*Fun Shopping Story - Many Years Ago*



Cheryl20772 said:


> <<SNIPPED>>
> 
> My first experience with "shoppers" was as a store manager.  My boss told me that shoppers would be possibly visiting the store and I would never know it.  I wondered if it was real or if he was putting me on.  So I found out they were real!



I was working in retail mgmt back in the late 70's and our store's security mgr asked if I'd be interested in shopping other stores in our district.  I met with the regional security mgr and got the gig.

They knew they could trust me given my history at our store.  I was paid something like $50/store + mileage to openly shoplift, switch tickets (the days of manual ring cash registers) and concealing merchandise within other items to be purchased.

My "best" was over $250 worth of merchandise for which I paid just $28 for.  In over 20 assignments, the cashier only caught my deception once.  It was a bit embarrassing, as she kept catching the switched tickets (calling for price checks) and pulling merchandise out from other items.  The customer in line behind me had some nasty comment to make about "the thief" in front of her.

They eventually called their store manager (security was off) who had called the police.  I was taken into the office area, where I provided them my ID card and security credentials.  The employee received a $100 bonus for busting me, per company policy.


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## MaryH (Jun 9, 2012)

There is no way a US based company will use a MS based in Philippines to shop walmart and no way a Philippines company can legitimately pay first since they will not get paid for the gigs from the company hiring the MS until after the fact.


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## jbiza (Jun 9, 2012)

Cheryl20772 said:


> Would you take $25 to pretend you wanted to buy a car and hassle with the car sales person for maybe an hour and then say no and leave; so you could go fill out a detailed report on how it went?  It was $25 I didn't have before, and it satisfied my curiosity about how Mystery Shopping works, but not really what I want to do.



Sounds kinda like going to some T/S presentations for 90 mns. or more :zzz:  for the incentives.


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## hapstersmom (Jun 10, 2012)

It is really funny to me how the MS part of this thread has taken on a life of its own, even though that was such a small part of my original post. 

Thanks to Rent_Share's pessimism, I guess.  

Yea, everyone is correct. But on the Filipines part...Market Force recently hired out their scheduling to the Filipines, and though it has not affected me, as I do little work with them, it has caused a lot of issues with people on the mainland getting sequential calls and rude schedulers, according to posts on the MysteryShoppingForum.Com


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## hapstersmom (Jun 10, 2012)

pacodemountainside said:


> Fairfield   sales  people used to pass these out all the time and Wyndham occassionally, but have not seen recently.
> 
> On the front they say you have to pay $250. On the lower left of back restrict useage to  a few quiet weeks at low demand weeks. Probably do better with a last call or get-away.
> 
> I think on bottom back they  say only you can use in tiny print..  Best case  standard RCI restrictions on seliing would apply.



Thank you. I think they are virtually worthless to me. What I first suspected, and why I started the thread. Sigh. 

W wins yet again.


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## hapstersmom (Jun 10, 2012)

Cheryl20772 said:


> Let's hope not!  I know it's a total drag to have to pay all that back.  My husband and I managed to and our 3 kids are working theirs off now too.  It's doable and you will.
> 
> You're totally right, about it being unfair to expect you to use your own points to do a "shop".  That is work and points are expensive.
> 
> It was a shopper's report that caused Jim Faucett to lose his sales job at Wyndham.  He was just doing what all of them do, but it was against their own policy manual.  That's why he went public with his story and exposed the manual.  They apparently have some kind of "do as I do" rather than "do as I say" thing going on there.



Interesting. I am only vaguely familiar with his story. His site was gone by the time I ever heard of it. I have seen the "manual", though, and I told my husband that reading it felt like sitting through these.


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## hapstersmom (Jun 10, 2012)

Cheryl20772 said:


> Also, a real MS company will not usually just offer you a job out of the air.  You have to apply to work for them just like any other company.  You are not usually their employee, but they probably want to see some kind of references and history.  Then you pick your jobs from the available ones they provide.  If you apply and have some special skills, they might request you for a particular job, but not out of no where an offer to go shop Walmart.  That's definitely a sign of a scam.
> 
> As stated, they pay way after the job is done... never in advance.  I got a check in the mail.  No routing numbers and such and never such a high pay.  Back when I did it, $25 or $30 per job was probably high.
> 
> ...



I tend to do fine dining, to enhance my lifestyle and make a few extra bucks, and high end retail, which pays VERY well, and of which there is a lot here in Honolulu. I avoid car dealers in real life, and in this job. The FD reports can be tedious, but I do get my time's worth when dining free at Morton's, Ruth's Chris, Roy's and other such places a few times per year. I LOVE those though I hate the reporting. I do some mid-scale dining and some super easy shops, too. Anything painful to me in real life, I also avoid in shopping, except for the TS's that I used to do, as the reward used to be greater than the pain. Now, it is not at all - not even close.


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## hapstersmom (Jun 10, 2012)

Timeshare Von said:


> I was working in retail mgmt back in the late 70's and our store's security mgr asked if I'd be interested in shopping other stores in our district.  I met with the regional security mgr and got the gig.
> 
> They knew they could trust me given my history at our store.  I was paid something like $50/store + mileage to openly shoplift, switch tickets (the days of manual ring cash registers) and concealing merchandise within other items to be purchased.
> 
> ...




Wow. This is pretty shocking. I would guess they do not do this today, in this economy. I would be afraid to do an assignment like this one. However, you were already a company employee, rather than a contractor through a MSP, so that makes a difference. They knew you, and knew what they asked of you. But I would still be too scared!


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## DrBopp (Jun 15, 2012)

hapstersmom said:


> I tend to do fine dining, to enhance my lifestyle and make a few extra bucks, and high end retail, which pays VERY well, and of which there is a lot here in Honolulu. I avoid car dealers in real life, and in this job. The FD reports can be tedious, but I do get my time's worth when dining free at Morton's, Ruth's Chris, Roy's and other such places a few times per year. I LOVE those though I hate the reporting. I do some mid-scale dining and some super easy shops, too. Anything painful to me in real life, I also avoid in shopping, except for the TS's that I used to do, as the reward used to be greater than the pain. Now, it is not at all - not even close.


I also Mystery Shop on a regular basis. Most of the companies I shop for pay via Paypal or deposit funds to my prepaid VISA debit card. Some send checks in the mail and one does direct deposits to a savings account I have set up to pay my MF with. In fact, Mystery shopping is how I pay my MF. I have shopped for over 25 different companies and do mostly grocery shops, fast food resturants, car washes, oil changes and pizza shops. I don't do fancy resturant's or hotel stays because they require that you spend too much money upfront and take to long to reimburse, plus the reports seem too long. Also,the shops I do can be done while on vacation if I choose. Have made as much as $1700 in a month, but usually average around $250. It's work, but It keeps me from having to use my regular pay for timeshares and mileage is tax deductible. 

Gordon


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## hapstersmom (Jun 17, 2012)

DrBopp said:


> I also Mystery Shop on a regular basis. Most of the companies I shop for pay via Paypal or deposit funds to my prepaid VISA debit card. Some send checks in the mail and one does direct deposits to a savings account I have set up to pay my MF with. In fact, Mystery shopping is how I pay my MF. I have shopped for over 25 different companies and do mostly grocery shops, fast food resturants, car washes, oil changes and pizza shops. I don't do fancy resturant's or hotel stays because they require that you spend too much money upfront and take to long to reimburse, plus the reports seem too long. Also,the shops I do can be done while on vacation if I choose. Have made as much as $1700 in a month, but usually average around $250. It's work, but It keeps me from having to use my regular pay for timeshares and mileage is tax deductible.
> 
> Gordon



Yay, Gordon! Yet another vote. Rent_Share is just way out of line here. I have made as much at $2200 per month in reimbursements and fees, and then, during the school year in a semester when I have 4 classes, backed off and made only $300 per month. It is all good IF the shopper understands that there is no free $, and everything is relative.


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