You are all scheduled to complete your final mystery shopping portion and visit an apartment community to meet your target employee. What happens when you show up and discover that your targeted employee is missing from your appointment and someone else wants to assist you? Every now and then, the mystery of the missing target employee eludes a scheduled appointment. So how do you ensure you still get paid for the shop when the missing target employee is replaced by another staff member? There are a couple of rules that most mystery shopping companies follow that will help you still get paid for your visit even if the target is not at the scheduled appointment.
First, make sure you read the site requirements on what the shop requires for scheduling appointments and any waiting time periods for the target employee. Many companies understand that when an appointment is made, you may arrive and the targeted employee may be assisting other potential residents and may be temporarily away from the premises. As a general rule, do not demand that you wait for the target employee for more than 15 minutes unless the website rules state differently since you can be detected as a mystery shopper.
Also, ensure that you always ask for the target employee when you arrive at the community. If the target employee is with another client or away on a tour, tell the other staff member that you really enjoyed speaking to same person on the telephone and are willing to wait for that person for another 15 minutes.