Have You Ever Been an RCI Mystery Shopper?

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

Just wondering if this is something new? On my last cruise, I received a letter from RCCL in my cabin asking if I would be willing to be a "mystery Shopper" in the on board shops. I had to fill out a survey asking such things as was I greeted, were the shop keepers friendly and personable, when I paid, did they thank me by name, what stores did I visit? Questions of that nature.

 

I was supposed to purchase something and remember the store keepers' names. When I turned in the survey at guest relations, I was to be given a $10.00 credit toward any purchase I had made.

 

So I did it for fun, but the guest relations rep had never seen such a form before and had to confer in the back with a supervisor. I had foolishly thought they'd give me $10.00 cash right there, but it was credited to my account and that was fine.

 

It was hard to see the shop keepers' name tags and try not to look as if I were staring at their name. it was also dismaying how few shop keepers paid any attention to me or greeted me, but they were very busy.

 

Have any of you ever been asked to be a "mystery shopper"? Is this a common practice or it it something RCCL has just initiated?

[Fury1995]

Yes, done it twice since we became Diamond members.

[texasnana]

I got one after i was interested in booking another 4 day cruise on spendour of sea for jan 2008. The agent gave me one but after my purchase i took it to the purses desk and he had no idea what it was. He had to get a supervisor to look at it and then said Never seen one. The supervisor said they are starting to use them now. I did get my 10.00 off.. and it was easy...

[foneguy]

board shops? another way of saying ships stores on board? just wondering...dw loves to shop:(

[debalex]

Just wondering if this is something new? On my last cruise, I received a letter from RCCL in my cabin asking if I would be willing to be a "mystery Shopper" in the on board shops. I had to fill out a survey asking such things as was I greeted, were the shop keepers friendly and personable, when I paid, did they thank me by name, what stores did I visit? Questions of that nature.

 

I was supposed to purchase something and remember the store keepers' names. When I turned in the survey at guest relations, I was to be given a $10.00 credit toward any purchase I had made.

 

So I did it for fun, but the guest relations rep had never seen such a form before and had to confer in the back with a supervisor. I had foolishly thought they'd give me $10.00 cash right there, but it was credited to my account and that was fine.

 

It was hard to see the shop keepers' name tags and try not to look as if I were staring at their name. it was also dismaying how few shop keepers paid any attention to me or greeted me, but they were very busy.

 

Have any of you ever been asked to be a "mystery shopper"? Is this a common practice or it it something RCCL has just initiated?

 

We have been secret shoppers twice. Once was in the Summer of 2005 on the Sovereign and once at the end of January on the Radiance. I think a lot of it depends on who the Marketing Director is on the ship.

 

Both times we had no trouble at the guest relations desk. They knew exactly what the letters were, but we did wait until late in the cruise to shop, so other secret shoppers had probably turned their letters in earlier, and the staff found out what they were before we showed up!

 

I agree -- it is hard to be discreet and see the person's name tag at the same time! :) And we also had to say that we were not greeted while we were shopping. :( But I did add a comment that they were very busy.

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

Yes, I thought the mystery shopping was kind of fun. It is hard to see the names on the tags though, plus I had to remember the names because I couldn't very well write them down right in front of the shop keepers.

 

I thought it was funny. I went into the small perfume/cosmetics shop. No one was in there except the shop keeper. She turned her head away from me, never smiled, never made eye contact, never greeted me, didn't even pretend to be busy arranging merchandise, just gave me the "cold as ice" treatment. Needless to say, I bought nothing and didn't stay long. Kind of made me wonder though...was the fault hers or mine? She is paid to be nice, but maybe she isn't paid enough.

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

board shops? another way of saying ships stores on board? just wondering...dw loves to shop:(

 

Are you correcting my grammar? I said "on board" shops, if you read my post again. I think I have read in the Cruise Compass that they do refer to their shops as "on board shops." If I am wrong and have coined a new term, well, there you have it.

 

I'm not clear from your post what you mean. You didn't know that most cruise ships have several shops on board that sell a variety of merchandise?

[2ladies]

Did it for the first time on the Navigator a few weeks ago. The shop staff were very nice and I had no complaints. Had no difficulty seeing the name tag and I did look at it and call her by her name when we were talking and discussing colour - but I often do that!!! That's how I knew her name.

 

As far as I am concerned, it makes no difference how much she is paid. If you are not paid enough to do the job properly, you leave!! If you want the job, you do it according to instructions, which are obviously, in this case, to be friendly towards the customers!!!

 

It is very nice when they hand your card back and call you by your name - prefix and last name!! Today a card was handed back by a server in a restaurant who called me by my first name - I actually don't go for that!!!

 

By the way, thank you Shops People on RCCL - I purchased a new 'polymina'

shawl for the evening which is always useful on the airconditioned ships!! Exactly $10!!!!

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

By the way, thank you Shops People on RCCL - I purchased a new 'polymina'

shawl for the evening which is always useful on the airconditioned ships!! Exactly $10!!!!

 

Aren't they wonderful! I love the beautiful colors they come in.

[Lynn the Cruiser]

I hope I get picked to do that!!!!!!! This is the first time I'm hearing about this. I wonder how many are picked or if they do it every sailing????:confused:

[MszKitty]

I've done it 4 times so far. One time, the guy barely looked at me, and didn't say thank you. I even gave him a second chance because I forgot to look at his name tag so I went back in and bought a candy bar so I could get his name. Again, he didn't use my name or say thanks. He was just going thru the motions. I had to give a negative response to that shop visit. Every other time, I've had friendly, smiling clerks. I really hated to give a negative review of the one guy, but after two chances and nothing, I just had to.

[Coralc]

We mystery shopped on Monarch, and I felt so bad because it was a really kind of poor experience. There were 2 young salesgirls in the store engaged in an animated conversation with each other. There were no other customers and they didn't even acknowledge us when we entered. We were shopping for long sleeved shirts because of the chilly weather. I found something and purchased it, and my husband asked if they had his sweatshirt in a size Large. One of them quit talking to the other long enough to wave her hand towards the back and say, "Oh the other sizes, I don't know....it's all in boxes back there. I don't have time to go through them right now. Why don't you come back later?"

 

Alrighty then. We kind of felt bad answering the survey questions, but I would even be slightly annoyed about that sort of service at a land based store. :o

[Dame Delilah]

:) Oh that sounds like fun! I've done it on land for a few businesses that asked (ACE Hardware, Starbucks, Chilli's, etc) but it must be REALLY fun on board ship! :)

[aqhacruiser]

We have been secret shoppers twice. Once was in the Summer of 2005 on the Sovereign and once at the end of January on the Radiance. I think a lot of it depends on who the Marketing Director is on the ship.

 

Both times we had no trouble at the guest relations desk. They knew exactly what the letters were, but we did wait until late in the cruise to shop, so other secret shoppers had probably turned their letters in earlier, and the staff found out what they were before we showed up!

 

I agree -- it is hard to be discreet and see the person's name tag at the same time! :) And we also had to say that we were not greeted while we were shopping. :( But I did add a comment that they were very busy.

 

 

LOL! I was thinking about you when I seen this thread and I was going to email you! LOL! :)

[debalex]

Yes, I thought the mystery shopping was kind of fun. It is hard to see the names on the tags though, plus I had to remember the names because I couldn't very well write them down right in front of the shop keepers.

 

I thought it was funny. I went into the small perfume/cosmetics shop. No one was in there except the shop keeper. She turned her head away from me, never smiled, never made eye contact, never greeted me, didn't even pretend to be busy arranging merchandise, just gave me the "cold as ice" treatment. Needless to say, I bought nothing and didn't stay long. Kind of made me wonder though...was the fault hers or mine? She is paid to be nice, but maybe she isn't paid enough.

 

I liked it too! :D You know the letter you get? Well ours basically said that you could buy ANYTHING you wanted to and could return it later at the guest relations desk. I REALLY REALLY wanted to go buy the most expensive piece of jewelry they had on board and then return it the last day of the cruise having worn it just a little bit -- to test out its workmanship of course!!! ;) But DH was too worried I'd conveniently forget to return it! :p

 

I wonder if we would have gotten more attention if we were looking at high priced items? Having read all these posts about being ignored, I can see why RCI is doing this. :eek:

[debalex]

LOL! I was thinking about you when I seen this thread and I was going to email you! LOL! :)

 

You knew I would want to be on this thread if I wasn't already, huh? :)

 

Glad you've got my back, Suzanne! LOL

[MszKitty]

I liked it too! :D You know the letter you get? Well ours basically said that you could buy ANYTHING you wanted to and could return it later at the guest relations desk. I REALLY REALLY wanted to go buy the most expensive piece of jewelry they had on board and then return it the last day of the cruise having worn it just a little bit -- to test out its workmanship of course!!! ;) But DH was too worried I'd conveniently forget to return it! :p

 

I wonder if we would have gotten more attention if we were looking at high priced items? Having read all these posts about being ignored, I can see why RCI is doing this. :eek:

 

 

I never thought of doing that! Great idea for the next time I'm a mystery shopper! :D

[MszKitty]

We mystery shopped on Monarch, and I felt so bad because it was a really kind of poor experience. There were 2 young salesgirls in the store engaged in an animated conversation with each other. There were no other customers and they didn't even acknowledge us when we entered. We were shopping for long sleeved shirts because of the chilly weather. I found something and purchased it, and my husband asked if they had his sweatshirt in a size Large. One of them quit talking to the other long enough to wave her hand towards the back and say, "Oh the other sizes, I don't know....it's all in boxes back there. I don't have time to go through them right now. Why don't you come back later?"

 

Alrighty then. We kind of felt bad answering the survey questions, but I would even be slightly annoyed about that sort of service at a land based store. :o

 

Same with my bad experience. It, too, was on the Monarch and there was no one else in the store. I usually do my mystery shopper when there isn't anyone else in the store to give the sales person a chance to get good marks.

[Merion_Mom]

Yes, I thought the mystery shopping was kind of fun. It is hard to see the names on the tags though, plus I had to remember the names because I couldn't very well write them down right in front of the shop keepers.

 

I thought it was funny. I went into the small perfume/cosmetics shop. No one was in there except the shop keeper. She turned her head away from me, never smiled, never made eye contact, never greeted me, didn't even pretend to be busy arranging merchandise, just gave me the "cold as ice" treatment. Needless to say, I bought nothing and didn't stay long. Kind of made me wonder though...was the fault hers or mine? She is paid to be nice, but maybe she isn't paid enough.

 

I've done it 4 times so far. One time, the guy barely looked at me, and didn't say thank you. I even gave him a second chance because I forgot to look at his name tag so I went back in and bought a candy bar so I could get his name. Again, he didn't use my name or say thanks. He was just going thru the motions. I had to give a negative response to that shop visit. Every other time, I've had friendly, smiling clerks. I really hated to give a negative review of the one guy, but after two chances and nothing, I just had to.

 

We mystery shopped on Monarch, and I felt so bad because it was a really kind of poor experience. There were 2 young salesgirls in the store engaged in an animated conversation with each other. There were no other customers and they didn't even acknowledge us when we entered. We were shopping for long sleeved shirts because of the chilly weather. I found something and purchased it, and my husband asked if they had his sweatshirt in a size Large. One of them quit talking to the other long enough to wave her hand towards the back and say, "Oh the other sizes, I don't know....it's all in boxes back there. I don't have time to go through them right now. Why don't you come back later?"

 

Alrighty then. We kind of felt bad answering the survey questions, but I would even be slightly annoyed about that sort of service at a land based store.

 

I was asked to do this once - I, too, bought the "pashmina", in a GORGEOUS shade of deep bright pink. My daughter loves it.

 

But don't you think that they are using this Secret Shopper system more and more BECAUSE OF the bad experiences that Heavy Surf, MszKitty & pbhunt are posting here??? They don't WANT their passengers to have these bad customer service experiences on board!

 

(FWIW, I have done this "in real life", too. :))

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

But don't you think that they are using this Secret Shopper system more and more BECAUSE OF the bad experiences that Heavy Surf, MszKitty & pbhunt are posting here??? They don't WANT their passengers to have these bad customer service experiences on board!

 

(FWIW, I have done this "in real life", too. :))

 

I wondered why RCCL is doing this. Maybe on the Customer Satisfaction form the cruise line has been receiving a lot of negative feedback about haughty or indifferent customer service in the shops.

[BobbyK]

I've been a mystery shopper several times. Having mystery shoppers does give RCI information about their employees and it probably encourages looking and shopping at their shops a little closer (or a lot closer, depending on the merchandise-LOL). I've always had good service. Robin :cool:

[mi3stooges]

My first thought about this thread was to "mystery shop" the cruise!!! But I guess NO such luck!! My other thought was if RCI has been doing this for awhile, don't you think the shop keepers would maybe try a little harder, not sure if you or the next person is the mystery?? Or as another poster suggested, maybe they just don't get paid enough.

[WAMarathoner]

[never m]

Edited March 13, 2018 by WAMarathoner
didn't realize how old the thread was

[awestover89]

I do mystery shopping a lot on land, but never on a ship. Nevada doesn't do much mystery shopping but when I lived in Illinois I probably averaged about 3-5 shops a week, it was great. $10 refund seems really low though, depending on how much work they make you do.

[ChipLondon]

It’s just a different way to get you to buy something in the shops ......