Thinking of Becoming a Mystery Shopper...

I am such a stickler for good customer service. When I go shopping, I like staff to be friendly and helpful. I want to enjoy the whole experience. I have complained about companies in the past and sometimes I've been put off completely and never gone back. Alternatively, I have had exceptional customer service in other places. A while ago, I actually wrote a blog post on how amazing the staff at my local Clarks Shoes were.

A few months back, I looked into mystery shopping. I love to review on the blog ad I like to share my experiences with items, putting across both positive and negative points with some constructive criticism and mystery shopping is exactly the same. I did, however, think that living in Northern Ireland would be downfall as not living on the mainland always seems to go against us.

Places such as Amber Arch operate all over the UK which is fab! If you follow me on social media (or just read my blog) you'll know that I enter a lot of competitions, try to save money as best I can or seek out bargains. I thought that mystery shopping would be perfect for me as I could be completely honest with my experiences to help the clients improve their stores (something that I do a lot anyway) but it's also a great way to make a little extra cash! Okay, it's casual work but all those pennies add up!

Are you/have you been a Mystery Shopper? 

Would you recommend it?

(Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post.)

My Customer Service Experience at Clarks

A few days ago, we ventured into town to get C a new pair of shoes as he's now taking a few steps. With C being our first child we didn't know what we needed first. 

We had a browse at the hard-soled shoes in M&S and really liked the selection but thought we'd better go to Clarks and get his feet properly measured first. 

In we went and a lovely staff member came over to ask if we needed any help and I asked if he could measure C's feet. He happily obliged and even chatted away to C, trying to make him feel comfortable. He informed us that C's feet were 4G (wide feet!) and we selected a gorgeous pair of dinosaur shoes that lit up. 

He came back with the shoes in the proper size, fitted them and explained about how baby shoes work. Firstly, the shoes that we had chosen would need to be for a child who is capable of taking around 15-20 steps on their own. The hard sole helps to prevent the child from curling their toes up - something that they're used to when they first start to walk. 

The member of staff needed to see how he walked in them but C was much more interested in admiring his shoes. He did try to take a few steps but it was too hard for him and he kept going up on his toes and falling over. 

We were told that he probably wasn't ready for this type of shoe yet and that he should practice for a few more weeks in flexible-soled shoes. He said, "I don't want you to be wasting money on shoes that he won't be ready to walk in and by the time he is ready, he'll have grown out of them!"

I am so pleased with how we were treated. It took us a really long time to get C to take a few steps and the staff member sat with us the whole time. I love how he explained everything so clearly to us and didn't push us into a sale. I know when C is ready for those shoes, we'll definitely go back for them! I'm just annoyed that I can't remember the mans' name!