To be a mystery shopper, you will be required to sign many contracts for individual jobs, schedulers or mystery shopping companies. These should be read very carefully and very thoroughly, because once you sign, it’s a done deal. Contracts compel your performance to engage in a mystery shop, and likewise, it compels your client’s performance in paying you within its stated parameters.
Your contracts, like all other records, receipts and scheduling, should be meticulously organized in such as way so that you are able to pull them out and review them on a moment’s notice. It may be necessary to take a contract with you on a mystery shop. Likewise, it may be necessary to reference a contract in an invoice or when attempting to collect a past due account.
You also want to be careful in reading your contract. Some terms may not be to your liking. If, for example, you sign a contract stating that you will perform a mystery shop during the night, but you do it during the day, you have not fulfilled the contract. In the world of mystery shopping, timing can be everything. Shops that are scheduled for specific times are schedule that way for a reason. Not completing the shop as agreed to could mean you won’t get paid.
Contracts also state your responsibility for materials or equipment the client entrusts you with to complete an assignment. It is important that these be returned to the client in a manner prescribed by the contract.
Go in expecting your contract to govern exactly how the assignment and obligation will operate. This way, your mistakes will be few, and limited only by your ability to be thorough and meticulous in your pursuit of the assignment in question.
Non-Disclosure Agreements
It may be necessary to sign a non-disclosure agreement in order to secure certain work. This simply means you agree not to disclose any trade secrets or secret shopping contract details to the company’s competition, employees or public at large.
Non-Compete Agreements
Occasionally, some contracts involve you relinquishing the ability to contract with a client’s competitors or for another company within the same industry. Similar agreements may also mean that you agree not to try to hire a client’s employees or attempt to contract directly with whomever your mystery shopping organization has hired to subcontract your services.
If you cannot abide by the terms, it is simply better not to sign the contract. If you have doubts, do not sign.
