The other day a friend forwarded a Craig's List ad to me because she knows that we love outdoors and when the weather is nice we often drive to New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. The ad was seeking couples to provide feedback on a resort in the White Mountains and for the effort you got to stay for free for two nights. It seemed like something I could grab even though I am always very skeptical of freebies because there is always a catch. So I called the number, talked to a wonderful man, who told me that we needed to listen to a 90-minute presentation and tour of the resort for timeshares and the rest of the time we could simply enjoy ourselves. Once we got back, we were expected to answer an online survey to help them develop a marketing plan for the resort.
At that point, he wanted my credit card to confirm my reservation and I told him that I don't do that to someone who could be a criminal. I told him that he should arrange for the resort to send me a confirmation email and I can give them the number by calling the main phone number. Not surprisingly, the email never came and instead I got the name and phone number of yet another person to call to handle the reservation.
A little bit more of digging and I found out that timeshare resorts often bring couples and families to their resorts to stay for free so that they can experience the resort before signing up. So could it be that this was not a mystery shopper assignment at all? I learned that in addition to free nights, a typical mystery shopper also receives compensation, along with covering all expenses related to rental car, gas, meals, etc. I was not getting anything more. In other words, I concluded that the man I spoke to was lying that I will be helping with a research project; on the other hand he was merely recruiting people to sell to. Thankfully, I was smart enough to realize all this before doing anything more and declined the offer but it was all very confusing and frustrating because I spent a good hour researching what was going on. I guess I should even more strongly remember my mantra that there is no such thing as a free lunch.
At that point, he wanted my credit card to confirm my reservation and I told him that I don't do that to someone who could be a criminal. I told him that he should arrange for the resort to send me a confirmation email and I can give them the number by calling the main phone number. Not surprisingly, the email never came and instead I got the name and phone number of yet another person to call to handle the reservation.
A little bit more of digging and I found out that timeshare resorts often bring couples and families to their resorts to stay for free so that they can experience the resort before signing up. So could it be that this was not a mystery shopper assignment at all? I learned that in addition to free nights, a typical mystery shopper also receives compensation, along with covering all expenses related to rental car, gas, meals, etc. I was not getting anything more. In other words, I concluded that the man I spoke to was lying that I will be helping with a research project; on the other hand he was merely recruiting people to sell to. Thankfully, I was smart enough to realize all this before doing anything more and declined the offer but it was all very confusing and frustrating because I spent a good hour researching what was going on. I guess I should even more strongly remember my mantra that there is no such thing as a free lunch.