Has anyone heard of "mystery shoppers"?

[toffeeapple]

Is it good, bad, what are the downsides?

It's good as a filler if you don't have FT work, but don't rely on it as a source of income - IME it's very irregular. You can get good ones though, like trying out a restaurant for free PLUS payment for your time. It's a bit hit & miss, though.

I've used this one in the past.

As Springy says, it's very sporadic. Definitely not a job if you're looking for a steady income, sadly.

Thank you all. I cant' believe I've created 2 of the same threads, my computer is so slow at the moment I've been angrily pressing the keys several times that's why.

Is it quite flexible though? and did you find yourself travelling a lot?
If it's in a restaurant or a pub though would you have to be sat there like billy no mates or could you be accompanied by someone (and would they have to pay for themselves?)

It is flexible to a degree - you can turn down anything that you're offered without a problem, but you can't pick things so easily - you usually have to be approached by the company.

IME, you can take someone with you & either half their food is paid for, or the whole thing - but I think travel expenses are only yours & they have to make their own way. I'm not 100% though, as it's been ages since I've done any of it, never mind a 'good' assignment with food, etc. There's a lot of bank related work where you have to go & ask a few questions about accounts or something. They normally take about half an hour, then maybe 20 minutes of write up when you get home & that pays £10, plus limited travel expenses (they'd be at a local branch). Which is a good rate per hour, but you'd be lucky to get two of those a week, so it's not exactly a short cut to riches.

I've not done much travelling with it, but for example I know someone who signed up with an army-related company & had to tour the country pretending to be interested in signing up. That covered train fare, hotels if it was too far to return home the same day & a decent rate of pay. That wasn't so flexible though, as I think you had to do all of the assignments over the course of a couple of weeks, or none at all.