Shopper Agreement

Proinsight Mystery Shopper

Shopper Agreement / Terms and Conditions of Appointment

Our Terms and Conditions of Appointment apply to all mystery shopping assignments which you undertake on behalf of Proinsight Research Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “we” and “us”). Please read through them carefully before accepting. The terms and conditions may be revised by us from time to time at our discretion. By carrying out a mystery shop, you accept the following terms and conditions of undertaking assignments for Proinsight Mystery Shopping Programme. All applicants must accept these terms before they can undergo work. Where reference is made to “Mystery Shopper” or “Shopper” this shall be deemed to mean any person undertaking a mystery shopping assignment on behalf of Proinsight Research Ltd. Shoppers are under no obligation to accept any assignment, and Proinsight Research Ltd. is under no obligation to provide any or regular work.

Applying For, Accepting and Completing Mystery Shop Assignments

Initial contact will be made by telephone, text or e-mail, wherein details of timing, location, fees and deadlines for completed assignments/reports will be discussed and set. By reaching verbal or written agreement all necessary paperwork and assignment briefs will be forwarded to the shopper.

1. 1. All shoppers who accept assignments are not classed as employees of Proinsight Research Ltd. and whilst given assignments, shoppers are free to offer their services to other mystery shopping organisations.
   1.1 When the shopper ‘accepts’ an assignment this is an agreement that the instructions and survey have been read thoroughly and understood.
2. 2. Proinsight Research Ltd. cannot guarantee the number of assignments which may be offered to you
   whilst you are registered as a mystery shopper.
3. 3. All applications for assignments cannot be accepted by us.
   3.1 The assignment is not yours until it has been ‘assigned’ to your inbox. Please do not conduct any assignments that are not in your ‘assigned’ inbox, you will not be paid for these.
4. 4. Accepting Mystery Shops.
   4.1 Your shop must be ‘accepted’ by you within 24 hours of being put into your account. Your shop may be removed without notice if you haven’t ‘accepted’ within this timeframe.

Declining Mystery Shops

1. 5. Shoppers can ‘decline’ a mystery shop at any point up until submission. Declining a mystery shop will lose all information and data that is with your survey and remove any fee’s that was linked to the survey.

Planned and Due Dates

As a Mystery Shopper you will need to abide by the date set both in this agreement and on each assignment.

1. 6. Planned Date and Due Date
   6.1 For each assignment you undergo, you must commit to your planned date. Where your mystery
   shop is across different visits, this is the planned date of your first visit.
   6.2 Your due date will be set before you ‘accept’ your assignment. This is the due date of submission of your assignment. If your assignment is completed, you can submit your report before the due date. If your due date is exceeded without prior communication with the Proinsight team your assignment may be removed without warning and given to another shopper therefore relinquishing all work completed already. You will not be eligible for payment for any work already completed.

Shopper Fee – Payment for Completed Assignments

1. 7. All payments made are based on type of visit and are not linked to the specific conducting of that visit. Payments for assignments may vary and are agreed upon before assignments are accepted by the shopper. Shoppers will only be paid if:
   • Survey reports are submitted on time
   • The survey has been correctly carried out in accordance with the criteria laid out on the
   report.
   • Supporting instruction documents have been followed throughout.
   • Where there are attachments requested these are of the quality that Proinsight Research Ltd.
   require (i.e. video, telephone recordings, email attachments etc.)
   • All validation queries have been answered and met.
   7.1 In the event that one or more of the above is not fulfilled, we reserve the right to withhold payment (inclusive of reimbursements). Payment may also be withheld if a survey is found to contain fraudulent or incorrect information. Shoppers may have received confirmation that Proinsight Quality Control has been passed, but fraudulent cases may still be identified after this point. In the event that only part of an assignment is deemed acceptable or complete, Proinsight Research Ltd. reserves the right to offer a discretional part-payment or no payment in accordance with the part or parts that we consider acceptable/complete or not complete.
   7.2 If assistance is needed from us it edit or alter your survey or it’s attachments (including editing video content), a reduction of up to 20% of your Shopper Fee will be removed, (this will be no less than a £5 deduction).

1. 8. All shoppers must submit correct personal bank details when signing up to Proinsight Research Ltd. Payments to shoppers, in respect of surveys completed, will be made on the 15th of the month following the completion of a shop regardless of when in the month the shop has been completed and published. All payments will be made by bank transfer to the details the shopper has submitted at the point the shop was completed.
   8.1 The shopper is responsible in ensuring that, at the point the assignment is completed through to the point of payment, the bank details in the shoppers account are true and correct.
   8.2 If the above is correct we reserve the right to not attempt or complete a second payment.
   8.3 Where possible Proinsight will attempt to make a second payment if a first payment has bounced
   (i.e. bank details were not entered into the shopper account). An admin fee of £5.00 will be removed from the second payment to cover the time used to investigate the pay query and complete a 2nd payment attempt. If the original payment amount was less than £5.00 then a second attempt will not be made.
   8.4 If the bank details that were provided at the point that the assignment was completed through to, and including the point of payment, were owned by another person and therefore successfully debited, a ‘recall’ shall be put in place. Recalls are not always successful and can take up to 4 weeks to process with banks. If a recall is necessary a £10 admin fee will be removed from the second payment to cover the time used to investigate, recall the pay query and complete a 2nd payment attempt. If the original payment amount was less than £10.00 then a recall attempt will not be made.
   8.5 In the case that a ‘payment query’ is raised by a shopper and payments made by us are incorrect or need to be amended, the shopper’s additional payment will be made in the next available payment run (the 15th of the month following the pay query being raised).
   8.6 Should a ‘payment query’ need to be raised, the shopper has 6 full calendar months after the intended date of payment to raise this with us. After this point all payment details for assignments will be disregarded. (For example, an assignment has been completed on the 4th of January, payment due on the 15th of February. The shopper has until the 15th of August to raise a ‘payment query’.)

1. 9. These terms and conditions do not form a contract of employment between you and us. You will be acting as a self-employed shopper in respect of the assignments that you undertake for us and we will not deduct PAYE or National Insurance from the fees that we pay you. You are entirely responsible for declaring your earnings to HMRC. For your information, if requested by HMRC, we are required to supply details of all sums paid to you during the relevant tax year.
   9.1 As a self-employed shopper, for the avoidance of doubt, you acknowledge and agree that the Company has no obligation to provide employment-related rights to you including without limitation sick pay or holiday pay.

Conducting a Mystery Shop Assignment

1. 10. Whilst carrying out work for us all shoppers should behave in a courteous and professional manner. In the event of any shopper not fulfilling any aspect of a survey, the shopper may be removed the Proinsight Research Ltd. shopper database.
2. 11. The shopper agrees not to;
   • Discuss any assignments with any person/company other than staff of Proinsight Research Ltd.
   • Duplicate or use information for any purpose other than for Proinsight Research Ltd.
   This includes photographs taken, video recordings, written documents and audio documents.
   • Disclose paperwork and findings to a third party.
   • Send details of the visit to any other third party.
   • Carry out any survey where there might be a conflict of interest, due to either family, friends or
   any past or current employer. If in any doubt this should be discussed before accepting the
   survey.
   • Copy and paste from one survey/assignment to another that is being conducted.
3. 11.1 Should any of the above be found to happen, fees for ongoing assignments will be removed
   and the shopper may be removed from the Proinsight Research Ltd. shopper database.
4. By registering as a Mystery Shopper with Proinsight, you agree to keep all information or data given to you as part of your mystery shop confidential. This may be data items such as, but not limited to, names of colleagues, their email addresses, their role titles, and the address of their workplace. These items are shared with you only to assist you with your mystery shop and must not be used outside of their intended reasons. Anyone found to be sharing confidential information without permission will be blacklisted from our site immediately and will no longer be able to conduct mystery shops with Proinsight.

1. 12. In the event that you suspect that you have been identified as one of our shoppers you should immediately notify us. If you do not notify us and/or you are identified because of your failure to adhere to the instructions, you will not receive payment.

1. 13. If a client of Proinsight Research Ltd. raises with us that they have identified you as a mystery shopper prior to your report being published, we reserve the right to remove your payment.
   13.1 If this is raised with us after your payment has been made, we reserve the right to remove your account or withhold future payments.

1. 14. If you’re carrying out assignments for the same client in close succession (within the same month), the shopper will need to contact us or their Programme Coordinator to establish an alias or a scenario that needs to be used to avoid detection.

1. 15. You will perform your obligations with reasonable care and skill and to the best of your ability and will not do anything to damage our business’s reputation or interests. When conducting your visit, you will do so in a professional manner keeping in mind you are representing us.
   15.1 You agree to complete all questionnaires fully, accurately and honestly. Your written documentation must remain professional, inclusive of staff descriptions.

1. 16. Shoppers are responsible in notifying the client of any allergies, injuries or medical impairments that they feel necessary due to subject to the type of visit (inclusive of allergies when undergoing mystery shops that require consuming food or beverages).

1. 17. Personal belongings whilst on assignment are purely the responsibility of the shopper.

1. 18. If conducting a Video Mystery Shop or any mystery shop where photographs or audio recordings are needed you must use your own personal covert camera equipment.
   18.1 You must only record what is asked of you by us.
   18.2 You must not record footage in changing room facilities, poolside facilities or bathroom facilities.
   18.2.1 You must either avoid using these areas or cover your camera lens/pause recording when in these facilities.
   18.2.2 If you have captured any of the data in 18.2 you must remove this from your video prior to uploading it to your survey and delete this immediately.
   18.3 You must not record children (under the age of 16) completing any physical activity.
   18.3.1 If you have captured any of the data in 18.3 you must remove this from your video prior to uploading it to your survey and delete this immediately.
   18.4 Once you have uploaded your video you must delete this from your device and from any laptop/device you have used to upload to our secure platform.

1. 19. By signing this agreement, you agree to not save or store any data (photographs/video clips/audio clips) that you have taken to assist in a mystery shop past the successful upload onto your survey.
   19.1 If your survey is no longer needed prior to upload you must agree to delete any copies of data, you hold on our clients within 24 hours of taking them.
   19.2 You must agree not to distribute any data (photographs/video clips/audio clips) to any other
   party.
2. 19.3 When providing details on your survey form you’re agreeing for these details to be shared with our clients and their partners. In some cases, you may be able to give fictitious details. We may ask, in your survey form, for details such as your name used on the mystery shop and the mobile number you gave for the follow-up call, this allows the client to identify your customer journey, and in some cases, remove your details from their databases. The details that are written and submitted on your form will be shared with the client. We will never ask for your Personal-Sensitive data on our survey forms and where possible will always try to reduce the amount we ask for your Personal data too. Should you wish for your details to be removed from the client’s database, you must follow their steps on how to do this (traditionally this is written in Privacy Policies).

Please visit ‘https://mspa-ea.org/en_GB/ethics-and-standards.html’ to view the MSPA Shopper Code of Ethics document that gives additional information and guidance on how to conduct yourself as a Mystery Shopper.

Inability to Conduct an Assignment

1. 20. It shall be your responsibility to ensure that the site you visit is safe to do so. If, for any reason the site is found not to be safe you should notify us immediately and not carry out the visit. We cannot be held responsible for the safety of each site as this is the direct responsibility of the site owner. If a visit cannot be conducted due to safety, where possible we will arrange your visit again. Evidence will need to be provided by way of a photograph to show the reason the visit wasn’t safe to complete.
2. 21. In the event that the location of the mystery shop being conducted is closed, the shopper must revert to instructions on waiting time and notify us of this closure providing evidence with photographs. Where possible we will arrange your visit again.
3. 22. If unable to perform an agreed assignment for any reason, we must be notified immediately in order for the assignment to be offered to an alternative shopper. Failure to notify us will result in non- payment and being removed from the Proinsight Research Ltd. database.

Copyright

1. 23. The copyright in all reports, questionnaires and forms remain the property of Proinsight Research Ltd.

Expenses and Reimbursements

1. 24. Any expenses will be agreed upon in advance and at the point an assignment is ‘accepted’ by the shopper this is set.

1. 25. Therefore, travel, telephone calls and activity fees are all included and taken into account when prices are discussed for the shop. Agreed expenses may also be withheld in accordance with point 3.

1. 26. Some assignments may require shoppers to make a payment for a product or service. Re- imbursement may be withheld if:
   • The assignment brief is not fulfilled, and the assignment is deemed to be incomplete.
   • A proof of purchase VAT receipt is not submitted with the assignment.
   • The assignment is not submitted by the deadline issued.

Submitting an Assignment Report / Quality Control Stages / Invalid and Void Reports

1. 27. You agree to submit your written report within 24 hours, and before or on your due date, of the final element (usually the visit) being completed. We reserve the right to withhold payments for results returned outside these timescales.

1. 28. In the event that your survey is returned to you at the quality control stage you must action requests and re-submit within a 24-hour period. We reserve the right to withhold payments for results returned outside these timescales.

1. 29. If you submit a report without having carried out the required assignment, or payment has been made to you and it is later discovered that the assignment was not completed correctly or held fraudulent or incorrect data, we reserve the right to withhold payments or seek recovery from you of the payment made to you together with any costs incurred by us. This may be done through a 3rd party collection agency. To this extent you agree to indemnify us against any loss we may suffer.

1. 30. The client has the ability to appeal the report you have submitted, even after our quality control stage, because they wish to dispute the information given to them. This will be investigated by the Proinsight team and if the report is found to have fraudulent or incorrect data in we reserve the right to withhold payments or seek recovery from you of the payment made to you together with any costs incurred by us. This may be done through a 3rd party collection agency. To this extent you agree to indemnify us against any loss we may suffer.

1. 31. An invalid or void report may be cause for you to lose any shopper privileges or for your account to be removed.

Terms and Conditions of Agreement

1. 32. If any provision of these terms and conditions (whether in part or in whole) is held by a Court or jurisdiction to be illegal, or unenforceable, the parties shall agree to amend the relevant provision as shall be necessary to ensure its application and the remaining provisions of the contract shall remain in full force and effect.

1. 33. Any waiver by us of any breach of, or any default under any provision of this agreement, will not be deemed a waiver of any subsequent breach or default and will in no way affect the terms of this agreement.

1. 34. These terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts and construed in accordance with English law.

1. 35. This agreement is personal to you and under no circumstances can you request another person to carry out an assignment on your behalf.

Privacy Policy

1. 36. When you apply to become a shopper, we require you to complete an Application Form and process. We need this information in order to select appropriate shoppers to carry out assignments. Any personal data that we collect will be stored on computers or otherwise, and we are committed to protecting the security and privacy of that data. We may disclose your information to our professional advisers for the purpose of obtaining professional advice, or if we have a legal obligation to do so. You have the right to see personal data that we keep about you and this will be supplied to you on receipt of a written request.

1. 37. A copy of our Privacy Policy can be found on our website or your portal.

Termination of Agreement

1. 38. Termination by you: If you no longer wish to be a shopper, please contact us and request that no further assignments are offered to you. This can be done by logging into your account and completing an ‘erasure request’. Please note, that completing an erasure request will remove all of your details and therefore you will no longer be notified of any mystery shopping opportunities near you nor will we be able to pay any outstanding fees for shops completed.

1. 39. Termination by us: If we have reasonable cause to believe that you are failing to abide by these Terms and Conditions, we reserve the right to remove your details from our mystery shopping database and no further assignments will be offered to you. This will be known as ‘blacklisting’ and you shall receive written notification to the email address you provide us with that this has happened.
   39.1 A ‘blacklisted’ shopper may not reactivate their account and must not recreate another account under any circumstance.

Fraudulent Users

1. 40. We only allow one mystery shopper account per person. If you are found to have created a duplicate or fraudulent account, both accounts will be deleted/blacklisted, and you shall not be able to carry out any further assignments. Any payment due at the time a fraudulent account is found will be withheld.

1. 41. For the above reasons the following pieces of data may not be duplicated in other accounts: name, mobile number, email address or bank details. If any of these pieces of data are duplicated this will be registered as a fraudulent account and removed from our database.