Have you ever been frustrated with the service received at a bank? Pinnacle mystery shopping focuses on bank services. Do you have great feedback that could help banks get better? Then you should try mystery shopping with Pinnacle. And have your voice heard!
Service provider company:
Pinnacle
pinnaclemysteryshopping.com
Pinnacle was established in 1997. They have their headquarters in Houston, Texas. The full name is Pinnacle Financial Strategies which we thought was a bit odd. However, it turns out they have a history with a financial focus.
Pinnacle provides practical intelligence solutions for financial institutions – banks, credit unions, savings and loans associations, brokerage firms, insurance and mortgage companies. In 2006, Pinnacle merged with PROS (Professional Review and Operational Shoppers). PROS focused specifically on mystery shopping for financial institutions.
So now Pinnacle can provide performance measurement solutions for both sales and service.
They operate primarily in the USA with some occasional shops in Canada.
Mystery Shopping Professionals Association (MSPA):
Pinnacle is a member of the MSPA.
Better Business Bureau (BBB):
Pinnacle Financial Strategies for mystery shopping has been listed with the Better Business Bureau since 2010. They have an A+ rating. And they were also accredited in 2011.
They do not have any complaints filed. But they also don’t have any reviews.
Pay range:
Pinnacle shops typically pay in the range of $4.00 USD to $100.00 USD. However, the shops on the higher end pay range are usually video shops. These types of shops require you to own your own hidden video equipment to record your interactions.
Payment method:
Pinnacle only pays through PayPal. To ensure you can receive payment:
- When registering as a Mystery Shopper, ensure the email used for registration is the same email you use for PayPal
- If you registered with a different email, then ensure you add that email to your PayPal account
Payment frequency:
Pinnacle has a slightly less frequent pay schedule than most other service providers. For the most part, it pays in the month after you performed the shops. But it depends on the exact date when you completed your shops.
If you performed shops in September, BEFORE the 20th of September, then you will be paid on the 10th of October. However, if your shops were performed AFTER the 20th of September, then you don’t get paid until the 10th of November.
We have not performed any shops with Pinnacle so we are unable to confirm payment.
Report submission:
Pinnacle needs you to submit the mission report within 12 hours of finishing your shop.
The shopping mission report is required for all shopping missions. It documents your activities and interactions during the shop.
Other service providers typically give you up to 24 hours to submit your report. So Pinnacle is a bit more strict with their deadline.
Website usability:
Pinnacle uses the SASSIE platform. If you’ve used SASSIE before then you’ll find everything you expect: your profile section, a job board, and two shopper dashboards.
One dashboard has the applications you’ve submitted (requests to be assigned a shop) and the other has the missions confirmed to be assigned to you.
You can also filter the job board listings based on location with their map view.
Social media:
Pinnacle has a presence on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Shopping mission availability:
Pinnacle focuses on mystery shopping for financial institutions. But, the number of shops available depends on where you live.
What’s interesting with Pinnacle mystery shopping is that more of their shops are in non-urban areas. They don’t seem to have a lot of shops within cities, especially larger ones.
And the shop locations are primarily located in the USA. If you do not live in the USA, then Pinnacle is probably not the best choice for mystery shopping.
Shopper support:
The Pinnacle support team is basically your scheduler. When you apply for shopping missions, a scheduler will assign you the shop to complete. That scheduler becomes your point of contact for the mission.
There are a number of ways to reach support:
- Toll-free phone number – this can be found on the Pinnacle website, pinnaclemysteryshopping.com, or within the shop instructions on SASSIE
- Shopper FAQ – the Pinnacle website also has a substantial FAQ section that outlines information for the typical general questions
- Scheduler contact information – the scheduler usually provides direct contact information within the shop instructions on SASSIE. This could be a direct phone number or an email address. Or both.
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How does it work?
Registration:
- You register on their website, pinnaclemysteryshopping.com. From the main navigation menu, on the right hand side, click on “New Shopper Sign-up”
- From the new page displayed, enter your email address and click “GO”, then your country and click “GO”
- Fill out the form with the usual details: name, address, and phone number. But then enter the additional profile information: gender, birthdate, etc. NOTE: Only those fields with asterisks are mandatory.
- Ensure you select PayPal as your payment method
- You’ll also fill in the area codes of the regions in which you might want to perform shops
- Finally, accept the Independent Contractor agreement and the Privacy Policy and click “Sign me up!”
- Once submitted, you’ll need to confirm your email address from the email they send you
- After you confirm your email then you’ll have access to the shopper site. You should complete the extended profile to improve your chances of getting more shops.
- When you’ve finished that, the “Extended Shopper Profile” section on the “Shop Log” homepage will display “Current” in green
- Now you can view available shops on the “Job Board”
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Recommendation:
Pinnacle has been working in the industry for quite a number of years. But their shops are focused within the less urban areas. Our evaluation:
- Shopping mission availability – if you’re in the USA and outside of an urban area, then there are a decent number of shops available
- Shopper support – you have a lot of different ways to get support or clarification, whether before a shopping mission or during the shop
- Pay range – the pay range is pretty typical within the industry. The video shops do pay much more but you also need to invest in the equipment and know how to use it well.
- Report submission – your reports must be submitted within 12 hours of completing the mission. That’s a very tight window, especially if you like to perform multiple shops in a given day.
Have you worked with this service provider?
What were your experiences?
Do you agree with this evaluation or have some suggestions of your own?
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