GBW (Formerly known as GAPbuster Worldwide) 

Work with them...Payments very late...No contact detail if you want to clarify some thing in emergency..No reply of the emails sent...Account blocked without any info...Worst experience ever

I've been with Gapbuster coming up 2 years, I now have completed 132 assignments. The assignments are quick, simple, with most reports having only multiple choice questions to fill out. I have had no issues with them and I do enjoy working for that company.
I mostly get paid at the end of every month following my assignments but in some cases it may take up to two months. I have received every payment from every assignment, plus I've never not been paid for giving out a negative review.
I also get calls for assignments on a regular basis that need to be done on a specific date and time, that may be a bit of a distance from where I live. I have been heavy compensated being offered anywhere up to $100, so waiting an extra month sometimes to get paid is not so bad. I also agree it is not a quick cash fix, but the consistency pays off.

The cowboys of the mystery shopping world


My Advice to anyone thinking about carrying out work for this company, is if you do the visits, just bull shit them, if you do a bad visit you will get a follow up email and then end up not be paid as they never submitted a bad report to any of their clients...

Also if you get a re-shop, be advised they send the client the shop they rejected so they can fix the problems before you get there they also know which timeframe your going in…

But have some fun go into any McDonald’s even when your not doing a visit go in alone order your meal, and ask for the receipt you will hear them shout “gap Mac” which means you get one made up there and then even if there are some on the pass..

Oh yes don’t expect to be paid on time its always late! And they don’t respond to emaiis and if you start to get pissed off with them they send one saying you need to keep it professional. A lot of better companies out there,

Have finally been paid for all outstanding monies incl reimbursements for period June 2013 to Nov 2013. I'm glad I didn't lose my cool as niceness paid off in the end. But this is very slow and shouldn't be such hard work to get what is owed to you.

I've been with Gapbuster for two yeras now, and I've had a few minor glitches, but overall I've had no issues worth mentioning.

Yes, payment is "late", meaning that you're always paid at the end of the month following your assignment, which in a worst case means almost two months waiting time, so this is not a quick way to some extra cash, but it is always extra cash that comes in very handy when it comes. That said, I've never not been paid for any assignment, except for occasions where I have not fully complied with the assigment rules, e.g. outside the allotted time frame or not followed the instructions closely enough.

As some have mentioned, the answer options on questionnaire don't always reflect the expierence very well, and in some case it does take a while to fill in all the details. However, that should not hold you back from giving a full report wherever you can.

I've never not been paid for giving a negative review. If I do voice a bad experience, they usually call me for a precise explanation or reason for my thumbs down, but no negative remarks have ever led to not accepeting my report.

As to the glitches, they haven't always answered my inquiries on first attempt, but they usually do get around to answering.

After being with them for two years I now get calls for assignments that need to be done on a specific date or at a specifc time, say "Can you visit such and such today?", and I'm offered very generous payments compared to the usual rates, so in my experience Gapuster is worth sticking with. As mentioned above, it is not a quick cash fix, but consistency pays off.

I have been mystery shopping for over 5 years and have recently joined GapBuster...they are HORRID. So far I have not received any payments or response to my online enquiries about why I haven't been paid. There are no numbers to call and ask!
Compared to all other companies I shop with, their payments and reimbursements are very low.
The reports quite often have multiple choice answers which don't have options which reflect what actually occurs during an assignment, only the answers they want you to use, yet you have to pick one to submit the report.
If they don't like your answers, they ring and speak down to you like you are an idiot....then tell you they cant pay you for it. Seems like they only want good reports on business's and don't like to know if you have a bad experience.
On one occasion I was called and asked why I filled out my report the way I did, I said it was because that was what happened in the store. They said I should have done and asked things which weren't on the instructions and literally told me I should have prompted the staff in the shop, so I would get the answers they wanted....
There are so many reputable and well paying companies, give them a miss!

I joined Gapbuster since 2011 , initially had never experienced a problem like this , but this year is the second time this happens .

I became Audit Shell VISA on Gapbuster , the first project backward 1 month payment , for reasons already sent by bank account , but I never received , ended up with a bit of force to pay through Paypal , they pay it and succeed .

For the same project a month ago , they offered the job , but from the start I 'm so paid through Paypal , and when it Bronya as assignor , approved the payment using paypal , but the time of payment , I confirmed up to 2 times , but no answer whatever , after I get angry they gave the reason that I have transferred money through a bank , this is definitely going down again , come on up to now not been paid , and they refused to pay via paypal .

It's unprofessional and disappointing company
-------
Saya bergabung dengan Gapbuster sejak 2011, awalnya tak pernah mengalami masalah seperti ini, namun pada tahun ini sudah kedua kalinya hal ini terjadi.

Saya menjadi Audit Shell VISA pada Gapbuster, pada proyek pertama pembayaran mundur 1 bulan, dengan alasan sudah dikirimkan melalui rekening Bank, namun tak pernah saya terima, akhirnya dengan sedikit memaksa untuk dibayarkan melalui Paypal, mereka membayarkannya dan berhasil.

Untuk proyek yang sama sebulan yang lalu, mereka menawarkan pekerjaan itu, namun sejak awal saya minta agar dibayarkan melalui Paypal, dan saat itu Bronya sebagai pemberi tugas, menyetujui pembayaran menggunakan paypal, namun saat pembayaran, saya mengkonfirmasikan hingga 2 kali, namun tak ada jawaban apapun, setelah saya marah mereka memberikan alasan bahwa uang saya telah ditransfer melalui bank, hal ini sudah pasti akan bermasalah lagi, benar saja hingga saat ini tak terbayarkan, dan mereka menolak membayar melalui paypal.
Sungguh perusahaan tak profesional dan mengecewakan.

I've done about 20 mystery shops for Gapbuster in the last year and haven't had too many problems. However lately they keep saying that assignments are invalid without full explanation or taking into account individual circumstances. For example I had an assignment and they rejected it because I used the Express Lane. This was the only till open but when I asked Gapbuster how I could have avoided this there was no reply. They also rejected another saying I did not join the shortest queue. I am adamant that I did but when I asked if they have viewed the CCTV or just relied on the shops word they didn't respond. I won't work for then again as they just leave you out of pocket.

Myself and my husband have worked for GAP for many years and never had a problem. Recently however we were paid wrong - Only by about £30 but I tried to contact them to sort it out. I have been totally ignored for a month and am now worried I will not be paid the £350 owed to me this month. I have sent email after email asking them to call me but nothing. I have recommended people to them in the past but this company has gone from one of the best to the worst in a short space of time. They are unprofessional, rude and unreliable. There are lots of other mystery shopping companies out there that do a lot better job.

The are complete rip off merchants. The reimbursements do not cover the total cost of the meals to be bought.

You only get other assignments if you complete a stupid amount of Mcdonalds assignments each month which are not worth doing, plus I don't really want to eat mcdonalds every day and become stupidly unhealthy and obese!

They refuse to pay for assignments for stupid reasons that seem completely made up, and always email to ask you to the same questions you completed in your report again and again because apparently they can't read english.

They constantly ring and harrass you to take on urgent assignments that are not worth it and don't like to take no for an answer.

They never reply to emails.

It takes over a month to get paid so that's a long time to wait for very little profit - maybe £3 for each assignment, and seeing as you are limited to Mcdonalds and Pizza Hut to start with you will end up really sick of it!

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY FOR MYSTERY SHOPPING, THERE ARE MANY GOOD SITES OUT THERE! AVOID AT ALL COSTS!

I have worked for Gapbuster for the last four years, And never had a problem until this year, they started to pay later and later each month, and premiums they gave you once you completed the job disappeared from your account just leaving you with the standard fee, I was promised an extra £60.00 for doing a late night McDonalds job which was 80 miles away plus 2 hours drive time I ended up getting £12.11!!!! so I challenged them, since March 2013 I have not been paid and I’m owed £670.00 in fees, after countless emails which they never reply too, I’m now trying to see if I can claim via the county court, but with them based in Australia I’m not sure If I can..
Also don’t bother with the Mcdonalds visits after your first time, the restaurant uses CCTV and they print off a still of you, so know as soon as you walk in what you are doing!!! I know this because I lied one of my friends works for them and they have my picture in the staff room!!....

I have worked as a Mystery Shopper for about 8 years now. I have worked for a number of UK companies as well as a couple of global ones. Gapbuster have always paid very poor for their assignments and regard the payment for a meal as McDonalds, KFC or Pizza Hut as reward enough for your time and effort. I have completed many assignments for them over the years and try to wait until they are paying premiums before accepting them.
They often telephone me asking me to undertake assignments and the caller is always muffled / mumbling and hard to understand. I was asked to visit a Shell station and they were paying a premium on it of £15 in addition to the £11 standard fee. As this assignment was 10 miles from where I live I was very reluctant to do it, but the additional payment would cover my petrol and part of the assignment was filling up with £10 fuel anyway for which I was getting paid. So I agreed to undertake the assignment.
The Shell station address was on my briefing notes and I entered it into my GPS. When I arrived there the road name was spelt slightly wrong on my notes but typos often happen, but the main problem was the assignment wanted me to assess a southbound service station when there was only a northbound one. I drove around and asked in the northbound services and was told the southbound ones were still under construction!!!
I took photos of the site and tried to contact Gapbuster. Unfortunately there is no was to contact them even though it states on your paperwork if your have problems to contact them immediately. So I email them, no reply, I email 4 depts, no reply. I then have to go home as its nearly 11pm and I've been out there for over 2 hours!
I get no reply for nearly a week then get a phone call asking me to do another assignment. I bring up the issues I've had and get told I will be paid £4 for a closed site. I went mad over this. I brought up that they sent me to a closed site and had promised to pay a £15 premium and I was now out of pocket by over £10. The guy spoke to his manager and agreed to pay me my costs of £10 (£4 closed site fee and £6 extra). When I was finally paid, guess what... no £6!
Tried to get in touch, as usual no reply. 2 months after I should have been paid I had a phone call to say no one agreed to pay me extra, I've already had my £4 fee and that was it! They even said I picked the assignment myself and no one called me.
If you want a few free KFC's then fine use them but if you actually want to work for a reputable company that has respect for the work you do for them and you want to be able to have some support then avoid gapbuster at all costs.
I don't want others to be left out of pocket as I have been. If we all had money to throw away we wouldn't be doing mystery shopping in the first place!
Although this has been a long winded post, I hope someone finds it useful.

AVOID !

I am working for 5 mistery shopping companies in the UK and clearly this is the worst company.

When you had a bad experience with an assignment and you put through a bad report they simply reject your assignment and do not pay. Hence they dont send a bad report to their client, only good ones which is unfair to the client.
Today one of my assignments which cost me 18pounds had been rejected and I just saw today on the website and they didnot even bother to notify me in email or give me a reason. I am fuming!!!
This is the 3rd time an assignment had been rejected in 3months and when staff calls me and i complain to them they give me bullshit reason and sometimes do not even see my assignments so i suppose their system is a chaos and not organized.

another example: i accepted an assignment then i had to cancel due to personal reason. in 10minutes i received a call from them and they asked me to do exactly the same assignment!!! wtf?! the staff had no idea that i just cancelled that one. they do not see on their system. just makes me wonder what kind of company is this??

Another thing is staff is incredibly rude. The other day i received a call and was asked to accept a screwfix assignment and i said i dont do those I was asked "Why? Not even one?" in such a rude manner i wanted to pull the person over the phone and punch his face.

NOT A FAIR COMPANY. AVOID AT ALL COST.

The tests for this company for the various assignments are very long-winded and
at times quite silly,if you finally pass and manage to book a job the
instructions are always very, very long, far more than is necessary. Job done does
not mean that you will be paid as they find so many ridiculous reasons not to pay.
eg a job asks you to check that the internet is working before you begin - you know
it is as you have continuously used it for several hours prior to going on to the
customer website. Gapbuster refuse to pay as you checked for several hours
previously not the split second before, when you have carried out the full assignment
and spent £20 of your own money this does not sound like the behaviour of a
reputable company. Incidentally I do lot of work for GFK, TNS, Sassie, Marketforce
and Performance in people and they would never, ever behave in this way.
I was amazed to be contacted by GBW via Trustpilot in November 2017. They apologised for the way the previous management had treated me and paid for that last job I did plus an extra amount on top. I was astonished so nice to know that the new operators clearly have some integrity. I have uprated from 1 star to 5 stars purely reflecting the treatment from the new owners. By the way they did not ask me to amend my review.

Gap Buster is a pretty good company to work for. But it's the lengthy reading (Orientation) you have to do (which is not too bad really) then the questionnaires which , again are not too bad, but they do hold several "trick" questions that just make you feel completely STUPID!! Because this then means you fail for those specific assignments. Feeling annoyed I then set up other IDs in order to prove myself not stupid and actually manage to complete the questionnaires successfully. This made me feel better about myself. But now Gap Buster have deleted ALL of my accounts (including the one I'd had open for the last 2 years and had done many assignments from) and will not answer any messages that I send to them.
I feel cheated and abandoned by them!!
Otherwise, if you just set up one account, accept that you are stupid in not answering their daft questions, then Gap Buster is great!

I have worked for Gapbuster for 3 years. I have always found them to be polite and considerate. They have always paid the agreed rate on time.
I cannot see that the Macdonald's timing points are complicated, I have never had any problems with them.
I do agree that it would be useful to be able to to telephone a representitive if there is an urgent problem with an asessment but I have always received prompt replies to e mails.

Jeg forstår ikke dem der brokker sig så meget over Gapbuster. Jeg har altid fået det udbetalt som jeg har tjent. At lønnen ofte ikke er så høj er rigtigt, men man kender jo lønnen inden man vælger jobs så hvis det er for lavt, kan man jo bare lade være med at tage jobbet.

Eneste minus er at lønnen generalt ligger i den lave ende, men det er meget ofte at de ringer og tilbyder ekstra betaling så det alligevel er værd at tage de forskellige jobs.

The McDonald's training manuel is pretty tedious - 17 pages in total. The drive thru restaurants had different setting like COD, a member of staff standing outside etc etc is not easy to visualise unless the shopper had actually visited the shop and see the set up. As a result, it is confusing to do the 2nd timing for these restaurants.

The training manuel should have a VISUAL TOUR to show the critical points to the mystery shoppers when to do their timings.

It is time consuming to go through training manuel and when you don't get it right, it makes me very angry. Moreover, the fee is pretty low, just £4 for each visit! Gapbuster / McDonald's is expecting toooooo much! Not at all impressed. Don't even attempt the training, choose other jobs instead.

Har været medlem af gapbuster i snart 2 år og har generelt oplevet uorden i deres forretningsgange, de 2 mest vitale er dog at:
- aftaler indgået overholdes ikke
- udbetalinger ofte ikke svarer overens med det der burde udbetales

Kan ikke anbefale dem!

They say that the treat their “shopping eXperience Evaluators
‘ (EX's) with RESPECT. They also indicate that "Our friendly staff ensure communication between GAPbuster Worldwide and our shopping eXperience evaluators is exceptional". Love the warm fuzzies don't they.

They do not effectively communicate. They do not respond to emails and if you have the gall tell them in person they are failing they just hang up. So if you work for them, don't raise concern, don't try to help them improve thier service, because they wont listen and the wont RESPECT.

THE REALLY DON'T GIVE A RATS