Welcome to Attitude is Everything’s Mystery Shopping Project!
Attitude is Everything improves Deaf and disabled people’s access to live music by working in partnership with audience, artists and the music industry to implement a Charter of Best Practice across the UK. We were established in 2000 and the Mystery Shopping Project is funded by the Arts Council England. On 1 st April 2008, Attitude is Everything left “the Mothership” (Artsline) and achieved the independence that it has been working towards over the past 8 years.
My name is Lisa Ommanney and I have recently joined Attitude is Everything as Project Manager. I will be overseeing this project along with Mandi Peers, the Mystery Shopping Coordinator. I have spent a number of years in venue management, and hope that my experience there will help me to be effective in my new role with Attitude is Everything. I am fully committed to improving access to live music, and am looking forward to working with you all towards this aim.
The Mystery Shopping Project is the keystone of our work. We have a team of Deaf and disabled ‘Mystery Shoppers’ across the UK who go to gigs, concerts and festivals for us and give us feedback on what they experience. It is these reports that inform our work with venues, both in the ongoing assessment of Charter venues and in discovering issues, both positive and negative, with other venues. We pass on feedback, helping venues to identify barriers and offering training and auditing services so that they may improve their access.
To become a Mystery Shopper, all you have to do is:
- Register
- Choose a gig (and check it with us)
- Book tickets - one for yourself and, if you’d like, one for a personal assistant
- Attend the event, fill in a Mystery Shopping form and email it to us along with an invoice for your tickets and travel expenses to get a refund.
There are 5 forms downloadable from the website:
The Registration Form
We’d like all of you, experienced shoppers and newcomers alike, to fill out a Registration form. We need this information in order to administrate the project effectively, contact you, and pay expenses etc.
The Equal Opportunities Form
We also request that you fill out an Equal Opportunities form, - we have been asked by our funders to track this information, and it will be treated as anonymous information and detached from your personal details. If you would prefer not to fill in the Equal Opportunities form you can return it blank.
The Mystery Shopping Form
For those of you who have shopped with us in the past, you will notice many differences between the new Mystery Shopping Form and the old version. There are a series of ‘Yes/No’ and ‘Marks out of 10’ questions at the start of the form, before the more familiar open questions. This is because we need to collect more numerical data from the forms. This will help us to analyse the results of each shop, measure improvements at venues and chart changes in national trends. The details of your experiences that you give us in response to the open questions are of huge interest to us. The more you tell us about the positive and negative elements of your experiences, the better. The more detail we can give in feedback to venues, the more chance they’ll have of making tangible improvements. Accompanying photographs are always welcome, - to show us specific barriers you’ve come across or examples of good practice.
The Festival Mystery Shopping Form
A totally new form, designed for use at festivals, including extra questions regarding camping facilities and barriers specific to outdoor events.
The Mystery Shopper Invoice Form
The invoice form should be used to claim back ticket and travel expenses from Mystery shops.
Please also read the ‘ Guide to the Mystery Shopping Form’, and ‘ FAQs’.
Please note: due to limited funds, each Mystery Shop has an expenses limit of £70; - this includes gig tickets and travel expenses for you and a personal assistant. We need to receive the form and any expenses claims within a maximum of a month of the event.
Ideally, we would like forms to be filled in using a computer, and e-mailed back to me: lisa@attitudeiseverything.org.uk . This is the fastest, safest and easiest way for us to receive information.* (If you would prefer to complete the form over the phone that’s fine). If you do not have access to a computer or the internet, you can of course send forms in the post. With the expenses form, you can email this back to us along with e-mail confirmations of tickets/travel. If you don’t have e-mail confirmation, you can digitally photograph (clear, in focus shots!), or scan tickets instead. If you do not have access to a digital camera or scanner then post the tickets along with a paper copy of the invoice, (but if possible, please still e-mail the actual mystery shopping form).
It is very important that you check with us before buying tickets for an event, gig or festival.
We have limited funds for the Mystery Shopping project so need to approve each ‘shop’ in advance. Also, some venues have been over-shopped already...
You can choose whatever local music venue or club you want to go to but we will be in touch on a monthly basis with suggestions of specific venues we would like to be shopped – for example new Charter venues. Note: If you don’t fill in the Mystery Shopping form or you only half fill it in, then you won’t get your expenses back!
If you have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to contact me in the office.
Happy Mystery Shopping!
Lisa Ommanney
Project Manager
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