The Toronto Star & The Hamilton Spectator - November 9, 2015, David Bateman

Just how early is too early for Christmas decorations? People across Canada have called for stores to respect Remembrance Day by leaving decorations down until Nov. 12. The requests are backed by a recent Sensors Quality Management survey of 500 people that found 78% think decorations shouldn’t go up until after Remembrance Day.

Featured on The Whole World or Nothing - June 26, 2016, Sarah & James

As budget travellers, we are always on the lookout for travel tips on how we can make our money go further, so we thought we’d share this really cooldeal with you where you can get 50% of your flight costs reimbursed by basically just filling out a questionnaire!

We’re sure most people have heard of mystery shopping but just in case you haven’t, it’s where a person uses a service incognito in order to assess its quality and provide feedback to the company. Simple right? And whilst we haven’t tried it out ourselves yet, Evaluate it by SQM seems to be just that. So if you fancy giving it a whirl and saving yourself some cash, here’s how in 5 easy steps:

1. Sign up to become a mystery shopper by completing an application form through their website – here. The form is very straight forward and easy to complete.
2. Search for and request any assignments that you are interested in – flight evaluation assignments come under the ‘Air Transportation’ category.
3. Complete the SQM/Airline Travel Agreement. This is the stage at which you will be paying upfront for the cost of the service you are reviewing i.e. flight and the bookings have to be made directly through SQM - you can pay by credit card or Paypal.
4. SQM will then email you your flight ticket and the evaluation document that you will be required to complete. This needs to be submitted within 72 hours of landing so gives you plenty of time.
5. Complete the evaluations documents and then SQM will reimburse 50% of the flight cost to either your credit card or your Paypal account. It really couldn’t be any simpler!

And if you’re not completely sold yet, here’s a few comments from people who have used the program:

"My experience with Evaluate It was a pleasant surprise. The questionnaire was easy to follow, and the report was very easy to fill in online. The cheque arrived so quickly! I look forward to participating again!!" Stephanie – Brampton, ON

"When I am planning a trip I always look to see what is available on the site before I book anything." Jackie – Kanata, ON

"What a great savings program, to have so much of my cost reimbursed so quickly, after traveling first class." Pat - London, Ontario

JUST A COUPLE OF ADDITIONAL POINTS OF USEFUL INFORMATION:

• The majority of mystery shopping opportunities for flights are within the USA and Canada, although there are some for Germany, China and South Korea.
• There are also tons of other mystery shopper assignments other than flights that you can request to do such as hotels, resorts, restaurants, train journeys, bus journeys and attractions.

So maybe you were going to the destination anyway? Or maybe it will allow you to travel somewhere you otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford to go to? Either way, who doesn’t want to save money. So get yourself signed up and see what takes your fancy! What are you waiting for?