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2008-12-31  DIVE Group aquired majority stake of polish MS company Ad-Hoc

Baltic capital company DIVE Group is proud to announce that it has successfully acquired a majority share stake of Polish specialized Mystery Shopping Company AdHoc and DIVE Group as of 2009 has coverage in 4 countries: Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland. After acquisition, new Polish branch operates under Dive-AdHoc name. Having merged the services provided by both Companies, a full package of services aimed at the customer service quality improvement was formed, it also facilitated the possibility of conducting of large-scale 4 country surveys and application of unified research quality standards throughout the 4 countries. Jurgita Adomaityte, CEO of DIVE Group ascertains: "Acquisition is beneficial to both companies, as well as to clients of both. The Dive-Adhoc company will function in a larger market with greater capacities and will be able to render operative services and actively implement education projects about customer service management for clients. In such a way - facilitating the development of its clients âÀ“ Dive-AdHoc will attempt to improve the quality of customer service in the represented region and beyond". In Poland Dive-AdHoc has over 1100 professional, specially selected and trained Mystery Shoppers. On the Group level the amount is more than 4000 shoppers.  Alike to all DIVE Group branches, Dive-AdHoc in its work also applies the Shopmetrics system, which is one of the best specialized service quality research systems in the world. Dive-AdHoc is OFBOR certified in PKJPA - Interviewer Quality Control Program (category of Mystery Shopping). DIVE Group is open for challenges and fosters ambitions to further extend its business boundaries. Company aims at becoming the largest service quality improvement company in the Central and Eastern European as well as Scandinavian markets.

2007-10-15 Two leading Mystery Shopping Companies "SPECT" and "DIVE Baltic" merged in October 2007

On 2 October two leading specialized Mystery Shopping Companies "SPECT" and "DIVE Baltic" merged into the "SPECT-DIVE" Company. Now this is the largest specialized service quality improvement Company in the whole Baltic region. Due to experience and merger of the accumulated know-how of the above mentioned two companies, in addition to the highest quality Mystery Shopping services the Mystery Shopping Company "SPECT-DIVE" will be able to offer its clients a considerably larger package of quality improvement services. The setting up of the "SPECT-DIVE" Company is an outcome of attempts of "SPECT" and "DIVE" Companies to extend their business markets. When "SPECT", which already enjoys strong positions in Lithuania, entered the Latvian market, "Dive", which was active in Latvian and Estonian markets, was trying to expand itself in Lithuania, and consequently the most favorable solution for both the Companies was to join their forces, rather than compete.

2007-09-01 Jurgita Adomaityte, CEO of SPECT, was elected for MSPA Europe Board Director position

After election procedure held in 2007 summer, CEO of SPECT Jurgita Adomaityte was voted into MSPA Europe Board Director position. Besides the general duties of regulating Mystery Shopping standards of professionalism and ethics, Jurgita was appointed to become Director of Education.   MSPA is the largest professional trade association dedicated to improving service quality using anonymous resources. More information about MSPA Board you can find: http://www.mspa-eu.org/about/board.php

2007-05-30 SPECT participated in annual MSPA Conference in Moscow, Russia (2007)

On the 23-25 of May 2007 SPECT represented Lithuania in the annual MSPA Europe (Mystery Shopping Providers Association Europe) Conference. This year Conference was held in Moscow, Russia. Every year representatives from MSPA member companies gather at the annual MSPA Conference where they can not only learn but also share new ideas, knowledge and good practices about Mystery Shopping, its standards, methodic, as well as international development trends. More information (and photos) about this and other MSPA conferences can be found: http://mspa-eu.org/events

2007-04-02 MYSTERY SHOPPING PROVIDERS ASSOCIATION SUPPORTS FTC'S CHARGES AGAINST FRAUDULENT MYSTERY SHOPPING SERVICE

The Mystery Shopping Providers Association, the largest professional trade association dedicated to improving service quality using anonymous resources, supports the Federal Trade Commission's recent action against Mystery Shop Link and the Tangent Group. Mystery Shop Link is not and has never been affiliated with the MSPA, and the MSPA does not support the practices of which the company has been accused. The FTC filed deceptive practices and contempt charges against Mystery Shop Link on March 22, which promised consumers hundreds of dollars in income for conducting mystery shopping exercises. According to the FTC, consumers were charged a $99.95 fee for training and to obtain mystery shopping job opportunities. In reality, those who paid the fee had no advantage over others interested in the same opportunities who accessed the information for free, according to the FTC. The MSPA has cooperated with the FTC in its investigation of Mystery Shop Link and encourages the FTC to continue investigating all mystery shopping-related scams. The MSPA believes mystery shoppers should not have to pay to find mystery shopping assignments. The association's 200 member companies around the globe are required to follow a strict code of ethics that prohibits them from charging mystery shoppers a fee or misleading applicants on actual mystery shopping assignment opportunities. The MSPA has taken steps to warn consumers about this and other mystery shopping scams. 'The MSPA is committed to maintaining the integrity of the mystery shopping industry and will continue to denounce the practices of fraudulent and deceptive companies that use mystery shopping as a cover to take advantage of people,' said John Swinburn, Executive Director, MSPA. 'The MSPA is also taking action to combat other mystery shopping scams, particularly scams involving an unsolicited cashier's check.' Mystery shopping is a growing field servicing nearly every consumer industry, including restaurants, retail stores, hotels and resorts, travel and tourism, banks and financial service providers, convenience stores, grocery stores and other consumer locations. Legitimate mystery shopping is the practice of using educated, experienced shoppers to anonymously evaluate the customer experience. Businesses use the information to monitor and improve the customer experience. For more information about the MSPA and its stance on mystery shopping scams, visit http://www.mysteryshop.org/index-na.php. More information about the FTC's charges can be found at http://ftc.gov/opa/2007/03/mysteryshop.htm. Additional advice from the FTC about how to ensure the legitimacy of mystery shopping opportunities before pursuing them may be found at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/mysteryalrt.htm. About the MSPA With more than 200 member companies worldwide, the MSPA (www.mysteryshop.org) has a diverse membership, including marketing research and merchandising companies, private investigation firms, training organizations and companies that specialize in providing mystery shopping services. Its goals are to establish professional standards and ethics for the industry, educate providers, clients and shoppers to improve quality of service, improve the image of the industry and promote the membership to other industry associations and prospect clients.

2007-02-01 SPECT was given MSPA full member status

Finally after working in the field criteria was reached SPECT was given MSPA full member status. MSPA is the largest professional trade association dedicated to improving service quality using anonymous resources. The MSPA is a group of individual organizations united as a common body for the purpose of strengthening the mystery shopping industry through combined efforts and actions. It is the goal of the membership to improve and stimulate the acceptance, performance, reputation and use of mystery shopping services. With over 225 member companies worldwide, association's diverse membership includes marketing research and merchandising companies, private investigation firms, training organizations and companies that specialize in providing mystery shopping services. More information about MSPA: http://www.mspa-eu.org For additional information you can contact MSPA Europe representative Nikky Alkemade: europe@mysteryshop.org

2006-10-18 SPECT was the first company in history that has represented Lithuania at the annual Northern American Mystery Shopping conference!

On the 8th - 10th of October 2006 in New York annual Mystery Shopping Conference was held. New York City - the capital of commerce in North America - was the ideal place for an event like this that deals with topics like customer service, customer experience, and measuring performance. 160 attendants gathered from all over the world - not only from North America, but from Asia, Europe, South America as well. It was the first time in the history when Lithuania was represented at the annual Northern American Mystery Shopping conference. It was represented by Jurgita Adomaityte, CEO of SPECT. More information (and photos) about this and other MSPA conferences can be found: http://www.mysteryshop.org/events

2006-07-19 SPECT has created the first e-forum for SPECT Mystery Shoppers and general publics for discussions about Mystery Shopping

Fluent inter-communication is a key to the success of every organization. In order to have a stronger and better internal and external communication SPECT has introduced innovation - the first specialized e-forum for discussions about Mystery Shopping. Public categories of the e-forum are meant not only for SPECT Mystery Shoppers but for general publics as well. Address of the e-forum: http://www.slaptaspirkejas.lt/forum

2006-05-18 Mystery Shopping experts gather in Dubrovnik from all over the world

Experts from the worldwide business of mystery shopping gathered in Dubrovnik from 10 -12th May 2006 to discuss what builds excellent service and how to measure and improve it. More than 120 delegates, including members of the Mystery Shopping Providers Association (MSPA) from 30 different countries, met to discuss a range of topics of importance to the industry. Beside that, the first reference book about Mystery Shopping for clients was presented. Francois Leaute, President of MSPA Europe, said, "This conference is our largest yet, and demonstrates the growing importance of excellent customer service in markets across Europe". Holding the conference in Croatia is acknowledgement of the growing importance of customer service in the developing retail world of Eastern Europe. Traditional levels of hospitality are being incorporated into International service standards to ensure that customers receive the best of all worlds. David Rich, President of the MSPA in the USA, said, "Americans have a lot to learn from European service. We have been happy to hear more about how mystery shopping techniques are being applied in an European context." During the conference a number of client companies presented case studies showing how they use mystery shopping in different industries and countries. A financial services client led a workshop with the goal of identifying challenges which clients face when using mystery shopping, and how can MSPA help them. At the conference, a survey quantifying the value of the mystery shopping market was presented along with forecasts of future growth. One of mystery shoppers presented how it is to be a mystery shopper. In a major announcement a planned programme of certification of European mystery shoppers was announced. Building on an established American programme, MSPA Europe believe that he programme will be important in recognizing mystery shopping as a professional occupation, not just a hobby. The first book about Mystery Shopping, written for companies - mystery shopping users, students, media, mystery shopping providers and general public was introduced. "Measuring Management and The Moment of Truth" - the meaning with the book is that it shall work both as educational material as well as a reference book for companies that plan to start or that already continuously use Mystery Shopping, a proven tool for customer service measurement. More information about the book and there you can obtain it: www.measuringmanagement.com The MSPA Europe Conference was held with the benefit of sponsorship from the Croatian Ministry of Economy. Mystery shopping can be defined as the use of individuals trained/briefed to experience and measure any customer service process, by acting as potential customers/actual customers and in some ways reporting back on their experiences in a detailed and objective way. MSPA is the largest professional trade association dedicated to improving service quality using anonymous resources. Today MSPA have more than 260 member companies worldwide. Member companies work with their clients to establish mechanisms to measure and improve levels of service. More information on MSPA at: www.mspa-eu.org This was the third MSPA conference for Jurgita Adomaityte, CEO of SPECT (Slapto pirkejo tyrimai, UAB). She was the only participant from Lithuanian MSPA members. SPECT - is the first and only specialized Mystery Shopping Provider in Lithuania that has over 300 professional Mystery ShopperâÀ™s network around Lithuania. In 2005 November 17th SPECT has organized the Conference about Mystery Shopping in Lithuania (more information on: http://www.spect.lt/en/spect/news).

2006-04-20 SPECT made presentation at the second conference "Good Customer Service Day"

Project gerasaptarnavimas.lt (engl. goodservice.lt) has organized the second regular conference "Good Customer Service Day" where very important issues of good customer service in Lithuania were discussed: from service quality, its importance, criteria determination to problems and possibilities of effective customer service management. SPECT has become a partner of this project and CEO of SPECT, Jurgita Adomaityte, gave a speech on effective customer service management. Jurgita focused on the methods for customer service management, gave real-life examples of how these methods help companies increase the quality of customer service, the performance of the company, and reach better financial results. Over a hundred participants of the conference represented various business sectors. Find out more about the conference on the project's gerasaptarnavimas.lt website: http://www.gerasaptarnavimas.lt/?411

2005-11-21 SPECT organized the first educational conference about Mystery Shopping in Lithuania

SPECT, the first and only specialized Mystery Shopping Company in Lithuania, on the 17th of November organized educational conference about the customer service itself and its improvement and management tool - Mystery Shopping. The title of the Conference was - "Does Mystery Shopping help to earn more?". Such topic was discussed in a public Conference here in Lithuania for the first time; therefore more than a hundred companies participated. The Conference gave a unique opportunity for listeners to identify the importance of a good customer service, understand its management difficulties, analyze professional tools that can have great influence on service quality improvement, gain innovative knowledge which can help organizations to increase their performance. "After entering EU Lithuania faces a rapid penetration of demand for high quality service. Lithuanian business can not sleep longer and has to react accordingly. Less and less the offers of the competing companies differ in price and benefits, more and more high quality customer service becomes the key competitive advantage" - claims CEO of SPECT Jurgita Adomaityte. Mystery Shopping professional standards, various methods, and international development trends were presented at the conference as well. Mystery Shopping exists for more than 70 years already. During recent 10 years it has become a very popular, effective and commonly applied tool in western countries. To get better acquainted with this type of research and its international situation SPECT invited honored guest and speaker from the Netherlands - Cees Wiegel. According Mr. Wiegel, Europe has already lived through the stages of Mystery Shopping "birth" and development, now it faces the stage of later maturity where Mystery Shopping becomes not only company, but also global customer service orientated research tool. This conference was a perfect medium for sharing new ideas, knowledge and good practices among its participants, because three representatives of SPECT client companies introduced their own experience, benefits and return on investment while using Mystery Shopping. Jurgita Adomaityte predicts that this type of research is going to become more important here in Lithuania as well. Not only for reason it helps to improve the quality of customer service and raises sales volume for business, but also because Mystery Shopping improves the quality of Lithuanians everyday life and makes the better image of Lithuania as a country. Therefore the success of Mystery Shopping development here in Lithuania rises into a higher level of importance.

2005-05-30 SPECT was given with MSPA candidate status

Since its establishment SPECT applied international professional and ethical standards of Mystery Shopping, actively promoted general awareness about benefits and good practices of anonymous evaluation. Because of listed reasons during annual MSPA Europe Conference in Stockholm (Sweden) SPECT was given with MSPA candidate status. Shortly, after two year working in the field criteria is reached, SPECT will be eligible for regular MSPA membership. MSPA is the largest professional trade association dedicated to improving service quality using anonymous resources. The MSPA is a group of individual organizations united as a common body for the purpose of strengthening the mystery shopping industry through combined efforts and actions. It is the goal of the membership to improve and stimulate the acceptance, performance, reputation and use of mystery shopping services. With over 225 member companies worldwide, association's diverse membership includes marketing research and merchandising companies, private investigation firms, training organizations and companies that specialize in providing mystery shopping services. More information about MSPA: http://www.mspa-eu.org For additional information you can contact MSPA Europe representative Nikky Alkemade: europe@mysteryshop.org

2005-05-30 SPECT is the only company from Lithuania that took part in the annual MSPA Conference in Stockholm (2005)

SPECT was the only company from Lithuania that on the 25-27 of May 2005 took part in the annual MSPA Europe (Mystery Shopping Providers Association Europe) Conference. This year Conference was held in Stockholm, Sweden. Every year representatives from MSPA member companies gather at the annual MSPA Conference where they can not only learn but also share new ideas, knowledge and "good practices" about Mystery Shopping, its standards, methodic, as well as international development trends. More information (and photos) about this and other MSPA conferences can be found: http://www.mspa-eu.org/events