Being Mystery Customers is neither a Walk in the Park nor a Free Lunch (Part 1)

Being Mystery Customers is neither a Walk in the Park nor a Free Lunch (Part 1)

Customer service means everything. Thanks to the internet, customers could always look for alternatives when they are dissatisfied with the shopping experience. Service providers in the-customer-is-always-right era are required to provide their service “package” – product quality plus customer service – of high standard. For the management teams striving to keep their standard up, our impartial and extensive Mystery Customers service might give you insights to outlast your competitors.

Flexibility – We Adopt Different Roles to Maximise the Result

The purpose of a Mystery Customer report is to dig out the root of the problems and thus uproot them cost-effectively. Traditional reports and discreet surveillance present only the outline of the frontline staffs’ performance, that is undoubtedly insufficient for a thorough revamp. Our wide-ranging investigators are trained to inspect the environment and interact with the staff in a subtle but inclusive manner. We could adopt different roles from individual customers, couples, a group of friends, family… etc. The client could therefore assess how the targeted staff members react to different groups of customers. The flexibility of our team also secures their secret identities in order to blend in with different circumstances.

Diversity – We Expand Our Service to Look into Every Detail

Besides face-to-face communications, online and phone interactions are two evident factors determining the rating of a company. As often happens, disputes arose when the supporting team was being “unhelpful” to the customers. We therefore do not limit our service to the tangible part – our broadened scope of investigation covers the pre- and after-sales supports of a particular product or service. The well-received hybrid method looks into the attitude, appearance, sales technique, enthusiasm, competence and product knowledge of the staff members involved in the targeted service system. By reviewing the strengths and weaknesses of each aspect from a wider perspective, you may constantly improve the standard of service and benchmark the performance against that of your competitors.

Adaptability – We Balance the Customer-Investigator Mindset Just Right

The growing trend of companies engaging quality agents to assess their own staff is observed due to the stiff marketing competition among the industries. Considering the risk of exposing the identity, taking on a mystery shopping task is always far more challenging than conducting regular surveillance operations. A competent Mystery Customer should be able to find the perfect balance between playing the convincing role as a customer and being inquisitive enough for the operation. Our investigator understands the importance of asking the right questions in a given situation based on long-term training in various investigation fields. This ability also comes from our investigators’ habit of conducting thorough preparation beforehand concerning the targeted service and product.

It is our pleasure to have your attention caught until the end of this article. Nonetheless, the introduction of our Mystery Customer service has not yet come to an end. Stay tuned for more interesting stories about mystery shopping until the next blog article. Should you have any concerns regarding our services, please feel free to contact us here for further discussion.

Beyond Limits – The All-round Field Investigations

Beyond Limits – The All-round Field Investigations

Have you ever thought about what field investigation looks like? Some people may think that it is simply about following somebody’s tracks on the street like what we see in movies. However, that’s only partially true.

The Ever-changing Conditions – Tackle the Problems with the Best Tactic

No one will deny that the world keeps changing every day and so do people’s lifestyles. The same approach of surveillance in the past years may already be behind the times nowadays. We understand it clearly, so we keep honing our skills and methods to keep track of social trends. Our surveillance services are not only for tracking people down, but also conducting thorough research online / offline, and collecting intelligence in different forms for record. The surveillance services can also be tailor-made for clients depending on their requests and situations.

For instance, COVID-19 has been rampant in recent years around the world. In Hong Kong, the government has implemented a series of prevention policies regarding the pandemic situation, such as having enforced (previously) the measures of wearing electronic wristbands and staying in the residence for those tested positive.

In one of our cases, the subject claimed to be infected with the disease and that he could not go outside. However, upon our research, it was found that the Subject had posted on social media about himself going out during the time where he supposedly had to stay home. Eventually, our surveillance during the same period captured him leaving the residence for work and social activities. It turned out that the Subject had provided false evidence of being contracted with the virus to avoid appearing in court.

Look into Details – We Don’t Miss a Hint

No matter if you are going to commence legal proceedings regarding matrimonial issues, family problems or labour disputes, you should gather as much evidence as possible to support your lawsuit. Field surveillance service is there to help you collect reliable records, including but not limited to the visuals collected during the surveillance and the information dug out during the research.

Apart from conducting surveillance on an individual, our service can also provide great help if you intend to learn more about a specific working environment. In one of our previous cases, our investigators were instructed to check up on a warehouse in a remote area. With discreet action, we eventually obtained crucial information about the location such as the storage companies that rented the place, the approximate number of related vehicles operating there as well as a general layout of the area. Our service result gave our client a better understanding of the targeted place, which in turn helped them gauge whether there was any unauthorized use of property in the location.

Bold but Prudent – Our Reliable Surveillance Service

Field surveillance service is an essential way for you to collect intelligence on the subject, which would be strong evidence in a legal proceeding. Our detail-minded investigators never miss any tiny point and always keep an eye on social trends to polish our surveillance service approaches. Should you have an interest in the Field Surveillance Service, please do not hesitate to contact us here for in-depth discussion.

How to Deliver Legal Documents to Someone Who Is elusive?

How to Deliver Legal Documents to Someone Who Is elusive?

Have you ever thought that delivering legal documents can sometimes be tricky? Sure, the delivery might be simple if the information is accurate and the recipient is cooperative. But what if the subject is intentionally evading contact? In that case, process serving service is what you need.

What should I do if the legal documents are refused?

Whenever you are going to commence a legal proceeding regarding a matrimonial order, bankruptcy petition or rent notice to plaintiff’s claims, you should first deliver a formal notice to the counter party for them to respond.

Some people may think that it would be fine to serve the documents themselves or simply find a courier to do so. But it is not true. Serving legal documents should be in compliance with a bundle of legal requirements and court rules, and a competent process server can help you out on the issue.

Nonetheless, somebody may rack their brains just to avoid receiving the documents by moving out from the reported residential address, disclaiming their real identity or simply running away when the document is at their doorstep to pretend that they have not received anything and refuse to respond. Encountering such an impasse, does it mean that giving up is the only option for us? Definitely not.

Process serving is more than delivering documents

If you think that process serving is just a synonym for the word “delivery”, that would be a huge misunderstanding. You should consider yourself lucky if the legal documents can be handed to the defendant smoothly even with accurate and sufficient information. But, more often than not, missing contact information and an uncooperative subject will hinder the legal proceedings. Therefore, process serving service is here to help you out for the lawsuit and save your time and effort from the chaos.

With the aim of serving the legal documents to the subject, various preparation works should be done to obtain relevant information carefully. First, we should gather as much relevant information as we can via background checks in order to identify and locate the subject. The media and internet searches can also help us understand more about the subject’s whereabouts and plan for the next actions. Once we obtain some necessary information, surveillance and visits will be conducted to observe the area and the subject’s pattern of daily lives to ensure that the papers can be served successfully during the attempts. Process servers will then serve the legal documents to the subject based on the verified information and the legal proceedings can commence afterwards.

Persevere through the obstacles

Our experience tells us that some uncooperative subjects would run away directly, or the people they are with would help obstruct the attempts to serve the documents. Alternatively, the subjects might blatantly lie and claim to be someone else. Sometimes physical confrontation might even happen such as the subjects throwing the served documents back to the process servers.

Notwithstanding the difficult situations, our experienced process servers can harness their honed skills and knowledge to complete the tasks. With thorough preparation for different kinds of scenarios, the subject’s possible reactions are usually within our expectation to be dealt with.

It is also part of our team’s expertise to record the process serving action clearly, which can serve as important evidence to be presented in court. With our work, our client can handle the legal procedure afterwards with more ease.

Our service pledge – Serve your documents safe and sound

Professional process serving plays an indispensable role in the legal proceedings. Our experienced process servers are dedicated to serving every single document safe and sound. Should you encounter any problem with serving legal documents or be interested in the process serving service, please do not hesitate to contact us here for further discussion and detailed plans.

Suspect your partner’s affair? How to find evidence of the affair?

How to find out if your partner is cheating

Being in love and getting married is a wonderful, magical time and yet too many people walk into their wedding without being properly prepared. Getting married is one of the most important decisions you will ever make. And like any important decision, you don’t want to make it without all the information.

Herald offers matrimonial investigative services to compile evidence of infidelity for you, hence uncover the truth behind your suspicions.

How to tell if your partner is cheating – what are the signs?

There is no definitive checklist, but we’d all like to think that we know the person we’ve chosen to spend our time with inside-out. When it feels like something just isn’t quite right, it may not be a bad idea to follow your gut.

Here are a few things to look out for:

  1. Drastic changes in physical intimacy
  2. Your partner is frequently unreachable
  3. Unexpected changes in schedules
  4. Your mutual friends are acting weird
  5. Lack of emotional intimacy
  6. Your partner is inexplicably defensive
  7. Unexplained expenses
  8. Your partner spends a lot of time away from you
  9. Catching your partner in lies
  10. Your partner is hiding their phone

Of course, there may be perfectly reasonable explanations for any of the above! That’s why you need a team of experienced surveillance experts to do the hard work for you.

Find out if your partner is cheating

Should you choose to use our services, Herald will deploy a surveillance team to track down your partner’s behaviour and activities, ultimately concluding whether or not the subject is being unfaithful. Surveillance is centred on the notion of discretion, so all of the actions will be subtle and go unnoticed by your partner.

In the circumstances of unfavourable findings – that is, should we conclude that the subject is, in fact, being unfaithful – the team will compile comprehensive evidence, for instances, photographs, videos and other types of records. If you wish to proceed with a divorce, this intelligence could serve as indisputable evidence in court to benefit your case.

Child custody

One of the more difficult aspects of divorce proceedings, fighting for custody of children requires extensive evidence to back up claims of infidelity and to gain sole custody. While the issue is incredibly sensitive for both the children and the parents, professional and discreet surveillance is key in ensuring that the investigation is conducted the right way for legal purposes. 

Final thoughts on how to tell if your partner is cheating

As mentioned, simply being suspicious isn’t enough to be able to confidently determine that your partner is having an affair. Whether your gut instinct is right or you end up being overly paranoid, it’s always best to know what’s really going on – if my partner cheated on me, I’d certainly want to know. And if you want to uncover the truth, consulting professional service, like ours, will allow you to protect yourself and go about things the right way. For further details of matrimonial investigative services, please do not hesitate to contact us here.

What should I do if my copyrighted work has been stolen or counterfeited?

What should I do if my copyrighted work has been stolen or counterfeited?

No matter if you are a content writer, designer, musician, or working in any type of enterprise, it is surely hard seeing your established brand and hard work being infringed or, even worse, taken for free. For local companies in Hong Kong, valuable business assets are all protected by the Intellectual Property (IP) Department, such as registered trademarks, copyrights, patents, designs and even trade secrets. Imagine how copyright infringement could impact your business, brand reputation and revenue stream if you keep letting go of the ownership of your creative content.

Before taking legal action…

In the most ideal situation, you successfully contact the alleged infringer and set things out. Think over asking them to take down the infringements, make compensation, or negotiate for additional authorization. If consensus could be reached privately to avoid any legal disputes, of course, it would be the best-case scenario. However, things often go beyond expectations. If the other party is unwilling to cooperate, or the severity of the situation has turned way too unacceptable, resorting to the law is always the most effective way to protect your intellectual property rights and interests.

However, before seeking professional legal support or going to court, you must double-check whether you have all the necessary and relevant evidence. The more information you have on hand, the better your odds in court. On the contrary, if you obtain legal help without sufficient information, chances are even the finest lawyers would not be able to help you win the lawsuit. If you lose the case, not only will your intellectual property rights be lost, but you will also be responsible for covering related legal costs. Therefore, a thorough investigation is the ultimate tip for success in the courtroom.

How can an infringement investigation help you win a copyright lawsuit?

Hiring a professional investigation team to provide you with strong evidence is definitely the most foolproof and wisest choice. Herald’s team conducts all-around intellectual property investigations by carefully looking through the background of the target company to search for relevant evidence that improves your odds of winning.

1. Target Company Background Check

Having a comprehensive grasp of the target company’s background indicates a more thorough understanding of the business concerned. From its address, scale, business nature, structure, source of funds to financial status and persons involved, etc, we collect every information needed for not only the court case but also for the formation of a long-term plan for future intellectual property protection. 

2. Business Site Visits/Approaches

As the saying goes: “​​know thy enemy,” our investigators can help inspect the working and office environment of the target company on-site to collect first-hand information on the spot. By analyzing the company’s operations and business modes, you can have a better understanding, especially the concerned infringing products or content. This also allows our team to assess your potential revenue losses due to copyright infringement.

3. Market Survey

In addition to on-site inspections, investigators will also spend time on online intelligence, from websites to social media platforms and e-commerce marketplaces, to collect significant evidence for the intellectual property infringement case. This would help to track down the selling process of the infringed goods with more insight into the target company’s customer base and supply chain.

4. Surveillance

The situation iIn the process of following up on copyright infringement cases is ever-changing. As so, to make sure you are always getting hold of the latest information, our professional investigation team will closely monitor the persons involved in the case and collect business information by paying attention to every move of the target company. You can expect to have the most updated information whenever something new happens.

Copyright infringement is a serious crime in Hong Kong. Upon conviction, the maximum penalty is imprisonment for 4 years with a fine of HK$500,000. Therefore, as with other crimes, when dealing with intellectual property infringement, you should take the case seriously and be fully prepared to fight for the best possible outcome. Before harnessing the power of a property lawyer’s legal representation, you could always benefit from hiring an experienced investigation team to collect relevant evidence for you.

Contact Us

If you are suffering from copyright infringement and wish to maximize the protection of your brand image and intellectual property rights, you are more than welcome to contact us. 

Herald’s distinguished investigators are here to cater to all your needs. By providing advice and formulating long-term response strategies with the collection of key evidence, we strive to help you achieve litigation success.