Those privileged enough to have crossed the threshold of a luxury boutique, hotel or car dealership will generally have had an unforgettable experience, in which their dreams, the promise made by the brand, and reality merge into one. Total availability, passion for the brand or for service, special attention (drinks service, valet parking, VIP lounge), courtesy, recognition, and prestige. These are the codes of luxury that no brand with a claim to excellence can afford to ignore. Unfortunately, sometimes customers get quite the opposite: an undignified reception, unsuitable propositions, violated codes. In this case, the betrayed customer may react in various ways - desertion, boycott and a desire to smear the brand's name - all of which can have devastating effects. To guard against this, the major luxury brands make regular use of mystery shoppers, whose mission is to observe and report on customer service. They are the key informants on the realities of the luxury sales industry. What you are about to discover in the following pages are a few of these mystery shopper accounts. Those, at least, which the corporate clients had not protected by a confidentiality clause...