Raleigh, NC. — December 18, 2005 — Elaine Buxton of Confero Inc. was featured in the News and Observer article “They Spy Lousy Service: Mystery shoppers Do Quality-Control Checks Surreptitiously. In the feature, correspondent Shade Elam Maret follows the work of a mystery shopper in the Raleigh area and describes how one regional bank based on Raleigh uses Confero’s mystery shopping services to improve service times and quality. “I was pleased to provide information for this important story about the mystery shopping industry and about how consumers may seek this type of work,” said Buxton.

About Confero:
Confero, Inc. is a customer experience measurements firm specializing in mystery shopping services and customer satisfaction surveys for retail, automotive, banking and food service businesses. Formed in 1986, Confero conducts mystery shops in the U.S., Canada and Japan using its over 130,000 independently contracted mystery shoppers. The firm is a charter member of the Mystery Shopping Providers Association (MSPA), is certified by Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) as a Woman-Owned business and is accredited by the Better Business Bureau.