Yesterday (November 17) at 4:37 pm I get 4 emails assigning me 4 shops due on November 12.

The shop guidelines tell me to make a "reasonable total purchase" to warrant me being offered a store credit card. It does say I can return the purchase on another day, but the fee is much less than I would accept a purchase and return shop. The description that you see when you apply for the shop says "Make a purchase and see if you are offered...(credit card). This just seems like setting up a huge loophole for the report to be denied if the associate doesn't offer the credit card.

I emailed the scheduler right away to clarify the dates and asking what they consider a reasonable total purchase amount but am feeling skeptical about getting a timely response. This is my first time to apply for shops with Ath Power, is this how they always do things? Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy....

In my experience, Ath is not a "sloppy" MSC. I haven't seen the particular shops that you're referring to; however on Sassie sites, I have seen situations where the due date is a past date, but it's just something that they've overlooked updating. They should be able to update that for you with no problem.

Also, IMO, $100 would probably be a reasonable purchase to warrant a credit card.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/2014 01:35PM by Tlt14.

Ath is not sloppy. Pretty straight toward shops. Generally beyond simple. And they do pay just fine.

I'm doing the same shop and I've determined that a reasonable purchase means at least one substantial item. For example, I purchased a large coffee grinder, along with five or six smaller purchases that totaled $65. I had to make sure one of the items is something I want to return. I had to prompt the cashier to offer credit and that is acceptable per the guidelines. The MSC just doesn't want you to purchase just a pack of gum or a bottle of soda. The purchase has to make sense as far as a credit card is concerned. I'm still in the midst of completing this shop and the most frustrating part, believe it or not, is the online customer service. It's terrible and I suspect, outsourced to a foreign country.

In my rush to get out the door this morning I was sloppy telling my story. Let me fill in the parts I left out.

The original available shop dates were November 11 - 15 and I applied to perform them on the 14th. On November 17, three days after the date I said I could do the shops, they are suddenly assigned to me late in the afternoon.

The shop description for these shops said - "$18 easy in store xxxxxx Shops. You must not be a current xxxxxxx (store credit card) holder. Make a purchase and see if you are offered to save 5% on your purchase by using a xxxxxx xxxxxxx (store credit card.)

Only after you are assigned the shop do you see that you must make a "reasonable total purchase". If there is a minimum that will be accepted they need to just state the amount. As stated it is way too vague and really gives the MSC a reason to reject the shop. (Oh, you didn't spend a reasonable amount so the client rejected the shop...)

I am not willing to buy something for $65 - $100 and return it another day. Returns are not allowed the same day. I will not do a purchase & return shop for $18. Had the requirements been made clear in the shop description I would not have applied for them.

It's been over 24 hours since I used the help/contact form to ask for some clarification. No one has responded.

Randomly assigning shops after the date the shopper applied for, ambiguous shop description that leaves out important information about the shop, vague shop requirement that opens the door for them to reject the shop, and no response to a help request...I think that is SLOPPY!

I find it pretty easy to drop $60+ at this store without purchasing anything I need to return. This is usually combined total purchases of groceries, household goods, clothing, etc. I would say they offer the card 75% of the time.

These shops are way worth it for the fee offered.
A return is not required, it is just a way to do the shop if you wanted to end up with $0 expenses if you didn't want to buy anything at the store.

Did you try using their online chat? They are online and available right now. (8:32PM EST)

Did you try calling them?


Picking up 4 shops all at once for a job you don't know all the details on and for an MSC that you have never worked for might not be the best option next time around.
Good Luck.

kethry24 Wrote:
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> These shops are way worth it for the fee offered.


To me they are not. And that's the cool thing about mystery shopping - we all can choose the shops that are worth it to us. Unless the true shop requirements are not revealed until after you've been assigned the shop.

I am in the process of doing this shop too. I only spent $20..that was fine.

My problem is with the report. Have to load pdf's of the marketing materials. The one page loads are fine but on the two or more page loads and I get an error report from their system saying I can only load one picture.

I reached out for help by email. I got an "out of the office" reply and it said to contact another assistant, which I did but have not heard back yet.

Has anyone else tried to load the 2 pages of the privacy notice?

BeachBumness I don't think we were assigned the same shop. I've looked at the actual report and they only ask for the receipt. There is a question that asks if I was given additional promotional items and asks me to list the items. That's it. For the PDF problem can you go back to your photo editing program and stitch the 2 pages into 1? Sometimes I do this and will draw a thick line in-between the 2 items. I've even written descriptions in the margins if I think it needs more clarification.

I'm really frustrated with this company right now. I sent another email yesterday evening and still haven't heard anything back.

I've never flaked on a shop before and I'm not going to start now. I hope you are right about the $20 purchase being sufficient. When I applied for the shops I was planning to use them to get stocking stuffers with the $18 fee anyway.

How long does Ath take to review a shop?

Too late to help you on this report (sorry!), but next time you have to put multiple pages into one PDF try copying the scans into a Word document. PDF is one of the types of files you can save as. I've done this a couple of times and never had anything come back.