Has anyone else had interactions with Pay Quicker?

Ace Mystery Shopping is going with them instead of checks now (must have gotten a better deal than Pay Pal offered!)

I went in as soon as I got the notice from ACE to sign up for an account, and had some questions. Used their live chat which worked well, then the persona asked if he could call me directly. I point blank said no if you are going to try to sell me something. He assured me he had nothing to sell. He answered all questions and stated that they love ACE and want to make sure all thier clients (that's us) are served well and promptly. Asked me to tell everyone about Pay Quicker. I told him he could be assured that if the service was not satisfactory there would be ALOT of shoppers that would know about it quickly!

Any comments out there?

I don't want to change to something I know nothing about.

Irene_L.A. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't want to change to something I know nothing
> about.


Agreed. They want a lot of personal info and essentially set up a bank account. I have two personal bank accounts and an 8 year old PayPal account that I trust implicitly.

I will no longer accept jobs for ACE unless paper checks are provided as an option.

That is just way too weird. I've seen too many online pay services go under (RME anyone?) and be problematic (AlertPay, etc) over the years to find this acceptable

I'm glad you spoke with the staff at PayQuicker. We have been working with them for several months and have gotten to know them quite well. And you're right, we did get a better deal than with PayPal - a better deal for the shoppers too!

We chose PayQuicker over Pay Pal because:

1) Pay Quicker is tied to an actual bank account that is FDIC insured. PayPal is NOT FDIC insured. It's your choice whether or not you "link" your own bank to it.

2) Pay Pal is NOT free. If you sell on Ebay or have a business account, Pay Pal will deduct a portion of your check if you are a recipient of a mass payment. When we send a mass payment via Pay Pal, it charges us for that transaction, as well. We have used Pay Pal in the past and found that shoppers complained because of this.

3) Pay Quicker is more economical for our company. It's fast, convenient and most of all free to shoppers. We have an agreement with Pay Quicker to pay your ACH transfer fee for you so you pay nothing to transfer funds to your account.

4) We have many shoppers who can not have a bank account for various reasons. Pay Quicker eliminates that problem, giving shoppers that previously couldn't have a bank account, a real account where they can write checks, send money, have a debit card, etc.

5) This is a big one!!!! Working with Independent Contractors, we have laws that must be followed. PayQuicker offers the only way that we can follow federal regulations regarding shopper’s pay. For example, if a shopper signs up with different alias’ and received 5 different payments from us, we do not have a way to track that by address and would be in default of the federal laws to report their earnings as the same person. So, to be compliant with laws we really need to use a company that will take the security measures that we currently don’t have the resources to do ourselves. Not to mention this is also a fraud prevention tactic.

I encourage everyone remain positive and keep an open mind as we clear the path for a new and better way to pay our shoppers. We value our shoppers so we would never do anhyting to negatively impact our relationship with them. We have been advised the the Pay Quicker staff will be on stand by waiting to help shoppers with any questions they may have. We trust them completely.

Thanks,

Julie Simbro
ACE Mystery Shopping

Julie, your reasoning is sound on this. It may be difficult getting shoppers to switch to a new service, though. I wish you luck!

JulieACE Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm glad you spoke with the staff at PayQuicker.
> We have been working with them for several months
> and have gotten to know them quite well. And
> you're right, we did get a better deal than with
> PayPal - a better deal for the shoppers too!
>
> We chose PayQuicker over Pay Pal because:
>
> 1) Pay Quicker is tied to an actual bank account
> that is FDIC insured. PayPal is NOT FDIC insured.
> It's your choice whether or not you "link" your
> own bank to it.
>
> 2) Pay Pal is NOT free. If you sell on Ebay or
> have a business account, Pay Pal will deduct a
> portion of your check if you are a recipient of a
> mass payment. When we send a mass payment via Pay
> Pal, it charges us for that transaction, as well.
> We have used Pay Pal in the past and found that
> shoppers complained because of this.
>
> 3) Pay Quicker is more economical for our company.
> It's fast, convenient and most of all free to
> shoppers. We have an agreement with Pay Quicker to
> pay your ACH transfer fee for you so you pay
> nothing to transfer funds to your account.
>
> 4) We have many shoppers who can not have a bank
> account for various reasons. Pay Quicker
> eliminates that problem, giving shoppers that
> previously couldn't have a bank account, a real
> account where they can write checks, send money,
> have a debit card, etc.
>
> 5) This is a big one!!!! Working with Independent
> Contractors, we have laws that must be followed.
> PayQuicker offers the only way that we can follow
> federal regulations regarding shopper’s pay. For
> example, if a shopper signs up with different
> alias’ and received 5 different payments from us,
> we do not have a way to track that by address and
> would be in default of the federal laws to report
> their earnings as the same person. So, to be
> compliant with laws we really need to use a
> company that will take the security measures that
> we currently don’t have the resources to do
> ourselves. Not to mention this is also a fraud
> prevention tactic.
>
> I encourage everyone remain positive and keep an
> open mind as we clear the path for a new and
> better way to pay our shoppers. We value our
> shoppers so we would never do anhyting to
> negatively impact our relationship with them. We
> have been advised the the Pay Quicker staff will
> be on stand by waiting to help shoppers with any
> questions they may have. We trust them
> completely.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Julie Simbro
> ACE Mystery Shopping

Julie,
Has this affected the paper checks that were to be mailed on the 9th? I am not sure I want another "bank" account. Please rethink this and give us an alternative payment option.

Hello Folks!

My name is Steve Manetta and I am VP of Business Development at PayQuicker.

First let me offer that I am available to speak to anyone with questions, concerns or comments about PayQuicker. I can be reached at 866-400-2712 ext 103.

We've agreed to partner with ACE because of their reputation in the industry, personal integrity and our belief that they see PayQuicker as a Payee-centric payment platform.

All of the issues you raise here are valid, and exactly why we created PayQuicker. We were originally developing a marketing service in the Affiliate Network Marketing industry. We were completely dissatisfied with the payment options out there, whether banks or online payment platforms. Our funds were frozen on a whim, our money wasn't insured or protected, fees were high, etc.

The old paradigm was for payees to provide their personal and banking information to the company that was to pay them so you could get your payment. We've shifted the paradigm so that each payee, through their PayQuicker account can manage and maintain there own personal and banking information. No need to provide that to the company paying you through PayQuicker. The information you submit through PayQuicker is held at a US based regulated bank in Minnesota (not by PayQuicker) That same issuing bank provides FDIC insured accounts through PayQuicker where not only is your information secure but your money is as well. PayQuicker never touches the money, we are a software platform that sit on top of the global banking network and expedites account holder requests to banks and processors.

I'd love to go on (and on!), but I hope this gives you a basic idea of what we're about and our commitment to the payees. I'd appreciate the opportunity to chat with each of you to learn even more about your needs and desires as it relates to payment platforms.

Thanks!

Steve
Stephen Manetta, VP Business Development
866-400-2712 x 103
smanetta@payquicker.com

Thank you, Steve, for coming here and sharing with us!

I would like to add that if I were mystery shopping them, I would give them high scores for integrity and credibility! They are quick to overcome any obstacles and are really making great efforts to make sure we (and you) are 100% satisfied with their service. We are very excited to be a PayQuicker partner and are loving the personal attention we (and our shoppers) are receiving! How many people have the direct number and extension to the folks at PayPal?

So, come on everyone, let's welcome them to our community!

Thanks!

Julie Simbro
ACE Mystery Shopping

When you log on to ACE's site to check payment status of shops that were completed under your "old" ICA, they force you to "sign" the new ICA with the new payment terms before you can proceed. Is anyone else having reservation's about being forced to use this service if you want to get reimbursed/paid for shops you did under the old ICA?

I always click on the link in one of their e-mails so I never log in. I haven't seen that message so I guess they are still issuing checks until they get completely ready to switch over. I just did a shop last week and haven't gotten any notification to sign up or that payment would be different. I am assuming that until I am notified of the need to sign up with a new account, any shops I complete will be paid by check. I just checked the payment status on my two unpaid shops, 9/5, which says OK to Pay, and 9/15, with says Pending Validation. I don't see anything different.

I'm a little torn. I have been pleased to work with ACE in the past. Their shops are inconveniently far to be 'free standing' shops for the fee, so I have done them when I had free standing shops nearby or other shops that were worthwhile only by routing them in with the ACE shops. Because of rotation there were only two shops in my area that I was even eligible for every couple of months. Since the other shops near the ACE shops have discontinued, I haven't worked with ACE in a while.

I am reluctant to open still one more on line account for a single company's use, and in fact am closing down bank accounts where the bank is no longer shopped to try to simplify my life. I'm sitting here with a debit card that another company was going to use 'for all future payments' that I understand they no longer use. Somehow these things seem to come and go. As for PayQuicker, I've never heard of them, which means I would want to research them for myself before signing up and perhaps life is just too short. I don't like losing the opportunity to work for ACE, but sometimes it just happens.

Edited to add: Paypal has only charged me when I was a seller on eBay and to the best of my knowledge even with my current bank account I could send a 'direct deposit' to another bank account with no fee or cost or have them mail out a check on my behalf. Perhaps they only offer those services free on personal accounts.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2011 01:53PM by Flash.

From my understanding they will only issue a check if you request it. Which I have done and gotten attitude for. As much as I enjoyed doing these shops for ACE, sad to say, I am probably done. I will not be forced to accept this method of payment without it being proven. Usually, when you are pushed so hard to accept something like this, nothing good comes of it - that's in life in general, not mystery shopping. If, in fact, this works and works well, that's great and I may consider it in the future after others have tested it. I know that sounds terrible but something is just telling me this is bad news. If nothing else, I have learned to listen to that little voice.

I only did one shop for ACE and I had requested check in my profile. They do deduct $1.0 (I have not received payment yet). I have no intention of going with Payquicker - I don't want to give my personal info. to too many people and just for one company?. So in a nutshell I am done with ACE before I began.

Hey Everyone.

Reading some good feedback and appreciate that.There's a couple of misconceptions I'd like to address:

Proving this method of Payment: PayQuicker is an application that interfaces with The global banking network. Our primary issuing bank is University National Bank in Minnesota. They provide the FDIC insured accounts, and conduct transactions. PayQuicker conducts no transactions and never touches the money. University National Bank has been around for over 100 years, and we're very pleased to have partnered with them.

$1.00 to offload funds: You are correct that the standard fee for offloading funds to your bank is $1.00. However, through an exclusive and special arrangement, and out of consideration for their shoppers, ACE has elected to cover the fee for all of their shoppers. That fee is waived for all ACE shoppers.

Many of you are commenting about how you like to do business with ACE. We too found them to be professional, reputable and of high integrity. All reasons we've selected ACE to assist us in getting established in this market. If anyone is interested in speaking to me or in simply getting a list of our references, I'd be happy to do either.

Take care & thank you.

Steve
Stephen, VP Business Development
PayQuicker
866-400-2712
smanetta@payquicker.com

So steve tell me, what kind of personal information do you require?

Thank you Steve. Will there be an option still to receive payment by check?

Under the best of circumstances I would be able to do perhaps a dozen shops for you per year due to rotation. In my situation, due to distances and fee structure I am likely to perform them only when I have other shops in the area that make them worthwhile so it is more likely I would do less than 6 per year. Not a big time shopper for you, but you do obviously need shoppers in my area judging from the repeat emails every month for the same untaken jobs.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2011 06:00PM by Flash.

Steve: Flash is absolutely correct. Under the best case scenario, I or an average ACE shopper might do 10-15 shops/yr or rather $100-$150 or even $200/yr. You may have fantastic application that may interface with global banking system. You say that you do not touch the money. What is in it for me to share my information to you for a potential $100-$200/yr income?

I wish you all the luck and hope you are successful, but I have seen too many 'money moving' companies fail.

It was just pointed out to me that Steve is with PayQuicker, not ACE. My question should really be addressed to ACE.

Flash & anakin:

Good questions, thanks!

Let me start here: If you so desired to allow your payments to accumulate or not for any period, the funds are held in an FDIC insured account. The account is always FDIC insured, no matter the amount in it.

Providing Info: The info provided by you (as well as the money in your account) is maintained by the bank (University National Bank) and is the same info requested if you were to walk in and open an account (name, address ss#, drivers ID or equivalent). You have the added advantage of managing your own personal info without the need to provide it to those who may pay you with PayQuicker. You keep it up to date and only you view it.

Multiple Actions; When paid, the funds are posted instantly to your PayQuicker account, then you have a number of options with which to use or consume the funds;
1. Allow payments to accumulate (protected by FDIC insurance)
2. Send a direct deposit (ACH) to your bank (normally a $1 fee but waived by ACE for ACE shoppers)
3. Send a direct deposit to others bank accounts
4. Send yourself or others a paper check (fulfillment by PayQuicker platform) There is a fee based on destination country of paper check
5. You can request a Visa prepaid debit card from PayQuicker. Move funds to it for free from your PayQuicker account for immediate use, and when used as a credit card with a "wet" signature, there is no fee. Competitive rates with other similarly featured cards - $4.95 issuing fee and $1.95 monthly maintenance fee.

Let me also add that anyone doing business through the PayQuicker platform can rest assured that everyone else on the platform has been OFAC and KYC verified so that they are who they say they are. The same processes used by the US banking industry (because our bank who conducts these checks IS a US based FDIC insured bank! :-)

Let me know if you have additional questions. Thanks for digging deep and checking us out.

Steve
Stephen Manetta

Kris3065 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> From my understanding they will only issue a check
> if you request it. Which I have done and gotten
> attitude for. As much as I enjoyed doing these
> shops for ACE, sad to say, I am probably done. I
> will not be forced to accept this method of
> payment without it being proven. Usually, when
> you are pushed so hard to accept something like
> this, nothing good comes of it - that's in life in
> general, not mystery shopping. If, in fact, this
> works and works well, that's great and I may
> consider it in the future after others have tested
> it. I know that sounds terrible but something is
> just telling me this is bad news. If nothing
> else, I have learned to listen to that little
> voice.

Kris,

If you took my following email as having attitude, I certainly didn't mean it to. Everything I said with sincerity, which you can not hear in an email!

From: ACE Accounting [mailto:accounting@acemysteryshopping.com]
Sent: Monday, September 19, 2011 9:31 AM
To: 'Kris'
Subject: RE: Payment

Kris,

First, I would like to address the 2 weeks later statement. Your pay statement has an earlier date on it than payments are issued. As stated in our FAQ:

[www.acemysteryshopping.com]

Q: How will I get paid?

A: Shoppers have the option of choosing to be paid by either Direct Deposit or Check and can find this information in their profile in the "More" tab. We pay every month on the 15th for shops completed the prior month. (example: If you do a shop on March 7th, you will be paid on April 15th)

The pay statements show the date that we exported the payment info to our accounting department to begin processing payments. It usually takes us 2 weeks to verify the info and send payment.

Please know that if you had chosen to use PayQuicker, you would have received your payment today and not had to rely on the lag time it takes to receive a paper check through the Postal Service. Regarding next months pay, you need to not accept the payment and email accounting for a paper check, stating that you performed shops prior to Sept. 14th, when the new pay system went into effect. Then we can mail you your last check.

Sincerely,


Tiffany Stewart

Wow, that's sad. I really liked working for ACE. Am I reading correctly that there will be NO option to be paid by direct deposit or paper check> If so, I guess I'm done too.

Jaosmom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Wow, that's sad. I really liked working for ACE.
> Am I reading correctly that there will be NO
> option to be paid by direct deposit or paper
> check> If so, I guess I'm done too.

You can request a check is what I am getting out of it-but that it apparently isn't pleasant per Kris.

I am loving trying to watch this MSC force ICs who maybe get $100 a year from their shops to open up bank accounts. Killing me here.

The only bottom line this is helping is ACE's. Not ours. The fewer financial operations that have my personal info, the better off I will be.

Kris3065 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> When you log on to ACE's site to check payment
> status of shops that were completed under your
> "old" ICA, they force you to "sign" the new ICA
> with the new payment terms before you can proceed.
> Is anyone else having reservation's about being
> forced to use this service if you want to get
> reimbursed/paid for shops you did under the old
> ICA?


OK, I just tried to log in and got this screen with a new ICA. In order accept it, I was asked my birth year; when I entered it, I received an error message that it did not agree and denied access. So as a result I could not accept the new ICA and wasn't able to log in. So I went in the back way again, through an e-mail, without having to log in. I checked my profile and the birth year I entered is correct. I have two completed surveys, 9/05 and 9/15, and both say OK for Pay. Since ACE has not notified me of any new payment requirements and I have been unable to read and accept the new ICA, I am pretty confused. I'm not sure if I will be paid according to my current ICA or if I will still need to request a check for my last payment? And my last survey was done after the 14th, which, according to Tiffany's e-mail posted above, was apparently the drop-dead date for getting checks. This payment change has not been very well planned or publicized....if not for the forum I would know nothing about it.

AustinMom - From her post above it looks like they still offer the option of getting a paper check or using the new PayQuicker direct deposit. I would guess that if you haven't signed up for PayQuicker they would still send you a paper check with the only benefit of signing up with PayQuicker being you get your money much sooner than having a check cut and mailed to you. Also she stated they pay on the 15th of the month for shops completed in the prior month. So you will get paid Oct. 15 for any shops completed up until the last day of Sept. I would contact their support to ask about your issues bringing up the new ICA.

If anyone is having trouble logging in, please email me @ Deva@acemysteryshopping.com and I can help you.

Good morning everyone!

I read a comment or two about some minor hiccups when a couple folks were creating their PayQuicker accounts. I want to reiterate my (our) availability to provide support for items such as these. If you contact us, we are able and wiling to get you through those. I know most of you have gotten used to not having accessible support from other online payment providers you may be using, but we've got live chat (right on the website), email (support@payquicker.com), and phone support (866-400-2712) available. We're trying very hard to be "shopper-centric". Give us that opportunity!

So I encourage you to contact us!

Thanks,

Steve
Stephen Manetta
PayQuicker
866-400-2712 Option 2 for Support
support@payquicker.com
smanetta@payquicker.com

It is my understanding that you can only receive checks for shops that were completed before you were forced to sign the new ICA. If you couldn't sign it, I would guess that, legally, it does not apply to you. Therefore, you should still be able to request a check. Quoted from above -
"Regarding next months pay, you need to not accept the payment and email accounting for a paper check, stating that you performed shops prior to Sept. 14th, when the new pay system went into effect. Then we can mail you your last check."
Perhaps, I am reading this wrong but I took the last sentence two different ways. My last check as in a paper check and my last check as in "we no longer want you to do shops".
On another note - has anyone who has signed up with PayQuicker read through all the terms and conditions on the website?

I don't think Tiffany meant "last check" as your last check working for us at all. Do we want you to continue shopping for us? Absolutely! We've been in business since 2001 and value the opinions of our shoppers and want to make everyone as happy as possible. As always, we do whatever it takes to continue an excellent relationship with our shoppers.

If anyone has any concerns, we invite them to call us and speak to us directly. Rather than posting questions here and answering them for each other, we would really like you to contact us for the most up to date and accurate information. We'll be glad to help you with any questions you have.

Steve and the rest of the staff at PayQuicker really want to do business with all of us. They have really went above and beyond what we have expected from a processing company, tweaking things to fit our needs. We told them what shoppers would be saying/asking for and they have exceeded our expectations, overcoming whatever obstacles they've needed to and given us what we have asked for. I strongly encourage everyone give it a chance and try not to pass judgment on something you're not familiar with yet. Instead, help us to evaluate it! That's what we all do for a living, right? Tell Steve what you think (after you've signed up.) If for some reason it didn't work out exactly how we said it would, we would be the first to admit our error and change our policies. I don't expect that to happen though. We are 100% confident in what the company, PayQuicker, has to offer all of us!

Thanks!

Julie Simbro
ACE Mystery Shopping

What a way to spend my afternoon.
Seeing how there is no alternative way to receive payment, I signed up for PayQuicker. As soon as my account was verified, I was sent an email telling me that my transaction could not be processed and has been cancelled. A quick chat through PayQuicker's site has a representative telling me their system is overloaded by all of the payments being sent. I am not at all interested in having a debit card who's only purpose is being connected to my ACE funds, so this seems like a ridiculously involved process just for me to select to have a check sent. (Direct deposit through Pay Quicker will take an extra 7 days. Checks will take 3-5. Seems like requesting the check will be the way to go.)
Anyway, if anyone else panics over getting this email, it is apparently the computer system thinking for them and sending out a cancellation message instead of a 'this is going to take awhile' message.
Now if only there was a way to transfer my PayQuicker funds into my PayPal account...

Jennifer,

It won't take 7 days to receive you direct deposit. That's sort of a disclaimer they have to post "just in case" to allow for holidays, weekends, etc. We have already had reports of shoppers who have transferred their funds within 24 hours and are very excited about that! Try the direct deposit, see what you think and I would love to see a positive post of your experience as soon as your money is transferred.

As for the email you received, we are not sure what is up with that but PayQuicker is investigating the auto response. We don't really believe any payments were cancelled. As with everything new, this is month is a learning curve. We really appreciate everyone's patience and willingness to participate!

Thanks,

Julie Simbro