I am looking at signing up with Ace. There aren't any current discussions about them here, wondering if the positive reviews in the old posts are still valid? Thanks!

They have quite a few shops in my area, and the reports are reasonable for the rate. Mostly FF. The schedulers are super nice and communicate well. They've always paid the month after the shops are completed via Dwolla, so you'll need to create a free account with them to get paid. One of the better MSCs in my opinion. I would encourage you to sign up!

Thank you PaulinMI. I guess I'll have to add Dwolla to direct deposit, bill.com and paypal, but I checked it out and it's legit. Apparently less expensive than Paypal for businesses to use.

They have a lot of Menu Audit shops in my area, which isn't really my cup of tea, so I haven't shopped them, but I'm glad to hear the positive feedback. Maybe I'll give one of those Menu audits a try....

Hey CaliGirl, they have a lot of menu audits in my area as well, but I've never tried one. Let me know how it goes if you pick one up. I've wondered how to do this without being too obvious, and I'm also a bit leery as it seems they are very particular about the pics.

@CaliGirl925 wrote:

They have a lot of Menu Audit shops in my area, which isn't really my cup of tea, so I haven't shopped them, but I'm glad to hear the positive feedback. Maybe I'll give one of those Menu audits a try....

They have yet to pay me for some menu audits that I had done for them back in Jan. That was under the pay quicker we will not notify you that you that money is sitting here for you so we can take it out in Fees and screw you too. I had done a couple of more for them but misunderstood the instructions. I was supposed to go inside because the full menu at two different FF places were not on the boards outside. went back twice to one of them. I finally said screw it. I'll write it off as an uncollectible debt.

I had been doing menu audits for them pretty consistently. However, I have had a lot of problems with them recently and don't work for them anymore.

Thanks everyone. I've never done a menu audit before, might give it a try if they have any in my area. I'm going to sign up and see what they've got. Trishbos, care to say what kind of problems you've had with them?

Before you do menu audits, search the forum for advice / problems / etc. They generally require you to get every menu (lunch, dinner, drink, dessert, senior citizen, brunch, and pet (just kidding) and supply high quality photographs of every page. No, they don't pay you to actually eat a meal.

"I just want to take each of your menus out to my car. I have an todler, a gluten-free, a senior citizen, an alcoholic, a pastry chef, and a picky eater out in the car and they want take-out food, but might decide to come in if they like the menu. Maybe we will come back at dinner time, so not just the lunch menu either. Oh, you have a separate breakfast menu? One of those also please."

@nutmegstategirl wrote:

Thanks everyone. I've never done a menu audit before, might give it a try if they have any in my area. I'm going to sign up and see what they've got. Trishbos, care to say what kind of problems you've had with them?

Good info, everyone. Thanks! I think I'll stay away from these menu audits for now.

I think those menu audit requirement may have changed. Anyone done one recently?

People sometimes confuse the menu audits with the shops which require you to take photos of the menu boards at FF restaurants, usually outside, but sometimes inside as well. They are not the same thing. The menu audit being discussed here is for sit-down restaurants. Sometimes bars. Sometimes fast casual. Sometimes fine dining. I have seen all of them offered.

I have had good experiences with Ace. This year, they seem to have lowered their shop fees, to $0 in some cases, so that is a bit of a bummer. But, then they increase the fees when they can't be filled.

I've shopped for Ace for a Few years now. Mostly all good. I wish they had something besides coffee shops and submarine shops in my area. My only complaint is that the standard pay for those two kinds of shops is $5. But the ones that are frequently available near me involve 3 different major urban hospitals (I live in Detroit ). Those hospital ones require parking in a structure and a walk of equivalent of two or three blocks just to get into and near the sandwich shop. And the parking is a couple of dollars for the structure.
I guess most of the time there is a option to use the valet but that isn't free either. So either way you are working for less that $5 per hour. Just not worth the hassle To me anymore.
And then they pay "-around the 15th of each month. "
That's fine too, if they do it. One time I had my sons birthday party scheduled for the 17th of the month. I was planning on their payment to cover the cake I had ordered and some little novelty gifts for the kids attending. But on the 17r Ace had not even processed
The payment so it was after the 20th when I finally got paid. Maybe not a big deal to some shoppers but I generally do these shops
For the extra little special
Things I can't normally afford. And when they owe you $100-- half
Of that is just your reimbursement for the submarine sandwiches I had to pay for. One time they asked me to do a shop they needed done and I told them As soon as I got paid and had the $ to pay for coffee and subs I would be glad to but I can't tie up my personal $ like that.
Just my experience and thoughts. They always DO pay, which I guess is better than what I hear about some of the companies out there

Why don't you start asking for bonuses on those hard to fill locations? You need to be covering your time, wear and tear on your vehicle and incidental expenses like parking fees.

I made the mistake of doing one menu audit and getting chased out. Not worth it for me, and seems a bit shady to me after thinking about it. Their other shops seem dated but are easy enough, if the pay is worth it. The final straw for me was begging for my pay more than once.