Ath Power - Slow to assign shops?
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I just had an application in with them. They asked what day I could conduct the shop and I put today (8/4). Yesterday afternoon, after not hearing back for over 3 days, I finally sent a note to the scheduler saying I'd have to delete the application if I didn't hear back from them by 8am this morning. Are you on the edge of your seat to hear how it went? No, didn't think so. I deleted the application at about 8:30 this morning. Too bad, it would have fit nicely into my other shops today.
The job is still on the board, with a due date of 8/8/15. I guess we'll see if anyone does it.
The job is still on the board, with a due date of 8/8/15. I guess we'll see if anyone does it.
Shopper in California's Bay Area
Actually, I misspoke (mistyped?). I just checked and I applied for the job on 8/2, so it was only two days without a response to the application, not three days. Still, I would think that if you post a job with a 6 day window to get it done, you'd want to assign them out within a day or so.
Shopper in California's Bay Area
Yep. I just find myself perplexed by how this is working.
I wouldn't generalize that aTH "appears slow to assign shops."
I have done a lot of assignments for aTH (close to 100 at this point), and I think the speed of receiving assignments may depend on the scheduler. The one that I most frequently work with nearly always assigns me the same day and responds to my emails just as quickly. With two other schedulers I work with, it takes no more than 24 hours.
It may also have something to do with how much work one has done for them. They might assign more quickly to shoppers they know well. Not sure about that. But, bottom line, I don't find them slow at all.
I have done a lot of assignments for aTH (close to 100 at this point), and I think the speed of receiving assignments may depend on the scheduler. The one that I most frequently work with nearly always assigns me the same day and responds to my emails just as quickly. With two other schedulers I work with, it takes no more than 24 hours.
It may also have something to do with how much work one has done for them. They might assign more quickly to shoppers they know well. Not sure about that. But, bottom line, I don't find them slow at all.
For the Green and White Bank, I have been told that they like to spread them out over the course of the month, so they have no expectation of assigning all of them during the initial window. But they list them all, and assign as many as they want. They prefer of course to get shoppers to sign up for the base rate, but the various rotation requirements seems to make it hard for them to predict which ones will be taken. My challenge is that leftover ones at the end of the month will be bonused, but there is a restriction on the total per month unless they get really desperate.
Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008
I did 6 shops with them that they assigned to me really fast, this 7th one has been pending for 2 days though.
I have had a similar issue. I applied for shops on 8/1, then I'm assigned late in the date on 8/3 for a shop due 8/4. It's getting silly.
Silver certified for 11 years and happily shopping Arizona!
They are very slow to assign shops. I applied for a credit card shop. Weeks AFTER the DUE DATE, I get the shop assigned to me! I had forgotten all about it at that point, but I went ahead and completed it.
A five-day shopping window is actually quite generous. As far as them not always scheduling right away, I believe their office is closed on weekends and I am not sure if they use outside schedulers who work on weekends.@wintersilke wrote:
Does anyone else wonder why Ath Power appears slow to assign shops? I've have several successful shops with them and would like to do more but the due dates began yesterday and end on Saturday. My previous applications for their assignments were assigned within 1 day.
I had a shop request pending for a couple of days. They assigned it to me on Tuesday afternoon with a Wednesday deadline. Since my schedule was already booked, I contacted my scheduler, explained the situation and he/she gladly extended the due date to Sunday. I appreciated her generosity. Having a good track record with the MSC and the scheduler always helps.
August 1 and 2 were weekend dates and I am 95% sure that their office is closed on weekends. Shoppers need to remember that just because some of us work on weekends, not all people, including schedulers do. I very rarely work weekends because that is my fun time with friends and outdoor activities.@fyrekittyn wrote:
I have had a similar issue. I applied for shops on 8/1, then I'm assigned late in the date on 8/3 for a shop due 8/4. It's getting silly.
@Sybil2 wrote:
Shoppers need to remember that just because some of us work on weekends, not all people, including schedulers do. I very rarely work weekends because that is my fun time with friends and outdoor activities.
I don't work on weekends for my day job either. But I understand that work may have come in on the weekends and that anything with a due date within the next day or two after a weekend needs to be triaged and handled first. This seems like common sense.
Also, I believe the job I applied for was posted on the weekend.
Shopper in California's Bay Area
I also work a lot for ATH. The return call or email is definitely the scheduler. Best to contact or call the scheduler with your dates. I have had great success with some of the schedulers. If you are not successful Marie, MSpinello@athpower.com is in charge. Let her know your problems in an email and she will forward this to your scheduler.
Yes, in my experience, they usually take a minimum of two days (even during the week) to assign a shop. They are very slow. Maybe it does depend on the scheduler, as others have said, but this has been the case for me for both regions where I have lived and shopped (MI/IN/IL and SC/NC/GA).
Happily shopping the Pacific Northwest. Shopping since 2013 
I agree. That is what Monday mornings are for!@CaliGirl925 wrote:
I don't work on weekends for my day job either. But I understand that work may have come in on the weekends and that anything with a due date within the next day or two after a weekend needs to be triaged and handled first. This seems like common sense.
At least they do assign the shops and remove the assigned shops from the potential list. Unlike some MSCs and/or schedulers who leave the assigned shops as actively open. The project that stops assigning once they reach their quota for a certain territory comes to mind. They assign the shops but do not remove them from the list of open shops. That is aggravating.
I applied for a Red, White, and Blue Bank account opening shop this morning at 9 AM and it was assigned to me at 10:38 AM, and I was given until Saturday to complete it. I did it today. I was surprised how quickly it was assigned to me.
The Green and White bank shop assignment times seem to vary from one state (scheduler) to another, but as Shooper8 pointed out, for the Green and White Bank, you can always send an email to MSpinello@athpower.com and she often works on weekends.
The Green and White bank shop assignment times seem to vary from one state (scheduler) to another, but as Shooper8 pointed out, for the Green and White Bank, you can always send an email to MSpinello@athpower.com and she often works on weekends.
Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008
Ath Power is located in Mass. They do things slow up there....Everything is slower in New England.
@shopmyst, I think you are confusing New England with the Deep South. Now there is ssss-llll-oooo-wwww.
@Sybil2 wrote:
@shopmyst, I think you are confusing New England with the Deep South. Now there is ssss-llll-oooo-wwww.
I thought the same!
Happily shopping the Pacific Northwest. Shopping since 2013
It's not just the assigners that are slow. Everyone at ath seems to be extremely laid back. I applied for a credit card shop last week, but never heard. Over the weekend I deleted several applications, but forgot to do this one. At 9:30 this morning (after I'd left the house for the day) I get an email telling me shop was assigned, and due TODAY.
After I sent message to scheduler telling her I'd made alternate plans (but really wanting to say I had a life and couldn't drop everything just her her) I said I could complete store tomorrow. That was acceptable. However, when I got home at 3:00 and logged into shopper site I discovered I had a question about guidelines. I've sent an email with questions through the shopper log and also to the original scheduler. No answer from either. Hope I get some kind of response before I have to leave the house tomorrow morning.
After I sent message to scheduler telling her I'd made alternate plans (but really wanting to say I had a life and couldn't drop everything just her her) I said I could complete store tomorrow. That was acceptable. However, when I got home at 3:00 and logged into shopper site I discovered I had a question about guidelines. I've sent an email with questions through the shopper log and also to the original scheduler. No answer from either. Hope I get some kind of response before I have to leave the house tomorrow morning.
Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. Eleanor Roosevelt
I had a two part shop that I had a question about .. shop was Monday, I asked my question last week (Thursday, I believe). No response to the question. I completed the shop on Monday (the question was about whether I could do the shop earlier than the date indicated or not, so I gave up on my question and just did it on the due date), and then had to get the second part assigned. The schedulers got the second part assigned today after my note yesterday requesting it.
My sense is that they are buried and are only doing the urgent things that have to be done to get shops progressed and completed. I could be wrong, but that's the way it seemed to me. Hopefully @KathyG's question will be considered urgent. Good luck!
My sense is that they are buried and are only doing the urgent things that have to be done to get shops progressed and completed. I could be wrong, but that's the way it seemed to me. Hopefully @KathyG's question will be considered urgent. Good luck!
Shopper in California's Bay Area
@CaliGirl925 wrote:
Hopefully @KathyG's question will be considered urgent. Good luck!
I hope so, too! For this shop you can be assigned to one of several companies. On the survey there are specific questions for most of the companies...but NOT the one I'm doing. Does that mean I'm off the hook for that question, or whoever designed the form forgot to put it on there (and I'll be penalized because I couldn't read their mind and know what to ask)?
Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. Eleanor Roosevelt
The flip side to their laid-back attitude is there's apparently room for the shopper to screw up and not be penalized for it. I realized too late that I had missed a couple of pretty big guidelines on the first couple of shops I did for them, and not only did I get paid anyway, but no one ever mentioned a word about my mistakes.
I never got an answer to my question, so I completed it as I thought the guidelines were written, capturing as much of the required information as I could. Came home and there was STILL no email! I let the scheduler know I was ready to fill out the report, but couldn't do it until she clarified. Twenty minutes later I got a message from someone else within the company, telling me that for my company I could ignore half of the reporting, as it didn't apply.
Even though I spent twice as long as I needed getting information that I ultimately didn't need, guess that's better than getting home and finding out I didn't get enough.
Even though I spent twice as long as I needed getting information that I ultimately didn't need, guess that's better than getting home and finding out I didn't get enough.
@KathyG wrote:
@CaliGirl925 wrote:
Hopefully @KathyG's question will be considered urgent. Good luck!
I hope so, too! For this shop you can be assigned to one of several companies. On the survey there are specific questions for most of the companies...but NOT the one I'm doing. Does that mean I'm off the hook for that question, or whoever designed the form forgot to put it on there (and I'll be penalized because I couldn't read their mind and know what to ask)?
Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. Eleanor Roosevelt
I had an issue I really don't know what to do with. I accepted a financial shop. NO WHERE in the guidelines or other information did it say you had to certify that you did not have Chex Systems profile (THEY ARE NOT THE CLIENT!). I can't confirm this with accuracy since I simply don't know and I emailed the scheduler. I heard back from another scheduler, explained the issue to her and stated that I felt like I was being asked to lie, and she stated she would get back to me. A day passed, no response. The shop was due that day. The following day a different scheduler emailed me to see if I had done the shop. I told her that I had not and explained the issue, including when I had corresponded with the other scheduler. She emailed me back and said that nobody was asking me to lie and said she would remove me from the shop. That was three days ago. I checked and the shop is still assigned. I would be happy to complete it if they could confirm that I didn't have a profile with Chex Systems. Any ideas on what to do now?
Silver certified for 11 years and happily shopping Arizona!
It's too bad the scheduler didn't take the time to explain what Chex Systems is, so that you could answer the question. No one is asking you to lie about anything. As far as I know, if a person has ever bounced a check or passed a bad check, they end up in chex systems. If someone has a profile with them, the bank in question will not let you open an account. So a person who has a profile would not be able to complete the shop. Someone please correct me if I am off base on this one.
Shopping Boston and North Shore MA
You are close, RESO. As far as I know, you don't get placed in ChexSystems for bouncing a check. It is only for outstanding debt (such as a severely overdrawn checking account) to a bank that is not paid back within x amount of days/weeks. So if you don't have any outstanding checking account debts, you are probably not in ChexSystems. That is how I understand it anyway.
Happily shopping the Pacific Northwest. Shopping since 2013
I know what Chex Systems does, I simply do not know if my information has been placed with them. My ex-husband over drew our joint checking and left it that way for many years until I forced him to pay it off when the divorce was final (it took us 5 years to get divorced). My guess is that could have been reflected in Chex Systems. I simply don't know. And I cannot affirm that I don't have a listing with Chex Systems if I am unsure.
Silver certified for 11 years and happily shopping Arizona!
fyrekittyn, if you want to see if you're reported in Chex Systems you can go to consumerdebit.com and order a Chex Systems report. I was in the same situation of seeing that question on the report the day it was due (yesterday), and I confirmed that I'm not reported with Chex Systems even though I don't know if that's true. I just ordered a report which will supposedly be sent out in five business days. If I show up in their system (and, unfortunately, I have a strong feeling I will show up there) I'll contact the scheduler and let her know. She may hate me, she may zing me with a low score. Dunno. But I was ready to do the shop and was not going to hold off because of not knowing a piece of info which wasn't asked about in the pre-acceptance shop details.
I don't think there are any Russians / And there ain't no Yanks
Just corporate criminals\ / Playin' with tanks
Just corporate criminals\ / Playin' with tanks
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