@AnneAshley, I had to go to a branch and see a personal banker. It couldn't be closed online and tellers can't close accounts. However, I was able to go any branch. I didn't have to return to the branch where I opened it.

My log said paid on 9/9/16. No payment and no indication on Bill.com log that my money was deposited. I emailed both Ellen and Bill.com. Bill.com replied on 9/12/16 that ATH Power had not deposited my pay with them. I emailed Ellen telling her that her apology was not good enough, that I submitted my surveys on time, and that I wanted to be paid on time. She replied and told me to check back with her. The next day I received an email from Bill.com that I would be paid on 9/15/16. Ellen's name was on the Bill.com email, so I believe the two companies are under the same corporate umbrella, but I could be wrong. I did get paid on 9/15/16. Since it appears that some of you who had the same 9/9/16 pay date did not get paid until the 20th, that tells me that ATH Power is only paying when pressed. They owe me another $200 which should be due on about 10/9/16; however, that survey still has not been rated. I am worried. I am so worried that I cancelled a shop with them and refuse to do any future shops until I see improvement on their side.

Bill.com is not owned by Ath Power or vice versa. Bill.com is a large company which is used by many banks and corporations. "Three of the top ten U.S. banks and 35 percent of the top 100 accounting firms rely on Bill.com as their primary payments solution." [en.wikipedia.org]

i'm in the same boat. haven't been paid yet, although it says paid 9/9. one thing is, with Ellen I am 100% confident I will get my money so i'm not sweating it too much. if it was any other company, i'd start to get nervous, but i've never seen a head of a msc as responsive and helpful as her. they are most likely losing money, hence the delayed payments. it would suck if that company happened to shut down.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2016 02:42PM by jay225.

Thank you for letting me know that you have had good experience with Ellen. This was my second experience with ATH, so it was very disconcerting not to be paid on time. Now I am worried that I won't get paid for my third shop. I, too, hope the company is in good shape. Maybe there was another reason why our pay was delayed, other than financial problems for the company.

This morning I received notification from bill.com that my payment is on the way and will hit my bank account tomorrow 9/20. This is good news.

I am disappointed that I did not receive a response to my emails or voicemail after the initial contact and statement from Ellen that I would be paid no later than 9/14. I understand I am one of many shoppers who was reaching out and I don't expect Ellen to personally answer every email, BUT a generic email blast regarding status of payment to all of us who inquired about our pay would have been appreciated.

These folks expect us to communicate all shop issues to them as soon as they appear. They expect us to deliver our shop reports on time and correctly. It's a two-way street. If there was a delay in meeting payroll that should have been communicated to shoppers along with any updates. I have read in this thread that some of you received a generic email telling you that payments would be delayed. I did not receive that email, so apparently whoever sent it out did not do a thorough job.

Further, when I first wrote to Ellen that my log showed I had been paid on 9/9 and it was 9/12 and I had not been paid, she repled that she emailed accounting to release my funds and I would be paid by 9/14. That did not happen and there was no follow up telling me there had been an additional delay.

athPower states that if they email a shopper with questions about a completed shop and the shopper does not respond "in a timely manner" the shop will be reassigned. Yet, if a shopper inquires about the lateness of their pay, there is no response from athPower. It is disappointing that they do not extend the same courtesy or consideration to the shoppers that keep them in business by performing services for them.

I didn't get the generic email regarding payment delays, either. It would have been nice, but it wouldn't keep me from wondering why a company that specializes in the financial services industry doesn't have one month's payroll in reserve. ath is living paycheck to paycheck. Maybe most MSCs are in the same boat, but it's surprising that this MSC that specializes in finance is no better at budgeting then the average consumer.

I'm still waiting. No generic email from Athpower, no ledger input on Bill.com, no response from Ellen. I'm very disappointed!

again, i have no skin in the game/dog in the fight but...for those who are profusely thanking ellen for getting them paid i still find it unacceptable as well as disrespectful that this ellen (whoever she is) hasn't seen fit to respond to mannnny emails that have been sent to her (mine included). this demonstrates that she doesn't feel it necessary to offer any explanation(s) for the delay in paying for the services that ath has received and further raises some red flags. for those who continue to accept assignments from ath there really shouldn't be any further trashing ath for they have been forewarned and proceed at your own peril.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/20/2016 01:40AM by parkcitybrian.

For the sake of an example, let's say "Client 100" has not paid "MSC X" The MSC industry is competitive. If MSC X were to send out notices that "payments are delayed", it would not take long for MSC A, MSC B and MSC C to find out, and immediately begin recruiting efforts for any and all of MSC X's clients. If that results in the loss of even one client, MSC X's ability to stay in business (and pay us shoppers) is diminished, and with their reputation questioned, even harder to get new clients.

I doubt you will find any businesses at all that advertise or promote the fact that there are cash flow problems unless it is absolutely necessary.

At the same time, if I know that an MSC is having a cash flow problem, I as a shopper am less likely to take shops that include a reimbursement. Now the MSC has a double whammy of clients being picked off and wary shoppers not taking jobs, and the MSC having to beg shoppers to take jobs.

Where I would get wary is if an MSC is both delaying payment AND suddenly sounding very desperate for shoppers.

I have never had any problems with Ath before. But after reading this discussion, I do have a problem. i opened a checking at a local bank. The second part of the shop required a quick and easy following three months later. After I kept the acct open for the required time and then completed the 2nd portion of the shop, Ath emailed me and said the shops have been cancelled and I will not be getting paid. I thought that was kind of shabby.

Interesting!

I also completed this shop. My account was kept open for the 3 months. I submitted the information as requested for part 2 of the shop.

I have the confirmation emails from the scheduler, and the account manager, that I would indeed get paid, and that I would be paid the full amount of $125. (the 2nd half shop fee)

I took a screen shot of my shop log so I have it dated and showing that the $125 was "paid on 9/9/16". However, no payment has been made to bill.com; nor have I received a check in the mail. My normal payment method is bill.com.

I have now emailed the scheduler 1 time, and Ellen 2's. Tomorrow morning, I will send off a 3rd email to Ellen, and in the subject line it will state, "THIRD ATTEMPT".

At no time did I receive a notice that the shop was cancelled and I would not be getting paid. I specifically have the confirmation of payment from 2 different aTH associates for the second half of the shop.

This is sad, really. I love the shops that aTH has on their shop log. Ellen has always been easy to reach and responded timely. I have a feeling she may be as upset as us shoppers, and just does not know what to tell us.

RD

@atarpenning1970 wrote:

I have never had any problems with Ath before. But after reading this discussion, I do have a problem. i opened a checking at a local bank. The second part of the shop required a quick and easy following three months later. After I kept the acct open for the required time and then completed the 2nd portion of the shop, Ath emailed me and said the shops have been cancelled and I will not be getting paid. I thought that was kind of shabby.

Me too. I open and close the accounts for shops. I keep them open with minimal funding or time to avoid fees, and long enough to do additional shops (phone, teller, investments) with ath or other MSCs. I close them out, and then open more accounts for new shops.

@ChrisCooper wrote:

@HonnyBrown, for the bank account opened with ath's client I closed it as soon as possible so that I didn't incur monthly charges, but also because that particular bank inundated me with mail, email, and phone calls. I've kept open other accounts opened with different MSCs. I'll close those soon because I simply have too many accounts at this point. Not that any have large balances, but the extra accounts are unnecessary for both me and the bank

Got paid today 9/20 from Bill.com, ATH
I only open savings accounts, you still get all the regular shops.

Reading through this thread I think there may be a bit of nervous panic over payments. I don't have first hand experience with bill.com because I opted to remain with written checks. After reviewing my payments this year I find the checks are authorized at the end of the next month following the shop date, as promised. I also find that there is an additional week or 10 days before the check is actually cut. In other words a shop performed on July 1 is authorized to be paid on August 31 and the check written on or about September 9 and received a few days after that. I would assume that bill.com eliminates the snail mail time between writing the check and receiving it. Several of you mentioned September 9 as being the promised pay date of bill.com. If this is payment for June or earlier shops then it is most definitely late. If it represents payment for July shops then it appears that it is a normal timeline for Ath. Where am I going wrong?

LIJake: It was marked paid on Sept. 9 on the Ath site, not on Bill.com
Ath's payment policy states: ......You will receive this email from Bill.com at the end of month following the month of your completed shop(s). So for example, if you completed shops in February, you will receive the email and link from Bill.com by March 31st." So payments were definitely late as I did not receive a notification from Bill.com until 9/19.
Furthermore, it was the lack of response from Ath that was worrisome. I did not get any mass email regarding late payments this month and no one from Ath returned my emails nor the voice mail I left.
Did you receive your paper check from Ath for July shops in a timely matter? Just curious if the paper checks were mailed out on time.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2016 01:53AM by nilennovy.

Bill.com mails the paper checks on behalf of Ath, so it would be interesting to know when checks were dated this month, and when they were received. I would be surprised if Ath sends over two batches of payments to be made, I would assume that part of Bill.com's job is to keep track of how the payment is to be made.

I'm still waiting. No response from anyone.

I can't answer about July payments as I didn't do any Ath shops that month. I expect my next check will be in October for August. My checks for the rest of the year were dated around the 8th or 9th. They have been consistent in pushing the checks a week to 10 days into the next month. At this point I'm not concerned. In fact I'm doing 4 Ath shops tomorrow and plan another 4 next week. I will follow this thread to see if I may have made a mistake.

Shoppers seem to agree that payment isn't expected until the 10th of the second month, although ath's website clearly states that Bill.com will have the money at the end of the following month. From ath's website [www.athpower.com] "if you completed shops in February, you will receive the email and link from Bill.com by March 31st."

But the nervousness about ath payments arose when they sent emails earlier this month regarding severely reduced payments for completed shops [www.mysteryshopforum.com] Initially ath said payment would be $25 instead of the agreed-upon $125. Later, ath said shoppers would be paid in full.

Then all payments were late. And it seems that individual payments weren't released until the shopper specifically requested payment. This thread from March [www.mysteryshopforum.com] talks about late payments, too.

I am so upset with them too. I love the bank shops, but I had an argument with them and all of a sudden my rating went to a '1' (never had a rating but had a few editors write 'excellent work' and they deactivated my account. I was worried that I was not going to be paid because the website said Paid on Sept 9, but yesterday I got an email that the check was being mailed out on Sept 22.

I emailed Ellen last Saturday, and again today. No response and no pay. This is cause for concern to me as when they have been late previously, she had at least responded.

Yes, well, all of a sudden a shop marked "received" a ten days ago (as opposed to "completed" once they received it 9/1) just earned a "sorry, this doesn't meet our guidelines so we aren't paying for it" yesterday. I asked for a clear explanation of the problem. No response as yet.
Payback for going over Ellen's head?

@AvonLady wrote:

I am so upset with them too. I love the bank shops, but I had an argument with them and all of a sudden my rating went to a '1' (never had a rating but had a few editors write 'excellent work' and they deactivated my account. I was worried that I was not going to be paid because the website said Paid on Sept 9, but yesterday I got an email that the check was being mailed out on Sept 22.

Just got my notice from Bill.com. My payment is on the way. Yippee!

yea, I received the email as well

I absolutely hate chasing payments and I don't work for companies where I might have to do that. I hope all of you will keep this thread updated. They currently have a lot of work in my area but I am leery of taking it. I assume I would get paid but if it takes me chasing it down I don't have time for that.

@CoffeeQueen wrote:

I absolutely hate chasing payments and I don't work for companies where I might have to do that. I hope all of you will keep this thread updated. They currently have a lot of work in my area but I am leery of taking it. I assume I would get paid but if it takes me chasing it down I don't have time for that.

precisely

not doing any more work till i have been paid for my Aug and Sept shops so mid Nov at earliest.

I just completed my first assignment with Ath Power a few minutes ago. I sure hope I get paid too...

60 days at best. I repeatedly have to chase my payments. Good Luck.