ACE has changed their payment method over the years. Years ago they paid with check. Then they started PayQuicker with no warning to shoppers. Then they changed to dwolla. Then they went back to checks. Now I got an email about a new payment method. It looks like a SCAM but given ACE's history, I think it's legit. And the email comes from their email address: notifications@shopmetrics.com

Is this legit? What options are there? If they want to do direct deposit, fine. PayPal, fine. But I don't want to sign up with another middleman by clicking on some link.

Here's the email:

ACE Mystery Shopping has gone to direct deposit! Your payment for December shops was sent to your email address in January. Since you have not collected your funds, I sent another reminder email sent this morning. I wanted to make sure you did receive it.
We had to move very quickly with a new payment option, as a shopper copied our checks and have been attempting to cash over $60,000 worth of checks written off of our account. We had to move quickly, as we had to cancel our bank account, destroy all of our checks and open up new accounts.

The good news, is it's easier and will help us process payments more quickly.
Here is how it works. We send you a payment that you will receive to your email address on file. You will receive a digital image of a check in the body of the email and a green button that asks you to "instant deposit". Click on that button and it will ask you to instantly or manually verify your bank account. If your bank is online with the provider (abut 98% of banks)...then it will ask you a couple of questions to validate and the money is on its way to your account. If it asks you to manually verify, then we will make 2 offsetting micro deposits to your account which you will have to return next day and and verify...and then the money is released. No personal or financial information is asked for or stored. This will only have to be done once. Afterward, all deposits will be auto deposited without you needing to do anything.
Please look in your spam folder for the email instructing you how to pick up your direct deposit. The email will come from a domain that includes @checkbook.io (but the email was from me).
Thank you!
Julie Simbro
ACE Mystery Shopping

It is legit. Julie from ACE posted on another thread that their checking account was hacked, and they quickly switched payment methods.

It's crazy that a shopper did that. I hope they are able to prosecute them to the full extent of the law.

So instead of getting a check mailed to me by ACE I have to give my bank information to this company I've never heard of so they can electronically deposit the check in my account? I'm not happy with that. I wonder if I can provide my address and they can mail the check to me.

I googled them and found Scamadvisor that rates them as "mostly appears safe" at 83%, well below the rating of PayPal and PayQuicker. I can't find any online reviews from satisfied customers.

Scamadvisor shows More facts you should know about the site

Website: checkbook.io
Title: Checkbook.io: Digital Checks, Online Checks, ACH Payments

Last Refreshed: Just now
Website Speed: Average
Website Value: $499.62

Organisation: Owner Obfuscated whois Gandi-63-65 boulevar
Owner: PJ Gupta
Owner Address: Obfuscated whois Gandi-63-65 boulevard Massena
Owner City: Obfuscated whois Gandi-Paris
Owner Postcode: 75013
Owner Country : France France
Website Location : United States United States

Probable website origin :-
63%; France France
37%; United States United States


Analysis Details:-
Although this website appears to be based in United States there are other countries involved and you should review this information carefully and decide if it is as you expect.

So the website is a US website but there are other countries involved? And the owner is PJ Gupta and their address is blocked?

This does not sound like somebody I want to provide my bank routing number to. I'm sorry someone stole ACE's checks, but that is not my problem. I don't want to make problems for myself by providing my bank information to this company I never heard of.

If you are signed up with ACE on their legitimate website, you needn't worry. I have been signed up with them for a decade and I could care less if PJ Gupta owns the company or not. I have been paid.

You can do as you wish, if you are concerned don't do it.

I guess I will contact ACE, because I want to get paid but I don't want to give my bank routing numbers to some startup company that I never heard of before today. I'm glad you got paid. Getting paid is not what I'm concerned about right now. I'm sure this checkbook company would pay me. But then they would have my bank information and I'm not happy about that.

Look: email julie@acemysteryshopping.com and figure it out. I am personally comfortable with giving my bank and routing info. If you aren't, don't.

Post removed. Please do not post the real name of any forum member, without their consent. - MOD

Why not open a designated bank account ? There are enough MSC's offering to pay you for opening an account, so why not ? that will solve one issue you may have and you will get paid for it. How awesome is that ?

JAS, I can appreciate if you are comfortable with the change. IMO, we have a repeat of what was seen with the change ACE made years ago. Shoppers are not obligated to go through any hoops to get paid or give their banking information to a third party vendor unless they were notified BEFORE accepting assignments. ACE did the right thing years ago. Any assignments completed prior to the change were paid by the agreed upon method.

This is just like anything else involving our contracts for shops. What if you contracted for a $10 shop at a store 5 miles from your house only to be told the MSC decided they needed you to shop a store 50 miles away for the same rate? How about if they were going withhold pay for another assignment if you didn't do what they wanted? Or you agree to a $500 reimbursement shop to be paid in 14 days and AFTER you complete it the MSC tells you they decided to change the terms to 90?

Edited to remove what amounted to kudos to another company because the owner of said company no longer deserves it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/10/2018 08:45PM by LisaSTL.

LisaSTL, I have been accommodating to shoppers that have emailed me directly with concerns over the new payment method. For shoppers that I can verify their identity, I have even paid out of my own PERSONAL Pay Pal account to accommodate them. Unfortunately, if there is history that indicated the shopper has multiple aliases, I can not do this.

Changing our method was completely out of our control. I loved doing checks, because while it may be "old school" we never had all of the emails from people asking how to deposit it. Everyone knows how to deposit a check.

Our bank was very helpful in helping us resolve this, by allowing us to close our account and pay any outstanding checks out of our new account. But they implied that they may not be as helpful if it happened again, so sending checks out, especially not having any real clues as to who was manufacturing our checks was not an option. We were not about to order a new batch of checks, only to hand over our new account number to the thieves again. In fact, if we had decided to roll the dice and do that, we would have still had to wait for our new checks to come, so payments would have been grossly delayed since this whole thing happened about 10 days before payments were to go out.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/10/2018 04:38PM by JulieACE.

You seem to have a couple things a little backwards since we are discussing contracts.

By accepting an alternate payment method some of your shoppers are accommodating your company, not the other way around. It is nice of them to do that for you.

Since you emphasized some payments are going through your personal PayPal account are you trying to imply they are being paid by your personal funds which are not going to be reimbursed by your company? You have owned a business for a long time so my guess is the actual money is coming from your business account which means it doesn't matter to the shopper if the PP is a business or personal account.

@LisaSTL - I have a questions. Do you expect shoppers to abide by all of the terms of a company's ICA? Do you consider the ICA a contract?

I know this was addressed to LisaSTL but as a shopper, I would like to comment on this question :
"Sentry Marketing 500 8y NewFebruary 10, 2018 06:58PM
@LisaSTL - I have a questions. Do you expect shoppers to abide by all of the terms of a company's ICA? Do you consider the ICA a contract?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An ICA is a contract. Bilateral in nature, with all parties expected to abide by the terms of the contract, for the consideration, which is the money, the compensation, for performing.

IMO all parties to the contract are expected to perform, not just the shoppers or the MSC. If one party to the ICA contract fails to perform, there are usually remedies built into the agreement. It's also a given that all parties are operating in good faith. That includes shoppers and the MSC.

Agreements prevent disagreements.

@SS4U - I am in total agreement.

I have no idea why you are on a thread about ACE since you claim to only come to the forum to defend your company from the mob of bullies. Feel free to read my other posts on the subject of agreements and contracts. You don't have to go far. Here is one from yesterday afternoon.

[www.mysteryshopforum.com]

I just started with ACE in December. While it was a pain to set up an account with Checkbook.io, I was paid as they said I would be. I was definitely skeptical of the whole situation, but I chatted with checkbook support twice to get the process straightened out and they were awesome. That helped do it for me, if they were not helpful I probably would have requested a check or DD another way. I say give it a chance, even if something happens your bank will credit you back whatever was lost and they will investigate it. Think of it this way, if someone really wanted to steal your info and your money they would..there really isn't anything you can do about it.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/12/2018 04:07PM by macco455.