Any good experiences with ath Power Consulting?

I have been doing mystery shopping on and off since 2013, and last week I signed on with a new provider called 'a th Power Consulting'. They have some decent paying shops, mostly banking. One of my shops requires me to sign up with 5 different credit monitoring services and provide a credit card number. Most of these services offer a money-back guarantee and/or a free trial. The company promises to reimburse any out-of-pocket costs I may incur if I follow shop instructions and cancel the monitoring services within the time specified. The shop is tedious, but pays $85. I've seen some not-so-impressive reviews online about this company, although to be fair, they are a bit dated. I am getting an uneasy feeling about all this. I've started working on one other shop for this company with a bank, where I'm required to call a loan officer about a new home mortgage. I've been calling since Monday (today is Thursday), and this guy has a full voicemail inbox every time. They just expect me to keep trying for several days, after which they will add $10 to my pay and assign me another target. I'm just not feeling confident in this company based on what I've read and my experience so far, and I would appreciate any recent feedback from shoppers who have done work for a th power. Thanks.

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They pay on time and are fair. I don't mind doing work for them.

ath is a great company. I used to shop with them when their fees were higher.

"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton

Great company. Don't work often for them but I have never had one problem.

Great company, great schedulers. Ask your scheduler if you can call the bank's main number, and tell whoever answers the phone there "Hey, I've been trying to reach John Doe all week, and his voice mail is full so I can't even leave a message. Is there any other way to reach him, or is he out sick, or what?"

My first shop was a platform shop for ath. I have never had any kind of problem with them.

Great company. Very narrative heavy reports.

I used to do quite a few bank shops for them, but the client seems to have disappeared from my area. Never had any problems with them other than it sometimes takes so long for schedulers to assign shops, I've ended up cancelling my applications because I need to plan my week!

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

Quick responses to e-mails. Clear guidelines. Simple reports. On time payment. Low fees.

Great company and no issues. Problem is that sometimes the reports really want to make you punch a wall. I do wish they were a bit simpler I would do more banks for them but the time I find myself grinding out reports does not seem to match pay in the long run a lot of the time.

Never an issue. At beginning of month, fees are outrageously low. As the month progresses, fees increase automatically and eventually become commensurate with other MSC fees for similar assignments. I have received bonuses on top of the increased fees on days when it did not work out for me to combine shops and use a larger spread of gigs to offset my costs of going to/from the locations. For me, the reports are easy and do not take too much time. But there are few assignments near me and I might be referring to different types of shops than other people have referred to in this thread.

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. - Lao-Tzu

ath Power may be my favorite MSC. When they have a question about a report, they ask and allow me to clarify. I run into rotation issues sometimes, but that is just life. I even bought an Android tablet so that I could do additional shops that required an Android tablet.

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008

one of my favorite MSC's !
make sure you follow the instructions..including the upload formats.

Other than bank shops, they used to have some fencing supplier shops near me. The scheduler for those was always slow to assign, so I never did end up doing one because I had to cancel my applications. I would have liked to do one, though.

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

Over 5 years with them and no problems!

yes they are about 100% with banks. I did hundreds shops for them in the past. But the fee they offer usually not competitive with other MSC and their instructions sometimes very weird.

Shopping Eastern Pennsylvania since 2009

Great company to work for. I would work more often but their (sensible) rotation requirements mean I have to leave some great shops on the table.

I used to do quite a few ath shops. Then they started lowering their fees. As in a shop that had been a minimum of $20 and usually much higher dropped to $12 AND required much more writing. I gave up. Any company that decides to cut the pay drastically while increasing the workload just isn’t someone I want to work with.

I love bank shops, so am glad to work for them. But, I wait for bonuses if a shops starts out too low.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

I worked for them several years ago and was happy with the experience. They paid on time and requirements were not too onerous. Haven't seen anything for them that interested me in about three years, though.

My experiences were considerably different from the other posters. I completed my first assignment for ath in Nov. of 2005 at a bank which paid $35; acceptable considering the required detail. During the next five years, the company rejected three of my shops, all of which I appealed and won.

#1-My first rejection stated the company had phoned and learned the banker had been out of the office that day. I replied with a detailed account, including the branch's new address and the manner by which that information was presented, of the shop before I met with the banker and his description; I won.

#2- The banker with whom I met was from a different branch; another appeal, description and account; again I won.

#3-Their scheduler incorrectly stated I could open a CD to qualify for a new account. I was denied payment, with the explanation she had erred. I replied that if my fee were not forthcoming, I would seek the assistance of my new bank, their client; a final win for me.

I am no longer a contractor for athPower.

Ath power is a decent MSC. The only problem is many of its shops require a 6-month rotation. So you can't really work with them that often.

I started shopping with them again after some time away, as one of their big clients in my area had either stopped their program, or ath lost them as a client. But my experience so far has been terrific. The schedulers and editors go out of their way to answer questions and to give you the chance to explain any issues in your report.

The biggest thing I remember from when I shopped for them before is that their pay schedule is pretty long. I hope that's changed. I have a shop from November that I hope I get paid for this month!

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

They used to have a bunch of Spanish speaking shops at the bank that started in San Francisco (red, white, and blue) but those stopped....Ath was demanding, but fair....Haven' seen those in a while, and I loved them because I am fluent in Spanish!

Today I completed my 1967th shop for ath Power. They have gained and lost client banks over the years. Rates were higher just after things began to open up a year or so ago. I try to use the current drive-thru teller shops as the basis for local routes.

BTW, "the bank that started in San Francisco (red, white, and blue)" was actually bought by a bank that began in North Carolina and decided to keep the more national-sounding name. There are a lot of shops on the board for them for account openings around here that are now up to $100 in some cases. I think that they have exhausted the pool of shoppers that are willing and able to open new checking or savings accounts. My SO is a Professor of Spanish and does the all-Spanish shops when the pay rate equals what she can make tutoring high school students ($50 per hour in this area). That seems logical to me. For $90, she recently opened a savings account in English. I had done it when it reached $60.

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008

I used to shop for them frequently when they had a particular bank with a ton of locations in my area, but they stopped running their shops. I've never had any issue with payment, but they are on the slower side.

in the past I did hundreds shops with them. But now the bank I did stopped MS program. The current bank has very strange set up plus time I need to spend inside with banker (in pandemic time) so I am not comfortable doing those. I am rarely doing different shops with ath.

Shopping Eastern Pennsylvania since 2009

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/26/2021 04:20AM by gene.

I used to do the credit card and checking/savings opening shops for their big bank client… when they had the “airline shop that was really about the credit card” a couple years back I *loved* that and did a number of mileage runs… but then that moved to another MSP and the pay went waaaaay down. I haven’t thought about them in a while — this is a good poke to check in. As for the OP, they are trustworthy — but the pay has went down. Eg the account opening shops used to pay 125 and the airline paid $150 each way plus $300 fare reimbursed.

They have credit card now and I am planning to do it this week

Shopping Eastern Pennsylvania since 2009

@gene wrote:

They have credit card now and I am planning to do it this week

Those pay well, too. I would do at least one, but I'm waiting for some inquiries to fall off my credit report first.

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

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