So this time I apply for a bunch of their bank shops. I have an account at the bank, and I have to go anyway to deposit some checks, so this is perfect. I sign up for something like 6 of them and do a cut and paste that says "I can shop any day assinged, except for August 5th and 6th." I read and re-read that cut and paste every time I put it in the field that asked what day I can shop.

They went ahead and assigned me August 5th. OMG!

Aaargh! All they saw was Aug 5 & 6 so they 'complied with your request'. Obviously 'except' is not a word they understand.

Utterly annoying.

Yes. On a positive note, though, on the 25th I received a check dated 7/15 for work done the first week of June. Less than 60 days.

I was considering opening an account with the bank they shop here in AZ just to get the work, but the more I read about them the happier I am that I never bothered.

Here is my philosophy on that. My significant other had an account with the bank they do here and I opened one as a shop. Both our accounts are free checking that supply checks for free. Most of his money goes into the account by direct deposit but he does get the odd check now and then that needs to be deposited. I can do drive-through shops at the four or five locations that are pretty much on my route of travel for $9 each without having an undue amount of activity on any given account. We exchange checks if we don't have other stuff to deposit--I write a $12 check to him and he writes a $12 check to me so I have two deposits to do. This particular bank does not give receipts for withdrawals so as money accumulates in my account I simply write a check to deposit in my regular account. The drive-through shops take under 5 minutes to perform (including drive time since they are just a minor detour to a regular route) and about the same amount of time to write up.

I will not do their double-duty, do-1-do-another-free shops, but the drive-ups and the inside teller I will do. Easy, and I already have to go to the bank so why not? Yes, Ath is a pain the rear to deal with, but in this particular case the benefits outweigh the pain!

So far I've been lucky and ath has been a good experience. I was suspicious at first because I've read so many ath problem reports, but all my interaction so far (except for the slow pay earlier this month when the checks weren't mailed until 3 weeks after the date on the Shop Log) has all been good. I've only done 2 shops that ath scheduled themselves. I've done 22 scheduled by Kern. Kerns schedules me, I shop and report and haven't heard a peep out of ath. EXCEPT the week before last - I goofed and shopped the wrong branch. I had the branch address and it said ==grocery store == and the address. I went to the grocery store; there was the free-standing bank branch in the parking lot with the correct address over the door - I shopped it. WRONG!!! Not only is there a free-standing branch in the grocery store parking lot with the same address as the grocery store, there is also a branch inside the grocery store. One of the ath reviewers sent me an e-mail and said the banker name wasn't familiar and asked me to describe the branch I'd shopped -- and I realized and told her I guessed I'd goofed. She said it was on the rotation to be shopped in 2 weeks so they would use my shop and pay me. Then I had the option (and took it) of shopping the branch in the grocery store that I should have shopped in the first place. It was one of those "can't-believe-I-did-that" moments ..... but turned out okay.

Just so you know AustinMom, Ath is famous for things of this nature, giving confusing addresses or not clarifying it enough. So while yes, it technically was your fault for not being more thorough in double checking, it's also their fault for not being clear. You were lucky to have gotten paid! It's not the norm for a company to be able to apply one shpo to another, so that was great luck!

Service Intelligence did that for me once when I did the store on the East end of the street rather than a similar address at the West end of the street.