représentant bilingue

financial representative

conseiller en traitement de l’information

ripeur

technical support representative

Gatestone & Co. Inc

The experience was reasonable at the start, the company was fairly welcoming and it was a smooth transition from my last job. After the training though, it became clear that this was not a place for me and that was the turning point. 

Callers screaming at you all day long for unfufilled tasks we had absolutely no control over since we only provide information apparently even though the number callers call to is made for customer service or to help them recieve their payment or fix something on their account. Also other departments we have to transfer callers to simply don't respond. I'm not sure if it was because there's was not enough agents or their devices weren't working or something else. 

There's no reason to argue with management or supervisors about it, first of all, you'd be lucky to have them assist you but if they do, they'll tell you the same thing everytime "our mandate is...blablabla" and you're left to deal with enraged people that believe we have control over their payments or accounts even though we don't. Then there's this thing where we can program a "callback" if they really want to the callers can speak a program agent that has control and is responsible for their payments and their application settings so they can fix their issue but it the turn around time is 40 f*cking days for a program agent to call them then the callers all loose their temper.

Coming from someone who isn't bothered that much by customer service jobs, it's absolutely ridiculous the mental gymnastics my mind had to make because of how unorganized everything was setup. That 40 day garbage is nonsense. Why not just allow us information agents to resolve their payment issue or application issue ourselves? I understand we're only supposed to give information as information agents but this literally makes everything worse for literally everyone and give so many people who work here mental illnesses. 

At least I'm glad I'm out, would not recommend at all unless you collectin' that training paycheck.

A typical day at work:
I work in the support and find that Gatestone is a great place to work.  
I find there are always new and or challenging initiatives which keep things interesting.  My day varies and can include troubleshooting issues, documenting current processes and proposed improvements, implementation and testing, meeting with vendors to understand how their products/services may help my company achieve a particular goal, etc...

Lessons Learned:
There are many opportunities that are not so accessible in larger enterprises.  Work is a great place to learn about many things.  This can include technology, processes, best practices, etc...It's really up to an individual to decide what their own goals are and then formulate and execute a plan to attain them, and have the patience to see it through (it's not going to come overnight, and even in a year or two)

Management:
I'm not in management and am not sure if there are any leadership training/mentoring programs here.  I'm sure there is room for improvement, but I can honestly say I haven't had any unfair dealings with management.  

Co-workers:
Most of the individuals I work directly with are professional, talented, motivated and have a sense of humor which makes working with them a pleasure.

Hardest part of the job:
Sometimes requirements are vague and delivering the right/best solution is challenging.

Most enjoyable part of the job:
Work-life balance is important to me and having a schedule that includes working from home 50% of the time allows me to save on commuting time and costs.  I've worked in a 100% work from home environment and having the ability to engage with co-workers and clients and vendors is probably taken for granted by many.  The new Toronto office location (specifically not being downtown) allows plenty of options to get to work, and reduced travel time and parking costs for those coming from the suburbs. There are even shuttle buses between the office and TTC subway station.

Great place to learn about the office work environment. 
Some rules are much to strict and pointless, and the fear of losing your job over them is stressful. No coffee at your desk, No Slouching, No writing or drawing on paper while your staring into space listening to dial tones and strangers pre-recorded voicemail greetings. 

Its a great place to start your career, get your experience, and get the heck out. 

Management is a joke, doesn't respond to emails or phone calls...will not help you grow as an individual and is clearly looking out for whats in their best interest and only theirs.

I personally was transferred to a department I didn't apply for, didn't fit in. I was hired as a customer service representative and transferred into the collections field with little notice prior to the change. They use you as an employee, treat you as disposable and throw you away when they're done with you.

Other than that, I was late frequently due to a long 2 hour commute and transit delays - They are very understanding of this. The best part of being there is the Employee Engagement department and its efforts. Josh makes the place real vibrant, fun and exciting. He does everything to ensure the employee morale here is positive.

The company would be better if the executives didn't walk around all the time micromanaging, and they'd be better off sitting in their offices watching their bank accounts grow as ours are in the negatives because were paid a Garbage Rate of just above minimum wage, and expected to survive living in Toronto.

The only positive experience that one may have at Gatestone is that you will have some great co workers; Other than that I would not recommend this place. Every employee here is disposable , salary is too low for the stress you will have to deal with and managers put too much pressure  to meet daily quotas. I have seen people who have been at the company for 10- 20 years get fired after missing their goals for 2 or 3 months. Management has no respect for anyone you are nothing but a machine.  There are no sick days and hardly any benefits. The work is very repetitive and they try to give you the shortest breaks possible allowed by the law.(15 min breaks and 30 mins lunch). They micromanage everything including your bathroom breaks. So prepare to gain some weight or join a gym because you will be sitting down most of the day. Oh and don't get to friendly with your co workers at your work station ,the VPs don't like that. Talking and laughing with your coworkers while at your desk  gets you death stares from upper management.You are suppose to be a machine nothing more. Talking and laughing is meant for your breaks it seems.
 Even if you want to get some work experience at this place it would be a waste. I have not learned anything new from my time here. No new technologies or software.  It seem as if the work culture is designed to keep you stuck there and completely useless anywhere else. Gatestone is just meant to have something on your resume that you may have to "spruce up a bit" to catch the eye of other employers

The job itself is Extremely easy to do but mid management, supervisors transform this cool job into a nightmare by doing extreme micromanagement, BIASED supervisors by favorite some agents over the other’s by redirect the calls which include the accounts that has big amount of money to those agent’s and then complaining that the other agent’s aren’t collecting efficiently!
You might be handling tremendous amount of customers and collect all the money you have to BUT the total promise amount you collect is no way near the amounts that has been made by other agents (who has been on the favorite list of supervisors)
In addition to that, they will blame you for not collecting well!
Salary was okay for an Entry Level agent. However they think they are the only one who offers this Salary while mostly all other agencies/Companies do!
Co workers are nice and upper management are nice too i don’t even think they know what’s going on down there.
If you are planning to work there just don’t trust your team leader or supervisors, JUST DON’T.
Training wasn’t the best and also help after training especially first day on the floor is extremely bad of-course because of the mid management, they will always pretend they are busy doing other stuff, just go to the office and you will notice they are just hanging out here and there with each other.


much respect to our managers, trainers and colleagues  who  keep their standards professional , despite the difference of culture everyone is treated equally which is appreciated.here at icon for the past 2-3 weeks i learned a lot about negotiating and multitasking a swell as improving in my typing skills. the most enjoyable part for me here is when i receive calls with different situations and learn about it , in that sense i gain more knowledge and know how to deal with the situation for future purpose .
sometimes what gets difficult for me is when i dont really know something referring the call and not able  to put up my words in one but eventually i will improve , it rarely happens, apart from that with more time working here i will get better at it . the service here at icon is awsome, our shifts aswell and having 2 days off , what else can we ask for, we appreciate that you care about our comfort ,nesecity  and personal life by providing great daily work shifts...

What is the best part of working at the company?
Work from home (100% Remote). Company provides the equipment as well.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Not stressful but No pay raise(increment). The management is organized but not compassionate for employees, they only care for their Client and their requirements.


What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Client focused. Client all of a sudden wanted the technical reps to do sales pitches in the troubleshooting calls/chats and honestly I am not comfortable with sales and I am a problem solver that's why I joined as a technical support. But now the company wants us to do sales pitches in the technical queries (later on also achieve the minimum target like we are sales representative). 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
When I was a part of the calls. It's back to back calls. It used to be 1 minute after each call but client demanded to lessen it for more productivity and its 30 sec now. 

Later on I was on chats. Chats are not busy. When it's busy you are on 2 chats at a time and back to back chats. Otherwise just one chat and 10-15 minutes before a new chat comes in.

On an everyday basis our duty is to sign onto the database and use the automated dialed numbers and would follow scripts given to us but most portions of the call would be based on knowledge and understanding of accounts. All information was provided on each account; it was our duty to find all information orderly while following the script given. I've learned how to collect a payment and how to use my customer service skills and interpersonal skills to its advantage. The management was respectful and was helpful at all times. My co-workers were all friendly and welcoming. They assisted me with any difficulties i may have faced while on a call when my supervisor was occupied. The hardest part of the job was trying to find all information while trying to follow the script without making it sound natural and knowledgeable. The most enjoyable part was working on the first week and last week on new accounts because there was not much work needed to be done. Most contacts did not respond. Also receiving a payment was another enjoyable part of the job because i know i have completed my task correctly.

This is a collection agency that has several clients. Their current client is a big telecommunications company in Canada The pay is low and no benefits, until a year of work, i am doing more tasks now then was described in the job application, interview, and training. Zero incentive to collect money from customers, and there is a lot of pressure to get money. NO extra time for washroom break or emergencies, (even though they will say a 5 mins washroom is fine when it’s not ) team leaders are very supportive they actually help you on the job, little room for moving up in the company, shift times aren’t too bad just know you will rarely get the shift you want. And any legitimate reason as to why you want to change your shift will be ignored.  The job is very repetitive and can get very stressful. Gatestone it’s self hasn’t been horrible to me it’s more the client that’s bad, they will have you calling people at 8am to 10pm asking them for money then you get all the heat from the customer. Overall it’s fine as a temporary job there’s really no incentive to work here long term. The Only thing keeping me here for now  is the hybrid set up. 

A typical day at work is so smooth sailing and easy. The assistance is there, motivation, team assistance and the drive to succeed. I've learned that most customer's that calls in angry, is not really ANGRY!! they might have just been misinformed causing them to be upset and it depends on how you speak to them and how you offer to assist them that makes them trust and believe in you causing them to calm down. The management TEAM is so AWESOME!! there's no complaints there. The culture at the workplace of Gatesone is so diverse and accepting. To be honest the hardest part of the job is that it's very fluid, so rules and different processes are subject to change everyday and let me tell you...if you don't have good memory, you may tend to break some of them. the most enjoyable part of the Job is that the people here are AWESOME the salary is GREAT management is Awesome and there's a lot of other words that can describe the amazing work that they do.

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