office administrator

delivery driver

warehouse worker

sales representative

call center representative

Trail Appliances

My short time at Trail Appliances was one of the most stressful job experiences I’ve encountered. While they provided paid training (3 weeks at their Richmond Headquarters), the initial expenses for food and gas were out-of-pocket, and it took nearly two months post-training to get reimbursed. This was particularly difficult as a new hire with bills to pay.

The sales system is highly disorganized. Sales representatives are expected to manage everything from stock requests to deliveries and installations, which felt more like an administrative role than actual sales. The "limitless earning potential" promised is only achievable after two years of building your client base. Despite encouraging us to network, management offered little support — it took five months for me to receive basic business cards. Delivery schedules were often a mess, stock transfers were frequently missed, and the sales support staff were unhelpful, leading to more customer issues.

Management was a major frustration. When I raised concerns about the chaotic processes and errors, I was told to be patient because the company was struggling to retain employees. My manager showed no desire to address these issues, focusing instead on maintaining the current workforce at any cost.

Overall, this job may be suitable for those nearing retirement or with a financial cushion, as you’ll need the stability to weather poor sales months. However, for anyone expecting a supportive, well-organized sales environment, I would caution against this role.

As a store administrator daily tasks include: answering phone calls, welcoming customers in store, processing/entering payments, processing pick ups, transferring stock, processing credit applications and more. The processes and the systems in place are really quite outdated. The systems in place allow a lot of room for error to occur. The training is very inconsistent and it does not allow you an opportunity to learn in a safe environment. The way that the management communicates with staff is blunt and definitely not encouraging.  They tend to forget that some people may be new, and will make you feel guilty if you make a mistake. With such an antiquated system, errors happen in every department, and instead of helping each other most departments try to blame the other.  

The best part of working at Trail are the relationships made with co-workers. The other store administrators, store managers and the product experts are fun to work with. There does not tend to be a lot of time to socialize or get to know each other because you are constantly busy with time consuming tasks. The benefit package is quite good and the starting wage for admin is fair, but you are exhausted mentally at the end of each day. 

Trail prides itself on it's culture, but I think that the feeling of belonging does not trickle down to stores especially those not at the head office. 

Structure is set so that the sales team is 95% male and the Admin is 99% female. The Admin team is under paid for the sheer volume of work expected of them. Sales team is geared to strictly sell, then hand off to an Admin who takes payment, upsells warranties, or financing options & arranges delivery, trouble shoots and assists with service arrangments and provides installation contact info. Admins are also expected to track paperwork, and keep sales bonus info at the ready for the sales team on top of the normal day to day operation in an office. Some coworkers actually work together as a team and share bonuses with their Admin. MOST sales people will take all the glory and bonuses themselves and dump the workload onto the Admin team. If you're salaried here, expect annual raises to be in the .25 cents/hr at the most or be prepared to stand firm, and document why you're worth more than 25 cents. The company is still using antiquated computer programs that they contract a part time programmer to create interfaces with modern software (not always successfully). Potential for advancement is non existant if you have any desire to move into management look elsewhere.

When I first began, there was not much turn over for most of the departments, this changed about a year prior to Covid. Middle management were let go with no notice. Delivery staff were beyond frustrated, a lot of turnover, waaaaaay too much overtime and worked beyond 12 hours - back to back. Lot of turn over in the call centre; the role was fairly broad but the focus was on customer who needed appliance repairs or manufacturer exchanges. The people were great, however, this department's staff were not paid enough (for the amount of stress).

Some positions were very stressful and there was typically only one person who was "specialized" (usually the computer systems). Specialized computer systems were added on as the company grew larger (a lot of updates) and you REALLY need to know the system(s).  

For me, I had to learn a lot but enjoyed the challenges and most of my co-workers (and people within the other departments) were awesome. I was not completely overwhelmed with the workload given but I had a lot of varied responsibilities - granted, I just took or was asked to take on particular tasks (mainly for consistency and one contact). 

Let's just say that many people stay because of the people they work with; there are several long term employees but I think they are pretty much all gone now. 



No wage increases after probationary period. Paid a delivery bonus for clean delivery ie no damages, but it’s not totally related to delivery as the management will take it away for other reasons unrelated to delivery of product. The other workers are good the people you work with , but the management is petty and will throw the employees under the bus for any reason. They have a “meeting” every morning to discuss issues related to the job this “meeting “ is pointless as they do not follow their own advice. The management talks about working safe and slow , but in reality they give backhanded comments to the employees when they think you are talking too long. Often, leading to serious injuries. Many of the employees get injured constantly on this job as their is no job training. If you are a conscientious worker do not work here. Your talents are better off somewhere else as the management is incompetent. They want fearful compliant workers not good workers.  Work here as a temp job not a permanent one 

Pros:
Senior management is very approachable and cares for employees' well-being. They have recently implemented their missions and values which give a good boost to company culture. Good benefit package with full dental coverage.

Cons: 
Salary seems to be not on exactly on par with the workload, as we are both external & internal customer-facing when overcoming work-related challenges. Department turnover rate was fairly high during my first 12-15 months that caused extra stress but leadership have taken steps to address the issue with additional hiring. 

Typical Day:
Requires lots of problem solving skills in day-to-day tasks to manage sales associates and customers' needs via phone or email communication.
Also we will need to go between Purchasing, Delivery, Service and Store managers to look after customers' issues.

The most enjoyable part of the job: Working with a great team of fellow Customer Support Admins and to share interesting stories to resolve challenges.

Company only cares about the people that make them money not the people who work for their money. Sales and Admin are valued, warehouse and below not so much. Payrises pretty much non existent. 2% if you're lucky. Some people get 25c per hr some nothing. Then you hear about the lucky 'one' that is singled out and gets $1.50 per hr. Salaried staff seem to please themselves and are absent a lot of the time. Builder admin make their own rules. No 30 minute lunches for them minimum 45 mins and several 25 minute breaks throughout the day. There just isn't enough work to keep them busy. Shopping on Amazon and playing Candy Crush is the norm. The branch is run from Vancouver so there is no real management on site. People frequently visit from the mainland some arrive after 11am then visit their friends and chat all day. It's pointless not to mention a waste of money. Not a happy work environment at all.

It's a good place to work, they pay well with good benefits, the managers sometimes forget that not all job sites are the same difficulty, or that not all the new employees can work as fast as those that have been there for a while. But it is a good place to work and it feels really good when you complete a delivery and the customer no longer has their life on pause while they wait for a fridge or laundry to continue taking care of themselves in their own home. I really enjoyed driving the truck and getting to train the new employees on how to lift and what to watch out for with things like customers being concerned it wouldn't go well, or to avoid injury as well as just to maintain a good work ethic and speed to safely and properly do the very demanding job.

I was at Trail for a long time and had many roles within the company. I genuinely loved the people and some of the stores can be a lot of fun. I even loved my job when I left. 

My issue was new/young management coming in and setting new policies and procedures that didn’t make sense with this business. They cared more about making the most money possible than they did about making the customer happy. I would be punished for doing well in my job because I didn’t do it the exact way they wanted me to and that was the final straw for me. They micromanage, they promote those who are part of the “boys club” or kiss up the most and they don’t appreciate those who work the hardest for them. 

I also had to train new staff who were hired on to make more than I did although I bought years of experience within the company.

If you are generally unmotivated, have no initiative, are a male, and have poor attendance, then this is a great place for you.  The company rewards "kiss ups" friends and relatives.

If you are hard working, smart, reliable and out spoken this workplace will drive you insane.  You will do extra work for those who fall short with out compensation. Two percent is the raise you might receive in June. Not after one year.

Health and safety only matter when it does not cost too much. Otherwise the company just gives lip service.  If you need a job take this, but move on as soon as possible.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Office administrator 24 salaries reported	$23.41 per hour
Delivery driver 25 salaries reported	$24.48 per hour
Warehouse worker 11 salaries reported	$21.88 per hour
Sales representative 12 salaries reported	$3,000 per month
Call center representative 3 salaries reported	$25.00 per hour

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