Customer Service Representative | Fredericton, NB | May 7, 2014
Feels like being in high school again.
I worked for Minacs for about 6 months before finding a profession in my field. During these six months , I can not say that I was overly impressed with any part of Minacs.
To start off , they are constantly hiring (2-3 classes of 20 or so people per month at my centre alone) because they can not keep the customer representative they have. After discussing this issue with management , I found out that in a months time it is possible to lose around 40 employees (A good example is that from the training class after mine , they hired 18, there are 4 left and all of them have put in their two weeks notice). When I was hired , they didn't have the space to accommodate a new training class as there were already 2 in effect so we were put in a dark corner in the back of the centre where we didn't have any hands on training until the class before us "graduated". We did not have a formal trainer so they had two reps from the sales team teach us (I am in no way complaining about the trainers I had at the start as they were wonderful but still did not have the appropriate training to be a Minacs trainer). Halfway through , they decide to switch trainers to a formal one so in the span of six weeks , I was trained by three different employees.
For bilingual people ; if you are expecting to have your regular bilingual wage as soon as you start working for Minacs , think again ! You are not allowed to have your premium until you hit the floor (six weeks after you are hired) even though
ProsGreat Team Leads, incentives, tons of hours
ConsExtreme difficulty at being an organized company
3.0
Customer Service Representative | Peterborough, ON | Dec 6, 2020
A Mixed bag
The work environment is a mixed bag to put it simply. There are some pros and cons this will get a little long.
One thing to note is, while you technically work for Concentrix, you really end up representing their client as you do with all call center jobs.
The customer side of things:
Before covid, most of the customers were the mix of 80% good and 20 % bad, a lot of entitlement and people going on about how much money they have BUT you do get the sweet people who just need a little help, a how-to or are more than ready to go along with the steps/plan you provide. Any annoying customers can easily slip your mind with how busy it does get and a few laughs with your co-workers to vent and helps relieve some of the tension. (and oh boy will you hear some stories.)
However with covid, the amount of entitled, rude and nasty. You'll be blamed for everything and anything the customer can think of over policies you do not control. A thick skin is practically required.
The job side of things:
Very fast-paced, you only have about 7 seconds between calls with little rest between them. You are clocked on all bathroom (bio) breaks and will be watched carefully if you're in certain AUX states for too long. You are expected to write highly detailed legible notes without your allotted time of 5 minutes max going over. If you do go over, it is noted and you will be coached on how to improve. You are staring at a screen all day so it can hurt the eyes after a while.
Customers will to
Customer Service Representative | Hamilton, ON | Jul 25, 2020
One of the worst work experience you may have
I was advised to go for a job interview by an employment agency and that was the probably one of the worst things I've ever done, career wise. The interview was quite easy, it turned out they just needed people regardless of what qualifications you have! So I was accepted on the spot as long as I spoke English and knew how to use a computer which I clearly did.
I was asked to attend training the following Monday.
Once I arrived a found a batch of 25 other individual all joining my training class. By the end of training we were down to 12, the majority of people just dropped off because of the nature of the training which was far from being constructed or navigated properly. The instructor literally had communication problems with the majority of us. Those classes were mundane and redundant, we kept covering the same theoretical material instead of being properly trained on the software we'll be using from the get-go.
Once I hit the floor and started the actual job, I could clearly see what I got myself into! It was a complete and utter mess. There was no sense of order whatsoever. The team leaders were extremely hostile and rude, we had to depend on other agents for help and in all honesty they were the best. They weren't paid extra to guide you through your difficulties but they did it any ways so a BIG THANK YOU TO THE COWORKERS. Scheduling was a mess. The tasks we're asked to do in as customer service agents in banking was immense for the pay we got! You have to ta
1.0
Call Center Representative | Oshawa, ON | Jun 15, 2015
Psychologically a very difficult place to work
There are hundreds of workers on the floor at a time, but no structured seating. So, every day you're working beside someone that you've never seen before. Team Leaders change weekly, and notifications are sent out by email which let you know their name. You cannot email out, so issues with your Team Leader must be done in person (only an issue if you haven't met them yet and don't know what they look like). Most chairs and desks are broken, so it's difficult to find a place to work before your shift. It can take about 20 minutes, and usually you end up settling for something that's close enough. The hours can be very long and your days off could be at opposite ends of the week. So, you could end up working 11 hour shifts for almost 2 weeks before seeing a day off. The time between calls is about 3 seconds, so there's no time to take a sip of coffee, for example, and the average call is about 45 seconds. Employees are expected to keep up to date on emails and forums between calls (again, about 3 seconds between calls). There is a substantial amount of information to read, and forum articles have a quiz at the end of each to make sure that you're absorbing the information. There is always a possibility that you're going to get an emergency call, even if you're not in that department. The turn over rate is very high, which can be depressing. Not 1 person from my training class of about 25 was still there a month after training finished. Emails were sent out from time to time sa
ProsCafeteria on site, friendly team leaders, benefits after probation
ConsLong hours, irregular days off, made to feel disposable, broken equipment, etc
1.0
Customer Service Representative | Chatham-Kent, ON | Sept 26, 2014
A depressing place to work.
I went in to this job knowing it would be stressful and that the turnover rate is really high. I thought I would be able to stick it out for at least a year or so.. I was wrong. The training for the job was great and very thorough but nothing can really prepare you for once you hit the floor. It was so difficult at first because it was often very tough to find a supervisor/TL for questions or assistance. I felt like I was guessing most of the time.
Many TLs clearly could not care less about helping anyone (employees nor customers). I came across many situations that TLs often did not know the answer to either and would just guess to give you an answer and shut you up. I avoided my TL specifically because when I would walk up to her to ask a question when I first came out of training she was clearly very annoyed.
There are nice people that work there and that are willing to help out, but for the most part the atmosphere of the place is very depressing. No one wants to be there. No one wants to really help a customer. I was shocked during training when I would hear agents put customers on mute and mock them while they were still talking on the line.
Making any future plans is near impossible since you cannot book days off. You can only trade shifts which only successfully happens once in a blue moon (I only successfully traded a shift once in my 6 months there).
While I was employed at Minacs they were expanding a lot, running tons of training class
ProsLearning new systems, when you actually get to help a customer
ConsCannot make future plans, not a lot of help, bad attitudes, unorganized, crowded, stressful
3.0
Senior Customer Support Representative | Niagara Falls, ON | Aug 10, 2017
Pleasant and Supportive Work Environment
A typical day at work involves supporting multiple customers at a time over a chat based forum with account and billing issues, or supporting the first tier inbound level advisors with issues they need assistance with, or customers they are unable to work with.
I have learned the Mac OS and productions systems, some technical skills pertaining to software for both Mac and PC, as well as new billing management systems, soft skills for better customer interactions, and extensive problem solving tactics to provide excellent customer service.
Management is a two level hierarchy, the management within the building is for the most part fantastic, they work directly with the client whose systems we support to relay trends, and emerging issues. The Client, being the second level management has a very well defined way of how they would like us to operate their systems but provide little flexibility for human nature as it comes to us. While thy do strive to improve the work flow, they are lacking somewhat in knowledge of the front-line support, which causes a high turnover rate.
The workplace culture is better than most places, our Human Resources and Advocate committees try to maintain workplace morale by hosting events and fundraisers. The staff in this location are fantastic and a culture of teamwork and support is nurtured by our direct management and team leaders. Seeing the people I work with everyday is without a doubt the best part of the job.
The hardest part of th
ProsThey were able to accomodate my schedule for my childcare needs
ConsThe pay is capped below industry standard, and unfortunately no amount of hard work can advance you any further within the company
There was an amazing advisor who worked there. She was wonderful at her job and was amazing to be around. As time went on, I watched her light vanish and she started having mental health issues. It was blatant, she lost weight and cried a lot. She was told by her manager that her demeanour was “miserable be around and had a chip on her shoulder” but she has clinical depression?
I basically watched this bright young woman be a spark and everyone loved her and then wondering if she would be alive they next.
Human Resources was useless for her and threatened to take away her accommodation. She did not want to listen to advisors concerns and dismissed them. She was constantly belittled and reprimanded for performing poorly even though they weren’t actually helping her reduce stress. Even the EAP referral was a joke and it was an advisor to actually handed it to her instead of HR. HR said there’s information out there and you can grab one.
The long term affects of working here for Less than two years are absolutely disgusting.
The work is stressful to the max, the hospital has made multiple comments to me when I’ve been there about how concentrix employees come in so often and they hear HRs a mess to deal with. They willingly give time off notes because of the volume.
Also, you’re not allowed to take time off phones for mental health reasons, and you’re expected to take calls through anxiety attacks and tears while you’re being screamed at. And if you ask for
ProsGreat coworkers
ConsHR is not helpful, you can’t change your hours, no one really cares, Center is a biohazard
Aditya Birla Minacs in Oshawa, ON. Lets start with the good. You will meet some great people. People that you can definitely call "friend". After this, there are only negatives. I had the great displeasure of working for Onstar, General Motors' in-vehicle navigation and assistance system. If you work in the Subscriber department, get ready to spend 9 1/2 hours talking to idiotic drivers on refurbished headsets, broken chairs, and filthy workstations. Forget about sitting with people you know or even your team leader. There are no assigned desks so you could be across the room from anyone you may know. If you happen to work for the sales team setting up the Onstar service for new and returning customers, get ready to be sabotaged on a daily basis by dealer sales reps looking to make themselves look better in front of the customers by revealing company sales scripting. The result: the dealer rep looks good by revealing inside information to the customer and you miss out on sales, commission, and your stats suffer as a whole. Then there's the management. Consider yourself lucky if you are assigned to a team leader that genuinely wants you to do better and will help you to accomplish your service and sales goals. These good team leaders are few and far between. You will see first hand favoritism towards some agents and laziness from team leaders as they pass the buck to team leaders that actually do the work. You will see first hand agents that barely spend time on the phone and
ProsGood People To Meet
ConsCleanliness of entire call centre, constantly changing scripting, favoritism, location
3.0
Customer Service Representative | Oshawa, ON | Sept 14, 2017
A really review
When I first started with this company we had fun, we were laughing and having fun the customer experience was number one and training was held to a higher standard. I feel bad for anyone that starts now they changed training from 8 weeks for 5 days, which is no where near enough time to learn the basics and how to handle an upset customer with vehicle concerns. Some of the team managers are great they are honest with you and do not beat around the bush, it's the managers that are above them that have the real problem, they turn a blind eye to everything that goes on. They praise you with a ballon if your good and nothing if your bad it is insulting as everyone deserves to be lifted up. The post signs about what you could have if you didn't miss days they call you out for being in the bathroom longer than three minutes. Basic human rights, they never praise what is done well they focus on the negatives, you can be working 60 hour weeks and they will find what you did wrong. The pay is bad for this kind of work many people leave and go to competitors to do the same work for more money. Do not settle if you do not have to. The hr lady is. Joke, they underpaid me half my cheque one week and she didn't believe me and sent me away to find someone else, she has no idea what goes on and doesn't care. She doesn't know anyone's names and she spends here time when she is in walking around. Honestly this is a job, it's not the worst but it is near close to it. They hire so many people b
ProsCoworkers and that's it
ConsLong hours, forget to pay you for worked hours, hr lady is a joke and the whole operation is a joke
3.0
Customer Service Representative | New Glasgow, NS | Sept 8, 2015
Best part of job was coworkers and benefits
Working at a call centre is VERY stressful, finding information for callers as quickly as possible. Typical day at work was going on the phone and taking one call right after the other. Being on the phone and constantly being timed for everything and also being recorded is hard. I enjoy helping people but definitely did not like getting penalized by their point system (which supposedly resulted in what shift and any bonuses I was eligible for) when I took the time to resolve the issue. Many times I was told I could have/should have done it faster...and that seemed to be the focus, not that I resolved the issue or gave out accurate information, but how quickly I was able to do it. The hardest part of the job wasn't in fact helping those who called, it was being reviewed and the pat phrase used by all managers was "What could you have done better?" so you are always feeling your best was never good enough. My co-workers were great tho and tried to help when needed,although they were also busy trying to meet their own metrics, and they did help relieve some of the stress. The benefits were really good tho, that is one thing I will say, as we had prescription, dental, vision, and things like massage therapy etc. Most companies seem to hire for part time and don't provide any benefits, so that was definitely a plus. I did learn that I can multi-task and handle using all kinds of different programs and could use my knowledge to find a 'back way' of finding information whenever
Prosgreat benefits
Consalways being asked "What could you have done better"
