Customer Support Representative | Ontario | Apr 22, 2016
Terrible Company, Management and Work Environment!
It's almost difficult to know where to even start and probably aren't enough words allowed in this review to properly explain how terrible it was working for Leons, I don't wish it upon my worst enemy. First of all, the company claims they are family oriented and extremely religious (No tattoos showing in the workplace in 2015? Get with the times!).. The way I was treated as an employee both at company and store level is not very reflective of how one would treat a family member. The amount of bullying that takes place from grown adults within the customer care department is inexcusable. For the first 6 months I noticed the bullying but was not a 'victim' of it until I became friends with the person who was being bullied. I then became a full on target.. Sounds just like high school right? Its exactly the same. Too petty for my liking, not something I tolerate in my everday life (especially at my minumum wage job) and my attitude began to reflect this. After bringing these issues, which might I add, qualify as harassment, to my office manager, general manager and then district manager, still nothing was done about it and it continued. At this point, I gave up and simply concluded that this minimum wage job wasn't worth it and continued my 'work until they fire you' attitude. I'll add that I was a previous store manager and team leader so this was not my typical attitude towards my workplace. The scheduling is ridiculous.. you either work 9-1 or 5-9 as a part timer, nothing in
ProsGreat Sales Team, High Customer Interaction, Can Gain Experience with Financing Procedures
ConsToo many to state: Scheduling, Management etc.
During my short lived tenure at Leon's in Owen Sound, I learned one very valuable lesson: be careful what you say and who you say it to. In fact, saying as little as possible should be the goal, because it'll only be used against you later on. Only speak briefly, and to the point. Don't make the mistake of discussing your personal life or anything not relating to Leon's or sales in general. It is 100% commission, so your salary is entirely in your hands. There are plenty of customers coming in to purchase furniture and appliances. You are encouraged by management to sell customers on the extended warranties. This can be done but isn't always easy to do, since the customer is already a little wary of spending $3,000 on a sofa that was made in Saigon.
A typical workday begins with signing your name into a book and then putting your card in and waiting for your turn to take the next customer that walks through the door. The hours can be quite long and draining, especially during VIP days and other special events.
The management at the Owen Sound location is rather excellent. The Store Manager as well as the Sales Manager in particular are very helpful and will assist you in any way they can to help you become a successful Sales Associate. The Sales Manager is a veteran Sales Associate himself and is an excellent trainer and a tremendous resource of information.
The darkest and most disturbing aspect of this job would have to be the rivalry betwe
ProsFree lunches during special events, Excellent Management, Family Owned Business, Lots of Repeat Business, Some excellent salespeople and front office staff
ConsLong hours, conniving salespeople
1.0
Customer Service Representative | Barrie, ON | Apr 19, 2019
Worth the read if you’re considering working here:
Let’s start off on an ok note. The hours for customer service were the only great part about my personal experience and some of the staff. And when I say some I mean very little.
The turn over rate is extremely high.
People either get fired all of the time or quit.
Management is extremely unorganized. They tend to manipulate the staff into thinking the employees are doing horrible when really they are not trained enough for such a dated system or cared about by management. You are just a number.
The return policy is non existent. Which it makes it extremely difficult to handle customer complaints. The technicians are swamped and the parts take forever to come for customers who have paid thousands of dollars to have broken furniture from the start. If you don’t turn it away at the door upon delivery then you are stuck with it. Especially for appliances. Good luck with that.
The front office works as hard as they can with little appreciation from management. You are never told good job or that you’re doing things right. You are only ever told when your doing things wrong. 8/10 customer calls or walk ins are complaints or wanting updates about their damaged furniture, when the front office can’t do anything without managements approval for almost everything. Returns are next to impossible to get approved which leaves you with 20+ open cases for customers that you must deal with i top of getting 20+ more daily with new pr
As a delivery driver/ helper your earnings are 100% Commission based, meaning you don’t earn unless you deliver the product.
Leon’s has a “1 for 1” policy which means we had to remove the old item of whatever we delivered. This is very literally twice the work, and some items exceed 300lbs, even 400lbs... that you’re expected to remove with only your partner.
You’re also personally liable for damages you cause. It’s understandable in the sense of being accountable, but it’s straight up unfair to workers when a worker is put into a situation where they pretty much know damage will be caused to the home, but they have to try because the store will make you go back later in your day. So, a customer orders items that are FAR TOO LARGE for their home, then when you have to shoehorn them into the home, the customers WILL complain and you wind up actually paying money for doing said stop.
Also important to note regarding removals: you will without a doubt be strong-armed by management to remove items that are straight up hazardous ie old mattresses with blood/ feces/ urine, old freezers with mold and animal blood or even items that most would have to use a machine to lift.
The equipment they provide to do these insane jobs and lift these massive items will straight up cripple you if you aren’t VERY physically fit and accustomed to proper lifting techniques. For example, a 4-wheel cart with a long strap that you wrap around your wrist. This cart is put under fridges (many
ProsNot in an office all day
ConsWorking for free, You could get very injured, Management WILL force you to handle items that are biohazardous.
2.0
Customer Service Representative | Peterborough, ON | Mar 11, 2022
Enticing Monetary Compensation, but Not Worth it.
After my interview, I was extremely excited to work for this company. I was told that it didn't matter that I didn't know the industry, they would teach that to me, all I needed to do was bring a positive attitude and a willingness to learn. Six months later, they terminated me using a garbage excuse that the company wasn't doing well enough to sustain another full time worker (meanwhile I learned from an inside source that they had hired two new people not long beforehand). They had had record months for sales, and were consistently bringing in more than 100 grand every weekend. So you can imagine.
Their training was nonexistent, but yet you're demonized for not knowing or understanding what to do with all the information you're told to collect from people. There is zero structure to that company aside from whatever management says goes, and you're not allowed to ask questions or clarify. You don't have the power to make any decisions when assisting customers, but management doesn't want you to bother them to make those decisions, either. Basically, unless you're lucky enough to be socially accepted by the people who work here, you have no hope. They're passive aggressive and apathetic to customers as well as employees, and expect you to have some magical, telepathic wavelength with them to be intuitive enough to understand exactly what you need to do as soon as you step up to that computer.
You're also dealing with a lot more than just Customer Service. You're handling exte
ProsOwner's dog is onsite sometimes, you can step away from the desk if needed, schedule is given usually a month in advance
ConsNo Training, fake environment, uncaring management, Feels like you don't exist outside your 2 days off, management is terrible, you're on your own despite having other people around you, benefits don't cover much and cost you $30-$75 PER PAY depending on what coverage you want
Delivery Driver @ Leon's = A Dangerous Job Not Worth the Risk.
I did this job for exactly one day, and refused to return. I found it to be an extremely dangerous job with no real training or safety protocols.
Arriving in the morning, I helped the driver who was supposed to be training me to load our 5 ton truck with furniture and other items for delivery. He planned the delivery route without showing me how or why he did it the way he did (which wasn't a big deal, I could have figured that out). We set out for deliveries - no time limit, we were to work until our truck was empty.
We would be paid a flat rate for the day no matter how long it took. This caused two problems: 1. The management required us to deliver a huge amount of furniture because they didn't have to pay for overtime, and 2. The driver I worked with thought it best to get done as quickly as possible, since working less hours wouldn't reduce the pay. This culture made the job dangerous. Because of the desire to rush and beat the clock, things had to be done as quickly as possible (also because we were required to deliver such a huge amount of furniture, we had to rush to get done in a reasonable time). There was no time for safety, proper lifting, helping each other out, etc. Imagine one person carrying a love seat up 3 flights of stairs while the other carried the recliner. A two-man carry would waste precious time. Try humping a queen sized mattress up to a second floor apartment by yourself. Not fun. The day was filled with the potential for injury because of the
This company is many things and none of those are positive. There is no support system as people are thrown into the job with zero training, the owner has zero ability to run a business the only thing he cares about is the money.
Sales people are VERY POORLY paid they run on a draw system which due to the Kingston team forcing Brockville team to spew lies of when stock will arrive, several orders get cancelled which means you've dug your self into a hole with an hourly wage that you will never escape due to the fact that you can never deliver products.
No products delivered = No commission = Your continually in the hole and indebted to this horrendous company.
On top of that if you are over 2 thousand into the draw you will be terminated as you "aren't capable of selling" Even if you are the worlds best sales person, you can't sell someone empty promises and thin air.
The turn over rate is EXTREMELY high, I am talking over 20 managers in the past few years and COUNTLESS other employee's.
If you are a manager or behind the desk there is no support, no direction and you are punished if you make a mistake for things you were demanded to do without ever being shown how, to make it better you also do not get your lunch breaks. If you are sick or miss a day nothing will be done as no management is trained to take payments or problem solve, they are simple placed there as useless pawns for the upper management to **** on.
The pay of ANY position in this store wi
ConsUnorganized, No Benefits, High turn over rate, No lunch breaks, No Money, False Promises.
Worked at Leon's for quite some time.
A Typical Day at Work:
Show up for an unpaid meeting before my shift for 15 minutes if its a weekday, 1 hour if its a Saturday and 15 minutes - 1 hour if its a Sunday depending on recent sales performances.
Go to sales room, look over orders check for messages from customers, start taking 'ups' and helping customers.
What I Learned:
I learned how to talk to people, how to sell and deal with people.
Management:
Varied greatly over my time at Leon's, I loved some managers and not loved others. Mostly, people accepting management positions are low-mediocre performing sales people that can be manipulated easily by higher management.
Workplace Culture:
The corporate culture is that management doesn't care what you have to say, they tell you this and its part of the company slogan : One Voice, One Vision, One Direction. Salespeople will try to rip you off and screw you into quitting when you first start as more salespeople = less money for everyone. Once you stick around for a while you will make good friends. Depending on you, you will fight with other salespeople for more sales or forfeit some income. As far as Leon's is concerned they care about the sale, not who gets it, not who deserves it. The more sales someone has the more they can get away with. The company will look at you as your numbers on a spreadsheet, they really don't care about you and are indifferent when someone leaves the company.
Hardest Part
Energetic workplace for continuous learning and career growth
Working on the showroom meant keeping track of the inventory of various furniture pieces and room items (lamps, rugs, etc.) to complement warm and inviting living/dining room conditions. This also meant rearranging furniture pieces to coincide with recent sale promotions and keeping tabs of current pieces for a modern home as they arrived in store to present to the customer. My job involved the assembly and transportation of any and all furniture from the warehouse to the showroom floor and vice versa when showroom pieces were sold from the floor if they were not available newly packaged in the warehouse to deliver. In those circumstances I had to wrap and protect the pieces as well as relocate them in our inventory system to the warehouse where they would be collected for delivery. I was trained to drive Leon's flatbed truck to transport those pieces to vacant warehouse shelves and replace those missing sets on the show floor with brand new sets according to their location in our inventory system in the warehouse. I enjoyed the assembly of furniture and appliance sets and appreciated the responsibility bestowed upon me to make sure everything was organized in such a fashion that quick retrieval of these individual items could be done easily. When I worked in the Mark down department I had new tasks assigned to me though I was often bombarded with so many deliveries at once, that it was difficult to maintain the pace I had acquired while working in my previous position and ma
This Brantford corporate store has ongoing ads running for salespeople, but when I went in and spoke to the store manager and the sales manager, I was told that their recruiting 'strategy' is to advertise 'job openings' on an ongoing basis even though/when they have no openings so as to collect more resumes. I don't call this a strategy, I call it misinformation that is inconsiderate to the unemployed, the poor, and inconsiderate to potential employees and for all concerned an inconsiderate waste of their time. If I were truly dedicated to becoming employed at Leon's - which I was - I would watch for their ads like a hawk, waiting for the day they appeared when I could "strike while the iron was hot" and impress them with my enthusiastic zeal. Now as a result of their misinformation strategy, their ads mean nothing, reducing their employment landscape to a uniformly gray and uninteresting tableaux. They might collect more resumes this way, but most will be 'stale-dated' as no potentially enthusiastic potential employee will hold off of other opportunities to entertain the possibility that today's ghost-ad just might be the real deal. Consequently their 'strategy' will result in interviewing only the "luck of the draw," i.e., only those people who happen to be unemployed at the moment Leon's has a real opening, rather than a salesperson dedicated to working at Leon's who is willing to wait 90 or 120 days, watching for a bona-fide opportunity only to learn Brantford Leon's dupe
Prosbonuses from manfacturers
Consdespite a $300, 000 advertising budget, they will not allow a salesperson to discount $50, towards a $2000 sale to an old-country senior just looking for some 'respect.'
Questions and answers about Leon's Furniture
How often do you get a raise at Leon's Furniture?
Asked Nov 8, 2022
A few cents per year.
Answered Jun 1, 2023
Once
Answered May 5, 2023
What is the promotion process like at Leon's Furniture?
Asked Nov 8, 2022
There is none.
Answered Jun 1, 2023
High turnover
Answered May 30, 2023
How often do raises occur at Leon's Furniture?
Asked Jan 5, 2019
Once a year for 30 cents
Answered Jun 4, 2023
Got a raise at 3months (after probation period) then I believe they do a raise every summer or every other summer.
Answered May 11, 2023
What is the work-from-home policy at Leon's Furniture?
Asked Nov 10, 2022
Not existent, unless special permission received
Answered May 29, 2023
There is no way to work from home.
Answered May 24, 2023
How is feedback from management delivered at Leon's Furniture?
Asked Jun 22, 2020
They always point out what you’re doing wrong instead of what you’re doing right
Answered Jun 4, 2023
The management is very easy to get along with and make u feel like ur part of a team
