Alliance iCommunications

Absolutely the worst job I have ever had in my entire life.  

My position there was to contact existing AMEX customers and remind them of their rebates that they received in the mail.  Now most you reading that can imagine how boring that can be, especially having to do it 8 hours a day.  But being 22 and the job market for someone my age being extremely limiting I had to take the job to pay the bills.  

On average I was making 300-400 calls a day, which is about 50 calls an hour. Taking this many calls per hour can be extremely strenuous on someones voice.  After about the first week I was loosing my voice so I started making less calls and taking longer breaks inbetween, approximately 1-2 minutes.  Management did not like this.  If we waited more than 30 seconds we would be scrutinized.  The entire time I have worked there (4 weeks now) management has given little to no positive feedback to myself or fellow co-workers, there is next to no relationship and they constantly 'patrol' our section of the call centre.  They make the work environment extremely stressful and make no effort to build a relationship with you.  On top of the stress from the managers you have the stress of dealing with irate customers 300-400 times a day.  Even though we are delivering good news the delivery method is ridiculous.  I don't see why AMEX didn't just mail them a reminder. 

The call centre environment itself is extremely poor.  There is next to no natural lighting, the equipment is outdated and old, the chairs provided are in desperate need of repair and offer very little ergonomic support.  

The job itself is just extremely unsatisfying, for myself anyways.  

My biggest issue with Alliance iCommunications is that when I was first hired I was told that I would have a sales job after this campaign was over.  Myself and several other co-workers have asked management if we will have a job after the campaign ends and every time their response was 'we aren't sure what our business needs are but we will let you know asap'.  The last time we asked was this past Friday (may 10th) and our campaign is over on the 15th.  How could they possibly not know what their business needs are going to be 5 days prior to the campaign ending?! We have pretty much accepted the fact that we will be getting laid off. 

A lot of people may think 'a job is a job' and this is true, you have to pay the bills somehow.  But $12/hr isn't worth the cost of your mental and physical health.  The amount of stress this job has caused myself and fellow employees is simply overwhelming, especially for the amount we were getting paid.  Sure the job is simple but the added stress from the position far out weighs the latter.  

So don't ever work for these people, they lie, treat you poorly and simply do not care about you.  Its quite obvious why the turnover rate is so high.  

I'd honestly much rather be unemployed and on welfare than have to work there again.. 

Like all the other reviews this place sucks as a job it's not worth anyone's time not worth the stress! You're treated poorly never fairly too much gossip from coaches. management and HR do nothing to help you. Even if they want you to progress they hire people who haven't been there long to progress! Schedule is ridiculous you can never get a day off! Near the end of the shift if you're stuck on the call they don't care it could take hours they seriously don't care because it's not them dealing with it ! People that call want the world they are so stupid, some of them expect you to know everything ! Staff like coaches and such are horrible. The agents that you would sit with are amazing people! I used to work here and hated it! This company is unorganized and lie to you all the time excuses after excuses. They never stick to their word! I would not recommend this place to anyone too much stress to deal with! yeah you get your hours but you dedicate your life there for no reason it's like being in jail you have no social life. They make you feel so stupid! They've humilated me before and that call ended up being done the proper way not once did they apologize for what they did!It's very exhausting! I have nothing good to say about this place! Coaches talk behind your back! Higher positions like coaches think their better than you! Like no you're not bye Felicia! They don't care about their employees I quit recently! Worst job ever!!! BYE FELICIA!!

The job goes by the campaign. If you do really well in the campaign you were hired for, they consider you to upgrade to a more secure position within the company, like upgrading Amex cards or custmer service. 

Thing is, I did extremely well with the campaign I was hired for, the manager for that campaign was very impressed. She told me she would recommend me for a secure position with either Customer Service or SBS sales - my choice. This never happened. 

I got thrown into a simple campaign (new manager) which required calling people and giving them reminders - not using my skills at all to their full potential, while I watched co-workers who did worse than me in the initial campaign get secure permanent sales positions. After this campaign I was laid off without a second thought. 

There are too many managers here and none of them seem to collaborate with each other, resulting in valued employees getting let go. I was at the top of sales out of about 30 employees, and that wasn't seen as something that should have recognition. 

Very sketchy company. Authorities were very unprofessional and unorganized. 

My first couple weeks of employment the systems did not even work, resulting in us sitting around for hours, or even getting sent home. We were constantly pushed back and forth between locations because of this. Don't you think they might have gotten this fixed before hiring? 



The job consists of cold calling small business owners.

You will receive 2 weeks of training consisting of objection handling, product knowledge, buddying with tenured agents, etc. 

You will be taking approximately between 100-150 calls daily.

A large portion of the job required you to successfully and quickly navigate the different aspects of the dialer (i.e. coding calls properly, data entry, supplier verification and rewards points calculation).

You will engage with friendly management, whose expectations for will became increasing higher after your 3 month probation period.

A steep learning curve may be encountered depending on your knowledge of credit products and credit application processes, but it is also an opportunity to gain this knowledge if you lack it.

Hardest part of the job is, of course, the sales. You'll be expected to maintain a consistent conversion rate, among other statistics, in order to qualify for bonuses. Coaches are very willing to help you in this respect though.

The most enjoyable part of the job are your fellow co-workers. It is a very supportive environment in this sense.

It started with a week of training. They had no idea what to expect. They hired people who have been with the company for just a few months as "coaches".
The pay was decent, although we were rarely paid for a full 40 hour week. There were incentives, but they only paid as they saw fit.
We weren't allowed to do anything that might distract us. No puzzles, or pass-times, sudoku, solitaire, browsing the internet.. nothing. 
A lot of people snapped and didn't make it very far.
They promised us all a chance to progress through the company, to go from a temporary campaign to a fulltime position.
Not many did.

The coaches never agreed on what was the "right" way to deal with customers. So if one person liked what you did, the others thought it was "wrong" and said to do it another way.
It didn't matter who you spoke to, you were always going to be wrong about something.
At the end of the day, the money isn't worth feeling THAT bad every night.

I had issues with this company from day one and none of them were ever looked into or given anytime. They do not empithize or care for there workers and also they do not give you your full pay when you first start there. I had brought up concerns about my paycheck time after time and nothing was done there was no resolution at all. They still owe me money to this day and nothing no call no word no response has come my way.I do not trust the office in the downtown area and have more than 5 friends who have had the same issues with them and not one of us works there anymore.

The environment is diverse as every ethnicity is present and treated equally. A fast paced workplace as you have to hit your quota before the day ends. Employees are very friendly and willing to give you assistance anytime so as coaches. They are always there to guide you so you can hit your target. Fun place to work and you feel like you are in a very prestigious company as you dress to impress. Hitting your target is the enjoyable part of the day but going over it is a tremendous self achievement and boosts your self esteem.

At Alliance, a typical day was making phone calls to customers or business selling them a product or helping people who called the business. During my work time here I gained a lot of customer service experience. The people there are extremely nice and fun to be around with even though its a business place. During my interview they made it seem like this is a really tough job on the daily, but I think it's only tough when you first start out especially if you've never been in a call centre before. I'd say the most enjoyable part of the job is being with your co-workers and making sales for sure.

Every day is the same, you come to work, sit at your desk and take calls all day. I learned how to better communicate with customers and how to deal with angry/impatient people. Team coaches (management) were always available if anyone had questions or needed help. Co-workers were friendly and helpful. Hardest part of the job was sitting down all day, and the most enjoyable part was that the job was located in a mall downtown which was good for breaks/lunch.

Alliance was a fun place to work because of the people l worked with. A typical day would be answering calls for road side assistance. Best part of the job was knowing you helped out someone in distress. Management was friendly and helpful. The hardest part of the job was having to do outbound sales calls. Workng for Alliance gave me experience in three different fields of work. Overall what l learned from Alliance was how to deal with unhappy customers. Experience on the computer and working with alot of different people.

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