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Windy City Call Center

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Windy City Call Center reviews

2.8

40% would recommend to a friend

(87 total reviews)

Jack Goldberg

38% approve of CEO

35% positive business outlook

Windy City Call Center has an employee rating of 2.8 out of 5 stars, based on 87 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Windy City Call Center employee rating is 25% below average for employers within the Media & Communication industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

87 reviews
2.0
Nov 2, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Legit work-from-home with regular direct deposit. Sense of commrodary (albeit fake and forced). Easy in theory, hard to master. Some fun conversations to be had in the online chat room (if it still exists). Also, I learned to ALWAYS read a site's privacy policy!!! ALWAYS!!!

Cons

Soul-draining work. Indirectly scamming people. Hot-shot "managers" who think they're more important and smarter than they really are. This job is basically a huge information-selling scheme that sets already-disadvantaged people up for harassment and failure on many levels. This job is something to do for a few months for some easy (yet dirty and sleazy-made) $. The partner schools (diploma mills) are nothing but scammers out to get students' Dept of Ed. Federal student loan $$$. And most of the time, the programs being offered are not even required for the job they want to get!!! In fact, one of the biggest partner schools while I was there (Everest University and their various subsidiaries) was shut down by the government for their false promises and scamming students out of their money and lives! These low income and poorly educated "students" are duped into providing their personal info on horrible online job search sites. Then that personal information is passed along to these predatory schools (via TELEMARKETING poorly masquerading as academic advising) who then harass them to sign up for classes! The personal info is sold to other scammers as well. And all of this is done under the guise of an employment opportunity. Disgusting.

1.0
Jul 26, 2017

Call Center Representative

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Flexible hours Work from home No travel Paid training

Cons

They lie to you when you start. They tell you you have the job, then wait halfway through your week of training to tell you that you are a "conditional hire." Meaning, if they like you after 30 days, they'll keep you. If they don't, they'll fire you. The pay is also entirely too low for the work you do. $9 per hour for the first 90 days, then a measly dollar increase after that. To rapid-fire take calls for 4-8 hours, with a weekend requirement. You also don't receive any pay for the first month that you are there, which is not disclosed until you're more than halfway through training. The managers are incredibly disrespectful to new hires. Emails are sent with a condescending and belittling tone, and its no wonder many people don't make it through the 30 days. The culture is awful.

avatar
Windy City Call Center Response
8y
We regret that your experience was not favorable with our company. However, we strive to provide a professional work place in which our employees and our clients are treated with the highest level of respect. Our managers are committed to the growth of the company, and the individual growth of new employees. If an employee is separated within the first 30 days, or does not pass onboading it is generally for egregious unprofessional behavior. This includes, but is not limited to, failing to comply with attendance protocols, swearing between calls or insubordination. In your particular case, we are more than happy to speak with you directly about the incident that would have resulted in you not passing onboarding. We work really hard to recruit and hire an exemplary workforce, we value family first and believe that the best part of our organization is our staff. However, any unprofessional behavior, such as the aforementioned examples, puts the integrity of the business at risk, and therefore requires that we move forward with separating the individual from employment. Our email communication is always professional, in fact we use templates to ensure consistency when responding to employees. However, we do understand that it is hard to communicate tone in an email. It is never our intent to be disrespectful in email. Finally, we are also transparent about our pay dates. Employees are paid on the 15th and last day of the month. The day you receive your first paycheck is contingent upon when you start. Again, we wish you well in future endeavors and regret that our working relationship could not last longer.
4.0
Jan 26, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Despite what other reviews say, management is actually amazing. They're kind, they're the first people to support you and congratulate you when you do well, and they're forgiving when you screw up Great Work/Life Balance 15 days off per year; 5 paid time off days, 5 unpaid personal days, and 5 unpaid vacation days You get to work from home You make your own weekly schedule and choose how many hours you want to work Very flexible Lots of contests/prizes for agents doing well so there are many opportunities to win gift cards, kindles, etc. You dont spend money on gas, clothing/makeup to get ready, or wear and tear on your car You can change your schedule multiple times a year The job itself is easy They also recently made tiers, so there is more room for advancement now They do have medical/dental/vision and 401k Frequent reviews (I believe once ever 6 months) that result in raises based on performance

Cons

You really are contacting people who don't want the service, and even though you're a "customer service rep" you are actually just a telemarketer. You're calling people who requested the service, yes, but usually they did it on accident and have already been badgered with dozens of other telemarketing calls too, so they're already very upset and angry when they answer your call. You start to feel bad about bothering people. You also start to get cranky because your job is essentially to be yelled at all day long by strangers You have to work either Saturdays OR Sundays, so you won't ever have a full weekend off Very low pay; you're making just a few cents above minimum wage

avatar
Windy City Call Center Response
9y
We continue to offer our employees alternate campaigns to work on. We do make education calls, but do abide by the highest standards in the industry. This includes, but is not limited to, ensuring that all of our data is TCPA compliant, and that all data we call on is 100% opted into by the prospective lead we call. By doing this, we try to ensure that our representatives are able to engage with great leads. We recognize that this is not always an easy task, but majority of our representatives consistently meet and exceed this target. We abide by the belief that if you own the call, value great customer service skills and bring a positive attitude to each call, you can meet the expectations that our company has set forth. We offer a $1.00 increase after 90 days, and a chance for a promotion and increase 6 months after that. Though management positions do not open frequently, we believe when one opens that our best applicants are those who understand the job. All of our managers and many of our QAs all worked as a Call Center Agent at one time. We know that this job is not easy, and we value the performance of agents. Therefore, we regularly offer incentives, which includes employee referral bonuses, bonuses and gift cards for exceeding company targets and other contests to keep our team motivated and to show our appreciation. It is our hope that daily we show our agents that the best part of our team is in fact the work they do for the team.
Viewing 1 - 3 of 87 Reviews

Glassdoor has 89 Windy City Call Center reviews submitted anonymously by Windy City Call Center employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Windy City Call Center is right for you.