In my experience there I saw poor treatment of both customers and employees.
I frequently encountered situations where customers were billed for services or products that were not fully provided.
management instructed us to keep credits and chargebacks to a minimum. This sometimes led to service reps to reuse or shuffle mats to make it appear as though they had been changed. Product availability was often an issue. Management was hesitant to replace aging inventory, resulting in frequent shortages. This meant apologizing to customers on a regular basis , or simply not being able to meet service expectations. Customers would often be (rightfully) angry with you when issues were out of your control.
Sales team appeared to mislead customers to sign predatory contracts. Customers would often be surprised by price increases or contract terms. Invoices could be difficult to understand (even by Cintas employees) , and some customers were not satisfied but felt locked into long-term agreements. Interactions with customers were often uncomfortable and confrontational.
On the employee side, several sales representatives regularly worked significant unpaid overtime (10+ hours per week in some cases) due to pressure to meet demands, even if not explicitly required.
Routes were demanding (often 30-40+ stops per day), with stops and workload constantly increasing. The pace left little time for proper safety practices, breaks, or meaningful customer interactions. Sales team would add new business but we did not have support/ work force in other departments to meet demands. I will say that some longer-tenured employees had more manageable routes, however newer employees faced remarkably unrealistic workloads.
The company culture at this location (and Cintas overall) strongly discouraged union representation however this is the only place I’ve worked where I feel workers needed a union to protect them.
There was high turnover, which is why the location always appeared to be hiring.
Note: I can only speak to my experience at the Torlake / Etobicoke location and am not claiming these issues are company-wide. These were practices and pressures I observed or was instructed to follow by local management and coworkers.Overall, the role involved hard physical work with decent pay potential, but the combination of unrealistic expectations, time pressures, and customer service challenges made it not worth it for me. I ultimately decided it wasn’t the right long-term fit, especially if advancing within the company would mean contributing to the same pressures I experienced.
this company constantly preaches honesty, integrity and customer satisfaction but in my experience this was not usually case.
I would not recommend this employer to others ESPECIALLY the Torlake / Etobicoke location.
