This is my honest assessment working here.
Pros
Good pay, excellent benefits, work experience in banking and credit cards. Very easy interview and testing. The work experience gained will allow you to understand banking and you can take the knowledge gained to other jobs. The experience gained will allow you further your education if you want to get into banking. Great entry level job to get your foot in the door. I loved the system we used to work on accounts very efficient. I also loved helping the customers calling in. Helping people made my day which I consider it to be a excellent perk.
Cons
The metrics are impossible to meet and are set up in such a way to make you fail. You may have perfect metrics but then they can micro manage your calls. All can lead to write ups and possible termination. There is a high turnover rate with employees. Customers who call in often call back 2-5 times due to agents transferring them to other departments and not solving the issue. This is done to keep talk time down and avoid a bad CEW score. The system is set up in such a way that you can be fired for not meeting goals; however, there are many other things you can be fired for such as attendance, transferring customers too much warm or cold which is considered call avoidance, bad CEWS, high talk time which is not your fault when you do your job handling first call resolution. Often you are doing a number of things that can take longer that 5 minutes such as answering questions, account work (often customers have more than one account & questions), account reviews, trouble shooting, research, and other daily services that we are expected to provide/resolve. If you are doing lost/stolen CEWS should not be held against you because it is not the CSR's fault all departments are closed which includes call escalations. It is not the CSR's fault we can not do any account maintenance either on lost/stolen days. For SC it needs to be simplified to speed the time it takes to research. Often the section you need is found at the bottom which you just wasted 3 minutes digging for. It needs to be restructured to make it faster to find. If you use the bathroom when you are supposed to be on the floor they will deduct the time from your pay. The unaccounted time window is very small. If you come in and you are sick and you have to use the bathroom more you will see the time deducted from your pay if you go over your unaccounted time. This has happened to many people. This can also lead to a write up and possible termination. It is considered call avoidance. No matter what you do there is always the threat of being fired which is the main reason for the high turnover rate. The work life balance is not good and can be very stressful. If you decide to become a blended agent meaning you can service deposits and credit card accounts there is no increase in pay. You make the same amount. You become more available for over time and you can be promoted to a Coach/TL position which is the benefit of becoming blended. You will be responsible for handling two different accounts and you must be updated for any changes which can happen daily. You are doing twice the work for the same pay which is unfair. This also will change your metrics which can have a negative impact resulting in write ups and termination. When it comes to bad CEWS we were told if you did everything you were supposed to do it could be scrubbed. This is untrue and you will still be held accountable for bad CEWS even though you did your job perfectly. Often customers will call in wanting fees and credits put back on their account and very rarely is it a bank error. Often it is the customers responsibility and fault for not properly handling their bank account or credit card. When they are told the fee has been properly assessed and must remain on the account that will lead to a automatic bad CEW which the CSR gets even though you did everything correctly to help educate that customer to avoid being charged in the future. If you are not good dealing with customers (angry, unsatisfied, unsure, desperate, confused, etc) this is not the job for you. Often you will deal with a variety of personalities that are calling in with a variety of problems. You must be able to handle people no matter what mood the person is experiencing on the other line. You have to be calm, professional, polite, and understanding no matter what they say. It is a lot of pressure dealing with customers, but the company metrics along with micro management creates high stress wondering if you will be fired today.
