eBay reviews

I've worked in various customer support and call center roles over the year I can honestly say eBay is absolutely the worst. I'll try breakdown the specific areas. Contract: eBay are very cleaver on how they word their job offers. If it was a product on their site it would be taken down for false advertising. Their "competitive salary" is a pittance and not comparable with other companies of similar size. On paper they offer the standard amount of holiday as required by law but when you actual go to take them you see that each day is blocked to only allow a certain number of people off a day. Now this is standard but the system only allowed for 3/4 (out of a team of nearly 50) to be off at a time. There is zero, and this must be emphasized for effect, ZERO flexibility. Need a weekend off for a last minute event? Sorry should have applied for it when it became available 6 months ago. There is no established system to deal with swaps resulting in an email inbox full of requests. Forget all that talk about progression and advancement. The opportunities are just not there to move to a senior role. What you can look forward to is moving to Concierge BUT are these awarded fairly? Are they hell! It doesn't matter if you have been there years or a wet 6 months, if you are besties with the managers you go up. Shifts: Kiss your work life balance goodbye. Shifts change weekly and can be anywhere from 8am to 10pm. People are clamoring for a fixed pattern but they will only go to certain people (more on that later). Flexibility? A foreign concept to eBay. You are basically told to put up and shut up. Working conditions: As we are now working from home due to circumstances I will outline the experience from before. eBay is split across 2 buildings about a kilometer apart. There is stark divide between not just the buildings but the floors even with no effort to mix staff. They use hotdesking which adds nothing to morale. If you are on a late shift you better enjoy the hunt for a computer where the keyboard screen and mouse all work and meet basic hygiene standards. Worse on weekends when using the main office and technology at least 5 years out of date. I have worked for other large multinationals in Ireland and basic amenities such as free snacks or a free canteen would be laughable in eBay. You are constantly being watched in eBay. Your life is dominated by the clock. If you are a minute (and I am talking 10 seconds here) back late from a break on in clocking in the morning you will be called in to explain. The same does not apply if you are delayed taking your break. Your breaks consist of 2 breaks of 15 minutes and 1 of 30 minutes but their is no logic into how these breaks are allocated. For example you could be on a 9-5.30 shift and have a 15 break at 11.30 and then your 30 minute at 12.30. Changing these breaks is impossible and complaining is pointless (more on this below). There is someone there whos only job is watch who is not available to take calls. This is expected but due to the call volume you will not have time to do any follow up. If a customers issue cannot be resolved on first contact, which can be the case, you are told to pause it and resolve later but as you are not given the time to resolve this the issue is left. In theory a 30 minute slot is built in to the schedule for resolving cases but it is common thing that this time is cut due to call volume. Requests for this time, or anytime, to work on the growing backlog are ignored. Staff are timed for bathroom breaks and called out if too long is taken to relieve oneself. Even those in prison are allowed go to the toilet when needed. Customers and Call volume: I will agree starting off that the company cannot control what is said on a call but they can control what is done when a customer is abusive. In my time with eBay I have been called every name under the sun. I have been threated with violence, sexual assault and yes even murder! I am not thin skinned but they get to you and management do not care. I was once told it is my job to deal with it. The call volume is the highest I have ever seen in a customer service job. Be prepared to deal with 50/60 calls a day. If they could make us take 2 calls at a time they would. You are pretty much left to drown on a difficult call because management are nowhere to be seen. Most will be routine (monotonous) but as expected there will be the difficult call and there will be no help available. Metrics: You will be a slave to the metrics, most of which are outside your control. Your "bonus" is tied to team metrics so you can have top metrics but because the department didn't hit target you get nothing.... no I correct myself you might get a badly done up certificate. Bad review are what they are but unfair reviews have no appeal. If you did everything you could do to help the customer but they still mark you down too bad. Worse reviews with abuse the police would prosecute for have no appeal to be removed and you are told it happens. You are reviewed on recontact rate, so people calling back within a period, something you have no control over if it is 2 separate issues. If you are lucky you might get a pizza lunch or a doughnut as a way to make you think they care. Management: I don't know the requirements for hiring a manager in eBay but they cant be that high. The team leaders are the core of the issues. Now I get it they have a job to do but they are constantly in a meeting so when you need them they are nowhere around. When you can get them they don't want to hear your issue. You will practically have to drag them kicking and screaming to take over a call when a customer asks for a manager but at this stage I am not even surprised when they immediately give into the customer and give them what they want even if it is in no way warranted. They just want to get off the call. Managers in eBay play favouritism in a way I have never seen before. Certain staff know they are untouchable and get away with something others would be fired before because they are friends with the manager. The coaches are... pointless really coz there just is no coaching. So overall, the place is a disaster. You will face abuse from customers and abuse from the managers while working in conditions a slave would envy.