Questions about Atelka

[Freyja]

Hi. I was wondering if anyone could answer some questions about Atelka for me. I see they have about 4 training sessions happening this month and I already heard it sucks there and I really don't want to work there but I will probably have to if they will hire me as EI goes out the window soon and I need work on the West side.

I am wondering if they are outbound or inbound? Who is their client (Aliant, Rogers, someone else?) and what would I have to do (is it cell phones, internet tech support, credit cards? Something else?) Is there a lot of selling? Because I really suck at selling.

Any info would be appreciated, thanks. (boy, it sure is windy and rainy...)

[Chinna Dah]

I have never heard of them, but I just checked out thier website....Looks like a varity of calls.

http://www.atelka.com/index.php

[babydoll101]

I believe it is for fido and it is inbound.

[JustWatching]

I personally don't know much about them....I've seen in other threads on here that they are awful to work for (couple peoples opinion) - Again I have never had anything to do with them....but perhaps if your going to have to go to work in a CC maybe you could try one with a better reputation. I see people on here talking about Wyndham - most people seem to like it and it looks like they are always hiring.

Eddie Bauer I hear on the radio all the time looking for people....I haven't heard anything really bad about them....at least keep your options open.

[Freyja]

Hey thks for all the responses. Yeah, I hear Wyndham is good, from their job descriptions, seems like a lot of selling tho. Maybe someone could shed some more light on that. I haven't heard a thing about Eddie Bauer--perhaps that is a good thing? lol

I am just looking for a place to work that doesn't take too long to get to (i have to take the bus until I get my license) and because of the bus schedule and call center work schedules, it would be a sometimes long, annoying or just plain impossible commute even to get to uptown (altho there is always the possiblity of carpooling). Makes me wish more than ever for Metro Transit in Halifax!! Now THAT is a good bus system that makes sense!

Fido is cell phones right? Sounds like my old job, tho I worked for Sprint...

[mizunderstood]

OK
So I will tell you the "truth" as I see it about Atelka
I was just hired there and went through the training for the Rogers migration. They promised me Mon-Fri 9-5 then once I finished the training they changed the hrs to 5-1am. And could not give me the shifts they promised me. So having said that I am not a big fan of them.
They are both inbound and out bound for Rogers and Fido.
THe people seem pretty nice (the ones I met) and the pay is pretty competitive to other call centers. Atelka pays 9-11.00 an hr.
They do try to "sell" the customers new products and services but they don't really focus on that too much. They say our first priority is customer satisfaction. The building is pretty clean. THe only problem is that space is VERY limited. There are rumors that FIDO will be moving next door but not sure about that yet.
P.S. FIDO is owned buy rogers. lol
P.P.S. Sprint is owned by rogers

[ceg]

I quit there in March and it was the worst job I ever had. You never got the info you needed on time, they seem to go through hiring and firing binges, and they change policies without even telling their employees. It's a long wait for benefits. I never heard a word about raises.

The place was always cold, especially the bathrooms and kitchen, they were freezing. I was there 5 months and only saw cleaning staff 3 times, one sink was clogged by coffee for two weeks, and the place was full of fruit flies.

[KRS]

Atelka is a Rogers contact centre for cel phones..You will be called and asked about new phones..asked to add call display or voice mail..taking payments..

that kind of stuff..all inbound..

[trinity]

I do recommend Wyndham, at least for the reservation agent section, other than being expected to book a certain percent of rooms that people actually call wanting to book, there is no sales component other than attempting to upsell 20 or 30$ to the next room type or to include breakfast etc, that's no big deal, people do WANT the room. The RCI division is about selling time shares etc so that is more selling, but it is still mostly inbound as I understand it, and people make a lot of money if they're any good at all. I am having some environmental issues with Wyndham, lots of colds, sore throat etc but that is just about adjusting to a new place, the carpets could use a better going over but other than that it is clean. The only downside is they pay a little less, daytime reservations makes $9/hr, but they do make a lot of effort to make sure people are taken care of and you can win prizes from random $10 for a trivia contest through $50 for sales this week and trips to Cancun etc.
My friend works at Eddie Bauer, has been there 3+ years and she likes it. It's sort of west, at least it is on the bus route, behind Zellers north.

[Freyja]

wow everyone thks for all the useful info muchly appreciated. yeah at my old job it was freezing too. they never keep call centers clean or the agent's info up to date so i guess that just comes with the territory. None of us ever got any raises because the metrics were so unattainable. I doubt I could stand working for Rogers. I have Rogers service now and I had to write 20 emails to get a problem fixed which now i'm not even sure was wrong in the first place!!

One of my biggest gripes about my old job was misinformation, cleaning up other ppl's messes which im sure it would be twice as bad at rogers yikes. i suppose i did work for sprint which is the same company but anyway.

I have never seen an ad for reservations at wyndam since i moved here 5 mths ago, just tech support and RCI (one I'm not qualified to do, the other I wouldnt want to do). Did I miss something? can anyone shed more light on how one might get that position? sounds like it might be fun. I can't imagine getting too many upset ppl over going on vacation lol!

[Cartersmom]

my youngest sister works at Eddie Bauer and she loves it! There are always incentives running where you get free GC's, etc. Also things like people who stay for x months get $$$ as a bonus. The customers are never irate and those who are kind of, you don;t even have to deal with them, you just transfer them to customer service, lol
They also have lots of discounts within the city..ie COast Tire, etc.
They are def not west though, they are behind Zellers in the North End.

[Freyja]

lol I thought at Eddie Bauer I would be customer Service. Customer Service and Catalog Agent (or whatever) two diff things? that's interesting. They were hiring forever ago but I haven't seen any ads recently.

I looked them up and I see that all they have is mid shifts and evening which are sucky. as well they want u to upsell and cross sell . I dont think I would enjoy that and Im not good at meeting sales quotas. ho hum.

what i really need is a day job that pays half decently...why is it impossible to find permanent full time mon-fri daytime work in this city? I am beyond frustrated.

[mizunderstood]

Atelka has inbound and outbound BOTH for rogers and FIDO

[drakelogan]

Hi, I am glad I read this post before my interview tomorrow with them....sounds horrible to me...but then again aren't all the call center's pretty much the same...NIGHTMARES LOL....I mean it's a job right???

[funnelface]

hey i work at atelka and i love it there you start out at 775 training then 900 for intagration once you are on the floor it is 11 as far as the comment about being promised 9=5 there is no such shift and being new your not going to get the best shifts any how i like it there it is small and clean and the staff is great

[Freyja]

Hi, I am glad I read this post before my interview tomorrow with them....sounds horrible to me...but then again aren't all the call center's pretty much the same...NIGHTMARES LOL....I mean it's a job right???

I ended up getting a job at wyndham after all. I really love the job I have now (off the phones). The job I had before was in Wyndham Rewards, it was OK. You needed to do a week of OJT on Hotels for that dept and I HATED Hotels!! Easy work but call after call after call--VERY busy! if u dont like atelka, try there :)

[mizunderstood]

hey i work at atelka and i love it there you start out at 775 training then 900 for intagration once you are on the floor it is 11 as far as the comment about being promised 9=5 there is no such shift and being new your not going to get the best shifts any how i like it there it is small and clean and the staff is great

funnelface. You are wrong, sorry. I was working rogers migration, back office. We were all hired for 9-5 monday to friday, and occasional saturdays when needed. They lied to us to get us in there, then changed the shifts.

[funnelface]

oh i thought you were hired for the call center itself sorry i misunderstood i thiught it odd because wr dont have that shift there also rogers and atelka are not one of the same anymore

[mizunderstood]

it's ok. :)

[bradorna]

I too worked at Eddie Bauer a few years back. They are great people to work for. I got lots of free EB clothes and won many gifts. They, of course are your typical call centre, stressful (mainly because of the upselling....I absolutely hated that). Things may have changed since I was there but either you love it or hate it, depends on the person. I just hate call centres period. I did have the worlds greatest sup though....Marsha. It was clean and very professionally run, unlike NCO.