Don't work here - Chat Agent 1-800 Contacts Employee Review

1.0
Jul 24, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

It is actually fully remote.

Cons

As much as we do desperately need new employees, I could never in good conscience recommended someone work here now. 2 years ago, I would have, but this is not the same company as 2 years ago. Many reviews before me have said it all already. I can guarantee any good reviews you see, are not real. First thing you should know, is the role they pitch to you is not what you'll actually be doing. Listen to us when we tell you, they claim it isn't a sales job, but it is. People get fired everyday for not hitting the insanely high sales metrics they force. They will not help you, you will receive no chances and no warning. They do not tell you the truth. Seasoned agents are the only ones who will tell you the truth and they're too afraid to do that on teams because those conversations are monitored and people get fired for it. There is nowhere safe to talk there. They admit to reading and call me out on my private teams conversations with other agents all the time. This would be doable if all you dealt with were sales chats right? Well, unfortunately, 95% of your chats are from customers just asking random questions. People don't chat in because they want a bunch of forced sales pitches, they chat in because they have ONE question they need answered. Since you're required to handle these chats as well, and pitch a sale anyway, that makes the sale requirement even more ridiculous. If you chat in for an order to be canceled, do you really think it makes any sense for me to say "well, how about instead of canceling, we upgrade this order to a 1 year package for 1200 bucks!?" You would likely never buy from us again, along with getting angry at that agent who responded the way they're being forced to. It's an absolute joke. Trust me, we don't want to pitch that to you either. Each month they raise the requirements higher, while making the job harder and harder to do. In fact, we were just told in June, that one MAJOR source of our revenue (and something that our customers actually love using) is being taken away. So, they take away this huge piece of revenue, and do they lower the metric requirements to compensate? They absolutely do not. They continue to RAISE the bar. Then in August, it's announced the entire software we have used for decades is being changed in September, and were given no information about this and no promises that we will have time to be trained. In fact, we were told we are the "test subjects." I'm sorry, is my career a joke to you? At this point, all of us feel like we are nothing more than guinea pigs, being used by a company who wants to see just how far they can push us, how much can they take away from us, how much can they cut corners, and continue to bring in millions a day from us. Adding to that ^, they also destroy any chance we have to maintain chat metrics by all of a sudden making it REQUIRED that we work other departments whenever we are asked, because THEY are also short staffed. Why is that our problem to cover? Your inability to keep people on staff is a COMPANY problem, not mine. For reference, you cannot maintain, improve, or even work on your chat metrics, if you're somewhere else. Do they care about this? No. Do they lower our requirements to compensate? No. They instead, try to gaslight us and tell us this is part of our job description. No it is not. Show me where I agreed to that at hiring. They opened a "flex" role, where they start the pay out at 21/hr, for hiring people who want to do this exact thing they are making us do now, for 15/hr. They must not have had any takers. I wonder why. Their solution then, is to just make us do it all. So why aren't we getting that 21/hr pay? Pathetic way to treat people. Chat is the most demanding department at this company. So demanding in fact, that apparently no one else is good enough to help US when we drown. Yet, we are still expected to help other departments, leaving our own chat agents with an even more skeleton crew. Make it make sense. Your chat agents are burnt out. You are not listening to us. You're sending the message to us that you do not care about us and we are nothing but work horses to you. Every single one of us hates this job now, when we used to love it. Every single one of us resents the customers who chat in for service only questions now, because YOU have made the goals unreachable, and WE cannot afford one single chat that is coming for anything but a sale. I know for a fact your customers are feeling the attitude shift. I know for a fact your chat agents are too tired to care anymore. If a customer wants to be rude to us, then they are going to get that right back. What's the point. You never listen to us, you never change anything we ask. You never have our backs. We are miserable, but still just trying to keep a job going for as long as we can. We are not still here for any other reason. We have no will to keep showing up and be shuffled around all day long. We have no motivation to be kind to customers anymore. We have no incentive to be helpful anymore. You've completely broken us down, and it's only a matter of time until the customer feedback will start to follow ours. Maybe you'll actually listen to them.

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1-800 Contacts Response
9mo
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We know this role is fast-paced, and while we’re sorry to hear you haven’t feel supported, we’d like to share some context for future candidates. This position combines customer service and sales responsibilities, and we’re upfront about that during recruiting, in the job description, and in regular coaching sessions with your leader. Our goal is to help agents feel confident balancing service, while offering solutions that make sense for customers, like our awesome rebates. We also want to reassure candidates that performance expectations are paired with support. Agents receive regular one-on-one coaching, feedback from our quality team, and additional development conversations as needed. While terminations for performance do happen from time to time, our focus isn’t on exiting employees, its on helping them improve and succeed. We strive to provide every resource possible for you to be successful. Like any growing company, we do make changes to systems and programs over time. For example, we recently ended our subscription program after careful review of the data our marketing team has collected over three years. These decisions are made to simplify work for employees and improve the customer experience, and we provide training and listen to employee input throughout. Matter of fact, we care about feedback so much that we ask for quarterly feedback from our customer department through engagement surveys to make sure all voices are heard. While agents may occasionally be asked to assist other teams, this is not the day-to-day expectation. These are rare occurrences that do come up, but it’s how we show up Better Together as stakeholders to ensure the business meets our customer’s needs. Lastly, while we do have specialty flex roles, these specialists support multiple departments, receive short notice schedules, and are subject matter experts across every customer support channel. For that, their pay reflects the unique responsibilities they carry. We are committed to creating an environment where our teams feel valued, supported, and set up for success. We advocate for anyone with concerns or ideas on how we can improve to reach out to their manager, senior leader, or HR Business Partner.

Explore other reviews about 1-800 Contacts

5.0
May 13, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Love the flexibility! My family always comes first. If you want to develop/grow - there is unlimited resources available to help in all areas of life

Cons

Working from home can sometimes be isolating

1
avatar
1-800 Contacts Response
3w
Thank you for the many years of hard work you have put in with us! We are happy to hear you have a healthy work-life balance, which is one of our biggest goals as an organization. We understand working from home can sometimes feel isolating, and we hope to continue finding ways to create community amongst our associates, even remotely. Again, thank you for your review! We are very happy to have you with us.
2.0
Jun 6, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Remote Work Opportunities, On-Site grill

Cons

I worked at 1-800 Contacts for four years in the marketing department. During that time, I consistently produced high-quality work and handled a workload that often exceeded that of my peers. One of the biggest issues I experienced was a culture of toxic positivity. Employees were discouraged from raising concerns about workload, team dynamics, processes, or opportunities for improvement. Constructive feedback was often viewed negatively rather than as an opportunity to make the organization better. My experience ended during an extremely difficult personal period in my life. Rather than receiving support or even a meaningful check-in, I was terminated. What followed was even more concerning. During the termination meeting, I was given conflicting explanations by the individuals involved, and despite requesting the reason for my termination in writing, I never received one. When I later filed for unemployment benefits, the company reportedly provided Workforce Services with a different explanation for my separation, one that did not match what I had been told and that I believe was inaccurate. I subsequently learned of similar experiences from other former employees. I was also disappointed by the severance package, which fell well below what I would have expected after nearly four years of service and contributions to the company. Overall, my experience left me with serious concerns about transparency, accountability, and how employees are treated when difficult situations arise. What I initially perceived as an unhealthy workplace culture was ultimately reinforced by the way my departure was handled.

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