Where do I begin? Nobody has any clue on what is going on. Products are continually delayed by multiples of months, and management wants sales agents to basically lie to customers about it to save face. Company sells products before it even makes them, leading to crazy backorders. Once you receive your backorder months, potentially a year later, it's destined to break. As a sales agent, you deal with all these issues with the products and supply chain with absolutely ZERO assistance from upper management, Whenever I went to their office to get an answer to a question, the CEO was playing games on his phone or nobody was there. You are constantly asked to provide answers you don't have, so it's easier to lie and make things up to honest customers who just want answers than it is to tell them the truth. Also, as a sales agent, I was supposed to be focusing on selling product. It's a minor distinction, but most of this job was not sales but providing customer service. If I had known it was all customer service based from the start, I would have never taken the job. Major Red Flag.
The other horrible part of this job is the fact there is no dedicated HR. For my role and responsibilities, I was severely underpaid. Meanwhile the senior people at the company make 4-10x what you make and seemingly do zero work. There was a guy there who made $10 an hour more than more just to look at the facebook page, and tell ME to respond to those customers, instead of just responding to them directly. That coupled with only 50% health care coverage, and probationary salary has to be one of the worst employment packages of all time. A coworker of mine actually had to wait a year to get their raise, which was supposed to come after 3 months, because HR simply forgot. Another coworker fought tooth and nail to make $18 per hour and was told that that would be his last raise for "a. very long time". Even on my way out, I technically should have had my last paycheck paid out on non-probationary salary, but their HR guy said that because I intended to leave, they were still going to give me $16. That was not explicitly stated anywhere in the contract I signed. While I could technically sue them for that money, 1. it's not even enough to be worth it. 2. It would just be easier if management followed through with their word. It's crazy how we go to war for their management, while the CEO drives a Porches and gloats about buying a Cybertruck. Meanwhile, we were all struggling to pay rent in LA. It's also crazy to me that Tilta will spend $100K+ on shoots for products and not even tap into the talented individuals that work at the actual store to shoot this content or even brainstorm. We all worked at Tilta to get a start in the film industry, but they don't even give you the opportunity to shoot for them.
Lastly, there is absolutely zero opportunity for growth unless you want to cozy up to management and be a Yes Man 110% of the time. They say there is-when you are first hired, but it's only a lie. Only if you stay long enough and say yes many times, then will they create a role for you. That's really tough to do given the minimal pay, hours, and no benefits. While there is good times to network with DP's and other film industry people, most of them actually hate you because the company you work for is messing with their shoots due to unreliable products and backorders.
