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U.S. First Energy

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Contracted Employee at Fairmont, WV Contact Center - Customer Service Representative U.S. First Energy Employee Review

1.0
19 Jan 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The only pros was the fact it was five minutes from my house and it was full time work.

Cons

Here in West Virginia First Energy does not hire on directly with the company. The only way in is through an agency which makes you a contracted employee. You are expected to do the same job as a FE employee but you are paid significantly less without any of the perks. As a contractor you do not get any PTO, bonus incentives, raises, ect. During training they will convince you that you have every opportunity to become a full time employee. The truth is they actually hire less than 2% of the contracted employees and they will either let you go or renew the contract rather than hire you on. Also, I was not impressed with being told we will be forced to take billing in the future and there will not be any pay raise to add billing department to our work load. Everyone has to do it so they said. What made me leave was when I was hired on my agency said we had 16 hours we could miss in training. I later found out this was incorrect that we could only miss 16 hours for the entire contract which was over a year and there was no way to earn the time back. FE asks you to set up appointments around your work hours which is impossible because you work M-F during business hours. It is a guarantee you will miss work for legitimate appointments. Even so that missed time is held against you and your chances of being hired on with the company. I also did not like the fact over time is forced on you so you never knew what time you would be off. Makes it impossible to set up personal appointments. When on call there is no on call pay for contractors you are paid the same. With all the negative cons I decided I would not waste my time or talent here, and I resigned while I was still in training. This was the best decision for me. It is a typical call center that is really no different from any other call center but what makes it worse is the fact you are a contractor. I saw no future opportunities with this contact center. I felt like I was just another warm body in a chair taking phone calls. The amount of stress and high expectations placed on you is not worth the pay!

Explore other reviews about U.S. First Energy

5.0
18 Dec 2019
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great experience to get a chance to see what departments work best for you or just to get better well rounded knowledge.

Cons

Some rotations may not be as beneficial than others, but still not a big Con because you can request where you’d want to look into and they will put in departments you will find most interesting.

1.0
10 Nov 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Easy to get hired on. Pulse and warm body all that required.

Cons

Everything. For a company (First Energy) that profited $128 billion dollars last year I do not understand why they use contractors to fill their entry level customer service jobs. I assume it’s to weed out poor performers etc. If going to customer care you will be hired by a staffing agency Innosource, Everstaff, Express Employment Pros, etc. These staffing companies offer ZERO employee benefits. The health care plan is a high deductible “cafeteria” plan. I thought the ACA outlawed cafeteria plans but Innosource doesn’t care and they are circumventing federal laws to get around it. Innosource is also a federal contractor yet doesn’t pay the min. wage of $15.00 they are required to pay. $12.50 for this job is abysmal and literally a slap in the face. I guarantee they are charging First Energy in excess of $125 an hour per head provided. Dental? Hahahah. Innosource gives you $250 per year for dental insurance and you have to pay out of pocket before you’ll even be reimbursed but the amount is so low it’s almost pointless to go through all the paperwork to get that $250. ZERO! paid holidays. You are literally treated like a third class citizen at First Energy. You don’t get to participate in the team building events they have since you’re a contractor. They’ll tell you that you’ll get on with First Energy in about three to six months. In reality the average is over a year to become a FE employee and even then you’ll most likely just remain a contractor.

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