Action Furnace Reviews

My Experience at Action Furnace I worked at Action Furnace for several years, consistently increasing my annual revenue by 10% year over year and maintaining a 47% close rate—well within or above industry averages. Additionally, I ranked third in the company for annual self-generated leads, demonstrating my strong initiative and ability to drive business independently. Despite this strong performance, I was terminated without cause. Several factors contributed to a challenging work environment: Strategic Lead Manipulation: In the months leading up to my termination, I was deliberately given lower-quality leads, which reduced my average earnings. I even adjusted my schedule to work more evenings and be more available for emergency "no heat" opportunities. However, I received less than a third of those opportunities compared to previous years, where I typically received 3-5 "no heat" leads per week. This seemed like a strategic effort to minimize payouts before ending my employment. There was also clear favoritism in lead distribution, which was noticed by multiple salespeople, creating a sense of unfairness and unequal opportunity within the team. Inconsistent Compensation Structure: The company removed the annual bonus in favor of monthly incentives, which were discontinued after just three months, creating financial uncertainty for the sales team. No Revenue Goal Bonuses: Despite consistently increasing sales year over year, there were no additional bonuses tied to revenue achievements, further limiting earning potential. Reduction in Technician Commissions: During my tenure, the company changed the pay structure for service technicians, reducing their commission-based earnings, which negatively impacted morale and overall job satisfaction. Sales Trip Revocation: The annual sales trip was canceled, and it was suggested that it could be reinstated only if the sales team increased self-generated referrals by 10x—despite the team already exceeding the previous year's revenue targets. The trip was never reinstated, leaving employees feeling demotivated. Lack of Job Security: Multiple employees, including some with up to eight years of tenure and no performance-related write-ups, were also terminated without cause. Employees are required to waive their right to severance upon hiring, and severance was only offered to me if I signed a non-disclosure agreement, which would have prevented me from leaving this review. This practice adds to the lack of job security and makes it difficult for employees to speak out about their experiences. Management Challenges & Response to Feedback: Any pushback or concerns raised about changes that negatively impacted income were met with threats of further negative changes, creating a culture of fear and discouraging open dialogue. Meetings often felt one-sided, with leadership dismissing input from the team. Uncompensated Vehicle Use: Employees were required to drive their personal vehicles for work purposes without receiving a car allowance, mileage reimbursement, or a gas card, adding further financial strain. Unpaid Trade Show Work: The sales team was required to work trade shows without any additional compensation, effectively asking employees to perform extra duties for free. Unpaid Training: The sales team was forced to attend training sessions without compensation, including having to leave the city for a full week of training without pay, further extending work hours without additional compensation. Post-Termination Issues: After my termination, Action Furnace refused to pay me for projects that were scheduled for installation more than 14 days out, even though I had fulfilled my duties in closing those deals. This also included a month’s worth of unpaid spiffs. Additionally, they refused to provide any feedback or reasoning for my termination, leaving me with no opportunity for personal or professional growth. The only explanation I received was, "we’re are going in different a direction," which felt dismissive and left me without any constructive insight. I advise potential employees to carefully consider the company's management practices, job security policies, and compensation structure before joining.

- No PTO and penalized/guilt tripped when time off is taken - Vacation time is doled out on each cheque, instead of stored by the company to be used by employee at a later date to ensure employee has paid vacation (future job listings may state "paid vacation" but it's only paid if you can afford to save it) - Policy unevenly distributed across departments, what one department get's away with, another get's penalized for - Inappropriate task delegation between employees and management. CSR's often pushed back against from management to deal with an issue that should be dealt with by management - Incompetent management, management team seems to only be around to make money and attend meetings, often asks questions about tasks given to them by their team instead of reading and informing themselves of said task that was given to them - No promotion/raise opportunities. Management says they've given raises. What they mean is that the company has given raises to some people, just not to you. Management makes no opportunities to meet with you on a regular basis to discuss the potential of a raise. - KPI program is built upon an expectation of perfection. Company does not allow for ANY mistakes within the KPI program, or else your integrity, commitment to the company, and your work ethic is called into question. You will be told you need more training if something happens even once, and brought back into the office for said training. - Product training is not provided in a timely fashion, and also does not address the basic things required to help CSR's do their job, which includes troubleshooting with customers when equipment is not working. How are CSR's to troubleshoot when they don't know how an AC works. - Mandatory 6-8 hour weekend shifts which mean a 6 day work week and mandatory overtime due to management oversite. Management was unable to hire weekend CSR's in time, told current CSR's we'd be doing weekends temporarily. That was in 2020. We're still forced to do mandatory weekends, but as of May 2022, we were provided a day in lieu of this. - Management asks for feedback through various anonymous surveys. Doesn't address criticism presented in surveys. - Management introduced 90 day check ins, and then immediately forgot about them after the 1st one. - Very little opportunity to move up in the company. Company would rather hire externally than verify if their current employees would be suited for a role, or see if their current employees would be interested in a new role. - Management advised that employees would be able to work from home and that we would not be coming back into the office. Recently advised that certain office staff would be returning to the office permanently with no hybrid schedule, with no real reason given other than "because we said so".