Workplace reviews and discussion: 特力集團＿HOLA＿HOLA CASA＿HOLA Petite＿Crate&Barrel＿特力屋股份有限公司

No overtime, that's about it.

For the first few days after joining, they immediately use workplace PUA tactics to make you doubt yourself, and berate you for absolutely no reason.

They expect newcomers who have been there for less than a month to restock just as quickly as people who have been doing it for over 10 years. There was also a middle-aged woman who had been brainwashed after five months on the job; she berated you in front of customers for being slow. On weekdays, there is only one customer-service employee per shift, with six people covering the morning and evening shifts combined. The entire store, excluding the office and cashiers, has fewer than 20 people—you believe that? Even PX Mart is better staffed than this.

There are absolutely no benefits. At the interview, they said there would be no year-end bonus and that it had been changed to a quarterly bonus, which works out to approximately 0.75 of a month’s salary. At a meeting on December 29, they said the overall business environment was terrible and everyone had to endure the difficult times together, and that next year there might not even be quarterly bonuses. The travel subsidy was reduced from 4,000 to 800. Even if your sales reach tens of millions, your sales commission is still zero. They also force employees to cling to customers, as if harassing them relentlessly would make them buy something. Why not admit that the products are simply overpriced? Customers aren’t idiots. The same products cost at least 10% less on momo and PChome, and on Shopee you can find them for 20% less. The only people who come here to buy are suckers and elderly people who don’t know how to shop online. Their own products are all Chinese OEM goods with private labels slapped on them. Instead of spending 20% more to buy products from major manufacturers, they buy shoddy goods with less than half the lifespan; if they break, they just send them out of warranty.

Employees are required to push sales. Do you think I want to sell them? Customers can simply go to the checkout area and say they don’t want the item. The returns cart is full at all times. I’ve even seen customers chatting and laughing with employees 10 minutes earlier, carrying products worth NT$5,000–6,000 to their cars, then secretly putting them back in their original places 10 minutes later when no employees were around. It’s hilarious. Items can be returned for free within the 30-day trial period. These factors result in an extremely high return rate. Once an item has been opened, it can’t be sold again, so it can only be thrown into the clearance section. Resources are wasted back and forth, and the products still have to be sold at a loss. It would be better to let customers think things through carefully themselves.

There are piles of products that can’t be found. Items shown as in stock online are out of stock in the store, or are available for online purchase only. During my last few days, I told customers that if we didn’t have an item in stock, they should buy it themselves on Shopee. For specialized items, they should look in hardware stores, lumberyards, or similar shops, where prices are lower and the specifications are more comprehensive. They claim to sell everything, but in reality they specialize in selling overpriced products, and most of them aren’t even in stock.

For more inside information, search for 特力屋 on Dcard—there is an entire thread of exposés.