I can honestly say this is the worst company I have ever worked for in my life. You will have to listen to racist, misogynistic and classist conversations and comments being made on a daily basis. Never in my life have I heard so many people use the derogatory P and C words to describe ethnic minorities than I have at Arnold Clark. I don’t know if it was just the area I worked in but the language I heard that was used to describe POC groups regularly was just so dated and out of touch.
Regarding the job itself, I don’t even know where to begin. In the 7 months I worked for Arnold Clark, 19 yes NINETEEN full time staff members have quit from our branch alone so that should tell you all you need to know however if it doesn’t I will explain some things.
When I got my job I was told it was 44 hours a week however some weeks I would be working 56 hours without a day off because of how they set up the rota. If someone leaves the company from a different job role you are expected to pick up their tasks along with your own with no thanks. If your shift starts at 9am don’t expect to be there at 9 because if you arrive on time for your shift you will be moaned at as customers are already in the branch. This is the most ridiculous rule ever, why not just make it that employee shifts start 15 mins before branch opens? No because this would mean paying you for those 15 mins early you turn up when instead they just expect you to come in early and not get paid for it. Don’t expect to leave on time either as again the branch is open till the last second of your shift so by the time all customers leave you have to complete all of your tasks that are non customer facing. Managers will mentally note every single little minute that you are late (I genuinely got pulled up for coming in at 1 minute past 8 one time when my shift started at 8). However don’t expect them to pick up on the fact that you never get a lunch break as they will happily allow this to go unnoticed every single day. If you take your lunch breaks and only work the hours you are paid for, you are looked down on by other employees and made to feel as though you are doing something wrong.
The job in itself is unethical as you are told to recommend work to customers cars that they really don’t need. Meaning elderly and vulnerable customers, who do not fully understand that some work is only advised not necessary, go ahead and spend hundreds of pounds on things they really don’t need. Two certain things at £19.99 and £59.99 are added to the work required for nearly every single car and it made me feel uncomfortable telling customers the car should get these things to be maintained when it does not need them. It feels like you are exploiting customers for their hard earned money and I don’t want to work in an environment like that.
You are expected to sit and take never ending abuse from customers and nothing is done about it. Customers will become verbally aggressive on a regular basis and there is no mental health support for dealing with this. You could have a customer shouting in your face for 20 minutes and as soon as they leave you are expected to deal with the next customer without even a 5 minute break to clear your head and get a drink of water. Managers expectations are unrealistic, they sit in their offices getting paid 6 figure salaries to do a few zoom calls and let young adults do overwhelming amounts of work for £9 an hour. People will tell you the salary is good, it is not. The only reason you have a decent number on your pay check every month is because of the ridiculous amount of hours you do. The actual rate of pay is basic and close to minimum wage.
If you work a Saturday then don’t expect to get another day off during the week. You will work Monday - Friday and every second Saturday meaning most of the time you are getting 1 day off after working 8-5.30 for the whole week.
Honestly this job will ruin your mental health. I read other reviews saying the same thing before I worked here and chose to ignore them as I thought I would be different. I learned the hard way. Within 8 weeks at the job I was on anxiety medication and being told I had to go on antidepressants a few months later was the one thing that lead to me eventually leaving the job. Working here is absolutely draining and all Arnold Clark care about is making money, despite what they may say they have absolutely no regard for their employees welfare at all. It is not worth it. Take your skills and use them somewhere else as Arnold Clark will undervalue and under appreciate you for as long as you are willing to put up with it. My only regret about leaving was not doing it sooner.
