delivery driver

service technician

customer service representative

hvac technician

service dispatcher

Dead River Company

Work-life balance
The schedule is somewhat inconsistent depending on your workload and your personal experience and speed. Also if emergencies come up (and they often do) you will be expected to stay late or be available to help as needed. A rotating on call schedule is typical in the industry so you will be expected to pitch in. If you have a wife or family getting called in for “emergency service” can absolutely be frustrating. But the on call pay is good.

Pay & benefits
The pay is decent. As a journeyman you can expect to make anywhere between 18-22 dollars an hour depending on your experience and any other certifications or licenses you may have. You’re progress is monitored by a service manager who is supposed to be in tune with all the projects underway at all times. Performance based raises are initiated by the service manager. That being said, if you don’t have a good relationship with the manager you may experience slowed or stagnant progress moving up the pay scale.  The benefits leave something to be desired if you are single but if you have a family they are decent.

Job security and advancement
The heating industry is desperate for good technicians so if you are hardworking and dependable you will always have a job not only at dead river but anywhere in this industry. I never saw anyone fired for any dubious reasons or replaced by someone else. Advancement is seemingly straightforward but can be complicated by management stifling your growth to save their bottom line. For instance you may be stuck performing basic or menial tasks repeatedly for much of your time working, when you are qualified to perform other tasks. This can stunt your growth not only as a technician but also slow your advancement through the pay scale and heirachy

Management
Management is the most glaring flaw in the company, as is the case in many other companies. Managers can be selfish and have patterns of going behind your back or being dishonest. Playing favorites is common and quickly gets old. Although they aren’t a manager, dispatchers hold a huge sway over your day to day life at work. If you have an issue with them they will make your life difficult. There is a big disconnect in understanding and communication between dispatchers and technicians and this leads to almost constant conflict. Although you as the technician are performing all the field work, your performance will be monitored by the dispatchers as well who have the ear of the managers and this can be good or bad for you depending on your relationship with the dispatchers

Culture
Culture is a huge point of emphasis at Dead River because they are a “family owned and operated business”. That being said, it doesn’t feel very small time or family run. The ownership is concerned mainly about the bottom line and this trickles down the ranks. Your fellow technicians are your best friends and allies and the culture between them is second to none. Overall the culture is collaborative and team oriented with the goal of being safe and providing excellent customer service.

Overall
if you want to gain experience and knowledge quickly and want to be a part of a team that will support you Dead River is a good start. They invest in your education and value personal and customer safety over everything. Pay and benefits are decent. The schedule can be grueling and the on call is less than desirable. Management may be the worst thing about this company, self centered and vindictive oversight can ruin your experience here. But the team of technicians you work with balances it out. The technicians work hard and will always help one another and the camaraderie is strong in the team. So there is good and bad

One of the first questions I asked when interviewing was “are there any opportunities for advancement”…I was assured that Dead River believes in promoting from within. This could not be further from the truth. I applied for opportunity after opportunity and was continuously turned down despite proving time and time again that I was capable of more than what I had been doing for the last several years.

Hard work is never recognized, and no matter how “above and beyond” you go- it gets you nowhere. I decided after begging for more opportunities and being met with false promises, that it was time to move on. While I loved the scope of work I was doing, the technicians I worked with, and assisting customers in meeting their needs, I couldn’t help but to feel that I was being held back from reaching my potential. 

There is a strong disconnect from the corporate office in Maine, and the local branches. In the three years I was there, I never once saw or interacted with any member of the Human Resources team. I personally witnessed several situations where there was outreach for HR to have involvement, only for it to be deferred back to the branch management team (said situations were handled poorly, as the management personnel were not properly trained or experienced in handling these sensitive matters). 

A typical workday in service was busy. When there is a good team, that communicates well, the day flows smoothly. Unfortunately, the team I left behind did not have great communication, and some co workers were not on the same page. 

The hardest part of the job is that it is customer service. Some days are great, other days you are faced with difficult situations and potentially disgruntled customers. The most enjoyable part of the job was being able to help said disgruntled customers and working to change their experience and perception of the company. Having the ability to completely turn around what started off as a negative situation was really rewarding. 

Overall, I really loved working for DRC. I could have seen myself retiring from there someday. They helped me to obtain my Bachelors Degree in Business, which I had hoped to utilize while working there- though it is difficult to move forward when you have one person holding you back again and again. It is unfortunate that it didn’t work out, as they lost a well qualified, determined and motivated worker, and I lost a great group of co workers that I will sincerely miss.  

I really hope they are able to put in more of an effort to build up and promote from within in the Bristol market. Investing in your people, especially those that are dedicated and show initiative, is how you retain great staff, and the great staff is what keep the customers happy and loyal. 

DRC is not a bad place to work, if you are willing to work hard and do your  job. Yes there is a lot to learn and you have to be willing to pay attention and be accurate at your work. DRC expects the best and if you have a good work ethic, that should not be a problem. Like any work place, there is drama, people who come in more for socializing then work and people not willing to pull their own weight. The Company itself is not a bad place to work for. I have found that when bringing an issue to a manager, if I bring a solution with me instead of just complaining about something, they are more willing to listen. Doesn't mean it will change, but they are willing to listen and consider it. It's not the perfect job, but what job is? If I need to leave for a Drs appointment or to pick kids up, there generally is not an issue. And I can always come back to work to make up my time or use my PTO. As long as my work is completed for end of month, my manager is usually pretty good about time off. The summer time, there is a strict no over time, but in the winter, when it is busy and warranted over time is available. DRC wants to provide the best service they can to their customers, so they expect their workers to be able to provide that. We are the front line representation of the company, it's only natural they have high standards, and if you can't cut it, then go work some place else. You have to be able to work as a team and to be able to take constructive criticism and listen to the employees who have been with the company for years and not just do things "your way".  Things need to be done the DRC way for a reason. It's not as big of a company as people make it out to be. It's still a family owned company. Yes there are multiple offices but that is good because there are more resources to help the customer. And the employees are trained so they can work in different offices if needed.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Excellent pay and benefits. The people I worked with in Houlton were outstanding. They value their employees as much as they value their customers. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
As a driver, you must possess a certain skill level and proficiency driving the delivery trucks. There are places they deliver to that can be difficult to get to, and sometimes you won’t be able to. That’s why experience with the trucks is important. To be able to make those judgement calls on whether to deliver or not.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Everyone I worked with was professional and competent in their positions. Management was always willing to listen and accept feedback. Management and support staff do a good job with continuous training of all staff. Great place to work

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Come in and grab my manifest. Review it. Head to the bulk plant, grab my truck and load the necessary product for deliveries. Make my deliveries on my manifest. Paying attention to any special requests or additional duties that may be required. Return truck to bulk plant and do end of shift paperwork.

What is the best part of working at the company?
I have only worked for Dead River for one and a half years. There have been many ups ans downs and for office workers the company as a whole lacks in proficient training. However, in 40 years as a worker and manager in business, Dead River is the BEST Company I have ever worked for. It's the team I work with and the vast network throughout the company of amazing people that support each other everyday that makes this job spectacular. The pay is fair and the benefits are stellar. I hit the jackpot. Working for Dead River is more than a job it's a career of serving the community and team support! Feeling Blessed!

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
There is never down time. It is go time all the time and rarely enough time to get everything done.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Vast network of team support and workers who care about their jobs and the people they / serve.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I grab a cup of coffee from our kitchen, chat with my team, then I start my day, once I start, I rarely look up and when I do the day is gone... it flies by.

This office was always busy and even more so in the fall and winter months.  I learned that sometimes your best ideas for a workplace will go nowhere or someone else will take sole credit for it.  Management had been lacking for quite sometime at this location and had just started making some changes.  Most days I loved the people I worked with.  There were times a certain person or people would just drive me nutty, but that is to be expected.  I would say the most difficult time is surely the winter - the phones are ringing off the hook and customers are high strung because the weather, holidays, kids, job loss, money, etc. and now they have no heat or an odor in their house and it seems that you can't please them.  Most enjoyable part is when you can get a technician to a house quickly and a problem is solved that a customer thought was unsolvable or going to cost the a lot of money and they call and express their appreciation in helping them.

Working under the management that I did in region 8 was an absolute nightmare, there was zero training and what they considered training had no thought or effort put into it at all, I was left with trying to find outdated procedures on their intranet on my own. Hearing nothing but sighs and eye rolls and listening to ways that we could avoid helping the customer. You are set up to fail and to feel inadequate from the start. From the day I started it was very clear that the customer experience was not a priority of this company, I cannot speak for the company as a whole, just the region in which I worked. Their service dept. was highly complimented by customers and they seemed to have very happy employees, but they also had an engaged manager, that helped solve problems. I was excited to start working there as I thought there was potential for growth but I would not refer anyone to this company as an employee or a customer.

I have been employed with Dead River Company since 2012 as a service dispatcher and I work with a caring, respectful team who strives to achieve five star service for a positive customer experience. My coworkers are my work family and we share a lot of laughs.  I enjoy educating / assisting customers with service issues or questions and appreciate the trust they put in me every day. Negativity from customers is my biggest hurdle and I accept the challenge to "turn the frown, upside down". I am proud to work for a company that employees several veterans.  Dead River Company provides a great benefit package, including time off for appointments / vacation, self insured health insurance, life insurance, health savings, dependent care reimbursement, vision care, dental care, short & long term disability, college scholarships & tuition reimbursement, fuel discounts and more.

The truest review I can give is that they are fake. They will tell you that they understand and support their employees, and then they send them into the field to fail. They upon your failure terminate you. Horribly disappointed in this job choice as it left a bad taste in my mouth for anything to do with that company. Management is incompetent, uncaring, non-compassionate, and unwilling to uphold any agreements or offers upon hire. Upon hire it was explained that I would not be placed out in the field until I had refresher training, road with a trained technician, and felt competent to handle the responsibilities of my job. It was also explained that I wouldn't have to ever worry about what I needed for specialty tools. I was never provided said training, tools, or OJT as discussed. I will never, ever, consider working with or for this company again.

It is nice to walk in and everyone asks you how your weekend was or what you did on your day off.  We get busy on the phones, but on when it is slow we help each other out.  If they need filing done or help with a project, we pitch in and help.   What I have learned over the years, is that we are a team, we work together to help the customer.  I am very lucky, I have a Manager that has worked as a CSR, she knows what we face every day, and jumps in when we need her, she leads by example and I respect her.   It is nice to work at a company that puts safety first, there have been times when we have a snowstorm and I want to leave  early because I live 45 min away - never has there been a problem leaving early due to weather conditions.  If you are sick - no questions, they hope you feel better and hope to see you the next day if you are better.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Delivery driver 102 salaries reported	$27.23 per hour
Service technician 37 salaries reported	$32.12 per hour
Customer service representative 17 salaries reported	$21.62 per hour
Hvac technician 13 salaries reported	$27.00 per hour
Service dispatcher 16 salaries reported	$23.22 per hour

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