driver

locksmith

technician

service technician

entry level manager

Pop-A-Lock

My average schedule had me on call 70 hours a week, five days straight, which was down from 112 hours, eight days straight, for many years.  On more than one occasion I was forced to work 168 hours, 12 days straight due to failure to maintain staffing. You are not promised any sort of break; there have been multiple days where I did not eat anything until 11p. Pop-A-Lock has a strictly commission only based pay structure so there is no overtime for these soul-crushing hours.

You are offered five days of vacation, but the compensation for these days off is much less than one would make normally and getting the days off you would like is challenging.

As a locksmith, your manager/boss is also your greatest competition and you can do nothing about it. Your manager’s schedule is 8a-10p, M-F and he will still turn in more than double your earnings every week even though he works about half the hours. The reason behind this is that he is primary during those peak hours AND he gets to decide what jobs he does or does not do. Simply put, if there is an easy job that is billed $200 and an annoying, time consumining job that bills at half that comes in then he will get every $200 job and you will get the other. Some days he may not grace you with a single call so you just sit around in a company shirt, not getting paid but unable to make any personal plans because the moment you do you will be sent a call. The manager lacks any sort of managerial skills and rarely does any manager related work, his title basically serves as an excuse to make more money than you. In fact, you will be performing more managerial tasks than he does. There is NO room for advancement.

The owner, the only person above your manager, knows nothing about locksmithing and doesn’t particularly care about any of your plights. He will listen to you if you have a complaint but nothing will change except your manager will retaliate against you by heavily restricting your calls, effectively crippling your pay check. The owner only cares that the money is coming in, he doesn’t care that only one employee may be making all that money.

Overall, Pop-A-Lock allots no work/life balance and employees below management are not compensated fairly for their time.  After a few years working here you will actually be able to feel your mind start to erode as you fall further into madness.

As the only female working for this company in the Jacksonville area, grown men had no problem piling jobs into me they didn’t want to do. There are NO benefits, labor law violations are very questionable and I’ll be looking into that. There are times where 120 hours on a check (two 60-hour work weeks) produced $400 and less on some occasions. I had trouble paying to even work at some points, since copious amounts of gas and car maintenance/other expenses are on you without a lick of help. I ran my first car into the ground with this job, until the transmission went out, then I was out of work. I was offered no help despite the fact that my car broke down because of the job, and I was forced to frantically search for another vehicle with no money and no assistance. Supervisors are a joke to say the least. If you get off at 12 and a call comes in at 11:59 that’s 45 minutes away, you’re expected to go to it. However, if a supervisor gets off at 12, and a call comes in for them at 11:40, they send it to you because it’s “too close to the time they’re off.” Everybody also has an attitude problem, giving snarky responses to honest mistakes. Supervisors won’t take on more than 2 calls, but will pile 4 onto you. There’s no insurance but they’ll send you out to the side of the highway to change a tire at night while cars fly past you. You’re also REQUIRED to go to 2 hour meetings on your days off that aren’t paid. If you don’t go, you face consequences. I inquired about the pay for these meetings to a manager named Sid who then told me you can choose to get paid $9 for an hour or eat a meal there. You can’t have both. Oh, I wasn’t told this until about a year and 6 months into my employment with a meeting every month. This is very unacceptable. The meetings usually run about two hours due to people BSing for the first hour. I wasn’t even excused from these meetings when I explained I couldn’t sit in the Florida heat any longer than I have to because my car has no AC. These grown men gossip like middle school girls. I’ve had a supervisor accidentally walkie me making fun of me, meaning to call someone else. If you like to be a slave and be taken advantage of, be treated like a brainless cretin, work in severe weather conditions (heat, hurricanes, etc), and not be paid the way you deserve and how the law requires you to be paid, by all means, get this job. 

This was hands down the worst company I've ever worked for. We received a 7min break every 2 hours, you could eat at your desk but not during the first or last hour of your shift and there is no lunch break. The manager goes out of her way to write up employees so if they are fired they can not get unemployment (she stated this several times while I was in the office so I can assure you this is no exaggeration) she also will "pick on" new employees to see how far they can be pushed before ultimately making them quit (another thing she enjoys doing) or having them fired and employees who initiate drama are held in higher regards than the ones who go to work to actually work.In my time there 90% of the staff had worked there less than a year, they have a horrible turnover rate. If you like to follow rules and believe they apply to everyone don't try to work here.

If you want to go to school or your children are involved in extracurricular activities don't plan on it with these people. You're told upfront they will not make accommodation to help you outside of work. In other words, if you'd like to better yourself and get a higher education do that! After you've found another job.

The only positive thing I can say is the job is very easy and I would only recommend working there if you are desperate for work but suggest you continue to look for a job.

I worked with this company for around 3 years total. At first, I absolutely loved this job. I got to drive all around the city all alone while blasting my music and I also got to help people in their darkest hour. It felt really good to help so many people every day and you could be relaxed and casual around your boss and coworkers. Unfortunately, the costs of gas and car maintenance will take up quite a bit of your paycheck. Plus, everyone makes something different because the pay is commission-only after the initial 90-day probationary period. Some roadside techs make less than $800 on their (bi-weekly) paychecks, while a few techs in the  busier cities make even more than upper management. If business is slow because a bunch of college students are out of town, good luck. Constantly understaffed and with a shockingly high turnaround rate due to the low pay and lack of support from upper management. Sometimes I'm shocked out of my sleep in a dread-filled panic because I hallucinate the sound of the work phone going off. Nothing like getting woken up at 4 in the morning to change a truck tire on the side of the interstate in the rain. In the end, if you like helping people and you're okay with the unsteady pay, it's worth the consideration.

The company operates with a "just work and make the money" mentality, yet the employers will ignore/neglect most requests for basic maintenance of the company vehicle and equipment that you rely upon to complete your job. The employers intentionally omit the reality of the hours that you'll be required to work, which will be upwards of 38 hours straight (a 24hr shift then start a 14hr shift immediately afterwards) with only 10hrs off until it starts again. There is virtually no consideration for you as an employee as most concerns and issues will ignored and you'll be told to just "keep working" despite whatever the issue may be. This company has lost six employees and one manager in just a few months due to working conditions. The pay is also only comparable to a typical $15/hr job but with a significantly worse life/work balance. The company does not properly train new hires, as they are just wanting to get someone out in the field ASAP due to them being so shorthanded. You'll most certainly be unprepared for your first shift but will be told to "just do it" without any real help from the employers. I'm not trying to dissuade you from choosing this job, just trying to give an honest account of what you'll experience working for this company. 

be ready to work 15 hour shifts that take up your whole day and drive all over the greater richmond area. You will have no life, You don't make hourly, don't get ANY benefits, you pay for your own gas(400 + a month), tolls, and vehicle expenses. While you're changing a tire on the side of the highway with cars speeding by you at 80 miles per hour with no insurance from this company for 8 dollars, the rest of the money goes to your boss who sits at home.  You'll be sent on wild runs all over the place to chesterfield then west end to north side then south side to petersburg even if your boss is closer to the call. The dispatching makes zero sense when the boss is doing it. I once got off at 12:00 am and a call comes in for a tire change at 11:55 thats 30 minutes away. It was 10 minutes away from the manager house, but he sent me, i got home at 1:18 AM and had work at 6AM that same day for 13 hours.
This job has so much potential and the fellow employees and assistant manager are very nice. But the boss just wants yes men who make him all the money and work unbearable hours with no benefits or reimbursement for driving so much. This place needs to make a change for the better or form a union to at least get hourly and protect ourselves.

-Typical work day was being sure to clock in on time and answer calls coming in.
-I learned time management is key to being able to assist customers, and management always has your back when questions arise or to help assist when dealing with an unhappy customer.
-Management is always open to hear any concerns that you may have and work with you on scheduling.
-The experienced representative's will assist you when needed, and training is fairly easy. Also, always having a clean environment.
-The hardest part was at times trying to get a clear location of where the customer was located due to lack of communication at times. Along with remembering the different locations availability throughout the nation. Which they had a binder, but sometimes the information was not up to date, but the management/representative's had you covered in that area luckily. 
-Learning different aspects to how a call center operates, and being able to get a discount if you accidently lock your own keys in your vehicle along with key makes.

You get paid crumbs and shouldn't make plans for anything while you work here. No benefits at all, no dental, no health insurance, nothing. They expect you to work 24/7 no matter how tired you are and disregard any complaints. You'll get a couple hrs of training and be expected not to need any help, if you do you'll have to wait till someone else arrives and you'll be doing that for free. No raises, no bonuses and no new tools. Everything is out of pocket and any reimbursements, or tips you make will be added to your check and taxes will take that from you so seeing any money you put into working there is less than nothing. The managers are lazy and smart mouthed so overall the job just isn't worth the money or time. The shifts are long and the communication is minimal. If you don't have anything else in life and a working car go for it but if you have respect for yourself I would keep searching. Granted helping people is always a plus but there are better opportunities out there. This job did help me in-between finding something better but it's nothing you can retire from.

So the job isn’t bad.  Off back if you work Orlando Tampa or any on Sam landers you have to go to Jacksonville for training for a week paid with hotel. They also pay for gas and your Meals for each day which was great. 

The Orlando area is a mess there is more supervisors then there is “regular” techs. The supervisors have laptops that can control the board change calls gives calls to who they want take the calls they want. 

You are required to work 5 days 12 hour days. They say your in call and can work from home but to make money you have to be out early take any and all jobs you can no matter how far they are. You will travel on average between 200-300 miles per day paying for your own fuel. 

Granted you can make money but you have to run the whole 12 hours and average 1.5-2 calls per hour to make over the minimum. If you don’t make enough calls for the day a minimum is paid that’s worked out to be about 12 a hour. For 12 hours. 

So in the end it’s all bout if the job is for you. I actually enjoy the job aspect it’s self I enjoy helping people meeting people and making there day when you come to there rescue. But the fighting for calls suck. The unfair advantage of the supervisors really suck. Pay could be way better 

I will preface this review by saying that since this is a franchise business, your experience may vary based on who operates your location. I truly loved the work and gained a lot of experience in dealing with customers, problem solving, patience, and independence. I also got along very well with my co-workers and teamwork was excellent. 

The main drawbacks and the reason I quit came down to terrible management decisions and inflexible hours. A few minor gripes that didn't weigh much in my decision to leave were periods of very, very slow days and long shifts; I mostly worked 10 hours with 12 hour days on the weekends. To be fair, it's an on call job basically, so most of that time is spent either driving or entertaining yourself between calls. Major frustrations include having to deal with the fact that dispatch will always tell customers you'll arrive in thirty minutes, even when you are already servicing 4 other calls. This requires you to be on the phone constantly while driving and understandably many customers are annoyed by the fact that just minutes ago their wait time was a 1/4th of the time.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Driver 4 salaries reported	$700 per week
Locksmith 18 salaries reported	$21.86 per hour
Technician 87 salaries reported	$653 per week
Service technician 2 salaries reported	$3,250 per month
Entry level manager 1 salary reported	$650 per week

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