service technician

kitchen equipment service technician

field service technician

senior product manager

delivery specialist

Smart Care Solutions

I was hired with solid experience in HVAC and refrigeration so the only thing I had to learn was 'hot side' equipment - fryers, grills, ovens, steamers, etc. Area manager promised a lot about future training in 'hot side' of things but it never happened. I had to call my coworkers about ALL issues in terms of troubleshooting hot side, no support from management whatsoever(he is an ex-dispatcher with 0 service experience and technical expertise, very unpleasant person to deal with). Out of  four coworkers two were nice and helpful, other two simply hostile from day one for no reason, very toxic passive agressive people to work with. One of them never recovered refrigerant(al least when I worked with him) and vented it out, but when this area manager was notified about it he said 'I expected more comradery from you guys' and nothing happened, so this service tech kept doing it over and over with no consequences. Why? Because this manager and tech are best friends. So this gives you idea about what is going on here. This company does not give you lunch break time, YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED to take a break, cant even go grab a sandwich, they will write you up for this, no kidding. Company also substracts full hour of drive time to your first job and one hour from your last job to your home - most companies in the industry substract 0.5hr, some even pay you port to port. So every day you are loosing full hour of pay in comparison to working for someone else. The problem is, common practice was to send you 2-2.5 hours away from your city. Parts department is a mess, you often get wrong parts(at least once a week) even though you've sent them model and serial number and 100 pictures. Tablets and their software is not just a mess - A DISASTER. I memorized phone number of software tech support because I had to call them every other day. Can't fill out your paperwork - can't complete the work order - can't move to the next one - can't complete your monthly sales goal - then they treat you like subhuman because you didnt meet 25-30k goal a month like they want you to. But if you make good sales they love you and promote you, even if you sell stuff customer doesn't need(one of the techs was promoted to regional manager because of his high sales figures) Oh sales. SALES - this will be the most important word in your head from now on. This is a sales based company and they want you to sell as much as you can. Every couple of days you ll be getting an email with your sales numbers. Do not expect to be treated with respect here if you have an excellent equipment troubleshooting skills, nope, you are just a number and management will talk to you like you are some kind of bad behaving child. But if you can sell powercord for 1100 to a local restaurant - then you ll become a rockstar, you better believe me. To summarize, 3 star rating of this company does not surprise me a bit, they well deserve it(if that), and by the way, look at all these 5 star reviews from March 10-13 of this year, I counted twelve, all from upper management, to me this looks like a poor attempt to bump the rating in desperation to find and hire more labor before busy summer season begins. RUN PEOPLE, RUN FROM SMART CARE EQUIPMENT SOLUTIONS! Their CEO has 7 percent of approval rating from ex-employees for a reason!

The company treat their technicians more as salesmen than servicemen, profits over work life balance.  They placed huge emphasis on metrics and pushed  DM to ride them daily on hitting them, this created dissent within the technician group which resulted in 20 to 30% turnover year over year. Technician turnover was viewed as an issue with the DM not being able to convince technicians to put company / ethics first over work life balance although most of the technicians leaving where because of senior management and technicians KPI.  Work Life Balance and under compensated were close second to senior management issues on technician turnover.
DM turnover was also very high due to the 24/7/365 expectation, be prepared to receive calls from client and company at all hours of the day.  Work Life Balance was terrible and you can expect to miss out on a lot of family events due to the breakdown on a lot of levels, most because you never have enough technicians to complete the required amount of work and the daily complaints from customers expecting repairs that do not get completed.  
Technicians can also expect to work a 45 to 50 hour week and although the Smart Care actually has a good training program, its difficult to get all the training needed for your technicians due to the amount of work expected to get done daily and technician are often working with little to no experience on most of the equipment they service.
Company brags about its digital analytics, but it platforms breakdows daily which it the root of its daily micro-management by senior leadership which eats up most of your day justifying your KPI and the rest of the day is spent trying to figure out how to get all the work completed with being understaffed.  The breakdown in it technology / platform also puts any reporting information to customers in question. 
DM are required to meet a lot of KPI, both from an EBITDA standpoint  and customer service standpoint.  Many of the invoicing practices results in daily customer disputes that must be resolved and senior management questions every right-off even if it correct due to the pressure they put on you for profits.  All of the customer service issues, parts issues, training issues, technology issues prevent a DM from accomplishing the daily KPI the company expects which results in the 24/7/365 job you will be accepting as a DM for Smart Care Solutions.
The number of jobs Smart Care has listed is mostly from turnover and not organic growth.  In the last 4 to 6 months, I am aware of 3 DM and 1 service manager departure.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The work is consistent and the Health insurance is good.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
This company is going to demoralize your mentality and under value your abilities in order to trap you into having to work overtime just to make enough money. They don't pay enough to start with. If they do. They only give 10cents to 25cent raises a year. That's if they don't find a reason to give you less. If you are a Service Technician. You might get a sign on bonus. The bonus is equal or close to a 25cent raise for a year's worth of work. After that. You can only get a pay bump if you do the Company Cesfa CERT. Test. The test has to be done outside of work hours on your own time. The only people who get rewards for good work ethics are the AST PM Techs. They get paid less then Service Techs but they find Additional work that generates new service calls and makes more money for the company. Then what happens is, they make the AST PM Techs learn how to make repairs while they get paid PM Tech wages. The upper management favors the Techs who kiss butt. If you don't always kiss butt and say no to working late after you have already worked late before. The Upper management can and will use that against you. Any complaints you make against upper management are going to be ignored. HR acts like it's a big deal, but that is just an act to trick you into thinking that they care so you can go back to work. Everyone gets monthly and yearly bonuses except Technicians.
Service and PM Techs only get 1 bonus. Thats it. The RM and DM and Dispatch all get bonuses from the work you complete. The Dispatch get bonus for the amount of calls that are sent out. They also use a Ai program to route most calls in relation to part orders. It is a way to pay the bills. But it loses its shine real quick when they won't give you a Cost of Living Wage increase to help with the rise in living expenses and inflation. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
You work out of a Van, Technician paperwork is done on a tablet and the only interactions with the office or management are over the tablet, voice calls or text or email.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
12 hours a day. 10 hours of working that involves driving to locations.

#1 is big issues with proper dispatch process - you drive 2.5hrs  one way to be at customer site say at 5am, work there for 2 hours and this is it, 7-9am and 'there is no more work for you for today'. AND then they substract 1+1=2hrs from this 5hr drive time for that day and you get paid for only 3hrs. Listen to me, I'd rather pay YOU and sit home watching TV and drinking beer and we will not have this awkward conversation. And things like that happen on weekly basis, I m not making this up. How can you plan your life and pay your bills when they send you home at 9-10am and you work less than 40hrs/week? And yet management thinks YOU owe them something because 'we are the best company ever blah-blah-blah', that was their attitude - they treat you like number and all they want from you is SALES SALES SALES, every other day you get an email how much is your sales and how much more you have to sell by the end of the month.
#2 lack of training - many techs have NO idea whatsoever how to work on certain equipment yet management dont bother to train these techs to make them better, therefore multiple visits to fix equipment and angry customers.
#3 messed up software that often dont work therefore you can't accomplish required amount of service calls per day. I believe there is at least 8 different apps on your tablet and you have to learn all this cr*p to do your job which is mind you FIXING EQUIPMENT, you are a kitchen equipment tech,refrigeration tech this is it. I m not a geek and have no desire whatsoever to learn all your fancy apps, I understand its 2019 not 1978 but come on guys, there is gotta be a limit.
So when I asked myself 'Do you want to work for this company for the next 5-10-20 years?' answer is no I dont, there are better companies out there with better and less stressful environment. I want to fix equipment, make customers happy and get paid every other Friday, simple as that, I dont want to spend 3hrs a day on the phone with IT support just because some stupid app dont work and I cant close any work orders and move on to the next one.
Bottom line is this is ok job for the new tech right from trade school but this is it.

What is the best part of working at the company?
T h e best part of working with Smart Care was the opportunity to fix and work with equipment from restaurants and institutions.  Large variety of refrigeration and Hit and cold side equipment. Plus, everyone I had worked with was atleast as talked as I feel I am. On top of that great team.  Just had misunderstanding, I wish they would let me come back and re join the team 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
I honestly love what I do for a living,  so I didn't really get stressed out about the work.  Always had a couple of team members that just naturally helped keep out of stressful situations 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
They always gave me flexibility,  if I had an appointment,  they would make sure I had time to handle personal business. Up until I was terminated for lack of communication,  I was arrested,  and it took me 2 weeks to get bond, then I was terminated because I could not contact my boss and when I did get released,  they had arrested completed the termination process.  
The whole time I worked with Smart Care, I was able to work with a wide variety of refrigeration and restaurants  equipment.  I would love to return to work with the group

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Arrive on time, communicate with supervisor,  and get the job done.  They want to make sure that their employees get the opportunity to get atleast 40 hrs. A week

When you are running around working like an animal, sometimes you get overwhelmed and you need help. My New Jersey District Manager has never refused to provide me the support I need to finish my job and always understands my concerns.  My parts department never let me down searching for a difficult part I need. My dispatchers are very sympathetic and understanding of my needs. Most of all, the diagnostic support team is there to give me a shoulder to cry on the days I get killed and just want to end it all.  

I loved this company when it was ecolab, so many great benefits and a sense of fortune 500 career. Even though The new owners cut our bonuses and pensions, I still am great full for all the great training and support they continue to provide.

Maybe one day they will once again begin to appreciate the work we perform day in and day out and maybe at least offer us a quarterly bonus based on callback And utilization parameters instead of sales. Those bonuses really boosted our earnings and Provided a great sense of accomplishment to keep moving forward.

But now its just ehhhh, get the job done, get your 50 in and go home. No motivation at all to reach for the top.

I hope the ceo reads this and consider a motivational campaign to drive us once again as in the good old ecolab days.



To start, myself and multiple new hires, at the time, were lied to by the district manager. A fair amount of us came from a background dealing with air conditioning, and we were told we'd be busy working on commercial cooling equipment, nothing during the interview was mentioned about working on cooking equipment. 95% of the work here is cooking equipment, and you are provided with very little training on this equipment. It's a very "figure out how it works" while on the job atmosphere. We would be sent to work on equipment that requires certifications, which none of us newer technicians had. We would be sent on callbacks for more senior technicians. The service manager/dispatcher didn't even live in the same state, and had no idea where jobs were located, so there was terrible route efficiency at times. During the summer especially, you are overloaded with work; to the point you have parts sitting on your truck for 2-3 weeks before finally installing them. By this time, the location you are working has likely already put in another service call for the same equipment and another technician wasted their time diagnosing and ordering the same parts. I've also left this company almost a year ago; but whenever the current employee driving the same van gets a ticket, it is sent to my home. 

If you're looking to make money and don't have the need for work life balance then this may be for you. 
If you can walk into a job site and figure things out by yourself with little to no prior information about the appliance, then this may be for you. It helps if you have a mechanical background and a can do/tenacious mindset; although I've seen some people fake it till they "made it."
Hours are inconsistent; either you have no hours or have 14+ hr days. 
Pay isn't terrible, and the benefits are good, that's about the only plus: what you can expect from a corporate hedge fund. Though keep that in mind, that's how they overall operate their business, and if you can forgo a work life balance this may benefit you.
In my experience they always talk about training, learning new equipment, and certifications though will only promote you to be as successful of a tech as they need you to be.
Someone is always watching the camera, and it's weird. They will say it's only for recorded events but...
In short, pay is okay and they will allow you to work as much as they have need for, but personal career growth will amount to that of your allowed social/family obligations: little to none.
It's  not a hard no in regards to taking the job, just make sure your needs align to their interests.

This “company” is the absolute worst to work for. It’s all about matrixes sales sales sales. You literally could get a job here, not know anything, and they’d hire you. They would prefer a parts changer than a actual knowledgeable tech that knows how to diagnose  and make proper repairs. They refuse to pay good techs. I received tech of the year two years in a row, and that was thrown in my face by a loser manage over me asking for back up on a job for safety.The company focuses on management over anything else. Techs are nothing to them. I had seen a guy get a managers job that has never been in this field nor has any knowledge of anything. He was now in charge and struggled day to day, but we the techs were the problem. The same lack of knowledge and tech support was the same to the top management. Dispatch system was crazy! Didn’t make sense and customer knew it. I saw the writing on the wall of smartcare and looked for a competitor. I am glad I did. It was night and day. It’s been a year now and I am very thankful I left when I did. It’s a failing company with poor management and the benefits are terrible! DO NOT WORK HERE!!

I suggest that if you come here to work in the field, that you make sure you understand your job and how to do it. 
Example -  Still have a ways to go on Procedures when it comes to the field work. Main office has consistently showed lack of forward movement with Training. They give excuses that there is not good training from Factories, which is Funny because these are the factory trainers that have been doing the training for ( Years). Again, if you come here knowing your job then it’s Great but not for new techs that really want to understand what Techs do and the proper way to do it. Not by trial and error at Clients expense. 
Company is great at taking care of financial side of job and benefits. 
Get a work van
You have to supply almost all the tools ( not just basic hand tools like most other companies.
 Our tool list for Tech supplied tools, includes following:
1 Gallon chemical sprayer
   Grease gun
   Extension cord
Never, Never have I heard or seen things like this. Just shows how little those running things understand 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Service technician 27 salaries reported	$22.13 per hour
Kitchen equipment service technician 14 salaries reported	$26.50 per hour
Field service technician 4 salaries reported	$23.25 per hour
Senior product manager 2 salaries reported	$180,000 per year
Delivery specialist 2 salaries reported	$19.75 per hour

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