Wondering if The Chat Shop is a place you should work at? Or has the negative reviews got you searching for alternative feedback? You’re about to read my unbiased Chat Shop review.
In this article I will explain how to get in, the requirements to get accepted, what you’ll need to do on a daily basis, the pay rate, and more.
For those that don’t know me, I’m Brandon and I’m the owner of this blog.
I scour the internet to find different “opportunities” presented to the everyday person, figure out what they’re really like, and then give my unbiased, personal opinion.
This Chat Shop review is just one of the endless amounts of opportunities on the world wide web that claims to pay you for working from home.
Although most of them are scams, this one seems to be legit and a viable way to make money from working in your PJs.
Even though that may be so, this job opportunity is not for everyone, and I’ll explain why in this article.
What is The Chat Shop?
The Chat Shop is an opportunity presented to everyday people, claiming you can work fully remotely by being a live chat support agent.
First let me say that this is 100% true.
Chat Shop is definitely everything it says it is.
You can fully work from home, have your own schedule, and be an independent contractor. Therefore you’ll have to do your own taxes.
Even though real money can be made, and you can be your own boss, there are some things you should be aware of.
But first and foremost, who can join and how do you apply?
Who Can Join The Chat Shop?
The requirements to join are pretty general, meaning, pretty much anyone can apply and work from home as a live chat agent.
Whether you are competent enough to get accepted is a different story. But everyone is presented the opportunity nonetheless.
They are also based in the UK, so you will need to adjust your schedule to suit UK’s time zone.
Lets say if you’re from the US, you’ll have to start working at around 2 pm – 10pm (as the US is about 5 hours ahead of the UK).
This means some of you will have to be complete night owls if you’re from other countries.
Pretty much anyone can join as long as you have good English skills, can work under pressure, multi-task, you’re responsible, and have good typing skills.
How Do You Join The Chat Shop?
The Chat Shop, just like any job, requires you to complete the training before being allowed to work by yourself.
The current training has about 100 hours worth, and requires you to work 9 – 5 GMT, which again, means you will have to do your training in the afternoons if you’re from the US.
This makes it almost impossible if you work during the day and have a busy schedule outside of working hours (kids, cleaning, errands, etc).
So just keep that in mind before applying.
You can begin your application process here.
Your first test is to answer a simple questionnaire. This part of the test will see how dedicated you are and if you really care about helping people.
The second process is to complete a short typing test. This is going to test your typing speed and grammar skills, both are mandatory to becoming a competent live chat agent at The Chat Shop.
Now if you pass both of these tests with flying colors, you’ll be invited to a live chat interview with one of the recruiting agents.
This process is to learn about you, to see if you have the potential to be a fantastic customer service rep. It’s basically a chat between two friends in a coffee shop, it’s not meant to be scary.
If they think you’d make a good customer service rep, they’ll call you again in a few days for another chat and your availability.
Once this is done, they’ll set you up with a team and you’ll get started on your training.
Now you’re “apart of the family!”
They Have a Very Strict Recruiting Process
One of their articles claims that they get over 2000 new applications every month, which is about 1 new applicant every 4 minutes.
This means they can pick and choose who they want to work with, which is why they have a strict recruiting process.
If they let anyone in that aren’t competent enough, they’ll get many complaints and the company will get a bad reputation.
So it makes complete sense why they want nothing but the best.
They’ll Fire You Swiftly and Easily
They recruit about 1% of the new applicants that apply, so you can only imagine how quickly they’ll fire people that don’t cut the mustard.
After scouring the reviews online for The Chat Shop, it didn’t take long to notice that they have no problems firing people for little reasons.
Remember, they want to provide their customers with nothing but the best customer service.
If you can’t multi-task, or fold under pressure, or can’t competently provide answers to customers in a timely manner, you’ll be fired without warning.
Pros and Cons
I took feedback from around the web of people giving their own pros and cons after working at The Chat Shop, and I placed them below so you can see for yourself.
Here are my findings.
As you can see, there are some pros and cons that stick out more than the rest.
The ones that stick out to me the most are:
- No breaks
- High staff turnover
- Working outside of scheduled hours without getting compensated
- Treat employees like garbage
- Low pay/high stress
So What Does a Typical Day Like as a Live Chat Agent?
Now you’re familiar with some of the most common pros and cons with The Chat Shop, what exactly will you be doing once you’re inside working for yourself?
A typical day at The Chat Shop looks something like this.
Start working when your schedule begins for the day. This is about 7 – 10 hours depending on how busy it is.
There are no breaks, so you’ll be required to work nonstop without any distractions.
In many cases you’ll have to work outside of your arranged hours WITHOUT BEING PAID. And if you don’t, they have no trouble firing you.
You’ll also be chatting with about 3 – 4 different customers at a time, opening and closing different tabs, and trying to keep up with new phone calls coming in.
This is why it’s so important to be competent enough. It’s really that busy that you’ll have little-to-no time for breaks.
Sometimes, due to a lack of staff, you’ll be required to work outside of your working hours and may not even get paid for it.
That’s why some of the reviews says that you’ll be working 24/7.
How Much Do They Pay?
Some workers for The Chat Shop posted their salaries on Indeed and Glassdoor, which happens to be around $21,910 per year as a Customer Support Representative.
Divide that up into hourly rate, and you’re looking at about $10.65 per hour.
The ability to earn a fulltime income is 100% possible for some parts of the world.
However, that is 31% under the US national average. Consider it a part-time gig until you find a higher paying job.
You’ll be required to work around 40 hours per week, with more or less depending on staff availability.
Do keep in mind that you may or may not be compensated for working extra hours outside of your scheduled time, which is one of the biggest negatives people don’t like about this company.
The Good Things About The Chat Shop
Legit
The good thing about The Chat Shop is that they’re legit and pay their workers on time, every month.
They don’t show any signs of scamming people or turning into a scam in the future.
If you join and do the work, you can expect to get paid for your scheduled hours.
Decent Opportunity
Something else I like about the CS is that the pay is decent.
For some parts of the world that is a fully livable wage. However, expect to work for your money.
The Bad Things About The Chat Shop
No Breaks
One thing that stood out to me was that you won’t be allowed to take breaks.
You’re getting up to 3 – 4 phone calls at a time, so you won’t have any time to take breaks.
Some people claim that they left due to being over worked and under paid.
Not Worth the Money
Even though they may be legit and pay their workers, it’s still not worth the headache.
You’re working nonstop for 8 hours straight, and then more phone calls outside of your scheduled hours due to a lack of staff availability (which you probably won’t get compensated for).
24/7 Commitment
As mentioned above, you’re likely to get phone calls outside of your hours, which may or may not mean you’ll be sleeping.
You can’t fully switch off for the day because your phone could go off at any moment.
They Don’t Care About You
They claim that they care about their workers and want everyone to have a positive environment to work in.
However, as most workers have said, that’s just a façade.
They’re always firing people over the smallest things, you’re overworked and not compensated, and you can’t even take breaks.
Plus they treat you like garbage.
Is The Chat Shop Worth Working At?
So after doing hours of research on this company, checking out their strict recruitment process, and exposing the tactics that goes on behind the scenes, here is my final conclusion.
The Chat Shop is definitely a place you might want to consider if you’re desperate for money and need a job asap.
Due to the high workload and long hours required of you, it is by no means a parttime job and requires most of your time and attention.
Therefore only apply if you’re thinking about quitting your job, don’t have a job, or in desperate need of money.
Other than that, I don’t recommend The Chat Shop.
Are There Any Other Online Job Opportunities I Recommend?
I have always recommended blogging over any other online business venture.
Why?
Because you literally work whenever you want, don’t have to answer to anybody, and can make money on days you don’t even work.
That’s because your blog receives traffic around the clock.
You receive traffic when you’re sleeping, when you’re on a tropical island, when you’re at the gym, when you’re out getting food, literally 24/7.
That is the beauty of owning a blog…creating engaging content that people like, and getting paid for your efforts.
But how do you actually make money from your blog?
You’ll be applying affiliate marketing to your content, which is selling other peoples products for a commission.
When you recommend a product or service, and someone buys through your link, you get paid.
That’s what I do and have done since 2016, which is why I recommend it to everyone looking to work from home.
Here’s the same training program that I used (they have a free trial).
Thanks for reading this Chat Shop review.
Brandon
My name is Brandon and this is my website. I'm just a normal guy that had dreams, dreams that would keep me up at night because I wanted them so badly. Now I'm living my dreams of being an influencer and making a good living doing so. Broke Influencers is another of my creations where I teach people how to get rich being an online influencer, or die trying. There is no in between.