If you browse the
T-Mobile Sub-Reddit, you’ll find some longtime complaints from T-Mobile employees longing for the good old days. Now, I admit I’m not a T-Mobile representative, but from what I can gather from these comments is that the company is pressuring the sales team to meet certain metrics that are extremely difficult to achieve. And now a T-Mobile representative, who claims to be among the top 1% of sales professionals at the carrier for six of the eight months he worked there, has some shocking things to say about the company.
While at T-Mobile, this representative said he “saw more fraud here than anywhere else I’ve been so far.”
Although this person is “relatively new” at T-Mobile, he is no stranger to the wireless business. So it means something when he says that, although he never did anything fraudulent, he adds: “But I have to be honest: I’ve seen more fraud here than anywhere else I’ve been so far.” Another T-Mobile representative in the same thread says that 80% of T-Mobile sales professionals “do the right thing and do it the right way.” As for the other 20%, this representative divides the problems between T-Mobile customers and “just shady people” who work for the carrier.
T-Mobile representatives are under pressure to meet certain sales targets, according to current employees working for the carrier
What prompted this Reddit Rant was the “super seller” (the guy among the top 1%) who had a customer send their family to two different stores (they live in a different state) to switch their Verizon SIM card to a T-Mobile SIM on an existing line. The first store added an extra line to the customer’s account, which was considered a misunderstanding between “us, the customer and the other representative”.
The second family member went to the other store for the same reason and “that fake representative activated a voice AND data line, which in turn is causing promotional problems. I’m sure this customer wishes they had never switched to T-Mobile. Can we all agree enough to stop this.”
Another T-Mobile representative explains the kind of pressure he’s under. “My quotas have increased about 30% year over year, with an arbitrary 150% increase last summer.” This sales professional warns T-Mobile customers: “You’ll see MUCH more dishonesty in the months to come from employees who are just trying to keep their jobs.”
T-Mobile representatives allegedly earn more commissions when a customer adds a new line
T-Mobile, like any public company, is closely watched and its quarterly numbers are scrutinized by analysts for signs of growth. But things are much more serious when a T-Mobile employee posts on Reddit that “The company basically encourages this with unrealistic goals and expectations. It’s not just ‘the greedy representative wants to make more money’ – it’s ‘I’ll get chewed out by my RSM/DM if I don’t hit these many postpaid activations today.'”
A T-Mobile customer chimed in on the thread to say “I went to get a phone and someone added a line to my account at the most expensive price”. Some T-Mobile representatives noted that they don’t make much money when they sell a phone to you. The big commissions are distributed to representatives who get customers to add new lines or purchase device insurance.
This is probably a problem that permeates the entire industry. If you review your wireless bills, make sure there aren’t any added lines to your account that you didn’t request. If you notice a big jump in your wireless account, carefully examine the monthly bills. And if there’s any issue or you see something that looks suspicious or doesn’t pass the smell test, call the carrier’s corporate headquarters. Don’t settle for reporting it to the local store where you normally buy your phones, because they would love to bury your complaint where it will never be found.