Sales agent in Verizon third-party store is told to push whatever makes him the hghest commissions
His new boss gave him some questionable rules to follow. According to the sales agent, his new boss said, “Never ever inform customers of loyalty offers.” She also told him to lead with offers that will get him paid the most, and if he does not do so, she will get him fired for underperforming. What the Verizon sales agent is saying is that based on his conversation with his new boss, she wants him to tell every customer to get a new line on a premium plan in order to get the highest possible bonus as a rep.
The sales agent wrote that he is quitting. He also said that he is warning potential Verizon customers not to trust anything they are told by the carrier or third-party resellers. He said that those with a friend or family member who recently got a new phone at Verizon without turning over a trade-in were probably lied to. Most likely they were told to add a new line to get a better deal, even if that was a blatant lie.
Older customers are being exploited, says the sales agent
The anonymous Verizon sales agent told everyone not to let the rep take advantage of you. He notes that most of the customer base at the location he works at are older people; he is concerned that his new boss is going to take advantage of the elder Verizon customers who don’t know any better. He calls it wrong and immoral and believes that as long as the policies set forth by his new boss make money for the company that owns this location, her “scummy” behavior will go unpunished.
The sales agent says that the average age of the customers at his store is above 55, and they are on Social Security and disability. He says that they don’t understand technology, and they tend to believe everything a rep tells them because they feel that the reps are helping them. What they don’t know is that the salesmen sitting before them are being told to push whatever brings them the highest commissions. He adds, “And they will get hit with a big bill at some point, and it could be just enough to push them over the edge.”
“I don’t rely on customers buying a lot from me or upselling to pay my bills. So I take care of them because I can. It’s my way of giving back. My way of caring. I’m one man so no I can’t change the world, but I can educate people on the shady practices. Those upset at me sharing this information with people are upset because now it’s harder for them to sneak one by ya and not tell you about the other offers you have.”
–Verizon sales agent with Reddit username Greedy-Equipment-829
One rep said, “I never had a job that made me feel so immoral all the time”
Want to know what it feels like to be a rep for a wireless firm? Perhaps this one line from Redditor crashbandit3 says it all. “I never had a job that made me feel so immoral all the time.” He writes that his bosses would review a sales call he just made and ask why he didn’t offer the customer new lines. He would answer that after talking to them for 45 minutes, he knew they didn’t need one.
Instead of getting praised for being honest and saving the customer money, the rep’s bosses would yell at him for making assumptions. They would curse him out and tell him that he better offer new lines next time and make it sound exciting.
Warn your parents about not mindlessly agreeing to everything a rep tells them, and not to make any purchases that they don’t need to make the next time they are inside a wireless retail location.
