C4 Connections DO NOT Go to Work for These People! Merritt Island Florida
In the second week of November, 2013 I uploaded my resume' to Career Builder. I was looking for anything that related to customer service, sales, admin, or mid-management. [Prospective employers are "shopping" and looking for a good fit. At least, that's how it's supposed to work.]
I was contacted by Corey Lambert of C4 Connections, which is the designated sub-contractor for outside sales for AT&T. His email stated C4 was looking for an administrative assistant for their office in Melbourne, as well as salespeople and people who wanted to move into management. Since I'm collecting Social Security and also have a husband, I figured I had nothing to lose by going after the commission-sales position. Incidentally, the office in Melbourne was 15 miles from my house, and that seemed reasonable to me. So I called Corey for an interview.
Upon doing this, I learned Corey had been replaced by Jessie Fudge, the new sales manager, and he would be conducting the interview. I went to the group overview and the personal interview and was hired on the spot. C4's original web page promised a sign-on bonus and training pay. As it turned out, neither of these actually existed. But the lure of earning between $500 - $1200 weekly sure beats Social Security, so I figured I would do this for a couple of years and then re-retire at 67.
Three days later, we were told the office was being moved to another location in Melbourne, but no one knew where it was. I kept showing up for training, which consisted of some good training in-house for about an hour and then going out into the field with a more experienced rep. As it turned out, one of these reps turned out to be Corey, who had decided he preferred being out in the field to being inside as a manager. I learned a lot.
About two weeks later I began picking up my leads at the office and going out into the field. This proved to be mostly fruitless. The "leads" weren't actually leads at all. They were names and addresses of people who had had some sort of AT&T product in the past. I found: some vacant houses, some houses that were occupied by completely different people who had lived there for several year, folks who had already signed up for the new programs via AT&T Corporate Sales, people who had already been visited by one of us and had advised us NO WAY are they ever getting involved with AT&T again, etc.
I ultimately wound up making one sale, and this was to my husband. Why? Because I believe if you are not willing to use the product you're selling, you have no business selling the product. That would be like selling Ford and driving a Chevy. My commission should have been $87.50. On a 1099, you're not having taxes taken out; you pay them, along with your self-employment tax, when you file in April. But this is what happened: C4 took out $18.67 as a hedge against any cancellations that MAY happen in the future, plus $25 for drug test, background check, and first company shirt (none of which actually happened), plus $8 for the cost of processing my paycheck. And I actually received this check a week late, because all our paychecks were in a box due to the move, and Jessie had not located them yet. This was on December 4.
On December 5, I learned the office was moving to Merritt Island, which is actually 47 miles away from my home. This was the final straw. I resigned.
I have since sent a polite email and left a polite voice message to the Controller of C4 (Corporate office is in Missouri) asking that these funds be restored to me. It probably will come as no surprise to you that almost two full months later, he has yet to send me a check. I spent about $60 on gas during my tenure with C4. I'm happy I had the sense to bail before it got any worse.