Complaint Review: Cellular Sales Verizon Wireless - Austin, Cedar Park, Killeen, Georgetown, Taylor, Texas

I was sucked into the Cellular Sales concept while an employee of Verizon Wireless. I love Verizon and the product they offer. They are by far the best wireless service provider available. I had the aspiration of owning my own Verizon agency and this seemed very appealing to me. I went for it hook, line and sinker. I wish I'd investigated the company more before proceeding.  

All of their procedures are backward and outdated. This was the first thing I noticed after starting work. Most companies are online and all of the business is submitted electronically. Not them! All of the paperwork had to be delivered to their home office for your region within a specific time or you were locked out of the system. They did have 1 pickup store in the region, for your convenience. For most, it was just as out of the way as the home office.  This is 2012! ...not 1980! I found it difficult to wrap my mind around this. Also, when activating or upgrading customers, you had to code your lines correctly or you got screwed out of your pay! That again was your responsibility because this company assumes NO liability whatsoever. 

No price tags on phones! Phone price is an unknown variable with this company! They will charge as much as the customer will pay. Buyer beware! Verizon needs to be brought up to speed what this company is doing to their customers.  They don't ever have that many phones in stock at their stores. The one's they do have, they try their best to capitalize on. Usually, they are older, discontinued phones that Verizon corporate stores no longer carry.  When just starting out with CS, you get the bottom of the barrel in shift choices and stores. They tell you that you must prove yourself before you can get the good shift stores. Therefore, you will be assigned to stores and shifts that no one wants to work.  It's. not uncommon to work a 12 hour shift in a mall store where no customer traffic exists. If you fail to get sales, it's your fault because there are no bad stores. Inventory counts are done twice daily. If something comes up missing from your shift, you're responsible for it. I can't tell you how many phones and accessories I've paid for and haven't seen. Once again, they accept no liability for anything. Some things aren't the employees fault because their system has holes. Doesn't matter and they're not looking for the missing inventory because they can charge it to the employee! This is the biggest employment scam ever and I was their sucker!!!

Let's get something straight, All Verizon Wireless dealers use a software known as eROES. It is the property of Verizon & must be utilized in order to process any transaction. When a dealer logs into the system he/she must get at least one of the numbers on the account, they also require the last 4 digits of the SSN# or a billing password. A password will override any SSN#. Many individuals who enter the store are NOT the primary account holder and do not know the SSN and/or the pswd required to access the account. VERY frustrating for both parties.

Here's where it gets fun. Once the account is accessed, there's a blue button entittled (Scorecard). This is where the Verizon wireless retailer can see if the customer is upgrade eligble based on their previous purchases. Along with the eligibility many customers have what is known as an NE2 (New Every 2) upgrade discount. These discounts are usually $30 to $50 and are meant to be applied to the cost of a new device. This is where Cellular Sales makes it's money. IF the customer is unaware of their NE2 discount, they'll never be informed about it.

It is normal practice of Cellular Sales NOT to inform the customer thus maximizing their profits over customer care. My belife, any sales organization, direct or third party should be an extension of the manufacturer. These are multiple year subscribers to Verizon Wireless and if Verizon sees fit to reward these individuals with additional discounts for their loyalty, NO organization should ever hide, misinform or profit from this EARNED discount. All Verizon dealers should take pride to announce this good fortune to their customers. Everyone sleeps better for it.   
    

To begin with, I'd like to say "thank you" to the author of this post.  Things like this help us to grow and improve ourselves.  Cellular Sales offers an exit meeting to all of the employees as they move on to other opportunities, so that they can have questions answered and also offer any criticisms or ideas for growth.

I don't want to discredit the author of this post, but I have to say - this report is someone's opinion and it's very different than mine.  I've been apart of Cellular Sales for over 3.5 yrs, and they've been the best years of my life.  This company has given me so much, and I've finally found a company that I belong to, and believe in, and where I can make a positive difference.  My spouse agrees and has said numerous times, "I'm so glad you found this company."

Here's my take:
Cellular Sales set out to provide the Highest Quality Customer Experience.  Typically, customers in this industry are looked at as just a number, but Cellular Sales sees You and sees Your Name.  It's our ambition that when you walk into one of our stores you are greeted at the door with a handshake from an educated and excited sales rep.  We train our salespeople to become a 'Personal Wireless Rep'.  They're your go-to person for everything wireless instead of having to go into a store, or call into Customer Service.  We even meet our clients at their home or place of business, in hopes of creating a better experience for them.

The company believes in an entrepreneurial spirit and wants us as employees to be free to find business and build clientele in many ways.  We have the opportunity to build clientele in the retail environment, B2B, outside events, or almost any other way we come up with.

At other jobs I couldn't really control my income where as here if I want to make more money I just pick up an extra shift, or I make some more phone calls and set more appointments.

I have control over what I do, where I work, and how much money I make.  If I serve my clients better than other people - I get more clients.  If I utilize the warm call list - I can set appointments for myself.  If I study and get better as a salesman - I close more deals.  All of those lead to my paycheck going up and all of them are in my control.

In regards to the schedule- We believe everyone should have an opportunity to influence their schedule; Personal Preference & Personal Performance factor in.  We use a Draft System, starting with the top performer and working down the list until everyone has their 1st pick.  Then we go through everyone's 2nd pick starting with the top performer and working down to the lowest performer.  Then we go through the 3rd, 4th, & 5th picks.  I have a set schedule for 2-3 months.  If I want a day off I get my shift covered; if I can't I have to work my shift.  That's no different than any other job I've had.

The difference here is that I can take vacations or get days off without having to get approval from my manager - even during Holiday Times (and we don't have Black-Out dates).  The company wants the reps to have as much control over their schedule as possible.

In 2011 our Market went through the LARGEST GROWTH we've experienced; growing from 16 stores to 24 stores.  We felt the need to serve more communities.  Quite frankly that did put a strain on the sales team.  Because of that strain the Directors of this market decided to scale back on the overall shifts from each location, thus removing Extra shifts to get filled, thus alleviating some of the burden from the staff.

I'll say this - I checked the numbers from December 2011-June 2012, and there were only 2 reps who worked 36 shifts in a months time.  Both of them are leaders in this market, and when asked to pick up they willingly did because they wanted to remove some strain from the other sales reps.

The Directors of the market also took those 2 (and others who'd worked extra) out to an Appreciation Dinner to say 'thank you'.

In regards to the rep that had a seizure it was by no means a result of their work schedule.  It happened in the first few weeks of training, it wasn't at work, and that person has a previous medical condition that they blamed it on.

By no means do we feel like we're perfect.  We're constantly looking for ways to improve as a company.  We know that there's room to grow and we're committed to that.  We're spending so much time, money, and other resources to recruit more staff, and train them appropriately so they can be of service to the community, the team, and the company.

We're a Front Lines company.  Everything we do is with the Sales Reps/Employees in mind.  They are everything.  They make transactions happen, and they take care of customers.

Cellular Sales structured itself for the personally responsable, accountable, professional, business-minded, entrepreneurial person.  They look for more mature sales people that can manage themselves to a high degree.  Because of that there is a light management structure, which contributes to the higher commission structure.  That's Why from the start all the way through 2011 we were set up as Independent Contractors/Business Owners; we were looking for people with that Entrepreneurial Drive.  And contrary to the poster's comment, I DID have the choice of how I incorporated myself.

Even though we're now *Employees of Cellular Sales, we still have the same management/leadership structure.  It's a very light management environment because we want to empower mature sales people to have more control over themselves and their success.  All of that boils down to the fact that I have much more Freedom & Autonomy, but I also have more Responsibility & Accountability.

I truly believe that "Sales" is what you make of it.  It doesn't matter what industry you're in - anyone in sales knows that YOU have the most influence on YOUR success.  If you work hard, serve people, develop your skills, and perfect your craft -- You have a high probability of success.  We're in the retail environment and everyone knows that the door swings and it doesn't swing, people come in and they don't come in.

To say that, "I can't make money because there's no traffic," is like being a Real Estate Agent and saying, "I can't sell a home because someone isn't knocking on my door asking for me to sell them a home."

That way of thinking just doesn't make sense to the driven, professional, and successful sales person.
As a salesperson I've learned that I'm responsible for my outcome, I'm responsible for my success, and ultimately I'm responsible for my paycheck.  And as soon as I realized that - a tremendous amount of freedom came to me.  I'm in control.  I can work extra if I want extra.  I can do more if I want more.  It's up to me.

Cellular Sales is The Best place I've ever worked.  I love my Regional Directors.  They've done so, so much for my family & I.  Anytime I've gone to them for help or any need at all, they've bent over backward to do what they could to help.

And they offer the same thing to anyone who joins the Cellular Sales of South Texas sales team.