Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- An anonymous T-Mobile employee has criticized the carrier for implementing sales metrics that might be leading to sketchy sales tactics.
- A Redditor also claimed that three T-Mobile stores refused to sell them a phone without buying additional accessories and insurance.
- The carrier has since told employees to report such “unsavory tactics” to their superiors.
T-Mobile used to be the “cool” mobile carrier under former CEO John Legere — or at least as cool as a giant conglomerate of a network can be. Unfortunately, an interview with a current employee has painted a disappointing picture under new CEO Mike Sievert.
PhoneArena interviewed an anonymous T-Mobile mobile expert who claimed that many recent issues at the company are related to metrics that employees need to meet in order to retain their jobs. This has seemingly resulted in some employees adding lines to customers’ accounts without approval and misrepresenting promotions.
“Morale is in the dumpster…the morale is so bad it’s hard to do our job correctly. We are at a constant battle between right and wrong because we’re at the mercy of what management wants. So a lot of times it’s hard to make money and hit metrics,” the employee told the outlet.
The employee also acknowledged that representatives had metrics under Legere but noted that metrics under new CEO Mike Sievert are now “opportunity-based.” They added that their base pay was slashed. The employee suggested that a pay increase would alleviate the pressure on representatives and help fight shady sales tactics.
Forced bundling of accessories to meet metrics
This wasn’t the only recent story related to deeply questionable sales tactics at T-Mobile. Redditor No_Meat4534 noted that they went to three different T-Mobile stores to buy an iPhone, but were told that they couldn’t buy a device without a “phone case, screen protector, charger, and 360 protection.” A carrier employee purportedly told the Redditor that they get “written up” if they sell a phone without these accessories, citing “corporate overlords.” Current and former T-Mobile employees apparently chimed in on the thread to claim that so-called “naked” phone upgrades hurt performance metrics related to the accessory attachment rate (i.e. how many accessories are bought with a new phone).
T-Mobile has since issued an internal email in response to the saga, which was ironically posted on Reddit. The carrier’s email acknowledged the recent article and Reddit posts while calling on employees to report these “unsavory tactics” to their superiors. Check out the letter below via Redditor 2blessed2be.
Funnily enough, several current and former employees suggested that managers were the ones pushing these sales tactics in the first place. So it looks like representatives might be caught between a rock and a hard place.
Despite T-Mobile’s insistence that these tactics need to stop, the company hasn’t outlined how it’ll fix the root cause of the issue (internal metrics). We asked the company what it’s doing to combat these tactics (e.g. changing metrics, improving pay) and will update the article if/when it gets back to us. But between these sales tactics, recent price increases, and a misleading Price Lock claim, it’s clear that T-Mobile has become Verizon 2.0.
