National Retailers are the worst
I work for a corporate owned at&t store, and I'm just a little fed up today. After having business walk out the door do to lower (actually more like free) prices at bestbuy or walmart. And i understand why the prices there are lower, they're big box retail, they under pay their employees etc. I'm just tired of cleaning up the messes that they make. Then instead of the customer going back to where they bought the phone, they come to our store and proceed to get pissy with us because their bill is $800, as if i was the one that setup the account. Can anyone tell me why a large company such as at&t would let uneducated, uncaring people sell their product? Anyone?
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mosco27 said:
Can anyone tell me why a large company such as at&t would let uneducated, uncaring people sell their product? Anyone?
money
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Well don't they have to pay the retailers some type of kick back? I would assume it's more then what a rep gets paided. From a business stand point I would think that having people come into reatil stores and getting the correct information, features, etc. Would in the long term be more profitable to the company. Less problems, generally lead to more profits
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not necessarily. think about it this way. you are shopping two carriers. at&t and verizon. there plans are nearly identical. They both have good coverage. But at&t only has company owned retail stores and you could go to walmart and get the verizon plan and comparable phones for free when you would have paid a $100-$200 for the phones at at&t since they have a limited distribution network. What would you do as a customer? The majority of consumers care about their bottom line. The other type of customer you have is the educated customer. The one who knows what phone they want and knows how to manage their account. They will typically always try and find the cheapest price possible since they know what they are doing. In this case if they cou...
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Good point, but i still feel as if at&t should do something to help us out as employees. Lower our phone prices or lower our goals, only seems fair
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This may sound stupid but, setting a AT&T employee in a best buy?
I am not sure what agreements are made, I work in a totally different industry.
I am not sure what agreements are made, I work in a totally different industry.
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schlittertex said:
This may sound stupid but, setting a AT&T employee in a best buy?
I am not sure what agreements are made, I work in a totally different industry.
verizon does that with circuit city.
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They do..or did. I'm not sure. They are called national retail field reps. or NRFR's
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You haven't been doing this very long, have you?
Ummmmm, never will AT&T lower your goals for anything, ever!
If I was you and I liked my job I would learn to get over this fact of the industry. Other people are gong to cause you to deal with issues. As agents we deal with customers upset with rude corporate and ignorant national retail ALL DAY LONG.
Good luck.
Ummmmm, never will AT&T lower your goals for anything, ever!
If I was you and I liked my job I would learn to get over this fact of the industry. Other people are gong to cause you to deal with issues. As agents we deal with customers upset with rude corporate and ignorant national retail ALL DAY LONG.
Good luck.
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Yep! I absolutely agree that it has to do with money. What a sad day it will be when these guys have to restock their OWN break room with supplies purchased with funds from their own pockets because the company is cutting costs....Oh wait a minute. They already are! Keep your receipts! You're owed for all the paper plates, napkins and plastic-ware you've purchased! Don't let them think they don't owe you a penny!
I'm sorry. What was the topic again?
I'm sorry. What was the topic again?
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It's the same reason Coke and Pepsi allow CostCo and Sams Club sell their product lower than what their reps can sell it to businesses. Volume.
I get many of these customers everyday. I have instructed my staff to treat them like they bought the phone here and educate them on the ups and downs of the Big Box retailers. I can usually keep them in store and get features, future business, and other pluses out of them. Best Buy usually does a better job than Wally World, but what most customers (not fellow Scoopers) don't understand is the way the wireless industry works. That and an uneducated Wally World employee equals $800 bills. I'll break it down in an equation.
uneducated consumer + uneducated employee = large bills and headac...
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I get many of these customers everyday. I have instructed my staff to treat them like they bought the phone here and educate them on the ups and downs of the Big Box retailers. I can usually keep them in store and get features, future business, and other pluses out of them. Best Buy usually does a better job than Wally World, but what most customers (not fellow Scoopers) don't understand is the way the wireless industry works. That and an uneducated Wally World employee equals $800 bills. I'll break it down in an equation.
uneducated consumer + uneducated employee = large bills and headac...
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Thanks man, but would the corp. store get more volume if the retailers didn't exsist?
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Don't know. Probably. I work for an agent and I see more issues from WireFly and Let's Talk than I do with the Big Box stores. Volume is a weird thing. Sony and some of the other LCD makers use Wally World and the others for volume builders so that their shareholders think they are selling items, but they would rather you go to a specialty store where their margins are higher.
Just remember to relax. This job is too easy to get caught up in where volume is made or lost. Control what you can control and things will turn around.
Just remember to relax. This job is too easy to get caught up in where volume is made or lost. Control what you can control and things will turn around.
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I'm asking this because im ignorant to how agents operate, do agents have goals set for them by at&t?
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umm. i'd rather not but lets just say that its close to what the average COR needs per month as far as data/features go. i get rated on accessories and other services as well. my opps are pretty standard as we are a pretty busy store. this month not so much but it is what it is.
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umm. mines a bit lower because of it being January and the economy but we also need to hit our features as well to get paid.
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yup. based off last year and last month (unless its Nov. or Dec. thats based on year prior) it's pretty fair if you want to make money
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wow that must be nice, ours stays put at 45 new 90 opps 27 per opp in feats and 50 per opp in acc. Slow months are terrible
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that is rough. our boss likes it to be base on what we do not jack expectations.
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its a good point bwag, but those customer just call customer care or come into a COR store and have us call care and get those overages credited back anyway
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Maybe, but you can show them why they need to come to you in the first place. It's all about educating customers. They are not dumb they just need direction. You can only fight the Big Box stores by showing why they are second rate. If you call CC for the customer it shows you care and it's a good bet they'll be back to see you.
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I can unstand showing the customer we care but the thing is the customer will only come back when they have another problem, they will continue to purchase phones at these stores cause on the back of thier mind they know if something is wrong then all they have to do is come see us, and thats not okay cause that takes time away from customer that actually go to a COR store to spend money, you better belive that I will help a customer that is buying stuff before a customer service issue. My goals are to high for me to be wasting time helping customer solve a problem that was not caused by me or any of my peers.
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I totally understand. That may be the case for about 60% of Big Box customers but the other 40% need you to show them the way. The dealer I work for is really big on customer service. Works for us and we usually keep the customer our customer.
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shindig remind me not to come into your store really like what was said before the best way to get customers to stay away from walmart and stores of the such is showing the cust because yes even though that customer didnt buy from you they still help pay your bills and keep your store open if ppl get screwed and fins reps that want to help them then they will come back to you no matter what extra they have to pay
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thats not always true unfortunetly. People might know that you can give superior service, but if they can go elsewhere pay x price less then come to you that defeats the point. I'm paid by commission, with a low base salary, so my job is to mainly sell, not to hold hands and fix peoples problems. You wouldn't ask the guy who sold you a car to fix it would you? No you'd go to the service dept. (our customer care, thats what they get paided to do)
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I think we're all making an assumption that customers always know the best phone to buy. A customer who doesn't know what phones are good or not will go to a walmart or best buy and buy the POS phone based on first impressions.
When they go to you, you can push them to the phone that will give them a much better wireless experience.
Now if the customer does know how to pick a phone, why aren't they just calling customer service?
When they go to you, you can push them to the phone that will give them a much better wireless experience.
Now if the customer does know how to pick a phone, why aren't they just calling customer service?
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ill have to agree with mosco...and customers that are coming to me for service issues that happened with a retail store are not helping paying my bills...I dont know what kind of rep you work for but I would like to apply, getting commission for helping customer with issues caused by another store would be awsome, and I think I could make 6 figures a year with that.
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Mosco, you could not of voiced my and I belive a vast magority of the COR at&t staff's frustrations any better. coming from a big box retailer my self (bestbuy) I know for a fact that none of those employees get nowhere near the kind of training we get on a monthly basis with the constant change in cell phone tech, and devices. I think alot of people would agree with me you included that COR stores should only be sales stores, if a customer has any issues with a account that was not setup at that store then they should be subjected to customer care resolving the issues or return to the retailer that the account was setup at have them call care for them. This company continues to "raise the bar" for our goals and lower the bar for our pay ch...
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true true shinn, at&t should at least lower the prices of the phones in the COR stores to make it easier for both the customer and the rep.'s tring to help them. $150 for a phone after mail in rebate in COR stores v.s. $50 for the same phone at a retailer makes it harder for everyone.
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can your managers do a price override for at least the high plan customers?
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my manager is a prick, he wont discount anything unless they get all the accessories and the features and if they do he will only take $25 off
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best buy we wont even talk about that store they get better exclusives then walmart no mir and more of a discount 🤣
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Really?
Even if a fat 3 or 4 line new deal came in? T figured your manager would still have the power, or waived activation fees, etc.
Will
Even if a fat 3 or 4 line new deal came in? T figured your manager would still have the power, or waived activation fees, etc.
Will
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we can waive act fees, and yeah the store manager can discount, but ours won't. His theory is, it is what it is. But the catch to the discounts, is it cant be more then 150 per account. It's total BS now.
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So doesn't that walked business effect your goals, hitting your metrics, and effecting his bonus all at the same time?
That is why I love being self employed, I never walk new activations.
Good chat, sir.
Will
That is why I love being self employed, I never walk new activations.
Good chat, sir.
Will
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Yeah it hurts all of the above. He's just terrified of losing his job, no balls. Self employed? You own an agent location?
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I do own a small chain of stores in the Dallas market. For us agents, we get a residual on everyone we turn on for service, for the life of the customer.
Will
Will
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As far as applying credits, COR stores goof up sometimes too. I just go through getting a customer several hundred dollars worth of credit because his rep at the COR store put him on an unlimited message plan instead of an unlimited data plan. I was happy to help him and get the vertical to boot.
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As far as that manager goes... if he underperforms hes screwed too. I doubt upper management would mind a slight discount as long as data features are added because you will get more in the long run from the customer.
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and for the record, I work at Best Buy, and I've gone into the Cor store near us. They're mostly idiots, and couldn't answer detailed questions. Oh, and it's never adequately staffed. I was in for two hours one saturday afternoon, and there was only two associates. The line was long, and some guy was in the back yappin' away.
One of the guys that used to work for best buy actually works at the AT&T cor store too. He's a moron.
So, the same could be said about yourself. Don't judge too quickly. There are some employees at Best Buy that DO know what they're talking about. And I don't feel underpaid. I would rather enjoy a steady income than feast or famine with commission. (We get monthly bonuses on how well we do too there, smarty pants...
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One of the guys that used to work for best buy actually works at the AT&T cor store too. He's a moron.
So, the same could be said about yourself. Don't judge too quickly. There are some employees at Best Buy that DO know what they're talking about. And I don't feel underpaid. I would rather enjoy a steady income than feast or famine with commission. (We get monthly bonuses on how well we do too there, smarty pants...
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Ya know i wasn't going to say anything about Bestbuy, cause they only f-up once and a while. But seeming that you have to be an ass. I know not everyone in a Cor store is going to be the best at there job, and yeah the stores a generally not staffed as well as they could be. But ive been to best buy and i've dealt with some pretty dumb people there too. Trying to show me how to do video on a BB curve, just for the record it doesn't right out the box. Unfortunely for the Cor stores we have to not only sell phones, which you guys at Best Buy don't actually sell, giving **** away for free isn't selling, but we also do the service aspect (fixing issues with the phones, bills, etc.) So when you have to wait generally theres a good reason. So thi...
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Listen cor whore,
Best Buy sells phones WITHOUT the F&*^%ING RETARDED "mail in rebates". That's reason enough. I deal with customers all day that come in because the COR store "makes" them do the data plan. That's retarded. If they want a blackberry, give it to them. I've fixed enough of YOUR problems as well. I, and most of my staff, are capable of explaining billing issues and whatnot. Go cry somewhere else, I said that not all Best Buys are great, but it goes the same way with Cor stores.
Best Buy sells phones WITHOUT the F&*^%ING RETARDED "mail in rebates". That's reason enough. I deal with customers all day that come in because the COR store "makes" them do the data plan. That's retarded. If they want a blackberry, give it to them. I've fixed enough of YOUR problems as well. I, and most of my staff, are capable of explaining billing issues and whatnot. Go cry somewhere else, I said that not all Best Buys are great, but it goes the same way with Cor stores.
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she was all like "are you going to pay me?" and i was like "woman i told you shut-up and be lookin fine!"
next thing you know she broke my blackberry with HER curves
next thing you know she broke my blackberry with HER curves
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