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T-Mobile rep quits after seven years because of the carrier's "shady sales tactics"

By Alan Friedman

Published: Jul 04, 2024, 12:39 PM

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T-Mobile

After seven years working at a company-owned location, a T-Mobile rep has retired. Sharing his feelings on social media with a post, the former T-Mobile employee says that he feels so relieved. The opening sentences of his post say it all. ". There was a time when I loved working here, but everything changed with the Sprint merger. I held onto hope that things would improve post-merger, but now that T-Mobile is fully integrated, things have only deteriorated."

He adds, "I'm not alone in feeling this way. Many experienced reps, RAMs, and managers have left, leaving behind a workforce that's burned out and actively seeking other opportunities. It's baffling to witness these changes."

T-Mobile's "shady sales tactics" are too much for one former company rep

The ex-rep writes in his post, "What's particularly troubling is the prevalence of shady sales tactics (Italics added). Many top-selling reps and tenured employees lack understanding of promotional mechanics and policies, leading to misinformation and customer confusion."

T-Mobile's accumulation of mid-band 2.5GHz spectrum allowed it to become the U.S. leader in 5G

And the author of the above statement gives us an example. "Over the past year, I've seen things that illustrate these issues clearly. For example, there was a time when a rep falsely told customers that T-Mobile was changing everyone's plan to Go5G Plus, manipulating them into unwanted changes," he writes. Continuing on he states, "Meetings where district managers encouraged bundling accessories with phone payments further highlight these unethical practices."

Noting that the corporate culture at T-Mobile has become "increasingly questionable," he reveals one time when he was told to falsely tell a customer that a tablet line was included free with the plan a consumer was subscribing to and to hand the customer a SIM card "under false pretenses."

One response from a current T-Mobile employee was interesting because it defended the company by saying that T-Mobile would not want reps to act unethically or illegally. But this same post hit the nail on the head when it said, "I couldn’t agree more that the ever rising goals have become nearly impossible to surpass. These goals have made people resort to these unethical practices. It really is shameful that T-Mobile either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care about reps doing this stuff."

In other words, T-Mobile is pressuring its reps to act unethically by demanding that they meet certain sales and action goals that are impossible to meet without resorting to some level of trickery or fraud. And the now retired T-Mobile employee sees this clearly.

Former T-Mobile rep says that others at the company committing fraud are being rewarded

Despite his defense of the company in the beginning of his post, he says this about the nation's second-largest wireless provider. "They’re either ignorant or just as immoral. I personally know of a rep that actively commits fraud and averages about 30 deacts a month and he’s about to get promoted to an RSM position at a kiosk because my DM just doesn’t care, even though he knows that that guy is committing fraud."

We've already suggested what T-Mobile could do to try and fix this problem. The carrier needs to do something before more of these stories lead consumers away from T-Mobile. There is a saying that goes, "The fish rots from the head" which means that in a poor-performing company or an unethical one, the problems start with those who hold the keys to the executive washroom.

There has been an obvious shift in T-Mobile's focus since CEO John Legere left and was replaced by his long-time right-hand man Mike Sievert. At one time, the customer seemed to be the focus of the wireless firm and that has shifted to a focus on the stock and the metrics that drive demand for the shares such as growth in subscribers, revenue, and earnings. Perhaps it was the same under Legere and the company just did a better job of hiding it. Or maybe there really has been a big change under the leadership of Sievert. Either way, the optics of what is going on now at T-Mobile are not good for the carrier.

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Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.