AT&T Wireless - Cingular ripoff cheating employees out of money and leaving them to face mad customers Bethlehem pennsylvania

Many yrs as the owner of a Cingular agent store. They would take, take, take from us. I had my employees on commissions for rate plans, and features. I would get docked hundreds of dollars from cancellations by customers 180 days after the fact. Then I would have to dock my employees their commissions.... hated doing that.
I sold my business and NEVER want to hear anything about Cingular again. They are horrible people and yes... my account executive was equally as bad.

She didn't know half of the stuff that she was suppose to tell me. I would have to find out on my own. Forget calling and asking a simple question.. She would give me a phone # to call who MIGHT know the answer. Pathetic company and equally pathetic executives!

Hello everyone I am so glad you are all responding either way for or against what I have to say. Bottom line we are getting ripped off. They cannot lay all their problems on the retail reps. they are the ones responsible for this feature crap and all the deactivations, and I can prove it. Managment and the DM's had to make these quotas, good manager or not because i have a good manager also. They are pressured from their dms and the dms are pressured from above and on and on. They actually at least in central pennsylvania there were some shady actions going on under the instructions that managment dropped hints and gave us ideas on how to get feature activations. SHADY SHADY for the reps that did this stuff they are the ones getting the large deactivations, BUT there are those reps out there that have worked calling customers getting legitament feature activations and were alwys good at reaching quota honestly and now they also are being penalized and robbed. Cingular has a Union and from what I understand they are not aloud to say or do anything to AT&T Wireless employees until the midle of Feb. Well I have been in contact with the head of the union, I have the name of the union rep that is going to be the east coast person, you know they will have to get us our money back for me to sign up for any kind of union. there are 30 thousand AT&T Wireless employees are we all getting fired I dont think so.If this is a people person union they might be able to help up get some of our funds back. I also talked to the detective in the department of hourly wages that the attorney general gave me the number he promptly called me back and if in that July compensation revision they are aloud to start there chargebacks from that point on July 2004. They can not go back to May, April and so on. It has to be from the day the revision is told to us and onward. Ok not back.l How many of you have deacts going back to march, april, may june etc. Those were illegal guys. You can find out for your self if you dont believe me.Go to www.fcc.gov file a formal complaint they will get back to you very fast, you wont believe it. there is a class action suit being put together about these chargebacks and anyone with proof anonymously if you have to get it out there. Like comments, remarks, little tricks, like business accounts get free features because of some stupid reason and they dont pay their bill anyway their company does. Smart REPORTS THAT YOU WERE GIVEN TO LOOK UP ACCOUNTS AND THROUGH FEATURES ON THE ONES THAT USE A LOT OF TEXT, IT IS ONLY SAVING THEM MONEY. M-MODE EVERYBODY GETS AT LEAST THE 2.99 PACKAGE THEY HAVE TO TAKE IT IF THEY WANT THAT PHONE. DID ANYONES MANAGER GIVE THEM SMART REPORTS FROM OTHER STATES TO LOOK OVER? THATS A BIG NO NO REMEMBER WE GOT IN TROUBLE FROM THE BIG WIG IF ANYONE SELLING FEATURES OUT OF THEIR MARKET OR IN OTHER STATES WILL BE FIRED RIGHT ON THE SPOT. WELL WHERE DID WE GET THOSE SMART REPORTS WITH ALL THE INFORMATION ON IT. A REP DOES NOT HAVE ACCESS TO THAT INFORMATION. I ALSO HAVE THE NAME OF THE UNION REP THAT WILL BE IN OUR AREA, WE WILL SEE HOW BAD THEY WANT OUR COOPERATION BECAUSE A GOOD UNION WOULD HELP THE EMPLOYEES RECOUPE THERE PAY. THIS IS THE INFO FOR PA EMPLOYEES
ORGANIZING COORDINATOR FOR PA:
PAM TRONSON, 1-215-546-5574
PTRONSOR@CWA-UNION.ORG
EITHER PERSON WILL BE GLAD TO GIVE YOU YOUR LOCALS ORGANIZER.
HAROLD IS THE PRESIDENT HE WILL INFORM YOU OF YOUR COORDINATOR, REMEMBER THEY CANNOT CONTACT US UNTIL SOMETIME IN FEBUARY BUT YOU CAN CONTACT THEM. IF THEY CAN GET US OUR MONEY BACK THAT WOULD BE GREAT. NOW I DO HEAR THE CWA UNION DOESHAVE A GOOD RELATIONSHIP WITH CINGULAR, BUT ACCORDING TO THE EMPLOYEES THEY DO NOTHING, THERE COMMISSIONS SUCK THEY NEVER EVEN SEEN A $2000 DOLLAR COMISION CHECK. THATS GREAT!
SO CALL HAROLD OR EMAIL HIM HE WILL GET RIGHT BACK TO YOU. YOU WILL PROBABLY BE RECEIVING PHONE CALLS ALSO ABOUT YOUR FIDELITY THEY WANT YOUR OPINION ON THAT IF YOU WANT TO ROLL IT OVER OR IF YOU WOULD TAKE IT OUT OF YOUR 401K, AND ALSO SURVEY PHONE CALLS ABOUT HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT ORGANIZING WITH THE UNION BUT NOT UNTIL FEB.
I WILL TALK IF I HAVE TO. I LOVE MY JOB I HAVE ALL ALONG BUT SINCE SEPTEMBER MY COMISSION CHECKS WERE NOTHING 75% LESS THAN USUAL, I AM BEHIND ON MY MORTGAGE PAYMENT BECAUE THAT PAY WAS WHAT TOOK CARE OF MY MORTGAGE. THE NOVEMBER PAYS WHERE YOU RECEIVED TWO CHECKS HORRIBLE THE TWO COMBINED WERE NOT EVEN ENOUGH TO PAY MY MORTGAGE. DECEMBERS COMISSION $423.93 WOW IT USUALLY IS CLOSE TO 3000 THAT TIME OF YEAR. KEEP WRITING AND THANKS NEW YORK I WILL BE WITH YOU GUYS TOO YOU NEED INFORMATION JUST EMAIL ME AND I WILL FIND OUT FOR YOU. BUT RE READ THIS EMAIL AND THINK BACK WHEN MANAGMENT NEEDED THERE TX FEATURES AT A CERTAIN PECENTAGE OF QUOTA WHAT DID THEY TELL YOU AND HOW DID THEY HELP YOU REACH YOUR GOALS. REMEMBER SMART REPORTS.

I've seen some major decreases in my paycheck too. I'm not violently mad about it like others I have talked to. Callidus isn't my favorite introduction to ATTWS since I've been there but I understand the need for the company to take action against employee fraud. However the company should take the time to understand our needs. I don't think they are looking out for our best interests.

I work in a retail store where my manager works along side of us. He is a great guy and a hard worker. He doesn't push us about our quotas unless he is being pressed from above. I have issues w/ our DM because a couple months ago when we were in the big SMS push I heard our DM say "Every customer that comes into your store better have SMS on their account". You may be thinking that he didn't mean just add it to their account, but he did. We were told to add it now, and sort it out later. Does this sound right to you? Not me. I think it sucks big time that they moved our feature quota up 3-1 a couple of months ago. Its hard to get customers to keep these features. Lets go over some available features w/ ATTWS.
---------------
Roadside Assistance - Great feature if you travel alot. This gets you 5 gallons of gas, towed to the nearest garage, unlocking service, or someone will come change your tire for you. I love this feature, I LOVED IT EVEN MORE WHEN AAA CAME OUT WITH IT 15 YEARS AGO.
---------------
SMS - This is a great feature. Maybe a little over priced for customers, but hey, what do we care we have UNLIMITED SMS on our company phones.
---------------
MMS - Picture messaging. This is a nice invention. I don't think I can say anything bad about it. Ohh wait a second, yes I can. I sent a picture to a co-work 4 days ago and he still hasn't gotten it.
---------------
mMode - Ewwww... Surfing the web has never been cooler. NOT. TEXT FORMAT WAP BROWSER. I've found very few things interesting on mMode. Movies, 1/2 the theaters never contact mMode to let them know what they are showing, and the other 1/2 aren't ticketable. Driving directions, listen, there are already to many people driving down the road with a phone stuck to their ear not paying attention to whats in front of them we DO NOT need to have people gawking at their phones trying to see if they just took a wrong turn. People Finder, yeah amazing how someone is either not available or hasn't moved in 5 full days.
---------------
Voice Activated Dialing - How many of us have been caught screaming that stupid saying from RUSH HOUR at your phone? "Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?" Nope! She doesn't thats why she always repeats "I'm sorry we are having trouble" and then you are back to PRESS 1 for this and 2 for that. Just hang up, its not gonna work.
---------------
Now if you were a customer and had every one of these features I'll bet that you wouldn't have more then 2 features on your plan 3 months down the road. I'm a good salesman and this isn't the way I present these features to the customer. But still 3 feature for every new add is kind of crazy.

I understand pulling sales from new adds off of our checks that were cancelled within 30 days, and even features for 90 days. I don't understand this 6 month thing though. Isn't this what a contract is for? Aren't they still charging this customer who cancelled 31 days + a $175 etf PER LINE? They agreed to the contract, and that committed them to our company for 1 or 2 years, we still got the company some money. And they are selling all these accounts that aren't paid to Collection Agencies and Debt Buyers so they are still getting that money.

ATTWS had a great idea with GO Phones. It is a monthly service for customers with bad credit, no credit, commitment issues or who are afraid of major overage charges. They are charging customers close to company price for the phones because they can't bind them with a contract to make sure they get their money back for the phones. I understand that and don't blame them for making them pay higher prices then postpaid customers. But we sell the phones, we get them on the rate plans and sometimes we can even get them to agree to give us their debit cards for auto-pay. But I can't be responsible to make sure that person keeps $48.01 in their bank account so that in 6 months their phone is still working. After all some of these people have bad credit because they aren't responsible enough to pay their electric bills at home, what on earth am I gonna say to this customer to inspire them to not be broke? So.... why am I getting the commission from these people taken away from me?

There is also this little issue of having sales taken away from us by business reps. I've had customers come in my store repeatedly saying they can not get their business rep to call them back and they want to deal with someone local. On my Dec callidus report I had 2 sales taken away from me by a business rep which I will also add kept me from hitting the next tier. Why is this possible? I MADE THE SALE! Not that business rep. If I'm not getting the commission off of it then NOONE should. I'm not able to go back and take a sale away from him because 3 months down the road the customer COFRs their business line over to their individual responsibility.

This is the best job I've ever had. I enjoy working with the public, yes even the ones who come into the store screaming and throwing their phones at me. I just hope things are fixed soon so we don't lose alot of good people who aren't feature loading peoples accounts.

We have all(at least in the North East) experienced a huge pay decrease in terms on commision. Our DM's demand more from us day in and day out but don't do a thing to assist us in recovering lost compensation. They say push features, why I won't get paid for them anyway!!!! Between mystery shops, activations, features, and everyday store responsibilities they also want us to find time to research our own commissions and report them. I thought we had a department that did that for us. This merger was supposed to benefit everyone involved, but I've only witnessed it hurt peoples situations. Customers and employees alike. How do you explain to a customer on a $99 charter plan with unlimited minutes that he has to cswitch his plan because his phone stopped working and we only have cingular phones. And after he reams me out for an hour, go back to selling stuff I won't get paid for.

I am a rep for att/cingular. Yes it is bull***t for them to take the money going that far back. 3 months I think we may deal with better. Even then only on prepaid. They are making an awful lot of money off of the early termination charges AND they take it back from us? That's ridiculous. So because this company did something to piss off a perfectly satisfied customer of mine, I take the deact, they get the termination fee in the bank. That's 150 or more that they didn't have before. So lets take the 20 back from the employee who spent an hour of their time to help that customer, we should still be compensated. Taking the money back for anything is completely unfair.
I agree with you all. Something needs to be done but all of us bi**hing back & forth isn't getting it to the DM's VP's or Pres. where it should be. This whole page needs to be forwarded to the people sitting pretty in that big office who just made millions off of this merge that's screwing everyone who makes this company what it is!! The sales people. Without us they are nothing!

ANY ONE OUT THERE THAT WORKS FOR AT&T WIREESS NOW /CINGULAR, GO BACK AND CHECK OUT YOUR COMPENSATION REVISION FOR JULY 2004, WE ARE HETTING CHARGEBACKS FOR FEATURES, ALL FEATURES FROM THE LAST 6 MONTHS, THE ONLY FEATURES THAT SHOULD HAVE CHARGE BACKS FOR 6 MONTHS 180 DAYS ARE THE GOLD AND SILVER PACKAGES THAT WERE SOLD NOT INDIVIDUAL FEATURES. WE ALL GOT HOT WITH EVERY SINGLE FEATURE WE SOLD IN THE PAST 6 MONTHS?

CHECK IT OUT, THIS IS EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA IT IS RIGHT THERE IN YOUR COMP REVISION TITLED
AT&T WIRELESS SALES COMPENSATION PLAM ADDENDUM

JUNE 2004
COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALISTS
SILVER AND GOLD VALUE PACKAGES WILL BE SUBJECT TO THE CURRENT WIRELESS ACTIVATION VESTING PERIOD, ACTIVATION! OF 180 DAYS AND NORMAL CHARGEBACKS AND ADJUSTMENETS WILL APPLY FOR DEACTIVATIONS AND RATE PLAN MIGRATIONS.

WHAT WAS THE NORMAL CHARGEBACK FOR FEATURES (NOT BUNDLES OR GOLD PACKAGES) 90 DAYS IS THE ANSWER. WE HAVE LOST THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS HERE. TELL YOUR MANAGER BECAUSE MINE IS NOT DOING A DARN THING AND I EVEN HAVE IT IN BLACK AND WHITE IN THE COMP REVISION. I AM BEING ACCUSED OF BEING INSUBORDINATE.

Hello Steve
So you are from Texas? And you had Callidus for 4 years. Wow then you know what I am talking about. Only one thing I am from Pennsylvania and we only had Callidus since July 2004. So this is a huge surprise for us all we were not told about the enormous deduction that was going to show up right away. And by the way I have been with AT&T Wireless ealmost 6 years. Different states get things before others do we here in the north east have only got callidus, last year it was Siebel that shot us all down arround the holidays, you are right since I am here we did go through how many changes. Really does yor manager know what he or she is talking about, ours cant run siebel, or now any of the cingular systems and cingulars is so easy I am glad of that. learning sieble was a treat. didnt make any money last yer either.
if you read the July 2004 compensation revision that we have it says that the gold package, silver package and bundles get a 180 day charge back (not everything) my august com had over 1000 dollars of features taken off. I know i did'nt have that many bundle packs. I have the email I would be glad to send it to you. I dont know why things would be one way for you and another for us. good talking to you write me back finally some intelligent conversation.
thanks steve

Couple of points...

1. For the last 4 years AT&TWS has always charged back 180 days for Phone and 90 for features. Why are you complaining about a policy thats been in place for 4+ years?

2. For the MOST part Calidus works fine. But one thing it does is report more accurate data! The old system just didn't pick up all phone/futures deactivations. Plus with the new tier system most reps are struggling to hot top tier. Thats why so many people are struggling with comp. But I do know in some cases Calidus is not reporting correctly.

3. Care thinks everything is retails fault, and Retail thinks everything is Cares fault! Been like the since AT&TWS started and it won't change anytime some.

4. Retail reps should stop feature dumping on customers. Calidus is picking all the charge backs. Sad thing is with all the pressure and quotas, retail reps already have their back against the wall. Make quotas smaller and feature dumping would stop. Do you think your manager is going to tell you to stop? He has a huge feature quota to. Most managers will gladly look the other way.

5. Change & adapt. I've been through about 6 major comp changes at AT&TWS. Every time a lot of reps scream murder because they are selling like that are still getting comp off of the old comp plan. Right now you need to get chargebacks done to get to top tier. Then magically your comp will be back up. Remember when we got paid for 2g2G upgrades?

I'm not some blind lover of AT&TWS the merger will be a good thing. The incompetence level at AT&TWS upper management is unbelievable. Some of the policy and decisions the company made in the last 2 years are insanely bad. Since I've been with the company 4+ years I've watch the company I love turn into very bad company with very bad leaders. And what about accountability? You every get the list of people that where fired over the Seibel launch last November? Didn't think soK
...

Couple of points...

1. For the last 4 years AT&TWS has always charged back 180 days for Phone and 90 for features. Why are you complaining about a policy thats been in place for 4+ years?

2. For the MOST part Calidus works fine. But one thing it does is report more accurate data! The old system just didn't pick up all phone/futures deactivations. Plus with the new tier system most reps are struggling to hot top tier. Thats why so many people are struggling with comp. But I do know in some cases Calidus is not reporting correctly.

3. Care thinks everything is retails fault, and Retail thinks everything is Cares fault! Been like the since AT&TWS started and it won't change anytime some.

4. Retail reps should stop feature dumping on customers. Calidus is picking all the charge backs. Sad thing is with all the pressure and quotas, retail reps already have their back against the wall. Make quotas smaller and feature dumping would stop. Do you think your manager is going to tell you to stop? He has a huge feature quota to. Most managers will gladly look the other way.

5. Change & adapt. I've been through about 6 major comp changes at AT&TWS. Every time a lot of reps scream murder because they are selling like that are still getting comp off of the old comp plan. Right now you need to get chargebacks done to get to top tier. Then magically your comp will be back up. Remember when we got paid for 2g2G upgrades?

I'm not some blind lover of AT&TWS the merger will be a good thing. The incompetence level at AT&TWS upper management is unbelievable. Some of the policy and decisions the company made in the last 2 years are insanely bad. Since I've been with the company 4+ years I've watch the company I love turn into very bad company with very bad leaders. And what about accountability? You every get the list of people that where fired over the Seibel launch last November? Didn't think soK
...

Couple of points...

1. For the last 4 years AT&TWS has always charged back 180 days for Phone and 90 for features. Why are you complaining about a policy thats been in place for 4+ years?

2. For the MOST part Calidus works fine. But one thing it does is report more accurate data! The old system just didn't pick up all phone/futures deactivations. Plus with the new tier system most reps are struggling to hot top tier. Thats why so many people are struggling with comp. But I do know in some cases Calidus is not reporting correctly.

3. Care thinks everything is retails fault, and Retail thinks everything is Cares fault! Been like the since AT&TWS started and it won't change anytime some.

4. Retail reps should stop feature dumping on customers. Calidus is picking all the charge backs. Sad thing is with all the pressure and quotas, retail reps already have their back against the wall. Make quotas smaller and feature dumping would stop. Do you think your manager is going to tell you to stop? He has a huge feature quota to. Most managers will gladly look the other way.

5. Change & adapt. I've been through about 6 major comp changes at AT&TWS. Every time a lot of reps scream murder because they are selling like that are still getting comp off of the old comp plan. Right now you need to get chargebacks done to get to top tier. Then magically your comp will be back up. Remember when we got paid for 2g2G upgrades?

I'm not some blind lover of AT&TWS the merger will be a good thing. The incompetence level at AT&TWS upper management is unbelievable. Some of the policy and decisions the company made in the last 2 years are insanely bad. Since I've been with the company 4+ years I've watch the company I love turn into very bad company with very bad leaders. And what about accountability? You every get the list of people that where fired over the Seibel launch last November? Didn't think soK
...

Couple of points...

1. For the last 4 years AT&TWS has always charged back 180 days for Phone and 90 for features. Why are you complaining about a policy thats been in place for 4+ years?

2. For the MOST part Calidus works fine. But one thing it does is report more accurate data! The old system just didn't pick up all phone/futures deactivations. Plus with the new tier system most reps are struggling to hot top tier. Thats why so many people are struggling with comp. But I do know in some cases Calidus is not reporting correctly.

3. Care thinks everything is retails fault, and Retail thinks everything is Cares fault! Been like the since AT&TWS started and it won't change anytime some.

4. Retail reps should stop feature dumping on customers. Calidus is picking all the charge backs. Sad thing is with all the pressure and quotas, retail reps already have their back against the wall. Make quotas smaller and feature dumping would stop. Do you think your manager is going to tell you to stop? He has a huge feature quota to. Most managers will gladly look the other way.

5. Change & adapt. I've been through about 6 major comp changes at AT&TWS. Every time a lot of reps scream murder because they are selling like that are still getting comp off of the old comp plan. Right now you need to get chargebacks done to get to top tier. Then magically your comp will be back up. Remember when we got paid for 2g2G upgrades?

I'm not some blind lover of AT&TWS the merger will be a good thing. The incompetence level at AT&TWS upper management is unbelievable. Some of the policy and decisions the company made in the last 2 years are insanely bad. Since I've been with the company 4+ years I've watch the company I love turn into very bad company with very bad leaders. And what about accountability? You every get the list of people that where fired over the Seibel launch last November? Didn't think soK
...

Victor,

I certainly sympathize with you; having worked in sales, I understand what it's like to be charged-back commission. Unfortunately, however, this is the life of someone who works in sales. Whether you're working in life insurance, stocks/other investments, or the wireless industry, any time you earn a commission it is because someone above you (e.g., ATT) is making a profit. No profit = no commission. If it takes ATT 6 months to recoup its investment, then you should take any commission you're paid, put it in the bank for that period of time, and then withdraw it once the six month period of time is over; or, you could take a percentage of your net commission and save it. I realize you depend on commission to live, but you must also realize that it's not realistic to expect that all of your commission will be kept in the long run.

When I sold life insruance, commissions could be taken back up to a year later. I would receive a huge payout and then 9 months down the road, the customer would cancel or stop paying their premium, and I would get stuck with the bill. C'est la vie. If you don't like it, don't be a salesman. Sales affords you the opportunity to make as much as you want but you lose the comfortability factor of making a steady income.

Victor, good luck.

AMY
MY GOODNESS A WHOLE MONTH, IF YOU ASK ME YOU HAVE'NT EARNED THE RIGHT TALK ABOUT ANYONE YET. YOUR A BABY YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT! TALK TO ME AGAIN IN 6 TO 10 MONTHS AND THEN TELL ME HOW MUCH YOU LOVE YOR JOB. I LOVE MY JOB TO, I DONT LIKE MOST OF THE CUSTOMERS, AND I DONT LIKE THE UPPER MANAGMENT TEAM. HOPEFULLY IT WILL CHANGE WITH CINULAR. SO YOU SHUT YOR MOUTH UNTIL YOU EARNED THE RIGHT TO b***h ONE MONTH YOU HAVE NO IDEA YOU ARE TALKING OUT YOUR a*s BECAUSE YOU ARE HAPPY NOW, AND AS FAR AS TALKING TO UGLY AND MEAN PEOPLE OVER THE TELEPHONE LIKE YOUS DO INSTEAD OF FACE TO FACE AND YOU ARE ACTUALLY THERE WITH THEM YOU CANT IGNORE THEM OR HANG UP ON THEM WHEN THEY ARE THERE RIGHT IN YOUR FACE. IF POSSIBLE TRY TO WORK IN A BUSY STORE FOR 2 HOURS SEE HOW YOU LIKE IT. GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR FUTURE WITH CINGULAR WIRELESS IF YOU STILL HAVE A JOB.

I think you might have your butt up your a*s, because for 6 years I loved my job and it has just been the last year that things are really bad. You think you get complaints about us, we also get them about you baby every dam day, they said go to a store, THEY said, They could'nt help them even with a simple warranty issue they send them all the way into the store for a dam phone number you's could of given them on the phone.And there is a lot more but I wont go there, so you hear it about reps and we hear it about care. Why dont someone ask their boss or their boss why these things are going on. I will tell you, I guess you dont work in comission and you dont have managers and DM's telling you about quota's, offering you gifts, and gift certificates, and paid days off for the rep who gets the highest amount of features that day or that month. And they also give you print outs of the customers who are using features and they are not on a plan of any kind and we are SUPPOSE TO call these customers and tell them about the feature that could save them some money, BUT who actually calls the customer,again I agree with you not to dam many of them and believe me it is known by managment.
So lets stop blaimng each other and put it where it belongs to the ones with the money and authority over us an how we do our job or we get PIP's and your gone (fired) dont you think we get yelled at and bitched at,because we do.
Cingular says it is giung to keep the best of the best are you among that group, becuase I think I am also. Do you work comission? Does your company use Siebel, and Callidus how would you like a pay $1000 dollars shorter than what you have been use to for years. 4 months in a row. So do you get hit with chargebacks? it does'nt sound like it.

ONE MORE THING THIS HAPPENS TO ME DAILY, MAYBE NOT WHERE YOU ARE BUT IF ONE MORE CUSTOMER CARE REP HANGS UP ON ME AFTER I HAVE BEEN ON HOLD FOR 45 MINUTES AND THEN GET TRANSFERED TO SOMEONE FROM INDIA WHO KNOW ONE CAN UNDERSTAND I WILL BE SPEAKING TO SOMEONES SUPERVIOR.AND THIS IS AN EVERYDAY OCCURRANCE A LOT OF THOSE NEW CUSTOMER CARE PEOPLE ARE NOT TRAINED PROPERLY SO THEY JUST HANG UP ON US. JUST LIKE THE SALES REPS DONT HAVE TO GO TO TRAINING FOR WEEKS LIKE WE HAD TO 5 YEARS AGO. THAT COULD BE A BIG PART OF THE PROBLEM. AND WHEN YOUR MANAGER DOES'NT EVEN KNOW ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS OR WHAT PROMO'S ARE GOING ON AND THEY SAY READ YOUR EMAIL THATS HOW WE FIND OUT A LOT OF THINGS, THAT IS PRETTY SAD ALSO.GOOD TALKING TO YOU,
WRITE BACK SOON

Thank you very much kelly, every single person i have talked to does not believe they did that and still are.6 months is a very long time and i could handle the 3 months or 60 days whatever, no they had to go for 6 months, that has to be illegal, the attorney general, the better business bureau, the Department of hourly wages and comissions, there are other people I contacted and I hope every AT&T Wireless employee does the same thing. We can get our money back if we fight this email the
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND INDUSTRY
1-717-787-5279
WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION
www.dll.state.pa.us

PLEASE DO THIS, IF NOT FOR ME FOR YOURSELF BECAUSE IT WILL CATCH UP TO YOU AND TO BE HONEST THE COMPANY DOES NOT CARE ONE SINGLE BIT ABOUT YOUR BILLS, MORTGAGE , ETC.
I KNOW I WORK THERE
MY MANGER IS NOT EVEN TRYING TO HELP ME. ONE TIME HE DID PUT IN A NWRS REQUEST FOR ONE MONTH AUGUST BUT WHEN SEPT, OCT, NOV, CAME AROUND FORGET IT THEY WERE TO BUSY AND DID NOT CARE ,I GUESS IT WAS TO MUCH WORK FOR HIM TO DO, HE HAD EMAILS TO READ ALL DAY SITTING AND SMOKING IN HIS OFFICE.
I USE TO LOVE MY JOB,
NOT ANY MORE
LETS PRAY CINGULAR TREATS ITS EMPLOYEES BETTER AND I AM VERY INTERESTED IN FINDING OUT ABOUT THE UNION THEY HAVE THERE.
THANKS AGAIN KELLY, HELP ME SPREAD THE WORD, THIS IS HAPPENING IN THE EASTERN PA AREA AND ACTUALLY ALL PENNSYLVANIA AT&T WIRELESS STORES SINCE AUGUST. AND THERE IS NOTHING IN THE JULY 2004 REVISION ABOUT FEATURES GOING BACK 180 DAYS. FEATURES ARE WE MADE ALL THE MONEY AND THE COMPANY PUSHED THEM ALL YEAR WITH QUOTAS AND CONTESTS, AND THEN LOOK WHAT THEY TURN ARROUND AND DO TAKE ALL THAT MONEY BACK FROM US.
THERE IS ALREADY A GROUP OUT THERE FIGHTING THE CHARGEBACKS YOU JUST HAVE TO FIND THEM CURRENTLY I DONT HAVE THE INFORMATION BUT I WILL GET IT.
GOOD EVENING AND AGAIN THANKS FOR YOUR OPINION MOST OF THE TIME BELIEVE IT OR NOT PEOPLE DONT CARE ESPECIALLY THE COMPANY.

I've only been working for AT&T Wireless/Cingular for about a month now as a customer care rep in OKC and everyday I have to end up giving credit because the dealers just slap on features and promos that the customer is later charged for. They don't even know what these features are until they get billed for them. I understand that you have to work for commission, but that doesn't mean you can just start talking out of your butt just so that you can get a sell. Victor, you were saying that the customer just needs to call customer care and b***h at them. You think your day is stressful. I get about 30 calls a day, half of them is bitching me out just like you dealers are informing them to do. It might not be you exactly, but it's people in your position that is pissing them off so much because you're telling crap that isn't true and that their not able to get.

If you hate your job so d**n bad, get a new one. Easy as that. But don't be telling them to call us up and b***h at us. I like my job and I really like the company that I work for. The only thing I don't like is the dipshits who need to get their heads out of their asses and tell the customer stupid stuff that they can't get and we get yelled at for it. All that I'm asking is that you dealers just tell the cusotmer what you're putting on the account, how much it will cost, and just show it on paper. That would make my job a little less stressful.

It really sucks that you are now getting this money taken back retroactively. Doesn't seem fair. How are you to even know if they really deactivated their phone! I used to work for Verizon (back when it was Frontier, made some more name changes, and finally became Verizon). With our commissions, they held them back for three months. Essentially, I didn't get my first commision check til I had worked there for three months. If anyone cancelled in that time, then I wouldn't receive the commission off of them. Six months seems like way too long. Were they not making money off of a lot of these people for that time? It's not fair for them to give you the money then take it away later either! What would they do if they gave you your commissions, then you left, and 5 months later someone has their phone shut off? Are they going to send you a bill for the commissions they paid you that they want back! I'd love to see them try something like that. At least with Verizon we didn't get money from them then get it taken away, we just had to wait to get it. I'm not sure if that's still the same way it is done now.

I have only one major concern right now and that is paying my bills. I dont know if your income is effected by Callidus, or even if you've heard of it, but for your sake I hope not. I will find out if that is a legal manuver that they used at the last of the year to take my pay down over 70 75 percent. Is your pay being effected?
The company did some things to help us get features and it was push,push, push, you need to make your quota's Ok that is fine then 6 months later your paycheck is missing over 1 thousand dollars!Not very happy, fell behind in my bills soon my alternative is to quit just to withdraw my 401k for some money. There is nothing there for us in the stock options, and why does smith barney keep sending us the same forms over and over again?

My stress level is so high right now I dont know if its from work or just everything, I am having a hard time coping with this takeover. I really like Cingulars system it is very easy and fast, it id great for getting the traffic in and out.
Your DM"S and Managers better start watching what they are telling or incinuating to their employees about making quotas, and start showing and telling them the riht way. There are no loopholes to add features to the accounts, 1 free month is not a reason to just put it on an account.

Well I am sure I can come up with so much more and if I need to provide proof I am able to do that also.

Talk to you Again '

I MUST AGREE, SOME SORT OF CONTROL HAD TO BE DONE BCS OF ALL THE INFORMATION THAT WAS NOT BEING DISCLOSED TO THE CUSTOMER. I CAN'T BEGIN TO TELL YOU HOW MANY CUSTOMERS COME IN WITH ISSUES ON THEIR BILL BCS SOME REP "FORGOT" TO INFORM THEM THAT THEY HAD mMODE FOR FREE FOR THE FIRST MONTH, THEREAFTER IT WOUD BE AS HIGH AS $24.99 FOR UNLMTD, JUST AN EXAMPLE, MY LIST COULD FILL THIS PAGE. WE ALL KNOW THAT EVERYONE IS TRYING TO MAKE A SALE, BUT HONESTLY IT WON'T TAKE BUSINESS SERVICES LONG TO FIGURE OUT THAT YOU ARE TRYING TO CHEAT THE COMPANY OUT OF MONEY, IN REALITY YOU ARE ACTUALLY STEALING!! I ALWAYS TELL MY REPS TO DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME, SO WHAT, MAYBE YOU HAVE A CUSTOMER WALK WITH NO FEATURES, BUT AT LEAST YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO FOSTER A BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP WITH THAT CUSTOMER. BELIEVE ME, 9/10 CUST. WILL USE FEATURES THAT THEY DON'T HAVE ON THEIR ACCOUNT ANF THEN THEY USUALLY WILL ASK US TO ADD THE FEATURE AT A LATER TIME. GIVE CINGULAR A CHANCE, WE ARE ALL FAMILIAR WITH MERGES AND AQUISITIONS, IT WON'T HAPPEN OVER NIGHT. IN FACT, AN ETA OF 2007 IS WHEN EVERYTHING SHOULD FLOW SMOOTHLY.

HEY KEITH I AGREE WITH YOU TO A POINT THERE ARE SALES REPS OUT THERE JUST WORRIED ABOUT THEIR COMMISSIONS ONLY AND NOT THE CUSTOMER. BUT THEN ON THE OTHER HAND THERE ARE THOSE REPS THAT ARE TOTALLY MISINFORMED ABOUT PROMOS AND PROCEDURES, WHY! BECAUSE THEIR MANAGMENT AND THE HIGHER UP DONT EVEN KNOW THE PROPER WAY TO DO TRANSACTIONS CORRECTLY. AND THAT IS THE TOTAL TRUTH. HOW ARE THE EMPLOYEES SUPPOSE TO KNOW WHAT THE RIGHT PROCEDURE IS ON A NEW SYSTEM WHEN THE ONES TRAINING THEM OR THEIR BOSS'S TELL YOU SOMETHING DIFFERENT EVERYDAY.AND AS FAR AS THE REPS OUT THERE WORRIED ONLY ABOUT THEIR PAYCHECK,CONSIDER THIS YOU HAVE A QUOTA, AND YOU ARE TOLD IN NOT SO MANY WORDS BY "BOSS'S" QUOTE TO DO WHAT EVER YOU HAVE TO TO MAKE YOUR PERCENT TO QUOTA. KNOW THAT JUST MEANS THEY ARE TELLING YOU TO DO WHATEVER. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU. YOUR FIRST THOUGHT IS PROBABLY THE RIGHT ONE. AS FAR AS CUSTOMER SERVICE ON THE OTHER END THEY ARE NOT PROPERLY TRAINED EITHER. JUST YESTERDAY I SPENT 4 HOURS ON THE PHONE TRYING TO GET THE RIGHT DEPARTMENT, BEING TRANSFERRED ALL OVER THE UNITED STATES UNTIL I FINALLY FOUND ON CUSTOMER SERVICE REP TO EVEN MAKE AN ATTEMPT TO HELP MY CUSTOMER AND IT WAS NOT A FEATURE OR SALES PROBLEM IT WAS A BILLING SYSTEM ISSUE WHERE HIS PHONES WOULD NOT PORT OVER TO CINGULAR. YES IT IS A GOOD SYSTEM IF IT WOULD STAY UP AND RUNNING THE CUSTOMER HAD HIS PHONE FOR A WHOLE WEEK AND COULD NOT EVEN USE THEM. (3 LINES ON A FAMILY PLAN) MAD THAT WAS NOT THE WORD THE CUSTOMER USED. I GOT HUNG UP ON ABOUT 5 TIMES BY CARE, MIGRATIONS, PORTING, WHEREVER THEY WERE ROUTING ME, TALK ABOUT MAD. SO THEIR IS ROOM (GREAT) ROOM ON BOTH SIDES) NEEDED BUT THE PEOPLE HIGHER UP HAVE TO GIVE HE EMPLOYEES THE PROPER INFORMATION ALSO SO WE ARE TELLING THE CUSTOMER CORRECT INFO.
THEY ARE WORRIED ABOUT THEIR DISTRICT MAKING QUOTA I HAVE WORKED THERE 6 YEARS THE LAST 4 MONTHS IS THE FIRST TIME I NEVER MADE MY MONTHLY QUOTA. BASICALLY YOU ARE BEING TOLD TO DO WHATEVER YOU HAVE TO! BUT DONT SAY THEY TOLD YOU THAT.
I CAN HARDLY STAND IT. YOU ARE RIGHT THERE IS A LOT OF CROOKED THINGS GOING ON OUT THERE ON THE SIDE OF CARE AND ALSO BILLING AND ALSO SALES.


BUT LETS NOT FORGET MANAGES AND DM'S EITHER. THEY DONT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING. MY MANAGER CANNOT EVEN WORK ON THE FLOOR HE HIDES IN THE BACK ROOM AWAY FROM THE CUSTOMERS BECAUSE HE CANT DO THE COMPUTER SYSTEM. WHATS THAT THEY ARE SUPPOSE TO INFORM US OF THINGS NOT JUST SIT THERE AND READ EMAIL AND FORWARD, FORWARD, FORWARD ALL DAY LONG. I CAN GO ON AND ON, BUT I HOPE YOU ARE ONE OF THE BETER EMPLOYEES OUT THERE LIKE I THINK I AM BUT I AM STILL DISAPPOINTED ABOUT THE MAJOR CUTS ON MY PAY.FEATURES IF YOU LOOK IT UP ARE ONLY SUPPOSE TO HAVE A 90 DAY CHARGE BACK THEY ARE CHARGING BACK EVERYTHING EVEN PREPAID CUSTOMERS WHO ARE HOTLINED FOR NOT MAKING THEIR PAYMENT YET. HOW MUCH IS FAIR AND HOW MUCH IS GOING TO FAR.

In response to this article I have to say I am happy with the system that AT&T has put in place to make the sales section of the company accountable for their actions. I'm saying it's the best system in the world, but something had to be done to control the amount of misinformation that was being givin to honest customers at the point of sale.

I work at the other side of the business, the collections arm of AT&T now a part of Cingular, and it's my job to sort through the messes that are created on accounts. Sales associates feed off of commission, it's how they make their money, and we find examples everyday of how they will misinform customers to make a larger commision check. Company policies are ignored on a daily basis by sales people to get customers to sign the contract. They "forget" to mention the extra thirty dollars per month in fees that they are signing up for, they claim that three hundred dollar camera phone can be paid in easy monthy installments and sometimes claim the security deposit can be mailed within the first few months of service. These are horrible suggestions, and usually cause a customers phone to be shut off, which means I have to deal with the mess. These are examples I see weekly. This is not the company ripping off the consumer to make money, this is a case of salesmen making the deal sond sweeter so THEY can make more money.

As a company AT&T realized that this produced a negative image and causes more problems than positives. It is a little known fact that when marketing, activation and salary of sales associate costs are added up; it costs the company over three hundred dollars to make one sale. We don't see a profit on an account unless the customer stays with us for over half a year. We don't want to make customers upset and switch to another carrier in few months, we lose more money than we make then.
With the accountability program now built in, it forces sales associates to be more carefull in how they sell the product to the consumer so they don't have a reversed commission. This is for the consumer and the company.

If your a sales rep that feels your being cheated out of your money; thank your fellow sales employees, the rest of us down the chain are tired of dealing with the messes that are created at the point of sale on a daily basis. There are of course a number of consumers who we feel at the office should be required to take intelligence test before being allowed to purchase celluar service, since no matter how well the sales rep explains it, they will never grasp it but still demand service. It is unfortunate that these consumers who fail to realize what it really means to have a cell phone hurt the commission of honest sales reps, but the overwhelming amount of dishonest actions by the sales teams could not be ignored and a control system had to be put in place.