I was a trainee in the Brockport, NY location, a new store built this year. It was advertised on CareerBuilder.com. Luke Fletcher is the regional director who hired me. I was sent on a paid trip via airlines to Knoxville, TN where reservations with Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Knoxville were made for me. All food and accomodations were paid for by Cellular Sales. I was trained at their main store in Knoxville for 4 days. My overall test grades were a B average. These facts illustrate the irrational and unethical behaviors from this company that came only 5 days later! Luke Fletcher omitted certain factors which significantly affected an agent's career:
1st lie: The advertisement states that there are no investments needed to begin working as a sales agent. FACT: There are no actual employees, but there are 1099 contractors. The term "sales agent" is misleading. The contractors are expected to maintain their own disposable cash in order to take cash payments for bills or phones.in other words, the "agent" has to bring $150 in change for handling cash payments each day. Also, if you do not have an LLC of your own, then you must file for one which does have a cost depending on your state.in my case, NY requires $200 application fee and requires you to advertise your new LLC within a certain timeframe in newspapers. Luke Fletcher did not tell me these details upon hire.
THERE ARE NO SAFES, CASH REGISTERS, OR SECURITY CAMERAS AVAILABLE FOR SAFETY. On my first day, the agent left the store with $600 which had to be deposited at Bank of America, the bank for Cellular Sales. All accessory-sales cash has to be compiled into a money transfer and sent to one person via postal mail located in Fayetteville, NY. Basically, the money is handled in a very poor fashion and puts the contractors at risk for burglary or robbery.
Also, all contractors are pressured into making extensive trips across territories to either train new reps or help new markets. Check this out: MY TRAINER, GLORIA, DROVE INTO BROCKPORT ALL THE WAY FROM FAYETTEVILLE JUST TO TRAIN ME FOR THREE DAYS! All of that car depriciation and mileage is only claimable on her taxes. She does not get reimbursed directly from Cellular.
2nd lie: The contractors usually make large salaries. Fact: The contractors split all of their commissions, and the leader boards posted on their intranet reflect Tier 3 numbers, not what the AGENTS MAY ACTUALLY BE GETTING PAID. So, if you interview with a director and he or she shows you the leader boards to impress you, then do not fall for the gimic! They do not accurately reflect the true payouts! Furthermore, your first paycheck will not arrive until two months after your first month of sales. Why? Because cellular customers have 30 days to return equipment and rescind the contract. However, the church rate still can hurt you if the customer leaves within 180 days of service. 3rd lie: this is a big one! Although contractors are strictly that, contractors, the team leaders manage the workplace as if contractors were fully employed, hourly employees. For example, i was told that if i expected to take an hour lunch during a 9-hour shift, then i would get "talked to", or my "hours would be decreased on the schedule". During your training, you are paid an hourly rate of $10.00 by Snelling Staffing as a temporary employee. You are required to take a drug test out of their specified lab.in my case, I had to drive an hour away to Amherst to give a urine sample at their lab. There was nowhere else I was allowed to go! Imagine that! During my hourly training, I was scheduled to work 7-9 hour shifts. However, there was no organization of breaks or lunches.in fact, I was discouraged from taking traditional lunches. The team leader repeated that he never takes breaks or lunches and that he expects the same out of the other sales reps. When I challenged him by stating that these standards were direct violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, he passively looked down and asked twice if I would be in the next morning. I knew that he was up to something.
The very next day: Tamela Grant from Snelling calls and says that I was fired for poor performance, and that I was not allowed to contact Cellular Sales or its staff. I still called Luke repeatedly after he dodged my calls. He stated that to send my complaints to Tamela and refused to give details!
Bottomline: Cellular Sales is a fraudulent and manipulative organization who is eventually going to get caught! Remember Enron, Sutherland Group, etc? This is how it starts!
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