Verizon reviews

There are definitely more cons than pros, so where do I begin? First, you are micro-managed heavily. There are reports run for just about everything you do. You are managed by fear. Instead of helping you improve as a sales rep, they attempt to scare you into selling more. If you sell a basic phone without any accessories, you better be able to explain why, and "They are old", or "They didn't want a data package" aren't excuses. Even our store managers were micro managed. The DMs have a tracker to see what is being sold throughout the district and if they didn't like the stores numbers, they would call and yell at the store manager. Second, the quotas are mostly unfair. In my location, quotas were higher in march than in December, and december is way more busy than march. They don't care that traffic is slow, they just want you to sell more and more each month. Management doesn't accept excuses either. One month I only had 2 new lines on in the first week and my district manager called me on my day off and tore me a new one. He didn't care that I had only worked 3 days that week. He said he wanted no excuses and I was lucky to have my job. Third, vzw would often dig us a hole, and then punish us for not being able to climb out of it. What I mean by this, is that they would send these flyers to customers telling them they can get this basic phone for 10 bucks, and then when the customer would come in asking for it, we weren't supposed to sell it to them. If you want your customers upgrading to smart phones don't send them flyers telling them to buy a 20 dollar flip phone!! Forth, Verizon is a VERY arrogant company. They know they have the best network, so they figure they can treat customers like crap and get away with it. Most phones and plans are over priced. Every new policy they put in place hurts the customer. The motto for 2011 is "Focus on the Customer", but the reality couldn't be further from that. It should be "Focus on getting as much out of the customer as possible" VZW basically screws the customer any way they can. Last, there is a total disconnect between upper management and the store level employees. Most of the quotas and policies that are put into place are decided upon by people who haven't been in a store for year. The Regional presidents have no idea what actually goes on in the stores. They have theories on how to sell and how to handle customers, but they don't realize that those theories don't actually work.

~ No respect. We were treated like kids in both rewards and punishment. I often wondered if I worked in a high school type environment. ~ Promotions were given to those who were "IN" politically with upper management. I was up for a promotion, and it was given to someone with considerably worse numbers than I did. She happened to be friends with middle management. ~ Management is extremely unprofessional. On more than one occasion there was a supervisor having a sexual relationship with an employee. Then there was unfair preferential treatment for that employee ~ Company says they are customer friendly, but they push and push and push you to sell things customers don't need. Many Representatives (not myself) would just add these things to the customer's account without the customer's approval or knowledge. This act even has a name within the company, "slamming". ~ Over inflated sales goals. Sales goals that were not even close to attainable. The market was maturing in the area, and Verizon's bottom line was going down, so instead of changing how the commission structure would pay people. They would inflate the reps quota to get back their bottom line through less commission paid. ~ Horrid Schedules. I was made to work 6 days a week for 3 and 4 month periods on more than 3 occasions. Usually around a big phone launch or peak time of year (christmas and summer), they make their Rep's work 6 day work weeks at 9 to 10 hours a day. Good luck having a Christmas with your family. ~ Micro Management. On many occasions, I would have a supervisor sitting behind me telling me to work faster and critiquing my sales. I was the fastest person in my work environment. There was a report that would show how many customers we would work through. I was always #1. Yet, I constantly had someone yelling at me to help more people. While I'm trying to go through a complete sale that would be critiqued and completing an insane number of customer service requirements. It was more stressful than anything I have ever done, and I took biochemistry. ~ Negative reinforcement. We were motivated out of fear. We were constantly made to feel as if I job was in jeopardy and that we could be moved out at anytime if we didn't meet sales goals. ~ Customers can be demeaning and rude. The corporate culture does not allow you to explain to customers how you wanted to be treated. Corporate stresses that you sit back and explain what you can do for the customer. I have been called names, put down, and talked down to like I was again a child or an idiot. ~ 7 different supervisors and 6 different locations. In the 3 years I worked at Verizon (I left soon after I was vested in my 401K), I was in 7 different supervisors and 6 different locations. They would just move me from location to location and shift around supervisors the same way. I was even threatened that I would be moved to a location an hour and 15 minutes from my house. All in all. It was a good experience like dating a girl that treated you poorly. I learned from it. I would never recommend Verizon Wireless as a place of employment. I believe, if you are a college graduate, you have better options out there. However, if you only have a diploma or a GED, then the pay and benefits are great for your level of education.