When I first started working for this company it came off as a very professional organized business. I could not be more wrong about my impressions.
When you first start work you are employed by a company called "Snelling Staffing Services". This company pays you before employment at Cellular Sales so they are not obligated to hire you if you didn't do well in training. The hourly wage I received in training was $10/hour and you trained for 30-40 hours a week. During the 2 week training period the first week is local training by the company recruiting director at a local store. This week is teaching you about the CSOKI system and company history. The second week you will travel either flight or car to your nearest national training facility which in my case was Glassboro, New Jersey. I know of some other training facilities which are Knoxville, TN (Company HQ) and Orlando, FL. During this week you learn about Verizons phones, plans and services. During training you have off on weekends. On the first Monday back from national training I was included in what was deemed Regional Director day where you meet the regional directors of your market and they discuss what the company standards all. Up to this point all was good and I was extremely motivated to get selling.
Little did I know how difficult it would be to make a decent paycheck at Cellular Sales. When you sell a cell phone you essentially make 50 percent of the profit off the phone. The other 50 percent goes to the comp
Prosyou sometimes get free phones off of customers, the other sales reps are good people
Consno lunch breaks, terrible management structure, bad pay, feels like the company doesn't care about you
2.0
Retail Sales Associate | Grovetown, GA | Dec 12, 2018
Great company; not so great local management
I worked for Cellular Sales nearly 4 years. It was a great experience up until the end. I have nothing bad to say about the company itself and I have always been thankful for the opportunity. It is a 100% commission job, so what you make is the effort you put in. Luckily, the Augusta sub market of North Georgia was pretty steady. I averaged anywhere from $4000-$5500 per month with a top earning of $6400 one month. And of course, I had a few bad months barely making $3000-$3500. It doesn't seem bad, but in the CSOKI world, that is bottom of the leaderboard. Sometimes it was easy money and other times, I really had to work for it. I learned alot about cellphone technology and so much more. There are a few things I can complain about though. First would be the "call center." They make you going in once a week from 9am-2pm to make outbound sales calls with provided leads. They do not pay you to be there, but were expected to be there since it was a scheduled shift and would be written up if you didn't show up. You needed a doctor's excuse. Local management is terrible, with the exception of our sales team leaders. (They were great.) Besides them, the other ones choose favorites and cater to everything they need. For example, this one rep has just gotten her car repossessed for the 3rd time in a year and guess who bailed her out each time, the managers. I won't say any names because I don't want to embarrass anyone. This rep is an average earner of maybe $3k/month, if that. This r
ProsUnlimited earning potential, half off phone bill
ConsManagement, chargebacks, immature reps, no vacation time or sick leave.
I'll start by saying that my manager was very kind and that you do have flexibility with how kuch you do/dont want to work (if you have a good team...). I do not like speaking negatively...however, there are some things that I desperately wish that I'd known upfront because going into this, there are things that aren't told to you...
1) Shady pay system. It is claimed that there is a base pay. 100% false. It's an "hourly advance/draw" that comes out of your commission check.
2) You need a minimum of 5months income saved up to survive your first months here. You are commission only, but dont expect a commission check until month 5 or later. Commissions work weird. What you earn this month will not be paid to you until 2 months later. That means that your first 2 months are "hourly advances" that then come out of your 1st commission check. This also means that your first commission check typically is $0 - usually it means you're in the negative. If you're in the negative, they'll deduct it from your next check until eventually you (may) get out of the hole. They promise a bonus system to help you out with the first commission check/pay advance deal, but my bonus never came even though I hit my numbers.
3) This job was not located in the city that it was advertised in. I had to drive 30mins to an hour consistently because they rotate stores.
4) You just constantly be on your toes and learning new information and promotions. Promos change weekly at times, meaning you have t
ProsGreat for people-lovers, (mostly) nice coworkers
ConsPoor management, HORRIBLE pay, dishonest, very high turnover rate, inconsistent hours amd retail hours (not 8-5 of thats important to you)
I want to provide everyone a clear picture of what it is like to work for this company. So I apologize in advance because this might take awhile.
First things first! How you get paid! Here in Yuma AZ, you get paid $15 an hour plus commission which isn't too bad. How does commission work? Well, everything you sell goes into your very own individual commission pool. So in month time frame you can sale around $3500. However, $3500 isn't all yours...not just yet. You must have a certain number of activations (new lines of service) that unlock percentages from you whatever commission you earned for that month. Here's an example. You sell $3500 worth of product for the month, you need 8 activations to get 10% of that $3500 and say 18 activations to get 100%. Trust me, easier said than done. But there is more. $3500 is the magic number set by the upper brass that each rep needs to hit each month or risk being fired. So what happens if you don't sell $3500 for the month and you end up selling $3000? The $500 deficit rolls over to next month and NOW YOU NEED TO SELL $4000 worth of product if you want any chance of seeing your commission check. If you miss back to back months the amount you owe them just keeps growing and growing. No worries though, if the amount you owe becomes outstanding, the company will just sever ties and you don't need to pay anything back.
Yuma is Yuma and Yuma is a winter town. When the summer comes around, our population is cut in half. You know that, I
So let me start off by saying this isn't a terrible job and I actually enjoyed my time there, up until the end that is. Yes you'll make atleast $35,000 a year here, so the money is ok. But I must let you know what its truly like at CSOKI.
- First off the pay. You are paid $10.88 per hour draw. What a draw is, is they pay you upfront the $10.88 per hour and you're paid this twice a month, but you must pay them back out of your commission each month. I.E.: You work $2,000 in hourly in a month, but you make $3,000 in commission. You're commission check will be for $1,000 since they already paid you $2,000 of it upfront. Make sure you make more than your hourly, or you'll be in the hole and that's not good.
- Now for the actual commission. While on shift, there is a share system set up. If you sell a phone and you make $100 on commission on it, you don't actually get that $100. You will split $55 of this between everyone on shift and get to keep anything else over that $55. So $55 divided by say 6 people on shift is $9.16. You will make as a sales rep $54.19 for that sale. Really confusing I know. If you call an appointment though, you can unshare everyone and keep the full commission which is cool.
- Cellular Sales is a NO FAULT COMPANY. If you sell a phone and it ends up being fraud (most of the time they go for the most expensive phones, ie XS Max 256GB) YOU as a sales rep is responsible for paying back the FULL PRICE FOR THIS PHONE. Usually around $1,300 or more.
ProsCoworkers, discount on Verizon service, free lunch sometimes during busy days like Black Friday
I am a strong sales person who has never been cheated by any employer until I worked for CSOKI (cellular sales of knoxville inc.). This company not only steals money from their employees every paycheck but also overcharges customers for equipment. There is NO reason why a consumer should prefer the business model of CSOKI over a corporate Verizon store, I know that the corporate stores are busier... Just call customer service if you have a problem and go to best buy when you purchase equipment if you're in a rush (at least you get a great deal). If you're a fantastic liar and you would like to work for fantastic liars then this is the perfect job for you. $0.00 per hour and no paycheck for 2 months straight and don't be late because they're actually stupid enough to fire free employees ROFL. This company is hated by nearly every one of their employees because they will not set you up for success within the company. They will continue weeding out applicants (they gave 100 people jobs in 4-5 months and fired nearly all of them right after christmas 2012) until they find total sales robots that want to work all day every day, and if you expect a nice paycheck this is the only way to get one and stay on the companies good side. Which brings me to my last point; you will have ZERO job security with this company it's a lot of factors that make it so but for starters they're basically hosting Americas best salesperson contests to see who can stay with the company the longest based
ProsA chance to sue an employer for stealing from you
ConsCompensation, Benefits, Culture / Values, Job Security / Advancement, Management, Work / Life Balance they break every rule.
Where do I begin? In my brief time with CSOKI, I learned things on the fly and felt too little was explained to me in my interviews. If I didn’t ask a question about it during my interviews, it wasn’t really addressed. I did not find out the job was commission only until I had begun training. It was portrayed both on the classified ad and via interview that the job was base salary + a commission check. This is not true. You have “draw against commission” which is sale-speak for you get an advance on the commission you will make for the NEXT month when you earn your “draw” check at $10.88 x hours worked. In order to make commission you have to surpass the amount you were advanced via the draw check. So if draw is $1000 in June, you will need to make $1001 in July to make a $1 commission check (with tax, the comm. amount would likely be marginal - next to nothing).
So as a result, the position is 100% commission based. If this is not problematic to you, then no worries. If you were to fail to earn the amount of your draw check in next month’s commission, you are now “in the hole” for the money you have already accepted which you didn’t then subsequently make via sales the following month.
What “the hole” means: you will not make commission until you surpass the next draw amount PLUS the amount you failed to make back from the first draw check amount. (Draw was $1000 in June, earned $700 in July, in the hole -$300 for August. Now I need to earn $1300 next month to break ev
I'm a strong Salesman and have been in the industry for many years. I was convinced by the recruiter to give Cellular Sales a shot. I was promised high commissions, flexibility and a great product to sell. What I found is the exact opposite.
* The commissions per phone are very high. what they forget to tell you is they over staff there locations to the point you are making $10.00 to $25.00 on a phone sale. This makes you push there over priced generic accessories to make an extra $5.00 to $12.00.
* Your paycheck will never be clear, and does not match up with your reports. And if a customer stops paying there bill or leaves your service in the first 6 months you will be charged the price of the handset. This could be a huge amount some reps are charged up to $1,000.00 a month in charge backs. The average rep only makes about $3,500.00 a month so up to 1/3 is taken out for charge backs. Then more is taken out for "missing Accessories" this could be another $100.00 or so. That all depends on how responsible the reps are around you. Whatever accessories a rep gives away or a customer steals you pay for!. To add to this stress you only get paid once a month.
* Reps "come and Go" as they please. There is no real structure or management.
* When something is "rolled out" its a complete mess. Know one is on the same page and wrong information is passed around like crazy.
* The phones that the customers are looking for pay you very low. And the old out of date mod
The picture was painted by the recruiter and the management that this was the place to build a career. During the interview, I was told that the average salesman makes $50,000 a year and upward mobility is possible within two years. The real truth became my worst nightmare. Pay was withheld for the first 60 days. That means you will go into debt before you make your first decent check. In addition, pay is disbursed once a month (hard to budget). Never once did I here the word deacts until I was hired-the loss of commission and an inflated cost of phones when a customer takes the phone off the account or when a customer is more than 60 days late on a bill pay. To give you an example of deacts, if you sell an iPhone the commission is $50; however, if the iPhone deacts, the loss is $280. As you can see, some paychecks are just miserable! One month, I worked 220 hours and my paycheck was $700 (well below minimum wage). In addition, Cellular Sales charges their staff full price for missing inventory, yet they do not supply the necessary tools to perform the job (e.g. cables used to transfer contacts). Therefore, we buy the very own tools, at full price, needed to do our job. Also, they do not believe in recomping our fuel cost between stores even though some stores are hours away. They make their salespeople cover more ground in order to save money for staffing (I.e. its easier to manage and staff floating positions). I have already paid $7000 in missing inventory, deacts, and fue
Prosgood coworkers that talk about how bad this company treats us
I’ve been working for cellular sales for about 6 months and the commission structure has been changed in Decemberand again in February and it was a pay cut dressed as a game with points you earn by selling things that manipulate these categories. But if a customer doesn’t want the over priced accessories you attempted to “bundle” them with then that “naked” phone actually takes points away from your cscore and that costs you money. You read that right selling a customer a phone and not taking advantage of customers with accessories or “pull through”costs you points/money. You have to bundle the customers up for about $300 out the door. We are literally taught to sell like this and use bundle scripts and manipulate your plan to make space to sell you products and when customers find out and leave a nasty google review, guess what, you get suspended (not if your in management though). Let’s not forget that as a rep you assume all the responsibility on sales. If that customers never pays their bill guess who gets charged out for $1000 phone? So the $30-90 you might make on that iPhone might actually cost you $1100. Device payments magically fall off even after the customers signs off and Omni glitches you get to buy a phone for a customer. The risk reward isn’t in your favor.
Now in December I hit Bonus D which is top tier the opportunity was there, but n January there’s no business. You see maybe 1 quality up a shift and if you don’t club them over the head your cscore will b
ProsTrade board for the schedule
ConsJust about everything else. Read the review
Questions And Answers about Cellular Sales
If you were in charge, what would you do to make Cellular Sales a better place to work?
Asked May 31, 2018
Dress code is simply outdated and tacky. Accepting zero shrink, it's basically theft from you own employees pockets. Charging employees off due to YOUR OWN system errors. Charging employees off the FULL PRICE of missing I inventory even when I could have discounted it and sold it at a cheaper cost. Literally creating you own call center off the backs of your 100% commission sales team and ramming it so hard down our thoats I can't even focus on sales. The company preaches ETHICS and obviously is highly hypocritical. The sales rep is a disposable slave to the company no more no less, everything that can be dumped on you will be and you will absolutely be taken advantage off in any way.
Answered Aug 7, 2020
Nothing. It’s truly awesome!!
Answered Jul 31, 2020
If you were to leave Cellular Sales, what would be the reason?
Asked Mar 15, 2017
Management
RDs treatment of the sales reps
Commissions just going down
Being targeted multiple times because i dont just go along with things, i question them
Company is so far disconnected from reality
Answered Nov 4, 2021
1. Every quarter the amount they pay in commissions is cut
2. No flexible schedule
3. Making less and less money
4. No room for growth
5. Telling employees to be sleazy and then when verizon gets mad throwing their employees under the bus. "Even though they dont pay you if you aren't sleazy"
Answered Aug 7, 2020
What tips or advice would you give to someone interviewing at Cellular Sales?
Asked Jul 28, 2018
RUN AWAY. Its not worth it they will lie to you over and over in the interview. If you do decide to take then job realize your money potential is about half of what they say
Answered Aug 7, 2020
Be yourself. They are looking for imperfect people.
Answered Mar 4, 2020
What is the most stressful part about working at Cellular Sales?
Asked Feb 28, 2018
Angry customers, and the fact that its 100% commission
Answered Mar 4, 2020
Everything. Starting from 4 interviews to get this job, they wanna pretend they are a serious and most wanted company, but they are imposters. This is the worst job u could get, unless u like to lie to people and screw them over.
They pay you put of your own commission, meaning they dont pay you hourly, but they still demanding AF for u to be on time and to wear tie and shirts, cuz that gives the cellular sales company a fake image of a successful company.
Numerous unpaid meetings either late at night or early in the morning, I'm talking unpaid mandatory meetings.
Big turn over, they are always hiring
Answered Feb 26, 2020
Do they drug test?
Asked Jan 30, 2017
They drug tested prior to start date. Never did I hear of anyone being tested after that, which was probably due to the fact that over half of their work force would be wiped out if they did.
