Decent pay with next-to no opportunities of advancement
Working with Premium Retail Services had started out as an ideal job. Everything had gone by smoothly, work was not too stressful, co-workers were usually easy to get along with, and you just show up, do a simple job, then head home to repeat the process the next day. This was easy to accept and appreciate starting out, however, over time, you start to notice a lot of things just make you feel stuck, and targeted. You are a third-party vendor working in a store location where chance plays more of a role in your job than anything else. If you are in a location where a manager dislikes vendors, you are going to have a terrible time, regardless of your work ethic. You either work harder than everyone else, just to be looked down on, or work worse than everyone else, and get looked down on. The main problem I've had with Premium had to do with management in-store targeting vendors and intentionally making our jobs a lot harder and more stressful for absolutely no reason, which fortunately isn't Premium's fault, but the second problem is how minimal the chances of advancement are.
Two years have felt wasted on this company, as I had gone in making the same pay I have made upon leaving. The difference is my sales pitches became a lot more consistent, and my ability to convert customers to our product had escalated drastically, resulting in great success. I had learned a plethora of information within 2 years to recommend products, learning each individual sku number and memorizing
ProsLong lunch breaks, Make new connections
ConsLack of advancement, Ignorant Management, Unrealistic Expectations
As a Wireless Specialist you're expected to sell phones inside of WalMart stores, where people don't usually go to buy phones to begin with. You're given absolutely no support from the company for marketing, often being forced to make your own business cards, flyers, signs, etc, on your own dime and you don't get compensated for any of it if you do spend the money. You are expected to "engage" with customers and push for the sales, but that translates into shark-attack style tactics that tends to put customers on edge. I worked for the company for two years. In my experience, using the kinds of tactics that you are encouraged to use leads to a lot of customers going out of their way to avoid you. Many times I approached customers they would try to go around me to speak to a Walmart associate about a phone only to be told by that associate that they needed to talk to me, at which point they promptly left.
Management at Premium and management at Walmart are hardly ever on the same page. Premium is contracted to work as an independent contractor inside Walmart. In other words, you work "with" Walmart, but not "for" Walmart. As a result, you are not given keys to access the product you are selling, which is meticulously inventoried daily by Walmart staff, and you have to call and wait (often for 10-20 minutes) for a Walmart manager to come unlock a cage so you can get the phone you are selling. I lost many sales due to Walmart management's slow response time and an
This job was a nightmare from the beginning. There was poor communication from the get go. I met absolutely NO ONE, but they expected me to blindly send them all of my information. After having to research the company, I finally learned that it was legit, so I went ahead and sent in my documents thinking I was just maybe exaggerating.
Nope, I wasn’t. The bad experiences and bad communication kept coming. I had to find some random person to verify my identity, and send it to Premium. I had asked if there was an office or something that had an HR department, and the person on the phone told me “No, just find a friend or someone you’re not related to.”
I needed a job, so I decided to see this thing through.
When I finally got hired. I got a call from a regional manager that had no idea that I was starting. He told me that the company sprung the information on him out of the blue, (which didn’t surprise me)
I was hired as an Assisted Sales Rep/FMR/Brand Ambassador, (whatever they like to list it as)
If you’re being helped by a regional manager then you are basically a mini version of that person. You aid the store that you are assigned to in order to boost sales when the RM isn’t there.
A lot of the time the manager is just as new as you, so they also don’t know what’s going on. The RM didn’t really have an idea on how to train me because neither of us knew what stores I would be at due to the poor communication by Premium. So he just went over some basics of the p
ProsWorking on your own. Slightly relaxing (depending on store)
ConsProlonged standing. No Job Security. Horrendous communication. Poorly Managed.
Temporary but flexible bandaid hustle. Not for long term. High stress, low payout. Steadily worsening conditions.
I was a basic rep in Premium's Walmart program for three years. This is a typical merchandising position where you check in at the store you're servicing (usually Walmart) and report everything through your phone or tablet. You can dress however you like and show up any time of the day for nearly all continuity work. Overnight work is usually permitted, and you can freely schedule your service orders any way you see fit from Monday to Friday provided it's all submitted before the weekend. Some managers are strict about front-loading your schedule however.
I've toiled in this line of work for 13 years across many different companies and can safely say that Premium is only worth it if flexibility is your first priority. If you gain your manager's trust, you can sometimes pick up coverage work that runs into overtime. I've heard that new hires are no longer compensated travel pay, but because of disclosure policies, I couldn't verify this, so keep in mind that gas expenditure between stores might be out of your pocket.
There are no advancement opportunities. You're locked in at $11.25/h with zero raises while performing the exact same tasks as Walmart employees who make $12-17/h. Their part-time health insurance offerings are... not great, but it's something. You're rarely recognized for your hard work; no one notices you except when something goes wrong, so your performance is mostly defined by your mistakes. Managers are generally very human and eye-to-eye with you, but the
ProsFlexible
ConsPay, expectations, "Premium spirit", screwy "bonuses", anything to do with Walmart
Overall I spent over 7 years at the company. I was always told they had my back. When things got rough, and a small incident occurred (I will admit fault), the client we were working with decided they no longer wanted me on the team (after 7 years of being with them). PRS did nothing to help me. I had no write-ups, no formals, nothing on my file. Instead of assisting me to find another role within PRS they ghosted me after my official last day and that was the end. It was sad to see that a company that I had devoted so much effort and time, suddenly didn't care about how far I had come or what I had done to help win and keep existing contracts. It was over at the drop of a dime. This is the plight of working for a company that claims it wants to help you, but really is just protecting itself (which is most companies).
While, I loved the people I worked with on my team the corporate side is SEVERELY disconnected from what the clients actually need, what the client expects, and ultimately how hard and stressed their employees have to work to deliver world class support to the client. Often, remote employees will fall to the wayside because they aren't located near the main office in MO. Upper executive management is very quick to dismiss existing contracts if things start to become dicey and will very quickly move on to the next contract. Suddenly, you go from being the top tiered contract to losing more than 95% of the team you initially started with because of poor relatio
I went on leave from another part time position, to go to Premium Retail Services. When I interviewed, I was told the stores I’d be servicing, the hours I would work on average and I’d have someone work with me on first calls. I expected to start on 4/15/19 but was told by my first manager by phone, that I would receive my assignments on my company portal. She then told me that was her last day working for the company. I then received an email from my new manager welcoming me and telling me I’d receive a call from an IT person, helping me learn their computer reporting system. He did call and was helpful. ( he also left the company that same week) Another 2 days went by and I still hadn’t received any assignments to work and on the 3rd day, was told by my manager that the assignments were given out 2-3 weeks in advance and the assignments for April were already delegated to other reps. She said she would try to “ carve out “ a territory for me. She asked if I’d do resets in the meantime and I agreed and after no word back for 2 more days, it was obvious, I wasn’t going to be assigned to resets. What few 15-30 minute assignments she did assign me on my portal , were for mid May. She told me she’d be unavailable for the next 5 days, for Easter holiday. I called HR the following Monday and told them what was going on, they were surprised . At 10:00pm that night, I received a text that my manager had assigned me to 3 resets for the next 3 days. By that time, I had my previous bo
ProsNone
ConsVery little contact from management and inconsistent assignments and hours
The company doesn't really compensate you for your time. They pay you ten dollars an hour and you have to travel quite a bit to many different stores. They split this pay between work time and mileage. What it boils down to is that you don't really earn minimum wage at ten dollars an hour. You will never get a raise while working for this company. Advancement opportunity is pretty much non-existent as well. Compensation is very poor for this company.
Management.. I have been through four different managers since I have been with the company. Most of them were good, even if it took a minute to get used to each other; that's pretty normal for any company. You can tell the most recent one is about the client and not you at all. She is very impersonal. I work her job for another company and, if one of my employees were to tell me they were sick, I would tell them please take care of yourself and get better; not "tough, get to work because I have no one else to cover your stores." Had I taken that one day off, I might not have been sick for the following week and I wonder how many people I infected while I was at the stores. It was the start of bronchitis..
My area recently had a lot of people quit and so I was forced to pick up their slack and take extra stores. When I asked for one of those stores to be taken away, they threatened to take all of my stores away. So I basically had no choice. Again, for the client and not you.
Longevity and reliable work. Yes. Very much so. Yo
I have only been with PRS for about 7 months but so far there have been a lot of ups and downs. Overall it is nice to be able to somewhat make your own schedule, there are some stores that you have to visit on specific days but otherwise you generally have a one to two week window to complete your service orders. The pros are no different than most any merchandising company: flexible schedule, work independently, performing a variety of work in a variety of places. However, this company is very unorganized and the managers are overall horrible. I had a terrible time on-boarding due to the manager forgetting that I was supposed to be starting. There was basically zero training, just a couple online tutorials and I met with another merchandiser (who had only been with the company for 5 months) and worked with them for 2 hours in one particular store and that was it. You basically have to figure it out on your own and learn from your mistakes. Also they are always screwing with your schedule. They need to realize that because the hours fluctuate so much, many merchandisers work additional jobs or have other obligations. They frequently wait until last minute to add work to your schedule (this is usually the manager's fault for not assigning it) or they will last minute remove work from your schedule. Also the pay is very low, most service orders pay $10-$12/hr depending on what store you are servicing. Not to mention all the time you are expected to spend reading the
ProsIndependence, Somwhat Flexible Schedule
ConsLOW PAY, EXPECTED TO WORK OFF THE CLOCK, UNORGANIZED MANAGERS
Do not do it unless you really enjoy pressure driven sales.
They do not warn you in the application that you will be working inside Walmart. You will constantly be mistaken for a Walmart employee and even if you correct the customer and explain to them what you do and who you work for some will still insist you help them because some of Walmarts employees will purposefully ignore their presence.
Meanwhile, you're constantly being hassled about meeting your sales quota. You get a simple high five for the day if you meet it and a bunch of finger wagging/guilt tripping if you don't. They switch up annoyance tactics they feel will increase your sales such as punishment calls, reporting your numbers hourly till you get a sale and putting you on blast in front of coworkers when your numbers are low via group chat.
If you're into chasing people and pressuring them into purchases, this job is for you. If you're looking for something laid back or predictable I wouldn't recommend this. If not for the quota the managers themselves are pretty cool but the business model makes for a very high stress environment in what should've been an easy going job.
Half the time just processing applications is a problem because of technical issues and dealing with carriers that never seem to want to answer the phone. Be prepared to be on hold for hours at a time. If you have a customer that wants a new line with no carrier history it can take 1-4 hours to get it approved and it still might get cancelled if the carrier decides they're a high risk to finance.
ProsSelf timed breaks, Management not typically in store
ConsLazy Walmart employees, Quota pressure, waitng on approval from carriers, being mistaken for tech support by prepaid customers
For the most part, the company was pretty good. My first few days were great. Thorough training on systems, constant feedback from home office, and everything felt like it was going to be great.
By day 4, I was in the field, opening a new location. I had a meeting with the district manager where she verbally attacked me stating that people from my background didn't do well at this job.... what the...??? She even stated this in the interview, but I could tell, she didn't have a clue what she was she talking about.
From then on, I was being held accountable for hitting metrics even though I just started. Not only that, but I was told I was fully staffed while interviewing, but when I got showed up to work, I was told to fire almost everyone for committing fraud. So now I was managing 3 stores with 2 employees plus myself, and told not to have any overtime for the employees. Needless to say this wasn't working out... I was never able to have a day off. I was told the only way I get to take a day off was to take PTO. So that means I'm on call 7 days a week. I was in the hospital with diverticulitis and had to take PTO. My brother passed away and I had to take bereavement PTO. While on PTO, my manager is emailing about trivial situations at work. I literally was made to feel as though I was less than human to the point of having depression so bad, I resigned and announced to human resources why I was resigning. They chose to fire me before my two weeks and promised my pay for
ProsNone
ConsAbsolutely everything
Questions And Answers about Premium Retail Services
If you were in charge, what would you do to make Premium Retail Services a better place to work?
Asked Jun 4, 2019
Everyone being on the same page. Managers try really hard but it seems like communication can be lost with in everything that’s going on. Maybe open up more positions for territory managers to help regional managers out. When there’s a manager running a whole state or more with many stores to keep track of it may be good to have help. But again I can not stress enough communication. As a manager for past companies we want our employees to communicate to us, so we need to communicate back just as much. It keeps the gears oiled and running smoothly.
Answered Feb 4, 2021
Pay better
Answered Oct 20, 2020
How did you get your first interview at Premium Retail Services?
Asked Jul 5, 2016
Visit wearepremium.com to apply! We offer candidates a variety of ways to apply for positions within Premium (without a resume, with your LinkedIn profile, or any of the quick-apply options available).
We have plenty of tips to help you prep for your interview with our talent acquisition team.
https://premiumretail.com/interviewtips/
Not seeing your dream position? Our talent community is always open at https://premium.avature.net/talent. Tell us your areas of interest and desired schedule, and we’ll let you know when there might be a match.
Answered Nov 1, 2021
Applied via indeed and got a call within like 2 days for face to face interview and went in and met my manager. To be honest I didn’t think I got the job, even tho my resume is pretty impressive. I’ve worked for many companies and 2 days went by and I doubted I got it and then that following day around 2pm I got the call and was hired!
Answered Mar 7, 2021
Do you find that the work load is more than the time they say it will take to get done?
Asked Jan 26, 2017
No but they don't train you really. I had 2 days of training maybe. Then had a store all to myself lol
Answered Sep 8, 2021
Yes depending on the service order not enough tme is given and you have to execute it without any mishaps but in the real world it's not possible so compensated time is a must
Answered Sep 29, 2020
Do they drug test for merchandising positions?
Asked Aug 9, 2016
Specific roles may require a mandatory drug screen as a condition of employment. We will notify you at the time of the job offer if the position requires a drug screen.
Answered Nov 1, 2021
Yes they drug test. Was told by the interviewer.
Answered Jan 1, 2020
What is the best part of working at Premium Retail Services?
Asked Oct 28, 2019
People you meet and pay. But if I try to help people I'd get in trouble with my manager
Answered Sep 8, 2021
The relationships you grow and the progression opportunities. If you work hard they notice and work to progress you.
