Pushy T-Mobile rep refused to sell customer a new iPhone unless he bought accessories too

Going into a wireless firm's closest retail store can bring on different feelings. If you're a phone enthusiast and follow the news closely, you soon realize that to the reps in the store, this is just a sales gig for them and many couldn't tell you that the chipset inside the iPhone 15 Plus is different than the one powering the iPhone 15 Pro Max. And since they can only sell and earn commission on the phones already out, most don't give a damn about those rumored new AI features coming to the Galaxy S24 line.

Outside of a few reps who really are phone nerds and do read PhoneArena and the other guys every day, most wouldn't care if they were pushing stationery supplies or men's underwear as long as they could get a cut out of a sale. And the worst kind of sales rep is the pushy kind. It isn't enough that you're willing to go without lunch for three weeks in order to buy a new iPhone, but they want you to buy accessories, add a new line, and plump up the bottom line. But it may not be their fault.

Check out this experience that a Reddit subscriber with the username of 98Saman went through when he went to a local T-Mobile location to buy his brother an iPhone 15 as a gift (as an aside, how do I join this family?). The Redditor wrote, "The lady that was helping me out tried so hard to get me into add (sic) a line or some other BS promotion stuff. I declined and said I just want an iPhone 15 and want to activate one of my existing lines on it and I have no problem with retail full price."

He continues, "After few mins then she said I can only get an iPhone with no promotion if I buy a case, screen protector and a USBC charger (total of $210!!!) This was literally my worst experience with T-Mobile so far. I was so pissed and left. I got the same iPhone from Apple Store an hour later with ZERO PRESSURE to get me to buy overpriced accessory crap. I just don’t understand this…why T-Mobile stores like this ???

The answer is that the rep has a quota that she has to meet. And since the consumer expressed a willingness to buy the iPhone 15, he was like freshly unwrapped raw meat being exposed to a gator. If you have to buy from your carrier to take advantage of a spectacular deal, order online or through the phone. You are less likely to be pressured to add accessories this way.

It really isn't strange that the rep wouldn't sell an iPhone 15 to a customer without adding on accessories or a new line to the purchase. And the fact that it didn't faze her that she let a live one leave the store empty-handed can be explained, and we will very soon. A current rep for an unnamed carrier explained that if you want to buy a new phone without having to add a line or buy insurance, just order the device as a store pick-up. Otherwise, he says that such orders are a waste of time for reps and destroy their metrics.

An unnamed T-Mobile rep concurred with the reasons mentioned above that explained the T-Mobile saleswoman's pushy behavior. "As a t mobile (sic) rep myself, I understand why she did it. They tied so many metrics to upgrades now it's ridiculous. An upgrade can affect our insurance attach rates, accessories rates. t-mobile has a high focus on this right now and it’s so annoying."

As to why she let the consumer walk out of the store without making a sale, reps make their biggest commissions on line upgrades, additions, and sales of accessories and insurance. Just selling the iPhone 15 that the consumer wanted to buy for his brother might have brought her very little income. So she rolled the dice hoping for a bigger score and came up empty this time. Next time, she might hit a home run.