T-Mobile reps are being held accountable if customers don't do this when they visit their stores
T-Mobile reps and stores lose performance points if customers enter a T-Mobile store in a certain way.
T-Mobile reps need customers to do this when visiting a store. | Image by PhoneArena
T-Mobile is making a large wager on the T-Life app, and it isn't clear yet whether it will pay off. As it makes the transition to a digital carrier, the T-Life app has taken on a much larger role as it not only handles new line additions and phone upgrades, but also accepts bill payments.
Simple transactions are taking much longer to do because of T-Life notes a T-Mobile rep
The reps working inside T-Mobile corporate stores, also known as Mobile Experts (ME), are not thrilled with the edict that they have to use the T-Life app for customer transactions. When a customer comes in to a store to pay a bill, one rep explained on social media how he has to set up T-Life for the customer (on the subscriber's phone or the store tablet).
A Reddit subscriber and a T-Mobile ME, with the username Jaxson0350, wrote, "This new T-Life check in process is making even simple transactions take so much time." Another rep complained that his store gets so many customers coming in to pay their bill. "I’m sorry I know it’s unpopular, but I wish T-Mobile would just do away with it," said Redditor OfficeTemporary5053.
I shouldn’t have to touch someone’s old slow a14 to download an app they don’t want and listen to them gripe as we sit for 5 10 minutes and set it up or sit there and let them do it and have to give them a tutorial on an app as they tell me how much they hate me and T-Mobile.
I 1000% understand how easy it should be on paper, but having to deal with people every day they just don’t want to do it is draining.
I get it. It’s my job, and I do it, but at the same time there’s nothing I despise more than having to teach old people how to use an app that they don’t want to learn or use.
I 1000% understand how easy it should be on paper, but having to deal with people every day they just don’t want to do it is draining.
I get it. It’s my job, and I do it, but at the same time there’s nothing I despise more than having to teach old people how to use an app that they don’t want to learn or use.
OfficeTemporary5053, T-Mobile ME and Redditor
Screenshot of the T-Life app which also hosts T-Mobile Tuesdays. | Image by PhoneArena
T-Mobile reps are apparently being told to get people visiting a T-Mobile store to check in by themselves using T-Life instead of asking the reps at the door to add them to a list. A corporate store I called today in Lynn, Massachusetts told me that they still have employees at the front door to check in customers who don't want to use the T-Life app to do so.
Reps are held accountable if visitors to T-Mobile stores fail to use T-Life to check in
Who was the best CEO in T-Mobile history?
But it appears as though self-check-in via the T-Life app is the method preferred by the company. It is a goal that the reps are being held accountable for according to yet another T-Mobile Mobile Expert who posts on Reddit, this one known as Fortcraftmonster on the platform.
T-Mobile Mobile Expert asks customers to go easy on them
One member of T-Mobile's in-store sales team had a message for the carrier's customers that he posted online. Asking customers heading to T-Mobile stores to please just download the T-Life app on their phones and turn on the location setting before heading out to the store, he also pleaded with them not to blame the reps. Pointing out that it isn't up to the MEs in the store to force them to use the app, he asked customers to go easy on them.
As we've pointed out before, the move to digital is all about money. Using T-Life to handle routine tasks will allow the carrier to close some stores, lay off reps and give pink slips to other employees allowing the carrier to save money on leases, commissions, and salaries.
One T-Mobile rep pointed out that for some executives, their bonus is related to T-Life usage, and, as a result, there seems to be constant pressure on MEs to push customers to use the app. Recent tumors indicate that "Digital Adoption" is now considered a Key Performance Indicator for Mobile Experts; in some markets, a store that does not have a 70% self-check-in rate using T-Life drags down its performance rating.
There is a wild card that could change the speed of the carrier's digital transition
One wild card is whether the digital transition will slow down, speed up, stay the same, or come to an end if Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile combine to form the most valuable telecom firm in the world. As you might know by now, T-Mobile's majority owner is reportedly in discussions to create a European holding company that would own all the shares belonging to the pair.
The deal itself, if it is done, would be the largest M&A transaction in history. Ever since initial reports of the talks between the two, things have been quiet in terms of a potential combination.
Last week, T-Mobile reported strong first quarter earnings as a record number switched to the carrier because of network quality.
Popular stories
Latest News
Things that are NOT allowed:
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts: