Many people looking to make a career out of their obsession with mobile devices do what I do. How I got my job with PhoneArena 17 years ago is a cool story (which I will save for another time) but it came from my love of the nascent touchscreen smartphone market. PhoneArena was my first read every morning. Another possible job for phone nerds is to sell these devices by working for a carrier (either in a corporate owned store or one run by a third-party authorized reseller).
T-Life and monthly performance goals are taking the life out of T-Mobile reps
Some T-Mobile reps appear to be losing the excitement that they first had when starting their careers selling phones, tablets, smartwatches, accessories, and service plans. Many have been posting on social media about losing whatever compelled them to go after such a job in the first place. For some, having to use the controversial T-Life app to make a sale has been spirit-killing.
Would you consider working as a rep for T-Mobile?
Yes. It might be a cool place for a phone nerd to work at.
0%
No. It sounds like a bad place to work.
100%
As Reddit subscriber Adventuresoulz posted, "3 years ago I would [have] said I liked the career growth and aspect of the job. Now it’s a dead end job like any other retail job but benefits are still decent and pay is not the best if you’re not in a hig volume location. T life is good and bad. Customer walks in authorized on tapestry but no permissions on the app. Just wants to try home internet would take me 3 minimum to ring him out and set him up but nope needs to do it through T- Life. Sir please can you call the primary to place the order. Customer walks out annoyed lose a sale."
Morale is down at T-Mobile
The T-Life app is one of the things that is taking the fun out of working at T-Mobile according to many who currently work there. Another rep writes, "Morale is down practically companywide with the push to T-Life since this way they can cut reps pay and with them going to push for more experience stores since they are both sales and customer service without the benefit of commission for reps; more pay cuts will follow."
Screenshot from the T-Life app. | Image credit-PhoneArena
This makes sense since lower pay is sure to make reps unhappy. Also hurting the morale of the reps is the monthly performance goals (Metrics) that T-Mobile forces reps to meet. Those who sell a new phone without including a little something extra like insurance (P360), a protective case, a battery charger or something else, can get written up or fired. T-Mobile customers have a hard time trying to buy a phone without shelling out additional money for accessories they don't want or need.
Working at T-Mobile is a "dead end job," says one current rep
"Morale is down and MEs are trying everything to not help customers that are trying to buy a phone without P360. They’d rather lose the commission than take the hit on P360 and risk getting written up."
With the transition to a digital Mobile Network Operator (MNO), perhaps working at T-Mobile is, as one rep put it, a "dead end job." When you walk into a T-Mobile store these days, you're probably not getting helped by someone who really wants to help you. And it doesn't seem to be a scattered few inside a store as a T-Mobile ME points out. "This T-life push has unspoken consequences on all of us in retail. I know my time at this job is coming to an end. This app is forcing a change I’m not comfortable with. Either it’ll cause a mass layoff, or our job will change into something I didn’t sign up for when I applied. I can tell you me and a lot of my coworkers are not happy. I’m actively looking for the exit."
It seems that many T-Mobile reps don't see the future that they envisioned when they decided to sell mobile devices and plans through T-Mobile.
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Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.
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