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Several current and former AT & T employees in Hawaii are condemning the company, accusing it of pushing workers to use unethical sales tactics – and firing them when they do.
Employees said retail managers have adopted an aggressive approach when it comes to selling trial subscriptions to its streaming service, Direct TV Now.
"Managers basically encouraged us and informed us about how to manipulate sales," said Abraham Buonya, who was fired in early June from the Ala Moana Center's AT & T store for violating the code of conduct and falsified records. from the company.
He is part of at least six people sent back to Hawaii as a result of an internal investigation by AT & T, which examined the sales of Direct TV Now.
"Last fall, we detected simultaneous customer orders and cancellations of a free product trial," said AT & T's Hawaii News Now, in a statement. "We determined that some employees had violated our policies and, based on our findings, we took appropriate action."
AT & T states that management and non-management employees participated in this action.
The company, however, declined to comment on allegations of unethical behavior and would not say how many people were fired locally or nationally as part of the investigation.
Buonya, who has been the leading AT & T salesman in the state for two years, says the problems all stemmed from an effort to get people to try Direct TV. To do this, representatives would offer to cancel a trial before it becomes a subscription.
This violates the company's policy, but would have been encouraged.
"Managers told us to cancel it to avoid future headaches, but many slipped through the cracks," he said.
Sources claim that some representatives forget to follow through on this promise of cancellation, which means that customers will be billed for months of Direct TV Now service. The subscription to the streaming service costs $ 35 per month.
An employee said that he saw some customers do not take the fees for up to seven months.
"We have canceled any unauthorized activity in the very rare cases where customers have incurred fees," said AT & T in a statement.
But sources say this is not the only reason why AT & T customers could see mysterious charges.
All Direct TV Now tests require a credit card and an e-mail address.
So, if a customer agreed to buy a trial, the reps could use that credit card to start several trials as long as they did not total more than $ 35. This often occurred during promotional periods of $ 10 because representatives could squeeze three sales into one.
"My manager took my iPad, which was signed under me, made a fake e-mail and then activated a Direct TV Now subscription on this e-mail and said that if I can do it, you can do it. Next, "A licensed AT & T employee said, preferring to remain anonymous.
Customers complained of mysterious charges, Buonya said, adding that they were hard to track down.
"These customers see accusations on their statements that they have no idea what it is, but the managers force us to do it because they have to meet their quotas," he said. he said.
Trying the streaming service may seem like a choice, but for some AT & T customers it was an offer that they could not refuse.
For example, according to sources, if a customer buys a cell phone, a representative could falsely say that the purchase is paying. The representative will then offer to forgo the fake tax if the customer has instead purchased a cheaper test from Direct TV now.
Sources say that this tactic has also been encouraged by managers.
So why was the sale of Direct TV Now so important for managers?
AT & T retail stores often compete for status, competing to outdo each other and being among the top regional sales. Mobile phones do not generate significant profits for AT & T stores, which is why television is an important measure in these rankings, employees said.
The current employee of AT & T who asked not to be identified says that once the service officially became a ranked sales measure in June 2017, sales tripled. The numbers stayed that way until the end of the year.
Hawaii has regularly had some of the best Direct TV Now sales figures in the country during this period. The Ala Moana and Kapiolani Boulevard locations have had some of the best sales figures in the state.
The current employee estimates that 90% of these sales were made in an unethical manner.
Buonya, who was fired earlier this month, added that the targets set for the stores "would be met," no matter how inaccessible.
"They keep pushing us to do it," Buonya said.
According to some sources, employees who did not achieve the objectives were subject to disciplinary action.
At the beginning of the year 2018, seven representatives of the Ala Moana store were warned that a representative of the "protection of property" would question them, said Buonya. "It was then that we knew something was going to happen with these fraudulent transactions," he said.
Buonya says that he is among the five people at his store who were fired. Several sources claim that a number of sales representatives have been fired in other stores in Hawaii, although this could not be independently confirmed.
Meanwhile, current and former employees of AT & T recommend to consumers to know what they are charged.
"Check your statements, I have no doubt that there are still people who are charged," said the current employee.
Copyright 2018 Hawaii News now. All rights reserved.
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