door to door sales representative

sales consultant

direct sales representative

sales representative

outside sales representative

Optimum (U.S.)

What is the best part of working at the company?
as a level two residential account executive , I have encountered many different types’ of individuals’  and people.  The opportunity to work outside, no matter if it was in Brooklyn, Long Island, or even Manhattan the point is, I never looked at OPTIMUM and my position that I love as a level two residential account executive, it not only taught me how provide a service to all walks of life, that is absolutely needed at this day and age, it also gave me the opportunity to learn an entirely different industry as I thoroughly enjoyed, knowing that I wasn’t under fluorescent lights and stuck in an office, in advertently being micromanaged, I consider myself a personal character, and if my supervisor or my manager told me I had to do something I was more than thrilled to get it done because I was doing it outside, regardless of the seasons or elements. I looked at this from a different perspective because for 18 years I worked in an office, side-by-side and watched many people come and go, however, I thought that being an investment banker was my calling, and I had a burning passion for it, until I started working at OPTIMUM, it opened up my eyes to the world, because I was never outside my whole career working I was in the same seat for many many years, with the only difference is the people I was speaking to every day, in the same seat on the same phone, looking at the same people every single day, including Saturdays. I consider my transitioning into a new career and new industry was t Absolutely the best career change , and in inadvertently I happen to pick a job I never considered, work because I looked at it from a completely different perspective versus starting my career and Optimum, and possibly wind up being sour at the elements versus appreciating being outside, instead of being excited about meeting all different types of individuals, I would’ve had a totally different outlook,  attitude towards the same exact position if I happen to start my career at OPTIMUM.  But one could never, never tell the future . I have a feeling I was always meant to be in the elements of the seasons, outside where anything can happen, versus being in an office for the past 18 years providing the same exact service  over and over again, except with different people, on a different day, and that was the only difference is that I ever had in the investment bank industry. And I have a feeling if I worked at OPTIMUM 18 years ago, I would’ve been retired or coming close to a retirement in the next 5 to 10 years, however, I didn’t, unfortunately, and that within itself is a learning experience that I would’ve never have been able to share today ! So if anybody is reading this, and thinking of accepting that offer from 95–25 Avenue West Brooklyn, New York or wherever it is that you are hired from?,  whoever you are that may be reading this , if you are working for Optimum, don’t think of it as, oh another angry  client or prospective client that is going to tell me how expensive we are, with a horrible service.  or I can’t believe it’s raining , i’m going to get so wet, no one‘s going to enroll in our services, that is all a matter of attitude and how one person thinks..  there is so many different ways to use that to towards the advantage while sitting with the customer just making conversation which builds rapport, and rapport builds trust, which then turns that, Client into one of the best clients . From My personal experience, OPTIMUM is more than a job, it is a career that if if one was to start at Optimum, and engaged in this type of attitude, a positive mental attitude. You will never think OPTIMUM is  only a job, it is more like a plethora of hidden knowledge and wonder that we can find out along our journeys walking through the career path of OPTIMUM!

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
For some people, it may be hitting the metrics, in 2025, unless one is off the grid it is impossible to live without the Services Optimum offers

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment is what you make of it, to me it was motivating, fun, informative, a huge learning curve for me coming from a different career, with that within itself learning a totally new industry is fascinating.  The culture was More like a family of people that had uncommon goal in mind, and that was to provide perspective clients with the best service.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I had the freedom too. Enjoy my actual morning with my family, then be at my first prospective clients house, apartment by 11:30 AM, 30 minutes after the 11 AM morning motivational and informative meeting. After that, you’re on your own., unless you need help with a customer, perspective, customer then  supervisors and management are always within 10 to 15 minutes away if they need to come and have a sit with you in the prospective client,  offering you another learning opportunity, if I would have to assume, it would be how to take a negative attitude from the perspective. Client turned it into a positive outcome.. that is fulfillment, and fulfillment in regard to seeing a customer, realize and actually comprehend why OPTIMUM is the best service. It’s almost as if a lightbulb goes off in their head and you can see it.. that is the fulfillment that I love, which does not make OPTIMUM feel like a job.  The best part about it is, you are in control of your own financial destiny,  OPTIMUM being the company that they are, ensures if they are going to hire somebody and invest the time to train, the time to learn a new career, Optimum understands that not everyone comes from the same employment, so Optimum offers a yearly salary to take a little bit of the stress all, not to live on I repeat not to live on, again working at Optimum for you, The privilege of making whatever you want to financially

As an inbound sales representative for the Optimum branded line of cable and internet services sold by Altice, I have stood as witness to the stark hypocrisy of this company. During training we are told that the company values include integrity and commitment to customer service; in practice nothing is further from the truth.
As sales representatives, employees are forced to contend with arbitrary price changing models, which frustrate shopping customers, who receive different price quotes almost every time they call. We are also encouraged to use evasive language to sneak fees into customer's bills. The service protection plan is absolutely useless; it covers wire damage, meaning customers who pay for it are entitled to new cables in the unlikely event that their coaxial or Ethernet cables become irreparably damaged. We are told to sell it as a general protection plan and avoid any further elaboration. Many unscrupulous employees just add it on without even telling the customer and quote it is a standard and mandatory fee. Management does not perform corrective action for these behaviors; they are under pressure to squeeze every last dollar from customers and thus overlook these illegal practices. Essentially it is a $6.99 a month tack-on that the company banks as almost entirely free margin. The same applies with their broadcast T.V. surcharge, a fee that was $8.96 when I started with the company, spring 2017, and climbed up to well over $20 by December 2018, when I quit. We are instructed not mention the fee and quote only total prices, but when it inevitably comes up during that awkward part of the conversation where customer says "Hey wait, I called for the $69.99 plan, now you're quoting me at $154...(which, by the way, still doesn't quote taxes or the first months prorate, fun stuff)." At this point we are forced to itemize the bill and explain this fee as one that is charged by the broadcasting channels, when in fact, it is a made up fee that is another cash grab for a revenue hungry company. 
In my opinion, these practices should be illegal, if they aren't already. 
As a sales rep, there is money to be made in commission bonuses, if you are willing to set aside your moral convictions and "screw" every last customer over. Top reps are earning bonuses of up to $6,000-$7,000 a month by scamming customers and taking advantage of a broken system. 
If you are not willing to participate in these predatory practices, upper management is relentless in separating you from employment or "promoting you to customer" as they lightheartedly boast. This results in a toxic, revolving door environment that is constantly understaffed with phone wait times of up to an hour for customers. The most laughable of all is that when customers receive their first bill and see that it is anywhere from $30-$150 dollars more than their agreed upon price (remember those ubiquitous taxes and prorate), they call back (obviously) and once again end up on that hour long phone wait where they are constantly bounced around, aimless, until frustrated, they dial for the sales department and get routed immediately to a live person, who, is a SALES rep (SURPRISE!) and said rep cannot help, unless said customer wants to buy more services. 
Yeah. As you can imagine, for a rep, this a recipe for getting "cussed out" daily. And understandably so. 
I am not an incensed former employee that was cheerfully "promoted to customer." No. I choose to walk away with dignity from that shameless grab-bag. This is probably more of a commentary on the state of cable media sales companies in the U.S. than the actual company, as Altice is benefiting from corporate lobbying that makes it so that they don't compete with any other company but Verizon Fios (in very few areas). An acceptable, and encouraged, last-ditch sales pitch to an objecting customer is: "Sir/Ma'am, I understand that you don't agree with our price, but we are the only cable service provider in your area, so if you wish to have service, you have no other choice but to sign up with us right now. So when can I have a technician come set you up? I have Tuesday and Friday." Bold, arrogant, shameless. Which brings me to my final point. Optimum technicians are not employed directly by Altice USA. They are unionized contractors beyond Altice's reproach who give 3 hour ARRIVAL windows to customers, essentially sequestering a full work day from them while also being known to simply "no show" a job, without so much as a call or a message.
Just another way that the American public gets screwed. 
Eh, what else is new?

Basically beware before you go to work.  You will not get all of the information in training that you will need when you get out onto the floor.  Then they give you these chat rooms where you are supposed to get help only no one comes back and responds then you look around for help from co workers and of course they are all busy on calls so they can't help you.

Not all of the call center agents are trained the same.  The information given to customers is inconsistent to the point that it's beyond embarrassing to say the least.  I'm just glad I did not have to look into their faces and say that I was sorry they were given the wrong information or were never told of the potential charge.  

The company sets up policy and then you are told it is grounds for dismissal if you do not follow such as credits to customer's accounts.  Then you hear from the supervisor that "it's not your money what do you care if you give them a credit?" The manager's/supervisors contradict each other.

If you don't get a tech issue resolved and have to send a tech on location, the customer gets charged $50 charge.  I always explained the potential charge however I believe some of the agents do not. Who do you think is going to have to talk to the customer when they finally see the charge on their bill, and keep in mind you have a call handle time that needs to average out to 300 seconds (5 minutes).

The departments set criteria you have to meet with monthly reviews.  If you do not achieve the goals then you are constantly harrassed by your supervisors or the managers.  One of the goals believe it or not that you have to pass is; TO GET THE CUSTOMERS TO LIKE SUDDENLINK.  This might be easy if they were given good service.  I've had customers make comments about the techs in the field not knowledgeable or rude or just leave after they say something like "I don't know how to do this and will have to get help and tell the customer that they will call the back (which they never do).  

Call center agents giving the customers incorrect information or the agent was just down right rude to get the customer to hang up so they could keep their account handle time down. 

Then on top of that Altice/Suddenlink has hired local sales agents to go door to door and get new customer's signed up.  The sales agent gives them a phone number to call if they have any problems.  Only the sales agent's will never answer their phone.  Looks like the customer was taken advantage of which doesn't look well on the company when the customer calls in to complain about the bill not matching what the sales agent told them.  How can I make customer's like Suddenlink when this is the kind of service they receive.  I've also been told by customers how the local offices are rude, 

The thing is that they were obsessively focused on the time you were on a call.  Bear in mind you get all kinds of calls; Billing, Video tech, Internet tech, confirming appointments, customers in collections, customers wanting to disconnect, new sales and adding services. It was very stressful and the reason I was terminated was because I could not get my call average handle time below 300 seconds, and make sales of at least $1 per hour and keep customers from calling back within 30 days which is unrealistic because sometimes I would see that they had already called in 4 or more times in one day because they did not get the help they needed or they were asking for credits and didn't get what they wanted.  

They have excellent benefits, but you do not get paid enough for the type of work you are required to do.  I've worked in a lot of call centers and this is probably the worst.  I kept trying to hang on though.  I guess I wanted to make a point that I would not give up.

So they terminated me. . . . .

Because of account handle timed (the average time you are on a call).  I got it down to 325 seconds and that still wasn't good enough. . .  

This was an awesome company to work for before the Altice buyout.

There is a fundamental rotteness at the heart of this company. Don't just stay away RUN AWAY!!! THIS COMPANY IS SHADY!!!! I have worked here for a year, and in that year I have seen how a brand (suddenlink) has been burned to the ground. I work (yes I am a current employee) in the retention department. It is the last end before customers disconnect, it is the catch all department, we see everything.  So we see how altice charges people for service calls that tech don't show for, we charge for services being out (what they do is,  say that they have a website or a link to get you your credit, have us send you there, then not maintain the link so your request never goes through, then they just get rid of the link all together. Did this in LA after the hurricane hit Lake Charles, people's homes gone, and we are still charging for the service, unless you call. The state of LA is investigating this as I type this). They also fail to maintain the lines. The other worry is that they are going to send our jobs overseas, they just fired all the American tech support team, last month. Which guides me into another problem, in that all other departments are overseas, so any mistakes that they make you have to fix to save the customer, even if it messes up your money or metrics. That leads to how the management team (who throw you to the wolves, because really the training can't prepare you for the floor) but from your first day on the floor you are working on your first commission check, so if you don't hit the ground running, in four months when you are off the attendance bonus that will be your first commission check. So it could be $300 that is taxed, along side of you $10 hourly. In fact in a year of trying to figure it out by myself I have yet to make more then $1000 take home in commission, but that is also because I will not mess over little old lady's and people who are trapped in staying with suddenlink, in fact 70% of the people say if they had another choice they would go there,  but they don't and altice knows it and that is why they are not maintaining the line for customers. But look up suddenlink and the state of Louisiana, because altice hides behind other companies name and reputation, then burns it to the ground. This job is soul crushing, and if you can find more then 10 people in the retention department that has been here for longer then me (most of the older employees have quit in the last year) that have not been hiding in L2 (proof this is a real person who works there) or got promoted, though it has not been one from retention for awhile, or moved to another department (so most of them are gone). Management, knows they are selling a bad product so they micromanage you, and push for product to be sold that they know don't work and that it takes months to cancel (they really only care about mobile) This is a job that now has a shelf life and it is getting so bad that now they really will hire anybody, which makes more mess for everyone else to clean up. Also, if you want to work from home, don't do this. They can't keep the offices clean, but they treat working from home as a reward, and if you haven worked here for a year, you can't get any accommodation to work from home, it is up to department leadership. They have at least 150 cases in the building, that I know of, though the company says it is justa handfuls, they only emailed us about 6, I personally knew the other people, that is how I know. Just stay away, they have been trying to hire for the last six months straight, because they can't keep people, this company has more turn over then UPS. 

The job is not hard helping customer over the phone, what makes it hard are abusive/difficult customers and management.

A typical day working will be taking about 40 calls or more. 
 Every day they are changing policies pricing, tv packages, optimumwifi, optimum.net website. They do expect you to know every little change and apply it. Almost on a daily basis there are outages and system issues that you are still responsible if things don't work. They also want you to be done helping the customer over the phone in about 10 minutes or less this include TV, phone and internet and even having a difficult customer disputing the bill. They want everything done in 10 minutes or less if you don't complete this management will call and have a meeting with you. 

Management:
   Very unorganized, some managers/supervisors are unprofessional with no manners or people skills. Most of the time managers are looking for any reason to fire/layoff other employees but most of the time is the phone representatives. 
 Managers/Supervisors here come and go they either get fired or they quit or found a better opportunity in a different company.
 After having years of service they don't get a promotion. This company prefers to hire outsiders rather than the employees within the company.

Schedule:
  Some people start early as 6:00am and others go home at 4:00am the building is open almost 24 hours. Working here you are not guaranteed a schedule because Cablevision changes everybody's schedule every 6 months to a year is call a shift bid.  If you are hoping to get an schedule in the morning and you end up getting a night schedule, management will not under any circumstance help you change it. Once they have assigned your new schedule they will not make any effort to change it. If you are a parent, you are attending university, you have to go to church Sundays or have any other activity, Cablevision doesn't care and every manager will not make an exception to change your schedule. People also have 2 different shifts that they can work  a shift of 8 hours or 10 hours, as I mentioned before Cablevision assigns this to you. They also choose your days off.  For the shift bid seniority doesn't count as I seen people with over 10 years of service and they are assigned what ever Cablevision believes is appropriate. Many times you will see employees with only six months have a better schedule than senior technicians/representatives.

Inclement weather:
  Cablevision is not a Police department, Fire department a hospital or even a gas or electric company or anything that may resemble an emergency. But they do expect you report to work under every kind of weather including severe snow storms with  more than 10 inches of snow. Even when the state has declared an state of emergency they still want you to be at work. This also includes hurricanes you are expected to work. 

Job Qualification:
 Cablevision is asking for an Associates degree/Bachelors degree or at least 60 college credits, maybe even certifications like network+, A+, security+.
To be honest about this job their Qualifications here are to high nobody here needs to be an engineer to be resetting routers, modems, cable boxes, setting up emails and get a job here. What is more challenging is to deal with the customer when disputing bills and they want more credit.
They do require you to have a degree here but you will never use any of your knowledge every day is the same here.

I spent about a year and a half working at the Melville call center as a CSR. I've been working in customer service for over 10 years and you certainly learn about the poor qualities in people in dealing with these customers. They were some of the nastiest, lowest form of human beings that I've ever had the displeasure of ever knowing/talking to. 

I worked an overnight shift from 8pm-4:30am, Tuesday-Saturday, which was what I was hired for.  I had full knowledge of the shift I was working when I initially started, but took the job with the assurance that within short order that I'd be able to post for another, more reasonable earlier work schedule. Guess what happened to that? One of many lies from this company.

The "management", or lack thereof, was horrendous for lack of a better term. They were secluded in their offices, with the door shut and they only times they'd come out would be to go to the bathroom or get something to eat.  Management were completely clueless about the job that it was comical and frustrating at the same time. 

The chain of command was a joke. If you needed to escalate a call for a "supervisor" to take, you'd first have to go to the lead desk. Most of my encounters with the lead desk was good, but god forbid if one of the supervisors had to take an escalated call. They would do everything under the sun to not take that call off your hands for you. Some great supervision and management for you, right? I think not. 

Despite all the negative from working at Cablevision, there were some great benefits from working there: health benefits were outstanding, free cable/tv/phone was a good plus, and most of the co-workers I worked with were easy to get along with and made friends pretty easily. Triple time was paid for a lot of holiday's throughout the year which definitely helped during times of need. 

The company is so poorly ran and I honestly question their future as an organization going forward.  Their ethics and way they treat their employees are unacceptable, the lack of career advancement makes it very hard to be motivated when you've already hit the 'glass ceiling" already, poor management, playing favorites, the horrendous working hours and ridiculous expectations make working at Cablevision a horrible experience. No assigned desks/sections, short break (30 minutes, really?), and the constant scrutiny were very stressful. I do understand and can appreciate in working in an environment where expectations are high and one wants to be the best at what they do. However, what I didn't appreciate was being treated like a number/statistic, with absolutely no appreciation for the work I did and what others did as well. Absolutely pathetic and really sad if you ask me. 

Maybe it's just working in customer service at this job was what made it unsatisfying for me, I don't know. But what I do know is be VERY cautious before deciding to work for this company. That is all.

I currently have a computer degree, mentioned it to show I have computer knowledge. Only worked here to try a different scenary and gain experience. Training is inadequate, teach stuff that are common sense and don't teach you stuff that are necessary. They teach common sense things like don't hang up on customers and dont curse at customers, which everybody should know. They go very briefly through the programs to use, and barely any examples and no walkthrough for the whole process. 

We get a side by side with actual employees that know what they are doing, for 8 hours in total for the 3 week training. No video training. Have remote side by side with employees that are fairly new, so they mess up. Trainers mentioned that they would walk us through for first time with certain issues which is a lie. And when we mess up, we get penalized for the mistake. In addition, on first week in the floor we get get help but takes over 10 min to get answers. If we are over by 10 min for the call in total we are also penalized.

There is a 30 min break and 15 min break which basically gives us no time to socialize with our teammates. The view on the company is strictly towards making money. There are no company holidays to make worked there feel more connected. No special/holiday events. There's no bonus, only points bonuses which are basically worthless. 

The tech support memebers mentioned how the sales people are trying to scam customers, but does nothing to stop this. 

The only good thing is the discount for the bills. However your area has to have optimum, otherwise it it's pointless. They mentioned that they are trying to downsize and decrease the size of the billing department. If we were offered to only do tech support, then the application lied. They are trying to merge the departments and rid of the older folks, which I believe is unfair.

I worked here since I was referred as a friend. I have this job a chance, since I though it would have better reasoning. Though I was disappointed at everything in this company, including the training protocol. I wouldn't considered staying of situations are better but it isn't. So far I only worked here for the first 3 weeks of training and 1 week being by myself. So you can see how flawed this company is. Even though it strive to provide the best customer service. If I had optimum I would definitely discomnect, and If I worked here I would definitely quit.

Typical Day:  our shift was established as a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. workday.  We met at the office for a short orientation where we were provided with our daily assignments and routes and then began fulfilling our appointments.  We would meet with existing customers to perform tests on their equipment and to present them with the latest information regarding Suddenlink product offerings. We accomplished ten to fifteen per day.  

Learned:  Customer relations, positive sales techniques, customer inquiry and listening skills, use of personal computers, use of Apple I-phones associated with company software, telecommunication technology associated with the cable industry.

Management:  they were all very good, this company only promoted people to management who not only possessed superior job-related knowledge, but also demonstrated excellent people skills.  At times we worked side by side with Corporate level Vice Presidents for Marketing, Sales, Construction, Planning, IT, etc., for extended periods of time.  They all shared their knowledge and experiences in ways designed to make us better employees and people.

Co-workers:  The best part of the job was these fine people.  We interacted daily, sharing our experiences, offering insights and opinions, all the while creating a synergistic environment where we mentored and supported each other towards meeting company goals.

Hardest part of job:  watching our company being purchased by a foreign company, Altice of France.  This was the first time an American Cable company had been purchased by a foreign entity.  

Most enjoyable:  as stated earlier, the Management and Co-workers were great, but having the opportunity to help our customers was the best part of the job.  Many of our customers were "technically challenged" by their own admission, and we were able to answer their questions, provide updated information and services, and in the majority of my experiences lower their bill.  When I left a customers home, they had confidence that their equipment was working properly, they understood what each piece of equipment was necessary for and they had been presented with service options that most closely met their needs.

Typical Day: Technology Architecture at an Enterprise level, Proof of concept deliverables, Reference Architectures, Reference Implementations,Technical Writing, Emerging Technology R & D, System Integrations, Software Implementations.
I have learned a tremendous amount over the past decade, All aspects of Technology Skillsets, People Interactions, Architecture, Strategy, Leadership, Mentorship, Complex integration, Honed software development skills, Agile SDLC, Waterfall SDLC, Enterprise DataWarehousing, Parallel & Functional Programming, Enterprise Cloud Toolsets, Multiple Platform development, Cost Reduction, Resource Reduction and Consolidation, and Planning.
Senior Management is solid, a majority of my direct leaderships have always leveraged my skillsets in many ways resulting in excellent productivity, collaboration, and timely delivery of business asks.
The recent changes of executive leadership, the layer above, has altered the culture in many ways. More conns than pros for me to personally thrive in.

The culture used to be more employee centric, with an excellent balance of mentorship, positive assurance, good morale, polished professionals with great communication vertically and opportunities for advancement. This has all changed in recent years, everything has turned into a calculator of just numbers instead of taking into consideration human tangibles that makes for opportunistic personal career growth.
The hardest part of my current employment is, knowing that no matter how much I learn, constructively build, deliver, achieve and excel there is no opportunity to advance my career..
Folks stay at their job because of their rapport with their boss, I truly enjoy working for my current managing director, I've been given and taken advantage of many opportunities which has, first, helped the company make delicate decisions. Second, grow tremendously with all sorts of technology and people. Third, and unfortunately, realize that if I stay other opportunities are going to pass me by and limit my future potential

I was with this company for over a year and a half. When the company was just Suddenlink, it was a well managed company. Customers were happy with the service/product and there was great contact with the technical side and sales side to ensure customer satisfaction. Since the buy out has went through, Altice USA has cut spending on all parts of the company, which has resulted in the service and products to go down drastically. The company has changed the pay scales for Direct Sales Representatives several times to make it near impossible to make good money but upper management will hide behind the phrase “There’s unlimited commission, you just have to work for it”, knowing that their sales goals are unrealistic for the sales reps. They are almost getting free work from them. The hours with the job are horrible. You work 11am-8pm. So if you enjoy going out with your family in the evenings for dinner, or if you have kids that play sports, enjoy going to sporting events, or enjoy other evening activities, this job is not worth the sacrifice. Also, if you are not meeting a sales goal, you are required to work that following Saturday, and not get your base pay. The company will also track every single step you take out in the field. If you stop somewhere to contact a customer, or deal with something work related, you are more than likely going to receive a call from upper management telling you to “Get Knocking”. Micromanagement at this company is absolutely ridiculous. This company is losing customers more and more each day, due to its lack of willingness to make sure a customers services are working properly. And the sales rep has to hear the flack from the customer, not the upper management. If you sell someone and they disconnect their services within a 5 month period, even though it probably isn’t your fault they disconnected, they will charge you back that money you made on that sale. Do not let the convincing bio in the job description sway you to apply. This is a horrible company to work for.

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