sales specialist

retail sales associate

store manager

retail store manager

district sales manager

Russell Cellular

Started with Russell cellular back in February and have been working for nine months now. At first everything was great the pay was better than our previous employer and they had the money to keep us stocked with devices. After about four months it seems the upper management completely changed. Management could care less about what you think or have to say to them it goes in one ear and out the other they are essentially children crying and complaining when they don’t get their way and you don’t get the ridiculous goals they set for you. They treat you like children and expect you to lie and cheat customers to make sales and meet your goals. They want you to apply things customers don’t want and say it’s “included” when it is completely optional (which verizon corporate considers a fraudulent charge) just to hit your goals. If you think you can go about this job doing honest sales and make it you could not be more wrong. They have it set up so you have to deceive customers to keep your job. I continuously have to do all of the work and give the sale to another employee to make sure I hit my other goals. Because if you don’t hit your goals you end up on the bottom of the scoreboard and they threaten to fire you and write you up, even if you have sold more devices that doesn’t matter to them the people that hit  their accessory and insurance goals will always be higher than you even if you push more boxes out the door. They expect ridiculous numbers from you and your store especially in low traffic stores like the one I currently work at. They say they have a set of steps that they must go through before they fire you but in all honestly if they were to see this I would be terminated the day they read this review. After one time of being “late” which I wasn’t I was given my first write up and it was for dishonesty and it was also my last warning if it happens again I will be terminated. I never got a verbal or anything and again what I was wrote up for could not be any further from the truth and Dont even waste your time trying to argue the write up you won’t get anywhere but in more trouble. I used to love coming into work but now I dread it I hate waking up in the mornings and only look forward to leaving that god awful store and having my days off. You could ask any of the other people I work with and they will tell you the only good thing about the job is the people you work in your store. They are honestly the only reason I am still with them is due to the people I work with in my store. I could go on and on with stories on why you should run as fast as you can from this crooked company but I will spare you just know the “RC family” if you even wanna call it that is the worst family you could ever be a part of and this job feels more like a punishment than rewarding. So run run run as fast as you can. 

I was hired along with a second employee because the store just lost two of them. A manager for another location was filling in for the store. He was working from open to close (9am-7pm) Monday-Saturday. I felt bad for the guy. After the first day the person hired along side me quit. Oh well, more sales for me right? Well, after two weeks of horrible training, the guy looking after the store was relieved of his duty at my store and went back to his. With my hours now becoming open to close 9am-7pm. Yeah, they payed me over-time which surprised me but at the cost of my health. Not ONCE was I given a break. If I was sick, the store would have to close for the entire day and I was to be blamed for it. I did this for two months before they finally hired someone I had given them with a reputable record. Two months later I give my DM a healthy month notice that I was taking a week off of work to go out of the country for my wife and I's birthdays. I return after that week off and was given the cold shoulder for that entire next week. Nailing sails, making calls and doing MY JOB (which by the way making the calls isn't mandatory, its just what they WANT you to do). My DM comes in and fires me. For not giving her "appropriate" notice of vacation. Because telling it to her face twice and over the phone isn't good enough even with me giving the dates to her.Also said my sales were weak and not making calls. She was obviously wanting me gone. What should have given it away that I was being let go was that she POSTED A HIRING AD ON INDEED.COM for my position. Which, by the way, was supposed to be manager. I was given the title after my exhausting two month rampage of keeping that store in tact by MYSELF. Never once was I given a pay raise or exclusively given the title. Just heard it from my DM that I got the promotion for being too awesome. I did the training (which once again is a complete joke) which is a requirement and never had anything done about it. HR didn't even know I was up for the promotion. So if you currently work RC, and want a management position. You better have a real dark brown nose or you won't see anything come from it. Also, "Manager" just means "Key Holder". Your District Manager is the manager of the store, you just look after it. You're still just a measly little sales representative that won't make it any further than that.

My experience at Russell Cellular still weighs heavily on me. I went in hopeful, motivated, and determined to make a difference. I started as a rep and moved up simply because I never said “no” to my boss, not because I was nurtured or supported, but because that obedience was the only thing they seemed to value.

What hurts the most is that I loved helping people. I gave everything I had to my customers. I helped every person who walked through the door, even when it didn’t pay or even when it meant staying late, skipping breaks, or doing work no one else wanted to do. I built a reputation in the community as the person who could actually fix things: smartphones, tablets, accounts, whatever they needed. People trusted me. And I earned that trust by going above and beyond, sometimes literally paying out of my own pocket to correct mistakes that other stores refused to take responsibility for. My customers loved me, and I loved being able to show up for them.

But the deeper I got into the company, the more that spirit was crushed. Russell Cellular loves to preach that their motto is to sell with integrity, yet as a manager I was repeatedly told to do the opposite. The DSM and RM pushed practices that felt blatantly unethical, like telling customers that insurance is “mandatory for 30 days” just so we could hit KPIs. It wasn’t true ( isn't true ), and it felt like a betrayal to every person who trusted me. I was put in positions where I had to choose between my morals and my job.

And when I started choosing myself, my well being, my family and the customer, I was suddenly written up for random, petty things, like I was being punished for not destroying myself for the company. The message was loud and clear: the moment you stop breaking yourself for them, you’re disposable.

By the end, I felt completely drained. I had so much heart for what I did, and it was heartbreaking to be essentially barred from helping people the way I knew they deserved. The very thing that made me good at my job, genuine care, was treated like an inconvenience.

There were countless other issues, but they all pointed to the same truth: numbers mattered more than integrity, more than customers, more than employees. I can only speak from my own experience, but it broke my spirit in ways I didn’t expect. Leaving was a relief, but the disappointment still lingers

As a sales rep at one of the stores, I like the coworkers and store manager and how the treat me, and how we are a team to try to get things done. The benefits are alright with vision and dental, but the healthcare is pretty high and you can find cheaper options not provided by Russell Cellular. The biggest benefit in my opinion would be getting 50% off the service of your phone, which can save you about 50-200 bucks a month depending on how many active lines you have on your account. Higher management on the other hand puts too much pressure on the store managers and employees for not over selling to customers who clearly do not want to purchase anything or have a set thing they want. Whatever you do, it is never ever enough and it does not satisfy their expectations, and it is very discouraging, and they do not offer other solutions to help the teams get to their sales goals. There was very limited training after your first 2 weeks, and they kind of throw you into the deep end once your out of training. Yes there is call centers to call about certain scenarios, but they make you sound stupid whenever you ask questions and it is very hard to help out customers when you do not have a clear answer to all their questions.

Overall, the pay could definitely be better considering us as sales reps take the blunt end of any anger customer that walks in after being on the phone with customer service. They start you at minimum wage + commission, but unless you hit very difficult and outrageous goals, you will not be seeing any checks that larger than an employee at a fast food restaurant. There is not much growth either at the stores, and even if there was, the training for opening positions is limited and not very helpful.

I love the benefits and coworkers, but the district management is overbearing and micromanage, the pay is not reasonable and commission goals are impossible to hit at most locations, and the training and help you get is not enough to where you feel confident as a salesman.

I am still fairly new here so my rating may change over time, but I don't see that happening with the experience I have had so far. I think the most important part since working here in the IT department is the opportunity they gave me unlike other companies. It was a warm and welcoming environment from the beginning, working alongside amazing people and looking forward to going into work everyday is an entirely new experience for me. Even with a degree in an IT related field, I had a very hard time finding a job. Russell Cellular gave me the opportunity I needed and I am learning every single day and loving every part of this company. They give back to the community and truly care about there employees. The starting wage is not the best but it oversees the hands-on experience and opportunity that you get and it is just a "starting" wage to be fair, I see it as the beginning of my career. You do not need any experience to work in the IT department here which is very rare. This department in particular provides many opportunities to advance in your career and I am eternally grateful I get to do what I do. I can have the most difficult start of my day and then go into work and my whole mindset changes because of my coworkers and just an overall fun environment to work in. I have learned a vast majority of skills within my short time of being here and a few examples are network troubleshooting, PC troubleshooting, user-account controls, firewall management, command line interfaces and so much more. The management here is organized, caring, and always willing to answer any questions you may have and they even provide feedback after each week regarding what you did well on, what you can improve on, and so on. Additionally, the culture here is like no other and wherever you may come from there is no judgement and you will fit right in to the team. Lastly, the most difficult part of the job would be the amount of work you have to do and trying to get ahold of different stores to help with whatever technical issues they may have. 

So where to begin. I had high expectations when I was hired on for this job but quickly realized that I made the wrong decisions. They would train you but it was more of a "figure it out on your own" approach. Manager would be "surprised" that you show up because I guess people have quit before (smart decision) you have to sell ALOT which is a good goal to have but also the commission is low you the goals are set so high it's hard to reach especially if they are cutthroat. Oh and speaking of that, it's the worst. You'll be talking to a customer at the desk and someone who you think is "helping you" but in reality they are selling a tablet thinking they are helping you sell then make you put the sale in their name while YOU set it up for them, yep talk about a great "team" environment! It's shady and quite frankly makes you look desperate for a little bit of money just to make a sale and it shows just how pathetic you are. Breaks are fine but they are short. You have to go and market businesses and homes. People I worked with are the worst, make you feel dumb and not belong on the team like you're beneath them. This company is all about making the "team" better but in reality they only care for themselves and not even try to make you better. When you do voice your concerns to managment, that also gets ignored. This is the worst authorized retailer Verizon has and it's a joke that they really think they have the best interest for the products and also they complain about every customer that comes in like they're better than them and talk down about them. I know it is tough to get on at a corporate store but you're better off doing that. This company is fake and a joke to work for and it took my love for wireless sales away and made me hate the business. If you want to work there then by all means do it. But me personally I wouldn't even take the chance. Managment only cares about themselves and numbers. Good luck with getting  time off because that won't happen and integrity is nonexistent because they have none. I wouldn't recommend this job to no one. PLEASE STAY AWAY!!!

I came into this company during a recent acquisition of multiple stores. We were promised better opportunities and better pay. At first, the pay plus commission was great; however, this was mainly due to the fact that most of our employees were forced to work over 50 hours a week as we were short staffed. Even employees who were considered part-time (college students) would find themselves working full-time hours. Many people were stuck working alone/mostly alone for six days a week, from before open to after close, with no lunch break in between. Although the stores were short-staffed, they also planned on extending hours. This caused a severe lack of work-life balance. 

We were constantly being threatened to have our payroll adjusted and money taken from our paychecks if deposits were not submitted to the bank by a certain time, yet there were many days where our stores only had one person. Therefore, we were either forced to come in even earlier than we already did or we had to close the store down in the middle of the day, causing customers to complain. 

We also had unattainable quotas for the month. Being mainly in a slower store, and only working three days a week, there was little-to-no leniency on what I had to sell. I was unable to hit most of my goals, which seemed extremely high for a store that saw 5-10 (maximum) customers a day.

Since I was part-time (college student) when the acquisition occurred, I was offered two weeks of vacation time due to my tenure so long as I became full-time by a certain date. I had finals the week they expected me to become full-time but was told not to worry. I didn't think anything of it, assuming they were going to extend my deadline and I would still qualify for my vacation time. Unfortunately, those benefits were taken away. 

Luckily, the management and other employees were great, but that was because many of these people were employees from the acquisition rather than new hires or a person from Russell Cellular. And all of us were unfortunately in the same boat.

I am a single mother who goes to college full-time and also works for Russell Cellular full-time. I have been here just over five years, and I love the people in my store, as well as my District Manager. Without my Store Manager, I would never have been able to work around a school schedule. However, this company as a whole does not seem to care at all about family, despite how they advertise themselves. They are constantly changing the structure of the commission compensation plan, and when minimum wage laws change, only those below the minimum wage see any update to their pay. Regardless of the time put in at this company, each employee is subject to a three month rule. If you don’t hit the “quality” sales goals the company sets for you three months in a row, you are gone. I am looking for a more family friendly and financially consistent job currently. 

My favorite parts of the job, apart from the wonderful people I am blessed to work with in the store, are the interactions with customers. We assist with everything from typical technical support and bill payments to app support when time permits and offer account analysis with each customer. I love the connections I have made here, and I will miss my customers and coworkers when the day finally comes that I am no longer employed here.

Management is a joke. People are promoted based on who they know and personal relationships rather than on goals or work ethic, while most managers don't know how to professionally relate to or manage their employees and often have less knowledge of the products and systems used in the work place than the people under them. The managers teach sleazy and dishonest sales pitches for Example: "When you do an upgrade just add the insurance and tell them it 'comes with the upgrade' no matter what and they can cancel it off the plan after 14 days (which is after the commission check comes for the transaction) which results in customers returning their purchases and doing business elsewhere feeling taken advantage of and lied to (A District Manager himself taught this method.) Many useless and tedious policies resulting in "Mandatory write ups" constantly that they state "comes from their headquarters" when its obvious it's for personal reasons and never go through any kind of review or approval policy and also no way to contest it when employees feel it was wrongfully issued. Russell doesn't care about employees (With years of sales experience or not)  and will let people go to replace them with someone with NO sales experience for any reason they can make up to get someone who will just shutup and brown-nose. Commission payout structure is very low and store bonus is impossible to hit based on the goal to customer traffic ratio while most employees are hired with no sales experience and don't get any kind of decent training before being thrown to the wolves only to just get "performance improvement plan" after only their first week. If your store never hits all it's goals you will probably average $11-$12 an hour once commission payout is added. There is WAY better wireless sales companies to work for...

After being employed for nearly 2 years by Russell Cellular, I was terminated. The new DSM for our area was very driven as a store manager but lacked the ability to advocate when needed in the new DSM role. I used to love going to into work every single day because it was always a great atmosphere & positive attitudes from all team members. However, a couple of months prior to my departure, the way commission was earned was changed & the only way to earn ANY bonuses was to show a Year over Year increase of 10% as an individual as well as a store. Usually, this wouldn't have been an issue. However, the Verizon company decided to allow another indirect store to open less than a quarter mile down the street. Then, two months prior to their grand opening our RSM decided it was a grand idea for our store to have 2 additional reps (not taking into consideration that the new store was going to take some of the business). Well, once the new store opened it was multiple months of none to minimal commission due to the fact that all goals remained the exact same even with 2 additional reps and the new store so close by. It was very disappointing when we went from the #3 store in the company to nearly the 50th because Russell Cellular made it impossible to reach goals and completely disregarded any of the new factors that had taken place. Not to mention that both the RSM & DSM refused to listen to any of the reps or SSTM when the issue was addressed. They both blamed the reps for lack of proper marketing. Although, all reps were passing out flyers, making phone calls & posting on personal social media; it was not to their standards it seemed. I would NOT suggest the company to anyone unless there was new upper management.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Sales specialist 3221 salaries reported	$15.75 per hour
Retail sales associate 10 salaries reported	$1,350 per week
Store manager 185 salaries reported	$19.29 per hour
Retail store manager 9 salaries reported	$17.22 per hour
District sales manager 96 salaries reported	$55,596 per year

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