A former AT&T sales representative is making the rounds on TikTok after revealing the lengths some workers allegedly go to in order to make their quotas.
Essence (@hoodhippye) identified herself as a former AT&T worker who “left the sales industry.” While there, she alleged she witnessed some workers making unethical decisions, in part, because they were incentivized to.
In some cases, that meant adding “unknown charges” to customers’ phone bills to reach their sales quotas.
“If you ever had unknown charges to your phone bill,” Essence said, “it’s because a sales representative put it there.” As of Monday, her video had amassed more than 1.1 million views.
What are AT&T sales reps doing?
Essence alleged that AT&T workers will intentionally add extra charges to customers’ accounts. She said this helps workers generate commission-based profit in addition to their hourly wage.
“If you have any type of unknown charges to your account, it’s not some system error. It’s not some mistake,” Essence said. “Someone intentionally put it on your account.”
Though she didn’t provide evidence, Essence said she saw this happen while employed at AT&T. She also cited a recent Live 5 WCSC story in which a Connecticut-based AT&T worker was arrested after she added unauthorized charges to a customer’s phone bill. The worker is reportedly being charged with third-degree computer crime, which is punishable by jail time.
Essence said that workers collect this data, in part, during in-person appointments at AT&T, where customers willingly hand over their personal information. Once you’re signed into their system, she said, AT&T workers will sift through their tablets and take what they need to tamper with your account.
“They will go in and add add-ons to your account to make their quota,” Essence said.
While she wasn’t supportive of this behavior, Essence suggested that AT&T workers do this because they’re paid so little. AT&T “can’t afford to pay their employees minimum wage,” Essence alleged.
“I had a manager tell me that if you wanted to make ends meet, you had to break certain rules,” she claimed.
What happened in Connecticut?
The AT&T employee who was recently arrested in Connecticut reportedly said she secretly added unauthorized phone and tablet lines to customers’ accounts.
Authorities, according to news reports, began investigating the 35-year-old in February after a customer took note of the additional charges. The customer said their monthly bill exceeded the cost they had discussed with the AT&T worker.
According to various reports, the worker had tinkered with roughly 30 customer accounts beginning in 2021. The customers most affected by the worker’s fraud scheme saw unknown charges exceeding $1,000 to their accounts.
@hoodhippye AT&T payed multi millions in a settlement for selling our data. 📈 #att #tmobile #truecrime #crimetok #fyp #fypシ ♬ original sound – hoodhippyE
Former workers say this is a well-known practice
There’s no evidence suggesting that these fraud-type schemes are widespread, as Essence claimed. But at least one AT&T customer said they’ve been affected by this.
Last year, a Redditor shared in the r/ATT subreddit that he believed his identity had been stolen by a Massachusetts-based AT&T employee. He said the worker also added two lines to his account without consent and financed more than $2,000 in equipment using the Redditor’s name.
In the end, AT&T resolved this specific incident with the customer. The company also reportedly said it parted ways with the employee in question.
Still, some other bad apples might be out there.
“Former AT&T employee! This is definitely the truth,” one commenter wrote regarding Essence’s video. “The store goals basically forces you to make unethical moves. If you don’t then you are shamed and forced out.”
“I remember a man put 5 lines on mine,” another affected customer said. “I was so mad.”
Others said that most sales workers—not just AT&T ones—make unethical decisions for the sake of money.
“Spectrum does it,” one user alleged. “Because how my account go from 70 to 100 just for Wi-Fi.”
“All phone companies, even T-Mobile,” another added.
“Same with electric and gas companies,” a third viewer said.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Essence via TikTok comment and to AT&T through email.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
