Who deserved this commission?

[Marseeya]

Just curious on your opinion here. It's just for conversation's sake and nothing more.

A while back, DH and I were talking about dropping our phone line and just going to cell service. I went into the local office the other day to pay my bill and I asked about prices and the woman who worked there told me about a plan and gave me a pamphlet. That night, DH and I discussed it and decided against it because the price ended up being about the same.

Then yesterday I came up with a whole different issue. A few weeks ago, I sent my phone to Motorola for service and they lost my phone. It's going to take a while to resolve. I decided then to go ahead and add another line to our cell service so that I could get a cheap phone to use while this is being resolved, then when I get my phone back, I'll give the new phone to DD to use and she'll have her own line. She already has a Tracfone, but doing it this way is cheaper than keeping up with those minutes. She doesn't use many minutes, but I still have to buy them.

I talked to a different local service rep over the phone. Now mind you, at this point I didn't realize they got commission. The guy who handled my call went over a few different things with me, checked my credit, and helped me pick out a phone. Then all I had to do was go to the store to pick it up.

Still with me?

So I got there and the guy helped me more, and he had all my paperwork ready. Just as he was getting ready to ring me up, the girl I spoke with the other day came out and said, "Oh, you decided to do what we talked about?" I told her no, that this was a different issue and I was doing something different. She kept insisting it was the same thing and it wasn't for a minute or two that I realized she wanted to claim her commission. The guy who worked with me just shut his mouth and passed her over all the paperwork and she took over from there, printing the receipt and got the commission.

So, in your opinion, who should have received it?

 

[mickeyboat]

If it was my decision, I would say the guy deserves the commission. But the company must have some sort of rules or standard practice that they follow to determine who gets it.

Denae

 

[mickeyfan2]

He deserved it, but I suspect the company has a policy that the first person to help gets the commision and that is why he passed her the paperwork. Now I could have said I would prefer to continue working with him and he might have gotten the commision.

 

[MBeds]

I would say the dude deserved the commision...

Wonder what the conversation between them was after you left...

 

[golfgal]

I would say him as well. I worked in a commissioned department at a retail store and saw many people like that woman who though just because you said hi to them first, they should get the commission. It doesn't work that way. She is probably not very much fun to work with and he knows it so that is probably why he handed over the paperwork. If it had been me, I wouldn't have allowed him to do that, but hindsight you know.

 

[Maleficent13]

He deserved it, and she is pushy.

 

[Marseeya]

Do managers work on commission? Because I think he was the manager of the store, but I could be wrong on that.

I felt that he deserved the sale either way.

Personally, I think it should have been resolved after I left. Now I'm going to feel funny going in there for anything, as if I should be talking to one certain person rather than just being assisted. Does that make sense?

 

[Kycha]

I think the guy deserves the commission as well. Just because of the girls pushy behaviour. I think you are right. Any issues like that should have been settled after you left. I wonder if you as a customer have a right to say who you think deserves the commission.

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

I'm not sure if they work on 100% commission. They probably earn some base salary with an additional commission. The commission, though, could be a healthy chunk of their pay.

There probably is some company policy that the first person to speak with a customer has the first right to that customer and any resulting commission. Even if CSR #1 talked to you about plan A and CSR #2 talked to you about plan B and you went with plan B, then CSR #1 would at least get a portion if not all of the commission.

If you had realized it at the time and felt that #2 was a better CSR to work with than #1, then you could have made a case to the manager that you preferred to work with #2 and that they deserve the commission. I don't know if that would have endeared you to either CSR in the long run.

I wouldn't be surprised if things like that happen all the time in that industry, though. I'm sure there have been cases where another customer started talking to #2, later talked to #1, and went with #1's recommendation but #2 got the commission because #2 talked to them first.

 

[Sleepy]

He deserved it, and she is pushy.

I think when it comes to commission, whomever closes the deal is the one who gets the commission. Since she was not pushy enough to get a customer to finalize a purchase, she doesn't get the commission. This is the reason why salespeople give you their card when you leave without purchasing something. They know if you come back and someone else finalizes, they lose out on commission.