Archived How is Target Mobile perceived at your store?

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I've noticed a lot of friction between the old guard at Target and those of us hired on in the mobile transition.

Why is this? I get that maybe it's annoying to have to come back from zoning to unlock stuff, but we don't have magkeys.
 
There is quite a bit of animosity between electronics and the idea of target mobile in my store. The team members get a long fine, a few bad apples here and there, but the problem is not necessarily the employee friendliness of target mobile. The major issue is that target mobile has inconvenient availability, don't show up half the time, cannot keep the same manager for more than a month or two, transactions always take at least an hour or more (took 4 hours to add a line and upgrade my phone), insufficient inventory levels, and the systems are generally wonky. All this reflects on Target and electronics service specifically. Not many guests understand that Target mobile is an entirely separate company, so it just makes Target look bad.

I also fully admit that I may be in a "bad" Target mobile store, but the stories I hear from stores around my district seem to be pretty similar.
 
We get along perfectly well with our Mobile folks. They actually help us out tremendously.
They answer questions for guests, process transactions, and sometimes unlock items.
I actually feel like my store takes advantage of them.

I sometimes give the mobile a person a set of electronics keys to help us unlock items.
I don't believe this is even allowed but our ETLs and STL are okay with it.
At my store Electronics TMs are responsible for zoning around 100 aisles (toys, electronics, home improvement,
automotive, sporting goods, and seasonal). Our mobile reps get a lot of customers that don't speak English very well.
So I help interpret - which kind of sucks because their transactions take hours. I don't complain though, since they're always
helping us out.
 
^this.

I want to reiterate that most of the Target mobile employees are very helpful and are more than willing to help out guests with some simpler things. They don't get keys, but when we're really busy they will gat the keys from the electronics tm to get games or whatever and bring them to the boat so the electronics tm can ring them up.
 
Kind of a joke... To most of the guests in our area, it's just another thing to yell at the team members for. A lot of it is the hours, like what sigma said above. We typically have between six and eight hours a day without target mobile coverage, which is of course when we get the most questions and calls about target mobile and are always ended with a "Well I don't think it's very smart of your company to not have any help during shopping time." And, even though I reiterate 10000 times that it's an external company working inside target, like a kiosk in a mall, they don't comprehend it
 
I don't know why my Target Mobile can't keep a manager either.
 
Target Mobile at my store is generally pretty helpful for the Electronics team. Their Team Leader (Manager?) is really great and enjoy working with him. There is ONE girl who works Mobile though who refuses to do anything -- she literally just sits and stares at her phone for her entire shift. The rest of Mobile helps out with guests and stuff like that. They usually grab a Walkie + Mag Key to help us out (since they don't zone or anything...)
 
The major issue is that target mobile has inconvenient availability, don't show up half the time, cannot keep the same manager for more than a month or two, transactions always take at least an hour or more (took 4 hours to add a line and upgrade my phone), insufficient inventory levels, and the systems are generally wonky. All this reflects on Target and electronics service specifically. Not many guests understand that Target mobile is an entirely separate company, so it just makes Target look bad.

Couple things. I'd love to be open the whole time the store is, but we don't have the hours.

Not showing up half the time: I'm used to jobs where ONE no call no show means no job. So how not showing up leads to continued employment baffles me.

Transaction time: my record for a phone upgrade without transferring anything is thirteen minutes. If you want me to move sixteen gigs of pics/videos/contacts that will take some time. Four hours for two sales means they screwed something up (syncing the demo phone backup to your new phone is a classic) unless you hit our new awesome order verification screen or a carrier system is down or a butterfly craps in the ocean.

Inventory: getting better, at least in my store. Iphone 5s launch was a cluster to say the least: months of pressure for pre orders and then no fulfillment of any gold ones or anything higher than 16 gig. I had to tell TMs who pre'd through me to go to the carrier and that didn't help team relations. Hopefully the Galaxy S5 launch will go better.

I love the TMs and TLs who let us do phones and accessories. I don't want to work Electronics any more than the Electronics TMs want to memorize Verizon unpublished promotional plans.

My paycheck depends on ringing out as much starting with 08008 as possible, along with selling contract and prepaid phones. I hustle all day so everyone looking at that stuff talks to me. Guests get served, Target makes sales and I get commission.

When people get territorial is when it breaks down. I guess if I had been responsible for Mobile before RadioShack then I'd care, but it seems more like backroom getting upset cause our Coke vendors stock shelves.
 
Every store is different, I just gave you the feel at my store. Sounds like you are an efficient worker, so I give you all my appreciation and thanks for that. As for being territorial...the very moment I heard that we were getting a separate company to sell contract wireless and I would no longer have to deal with department 255, I was overjoyed! Those transactions took forever and barely anyone was ever approved. Out of probably the 15 contract sales I actually did when it was the electronics tm's responsibility, I only ever had two that were successful. And we got no commission and those sales took a big chunk of time out of your day. I was disappointed to learn that Radio Shack would only be doing contract phones and not prepaid as well, but that was great. And then when the transition to the new company happened and they could help out guests with prepaid as well...that was awesome. So it's not a territory issue.

I'm glad to have someone else handle everything contract be able to do prepaid as well. Just at my store in general, the employees do not seem well trained, the manager barely lasts a month (the one manager that lasted about a year started as a mobile employee and then became manager when everyone quit leaving her basically the only mobile employee at my location for a few months...than she couldn't keep any employees to stay on for more than a month...and she got to the point where she was just flat out rude and belly ached about everything...and depending on her mood, she would help out electronics or not...which is worse than someone who never helps out IMO), the manager and an employee are never in the store at the same time so other than know their associates' sales figures...I'm not sure how the managers know much about their employees, and attendance is a big issue at my store. The managers of my mobile have all seemed wont to do something about their employees (or their own) attendance. So when we have to tell guests "Mobile should be here, but they are not. I can take your info and they will give you a call the next time they are in," guests get pissed and storm away thinking that Target is the bad guy. The truth of the matter is that guests see Target Mobile and think Target. not Radio Shack or the current company. So poor performing Target Mobile's reflect poorly on the Target brand, not the company they actually work for.
 
I love, love, love our Target Mobile manager. He has been a Godsend to our store. While we have a revolving door of pretty useless part timers, the manager is fantastic. He helps us out whenever he can, and as a result anything prepaid, Beats, or Otterboxes, we hand off to him so he can get points on them. Seriously don't know what we'd do without him.
 
I love, love, love our Target Mobile manager. He has been a Godsend to our store. While we have a revolving door of pretty useless part timers, the manager is fantastic. He helps us out whenever he can, and as a result anything prepaid, Beats, or Otterboxes, we hand off to him so he can get points on them. Seriously don't know what we'd do without him.

We're in the same boat! We have a great wireless team lead right now, I just wish it was easier for guests to differentiate between Target Mobile and the Electronics area.
 
The major issue is that target mobile has inconvenient availability, don't show up half the time, cannot keep the same manager for more than a month or two, transactions always take at least an hour or more (took 4 hours to add a line and upgrade my phone), insufficient inventory levels, and the systems are generally wonky. All this reflects on Target and electronics service specifically. Not many guests understand that Target mobile is an entirely separate company, so it just makes Target look bad.

Couple things. I'd love to be open the whole time the store is, but we don't have the hours.

Not showing up half the time: I'm used to jobs where ONE no call no show means no job. So how not showing up leads to continued employment baffles me.

Transaction time: my record for a phone upgrade without transferring anything is thirteen minutes. If you want me to move sixteen gigs of pics/videos/contacts that will take some time. Four hours for two sales means they screwed something up (syncing the demo phone backup to your new phone is a classic) unless you hit our new awesome order verification screen or a carrier system is down or a butterfly craps in the ocean.

Inventory: getting better, at least in my store. Iphone 5s launch was a cluster to say the least: months of pressure for pre orders and then no fulfillment of any gold ones or anything higher than 16 gig. I had to tell TMs who pre'd through me to go to the carrier and that didn't help team relations. Hopefully the Galaxy S5 launch will go better.

I love the TMs and TLs who let us do phones and accessories. I don't want to work Electronics any more than the Electronics TMs want to memorize Verizon unpublished promotional plans.

My paycheck depends on ringing out as much starting with 08008 as possible, along with selling contract and prepaid phones. I hustle all day so everyone looking at that stuff talks to me. Guests get served, Target makes sales and I get commission.

When people get territorial is when it breaks down. I guess if I had been responsible for Mobile before RadioShack then I'd care, but it seems more like backroom getting upset cause our Coke vendors stock shelves.

Target knows their Team Members don't really give 2 shits about the job (for most of them), so they are willing to tolerate some call ins/NCNS as long as it doesn't become excessive.
 
Our Mobile team is always very helpful. If I get talked into covering electronics break or the electronics TM is with a guest or nowhere to be found, I end up asking Mobile about everything because they know more about electronics than I do. Our last couple Mobile managers didn't last long for reasons I won't specify on here, but the one we have now is great.
 
I'm actually happy we don't have it.

But I will say, last time I got my new phone, I went to one Target, and waited an hour hoping the guy would show up. Even as a TM, I thought that reflected badly on Target. The electronics TM told me the LOD was trying to get ahold of the guy's manager...no clue how that turned out. So, I went to another Target and got help there. When I mentioned to the guy there about the other store, he said that didn't make sense because he had been at the phone(?) meeting that morning before his shift. But somehow between the two, he didn't show.
 
@RetailGirl - yeah, that's definitely not cool. Even on breaks and lunches I have a sign up at the desk with my cell number and a walkie turned on.

"Phone meeting" probably meant conference call. That and group texting are how we communicate changes and post sales.
 
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We don't have it either.... I had a snotty experience with the lady at another store during the first iPad trade in. She called the LOD over and wanted her to side with a made up thing that conflicted the posted offer.

Basically, it didn't reflect well on Target to me having a person argue with me. The whole experience was not very target like.
 
My store just got the big new mobile remodel and it is completely different. They have their own little store just past the entrance where guest service used to be. They are open the same hours as the store now and have 2 people working at all times. They have contract phones, pre-paid, beats, bose tablets, and wireless accessories there. Target kind of screwed themselves as far as them helping the store team in any way. When they were in electronics they handled all the guests who just had a question or needed a game, etc. This kept the target TM free to do all the zoning, reshop, and pulls. Now the mobile people sit in their new "store" playing on their phone or ipads all day. Not only do they help no one (except if they want something they sell) they won't even consider stocking anything! Now it's hey electronics TL we need some tablets & headphones up here. And of course TM's are saying tough shit do it yourself! Electronics is a wreck now with some much not getting done that the shelves are empty and the stockroom has 7 pull carts full of merchandise that is from all the pulls so guests can't get what they want because no one can find anything. And lets not forget mobile gets commission for selling beats, tablets, accessories, etc. and TM's get nothing for selling the same stuff? That's a real motivator for TM's to sell anything lol
 
My store just got the big new mobile remodel and it is completely different. They have their own little store just past the entrance where guest service used to be. They are open the same hours as the store now and have 2 people working at all times. They have contract phones, pre-paid, beats, bose tablets, and wireless accessories there.

That would fix all my current issues with Target. And create a bunch of new ones, it sounds like.
 
Target Mobile at my store, the manager and the associate will help us ring up customers, get games and just whatever we need in electronics. But when the manager is out with health issues, the others will tell a guest I don't that and ask them while we trying to assist a guest and on the phone.When our store closes they use a musical chairs rotation of whatever sales floor team member that doesnt complain about being at the electronics boat. Mobile gets a walkie and a key at my store. We really appreciate them, Mobile even questioned why electronics tm dont get commission on tv's at least.
 
The whole idea of contract cell phones in retail stores is a bad idea. I understand that there are some areas with only Walmarts and Radioshacks as the only cellular store. But the idea just scares me that some retailer not affiliated with my carrier is going to properly program/activate my phone.

I have always heard, if someone buys a contract phone from Radio Shack, Walmart or Target, they have to bring it back to the store. Carriers will not accept the phone or try to repair it if its bought from an outside store.

When I worked Electronics (pre-Target Mobile), I had several people wanting to buy new phones for their existing plans. But guests could never follow the proper procedure. They would never bring in no billing statement or ID. They always come in with cash or card in hand and expect to just buy the phone and leave with it working.

Then Target, or at least mine, never properly trained its Electronic team on how to walk through the procedures of activating phones or creating new or modifying plans. Most of us had to guess our way through it.
 
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