Key Takeaways
- Verizon’s new CEO, Dan Schulman, launched an aggressive turnaround plan after taking over in October 2025, aiming to reverse years of customer loss.
- A strict in‑store sales policy requires employees to pitch every possible product—new lines, tablets, wearables, home internet, insurance, upgrades, and device protection—to every customer, regardless of need.
- Employees say the policy forces them to “slam” items on every quote, leading to wait times that can exceed two hours and creating a micromanaged, high‑pressure work environment.
- Sales targets have been kept high while commissions were cut, leaving staff earning roughly half the pay for double the effort, which has damaged morale.
- Customers corroborate the pushy tactics, reporting unsolicited add‑ons that significantly raise their bills when they only intended a simple upgrade or cancellation.
- Verizon leadership disputes the claim of long waits, citing an average wait time of seven minutes and a new compensation model that rewards top performers.
- Despite recent gains—55,000 new postpaid customers in Q1 2026—Verizon still trails rivals in consumer satisfaction (J.D. Power score 593 vs. T‑Mobile’s 631 and MVNO averages ≈ 630), highlighting a gap between network quality and service experience.
Verizon’s recent operational overhaul began shortly after Dan Schulman assumed the CEO role in October 2025. Facing a loss of 2.25 million postpaid phone customers over three years, Schulman pledged an “aggressive transformation” to curb churn and restore growth. Early actions included a November 2025 layoff of 13,000 workers intended to simplify operations and create “new value” for customers, followed by a second round of cuts at the New Jersey headquarters in May 2026 that affected hundreds more.
Amid these cost‑cutting measures, a controversial in‑store sales policy has surfaced on employee forums such as Reddit. According to a worker’s post, staff must present every possible product—new lines, tablets, smartwatches, home internet plans, multiple insurance options, high‑priority account upgrades, and home‑device protection—to each customer who walks into a store, irrespective of the customer’s original reason for visiting. The employee wrote that they are “made to slam every item on every quote or get written up,” and that managers routinely intervene if sales targets are not met, requiring approval between quotes and tracking every transaction with uploaded forms.
The policy’s rigidity allegedly inflates service times. Employees report that the relentless upselling can push wait periods beyond two hours, frustrating both staff and customers. Compounding the strain, Verizon kept sales goals for the busy holiday season identical to those set in slower months while simultaneously overhauling the commission plan, cutting payouts roughly in half. One employee summed up the sentiment: “We make half the money for twice the work… Schulman has made a good run at ruining the company and killing morale all at the cost of appeasing shareholders.”
Customer comments echo the employees’ experiences. Shoppers describe being pitched additional lines, devices, and services when they simply wanted to upgrade a phone or cancel a line, often leaving with quotes that added over $100 per month in unexpected charges. One patron noted receiving a quote that added a new line and two phones—none of which they requested—raising their bill by $136 monthly.
Verizon’s leadership pushes back on the narrative of excessive wait times. Kevin Zavaglia, chief sales and service officer, posted on LinkedIn in early June 2026 that the chain’s overall average wait time is only seven minutes, down year‑over‑year, and that most customers encounter no delay at all. He also highlighted a revamped compensation model designed to reward “premium pay for premium performance,” claiming higher payouts for top achievers compared with legacy plans.
Nevertheless, independent satisfaction metrics paint a less flattering picture. A J.D. Power survey released in January 2026 placed Verizon’s postpaid phone plan score at 593 on a 1,000‑point scale, below T‑Mobile’s 631 and AT&T’s 587, and trailing the average of mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) at roughly 630. Industry analysts note that while network quality and pricing initially attract customers, lasting loyalty hinges on ease of interaction—billing, issue resolution, and timely support—areas where Verizon currently lags.
Despite the dissatisfaction, there are signs of progress. Verizon’s first‑quarter 2026 earnings report showed a net gain of 55,000 new postpaid subscribers, suggesting that acquisition efforts are improving. However, the wireless retail postpaid churn rate crept up to 0.97% for the quarter, up two basis points from the previous year, indicating that losses persist even as the company adds new users. Morningstar analyst Michael Hodel observed that Verizon is “doing a much better job attracting new customers than a year ago,” though the competitive environment remains fierce.
In summary, Verizon’s aggressive turnaround under CEO Dan Schulman combines workforce reductions, heightened sales pressure, and a controversial upsell mandate. While the company reports shorter average wait signs and improved new‑customer acquisition, employees and customers alike describe a sales‑driven culture that creates long waits, erodes morale, and undermines the seamless service experience that J.D. Power identifies as essential for true loyalty. The challenge moving forward will be balancing aggressive revenue targets with the need to restore trust and satisfaction among both staff and the subscriber base.