Advisor Order Expectations Guide – Mobility

This guide outlines important items that often arise during the mobility contracting/ordering process that will influence the timeliness, accuracy, and overall experience. AppDirect wants to ensure that your experience is as efficient as possible.

To be as prepared as possible for your order(s), please review this document thoroughly and reach out to AppDirect with any questions.

Contracts

Mobility business agreements can be created via the AppDirect Mobility support team. Contracts will be emailed to the Authorized Contact only for acceptance. All terms must be accepted via the electronic email that is sent. General terms and conditions can be viewed below:

  • ATT Wireless - Business Consortium Program
  • Verizon Wireless - Customer Agreement | Verizon Wireless
  • T-Mobile - Rates, Terms and Conditions | T-Mobile for Business 

A few things to keep in mind regarding contracts…

  • Wireless Contracts are a general agreement that discusses payment and terms. No pricing is listed on these agreements.
  • Customer’s will have up to 15 days to accept the agreement before it expires.
  • Enterprise accounts (typically 500+ employees) will require a deal registration submitted before contracting. Some providers require a deal registration regardless of size. Our support team will inform you if this is the case.
  • Prior to submission of a contract request, you must validate the customer’s legal business name is registered with the Secretary of State. Validation should be provided with contract requests.
  • Credit will always be run based on the address that is provided. If there is a different credit/billing address it must be provided at time of contract creation.
    • Additional information may be needed to validate the business or request changes to the provider’s credit decision. 
    • Customers may need to work directly with the provider’s fraud department if additional information is needed.
  • All contracts are sent electronically to the customer’s email address. We are unable to send the agreements to anyone besides the Authorized Signer for the business.

Device Contracts

  • A 2-year agreement is no longer available as a “standard” offer.

  • An authorized order contact is sent a confirmation showing installment plans and order summary. This must be accepted before the order will ship. Any changes needed to the order should be requested before accepting the terms. Once the device is shipped, we cannot change or stop the order and the customer will be liable.

  • Customers can pay off remaining installments within or before the installment timeframe without penalty.

Order Submission

All Orders:

  • Templates are recommended when submitting an order
  • Complete information is required to fulfill the order in a timely manner ● AppDirect does not review existing accounts before an order to make sure the order is “complete.”
  • Proper rate plans should be eligible for the account type and have enough space within groups.
  • Eligibility for promotions
    • Promotions applied should reflect on the order summary provided - please review for accuracy
    • These are also listed within order confirmation email sent to Authorized account contact
    • Missing promotions cannot be submitted until there have been 3 billing cycles
      • Bill should be reviewed by Advisor/customer to validate missing charges
      • Details of order information/promotion information need to be proactively supplied to the Wireless team for assistance with credits
  • Please refer to the below estimated SLA guidelines when submitting a request. All requests are typically reviewed within 6 business hours however based on request type the SLA to complete may be longer.

Upgrade Order Specifics:

  • Upgrade eligibility should be known at time of request.
  • If the customer is not eligible, the order will be rejected.
  • The customer has an option to purchase full price or possibly pay off their remaining balance.
  • The customer may also have the option to use a “donor lines” eligibility
  • Upgrading equipment, please complete within 30 days to avoid any conflict with your order. This will move the phone line from the old device to the new one.

Tracking/Activation:

  • Tracking information will generally be provided within 36 hours of order acceptance.
  • Customers are required to activate their device within 30 days of the delivery date. Failure to activate the device within 30 days of receipt will result in the device being charged at full retail price, all promotions will be forfeited, and the originally assigned number(s) will be lost. A manual activation will be required after 30 days, and a new number will be assigned.
  • Failure to activate a device within 30 days of receipt may cause a loss of commission for that order.

Verizon Specifics:

  • For porting your line from another provider to Verizon onto new equipment, please call 888-844-7095 within 30 days to avoid any conflict with your order. This will move the number from the old provider to Verizon.

Timeframes of Requests

The below are general guidelines for turnaround. There are several nuances that can affect this timeframe, but we will perform at our best to always provide an acceptable turnaround time**. Most times, things can be turned around much faster, but please set proper expectations using the guide below. If there is an instance that will take longer, we will notify you.

~For an order to qualify for next-day shipping, order must be received/placed no later than 3 PM EST. If you require next-day shipping, that must be requested up front.

**SLAs begin at the time the request is received, within normal business hours (8-5pm CST). Please keep in mind that some providers require a deal registration process that can add time to the overall turnaround. 1 business day is equal to 8 business hours.

Porting

The porting of telephone numbers between service providers requires preliminary steps to ensure a smooth process. To minimize the chance of rejection or delays, it is essential to set expectations and clearly define responsibilities of the Customer vs. the Provider and verify that the information in the porting request is accurate. The following information highlights requirements and recommendations to ensure your customers' porting processes are successful.

Customer Requirements for Porting:

  • Current provider
  • Service address
  • Telephone numbers being ported
  • Billing address (if different)
  • Exact customer name on record with the provider
  • Account Number and PIN

Process Intervals for Porting:

Numbers will be activated manually (by customer) when equipment arrives. ● Instructions to complete the port are provided by the provider and are included in the customer’s order. This process needs to be completed within 15 days of equipment shipment to avoid the loss of porting information.

Verification of Activation

Failure to activate a device within 30 days of receipt may cause a loss of commission for that order. AppDirect will assist as much as we can with informing you of lines/devices that have not been activated within allotted dispute time. If a customer does not activate their device/service, this can cause delays in commissions payments or potential chargebacks. It is the responsibility of the Advisor to ensure that their customer activates their service/device in a timely manner to ensure proper commissions tracking.

Troubleshooting and Device/Plan Issues

If there is an issue with activation or another device/plan issue, please instruct the customer to call the provider directly. AppDirect will not engage on break-fix/ troubleshooting issues unless there is no movement from Provider Support or if there is an executive escalation needed.

    Bill Reviews

    • AppDirect does not conduct first bill reviews for customers. This is the responsibility of the Customer/Advisor.

    • AppDirect will only assist with a bill breakdown when performing a commissionable act. This would include when moving from one provider to another.

    Billing Inquiries/Disputes

    If there is a billing discrepancy after services have been activated, AppDirect does not provide the same success for our Advisors’ customers that our Advisors achieve on their own, therefore, AppDirect does not submit billing inquiries or disputes, nor do we obtain copies of bills. This can all be done by the Customer. It is the responsibility of the Customer/Advisor to understand when billing begins.

    Our best-of-breed Advisors have told us in unison that they do not expect AppDirect to engage in billing inquiries given that they can be more effective themselves. While AppDirect has attempted to assist in the past, our delivery has been average at best.

    Your customer has an agreement of service with you; the customer has a contract with the provider, thus the customer has to be involved given the billing collections relationship. AppDirect’s involvement only adds another unneeded layer. We do not hold the Letter of Agency and cannot create the same level of customer ownership you have with your personal customer relationship. Below is our policy:

    1. Advisors or their customers shall submit their initial disputes to the provider directly with detailed, written information, supporting their claim.
    2. Advisors and their customers will utilize the legally binding contract the customer has with the provider for first escalations.
    3. AppDirect will escalate to executives once the provider has not done what was promised.
      1. Bill should be reviewed by Advisor/customer to validate missing charges o Details of order information / promotion information need to be proactively supplied to the Wireless team for assistance with credits

    Customer Account Reporting

    • AppDirect has limited availability to run reports directly on customers’ accounts.
      • All information needs to be provided to an authorized point of contact on the account to avoid breaking CPNI rules.
    • Reports may be requested directly from our providers however valid business justification will be needed.
      • All providers have different reporting capabilities that may or may not be able to be tailored to specific customer/advisor needs.

    Important Commissions Information

    Verizon Wireless:

    • Verizon Wireless (VZW) orders are paid one month in arrears after activations. ○ Ex: Order was activated in February 2023; commissions will be paid in AppDirect’s March 2023 run/April 2023 payment to the partner.
    • New Line Activations have a 180-day window for the device to activate on that line to initiate commission payout.
    • Upgrades on a contract extension have a 90-day window for the device to activate on that line to initiate commission payout.
    • Upgrades on a DPA (Device Payment Agreement) have a 45-day window for the device to activate on that line to initiate commission payout.
    • If the service is terminated prior to completing a full 180 days of service from the date of Activation or Upgrade, VZW will chargeback all compensation earned.
    • The Commissions Department submits VZW disputes twice a month, the 15th and 25th, and the turnaround time to get a resolution is 8-10 business days. ● Verizon’s No Net Gain monthly process (chargeback) :
      • This is the result of Verizon running its monthly No Net Gain calculation (Activations offset by Deactivations).
      • Per Verizon, with this process they want to make sure the customer is gaining account lines and not just adding and canceling lines.
      • Examples:
        • 1. If a subscriber activates 4 lines and deactivates 3 lines within 180 days, VZW will pay commissions on the net add = 1 line.
        • 2. Subscriber cancels one VZW number and activates another within 180 days.
        • 3. If an existing subscriber cancels a VZW number and a person with the same billing address activates a VZW number within 180 days

    AT&T Wireless:

    • AT&T orders are paid two months in arrears after activations.
      • Ex: Order was activated in February 2023; commissions will be paid by AppDirect’s April 2023 run/May 2023 payment to the partner.
    • If the service is terminated prior to completing a full 90 days of service from the date of Activation or Upgrade, AT&T will chargeback all compensation earned.

    T-Mobile Wireless :

    • T-Mobile orders are paid one month in arrears after activations.
      • Ex: Order was activated in February 2023; commissions will be paid in AppDirect’s March 2023 run/April 2023 payment to the partner.
    • Residual Commission (recurring compensation calculated as a percentage of an eligible Subscriber’s Total MRC) pays the first day of the second month following the Activation of the Wireless Service.
      • Ex: Order was installed in February 2023; commissions will be paid by AppDirect’s March 2023 run/April 2023 payment to the partner.
    • If the service is terminated prior to completing a full 120 days of service from the date of Activation, T-Mobile will chargeback all compensation earned.
    • The Commissions Department can only dispute for current month activations and up to two months prior.