Dear Comcast, this is why you can't have nice customers

[pbray]

When I moved to New Hampshire last year, I signed up for a one year special rate. Today Comcast called me to discuss renewal options (months early, naturally.)

First the sales rep quoted me the wrong current monthly rate. Since I had the bill sitting right here on the counter, I challenged her and she said "Oh, you must have been on this other package." Then she stated that my best option was to buy a package where my bill went up $20 a month, but I would get movie channels. When I told her I didn't want movie channels, I was told there was no choice, that was the only option available to me.

Then the representative stated that my bill was going up $20 a month anyway, because I had signed a two year contract. I told her it was one year, and she said "No, I'm pretty sure it was two years." At which point I told her that since she didn't have the details on my account, that I would call back when I had time to discuss this, and speak with someone who actually had the information necessary.

Comments

[mtlawson.livejournal.com]

Heh. When will cable/cell companies realize it's not smart to mess with IT personnel?

[pbray.livejournal.com]

It's really amazing. Friends are dropping cable to switch to satellite, or even now getting all their media thru Netflix and the internet, so Comcast's response to a dwindling customer base is to antagonize those they have left? Way to go as a corporate strategy, it's only going to drive us away even faster. .

[icedrake.livejournal.com]

"Never assume malice" and all that. My bet is that this is yet another sign of the company finding "savings" -- in this case in the form of reduced QA staff and outbound call centre training hours. Alternatively, a compartmentalization failure, where the rep that called you didn't have access to (or wasn't trained to check) your account, where the correct information would be.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

I'm fairly sure incompetence was behind much of that call, including the reps inability to get the details straight. But the humor was that one of the benefits she was trying to sell me on was Comcast's fabulous 24x7 customer support.

[icedrake.livejournal.com]

*snerk*
Seriously?
I mean... OK, seriously?

[libwitch.livejournal.com]

bahaha! this would be one of those great customer service bomb letters....

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

Wow. I didn't think anyone could have worse customer service than Bell Canada, but it sounds like Comcast is right up there in the Bad Telecom Company Sweepstakes :P When you cancel the service, watch for them to keep billing you for service they're not delivering ...

[mtlawson.livejournal.com]

And Comcast isn't even the U.S. cable provider with worst customer service, either. Time Warner gets that distinction.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

I used to be with Time Warner, who provided such shitty refurbished cable boxes that I'd have to make a trip to the cable store a couple of times a year to swap out a broken box for one that worked. They also had such a bad a history of internet outages that I only used them for TV, and had my internet via DSL instead.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, that's par for the course.

[cypherindigo.livejournal.com]

Applause!

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[icedrake.livejournal.com]

As an aside, I should add that it's incredibly satisfying to watch the scripts break. Which happens every time CenturyLink calls me up to offer me a *huge* discount if I just switched to their satellite service.

"I don't have a TV."
"Oh."

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Hee!