Comcast and the two faces of customer service
filed in Contributing Authors, Customer Experience, Tom Rapsas on Sep.26, 2009
If you’re like me and work on the creative side of the business, you’d like to believe that good communications and a healthy social dialog are the keys to building relationships and ensuring customer loyalty.
But the fact is, your company is often only as good as the people you have on the front line. One bad experience either in-store, on the phone, or via an online chat, can often tarnish even your best marketing efforts.
Take Comcast. Is there any company whose customer service reputation swings more wildly across the great/terrible spectrum? Comcast has been both vilified for its customer service via the infamous “Comcast must die” Web site and glorified for its prompt @comcastcares replies on Twitter.
Which brings me to a recent personal encounter I had with the cable conglomerate. I’m a decade long Comcast customer and in April I found that two channels we occasionally watched at home, MSNBC and AMC, had disappeared from our two televisions that did not have a dedicated cable box. I called 1-800-COMCAST and was told that I needed a digital converter to continue receiving these channels and could pick one up for free—by going to the dreaded local Comcast office.
What’s most off-putting about this office isn’t the untouched-since-the-‘70s interior or the unsmiling, laconic customer service reps—it’s, I kid you not, the counter-to-ceiling wall of thick bullet-proof glass the reps sit behind. It’s the kind of set-up you see on TV in the visiting rooms of prisons, complete with vented portholes through which you talk to the person opposite you. It serves as a quite literal barrier to developing any kind of customer rapport, and gets you wondering why they need this kind of security in the first place.
So anyway, I went to the office to get my free converters—only to have the customer service rep behind the wall of glass tell me, with an unmistakable I-hate-my-job vibe, “we’re out of them, you need to come back in January”. A 9-month wait!
From the parking lot I made a call to 1-800-COMCAST to complain and received an apology. I was told that the converters were on order and should in fact be ready in September, a slightly more tolerable 5 months away.
Fast forward to a few days ago. Using Instant Chat at the Comcast Web site, I check to see if the converters might be ready. After being passed from one associate to another more versed with the converters, I’m informed they’re now available and I can have them shipped to my home. Yes! Only, after confirming my address, I’m told that, oops, they can’t mail the converters to my area (for a reason never explained) and that I need to contact my local office to see if they have them.
“Wait a second,” I chat back, “I don’t want to contact my local office, that’s why I’m talking to you.” A canned response is sent back to me to the effect, “I am so sorry about your situation. I know you’re frustrated, but you need to contact your local office. Is there anything else I can do for you today?”
Yes, for starters you can drop the canned faux sincerity. Then, you can break the rules and ship me my free converters. OR you can contact the local office for me and see if they have the converters. After all, I started our conversation by telling you that I was very tempted by a money-saving Verizon triple play offer I was receiving in the mail 3 or 4 times a week. Hint: You’re in danger of losing me as a long-time customer!
Funny thing is, I call 1-800-COMCAST an hour or so later on an unrelated Internet issue. And, after addressing the problem, the customer service rep quickly switches subjects. “Sir, I see you’re having an issue getting digital converters. Can I have them mailed to you in the next two weeks?” Shocked, I reply “Yes, you can, thank you.”
Sometimes Comcast offers terrible customer service. Sometimes Comcast offers great customer service. And sometimes you get to see both of them in the very same day. But my guess is, most customers only see one side. And if it’s the terrible side, they don’t stay customers for very long.
(Now, let’s see if I get my converters!)
Tom Rapsas is an independent Creative Director/Writer/Strategist. He can be reached at tomrapsas@gmail.com and via Twitter @tomrapsas
H. Leigh Steves on 
Bill Hanifin on
September 28th, 2009 on 12:37 pm
I sincerely apologize for the troubles we caused.
May I ask the exact address of the office you visited? I will definitely share your experience with my regional contacts so that the issues can be addressed. May I also know the phone number associated with your account?
Thanks for sharing your experience through this site.
Mark Casem
Comcast Customer Connect
National Customer Operations
We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com
September 28th, 2009 on 10:28 pm
Great article! I have had mostly bad or downright rotten Comcast experiences. Faulty service, long hold times, rude customer service reps, overbilling, etc. The friendly tweets are nice but don’t make up for all of the conglomerate’s faults and do little to solve realtime problems.
September 28th, 2009 on 10:48 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Hank Scorpio, The Dude Dean and CakeHosting. CakeHosting said: RT @TheDudeofOrkut: RT @TheDudeDean: Digg: Comcast and the Two Faces of Customer Service http://bit.ly/Comcast2Faces #Business #SocialMedia [...]
September 28th, 2009 on 11:07 pm
Unfortunately, Comcast isn’t in the business of providing customer service. We’ve all had a similar experience with a utility company, cable being worse than others in my experience. I go a long way to never use Comcast. There being no alternative for cable in Denver, I use it for cable TV only, keeping frustration to a minimum, and costs down as much as possible. Comcast triple play appeals superficially, since it alludes to conservation, in that all services appear to be provided through one connection, saving the customer time and effort through singular billing. Their wireless service is sketchy; spotty, in high demand and unsecure. They always overcharge, and make up the difference for themselves through excessive fees, and then as you well know, the service is non-existent. They’ve gotten away with their lack of sound business practices, being the only game in Denver, really. Our local phone company now offers decent broadband, effective wireless internet service in a compact and inexpensive package, thankfully. It’s unfortunate that we really can’t discuss these effectively in this way, since local government must have a say regarding distribution of these services. For instance, Verizon doesn’t offer the sort of service you suggest here in Denver.
Basic cable service is the only way I’ll ever go with Comcast, it’s at least less cumbersome, and their lowest price point. So far, I’ve had little interruption and no need to ask anything of them.
Should be interesting to see how things are structured in the future. We can hope that the FCC will better regulate all services to make things safer for our kids online, and better accessible for emergency situations. As far as customer service, loyalty should be directed toward programs, not infrastructure. The wants, not the needs. I’d say there’s likely a valid reason your converters aren’t available in your market; and customer service representatives either aren’t privy or aren’t talking.
November 2nd, 2009 on 9:20 pm
I have gotten tired of dealing with CoNcast. They wont pay their bills, they owe me money. I recommend to EVERYONE a way to “get paid back” If you get a “hacked” coNcast modem, and keep your “basic” tv service, coNcast cant detect that you have a modem, and you get internet for FREE!!! Thatsa way to get them back at their own game. Them going and “looking” for these modems costs too much money, and they are untracable. The ONLY way to get these companies to listen, isto drive them out of business.
November 5th, 2009 on 12:43 am
[...] of Loyalty Truth already know where I’m going with this: right to my television set and Comcast. On these very Web pages, I recently wrote about my efforts to get my hands on a digital converter box from Comcast in order to receive a [...]