Their frontline personnel have no urgency, no positive resolution to a customer issue, and no desire to consider anything that a customer or client has to say.
This is spurned by a personal experience that I have encountered with one of the largest internet service providers in this country – Comcast. A company that apparently is so large that their very own customers are getting buried under stacks of excuses and bundles of red tape. Let me explain.
In January of this year (2010) I moved to Indiana and needed to set up internet and cable television; of which I did through Comcast. My initial contact with Comcast was smooth and effortless. The installation technician that came to my house was pleasant and completed the installation process within a reasonable time. From this perspective, it seems like textbook customer service, right? Not so much.
Not even a week after the installation, the internet completely went down. Now, I understand that this will happen occasionally, it is technology. So, I called Comcast to see if there was an ‘outage’ or if there was something else wrong. After dialing their toll free number and go through the seemingly endless questions asked by a computerized voice, I get this message: “We are experiencing a higher than normal call volume…” This message is a message that is so familiar to anyone that has called Comcast and chose any option for service being down. It was then 10 minutes before I heard a human voice on the other end ready to ask me all those initial questions all over again. How frustrating.
Now, Comcast did send out a technician to see what the issue was and to attempt to ‘fix’ it, not once, but more than 6 times over the course of 5 months. This most recent experience has to be the absolute worst I have ever experienced, not just with Comcast, but with the entire service industry. It is no wonder why large companies are failing. Here’s what happened:
Once again, the internet went out and was intermittently resetting so that it worked – some of the time. Once again I called Comcast to get it fixed. The call center rep told me that “there is no way anyone can come out sooner than” next week. So, I would have to wait a full week without a service that I am paying for and in need of. I expressed my disappointment to the rep and the rep said that they would “put that in the notes to see if they can get there sooner”. Who’s ‘they’? Where I come from, the last thing you want to do is make your company seem so far distant and detached from your customer or client. Well, they did just that.
So, a week later (yep, putting ‘that’ in ‘the notes’ didn’t help one bit) a technician shows up to get my internet working – so I hoped. The technician stated that he felt it was the main line coming into the house that was the issue, so he replaced that cable line. It was working, so he left. Ten minutes later, yep you guessed it, the internet went down again. I got right on the phone, once again, to contact Comcast to get the technician back out to my home.
Firstly, I waited for more than 10 minutes for a representative to take my call. Secondly, the rep had no urgency, no concern, nor offered any resolution except this, “I apologize sir, but we can’t get a technician back out there, it’s too late.” Keep in mind it is about 3:30 p.m. EST. When I asked when I would have a technician out to my house, the rep again gave me a date that was one week away. I was amazed at this. At this time I ask for a supervisor. Boy and I thought waiting 10 minutes for a rep was bad. It took twenty minutes to get a supervisor on the phone. I then proceed to have to explain all this, once again, to the supervisor. The supervisor then proceeds to inform me that there is nothing more that can be done and I’d have to wait. I did everything including telling him that I was planning on leaving Comcast to go with their competitor. He stated I’d receive a phone call by 7 p.m. that night by ‘someone’. That call never came.
So, as I analyze my complete experience with a company such as Comcast, I must conclude a few things. First, if this was my experience, then there must be hundreds if not thousands of the same experience with the same company. Secondly, Comcast puts no value to their service when both their customer service reps and their technicians aren’t willing to go above and beyond for their customers or clients.
Just imagine if you treated one of your customers or clients in this way?
Network Technician
b2Networx, Inc.
http://www.b2networx.com/
UPDATE:
ReplyDeleteWell one week later a technician shows up to try and resolve this issue (the same technician that came last time). Initially, before investigating the issue, he stated that the only way to resolve the issue was to 'catch' it not working. Well, not happy with this 'resolution', I told the technician that something needs to be done.
The technician then runs a variety of tests and replaces the cable modem. He then proceeds to tell me that everything in the house is working fine and that the issue is outside at the main line. He stated that he will inform 'maintenance' and they will be out within 24/48 hours to resolve this. Interesting..
Well, the internet seemed to be working well. Until the next morning. You guessed it, ONCE AGAIN no internet service. So, I called up Comcast AGAIN just to make sure this mysterious group they call 'maintenance' is scheduled. What do you think happened??
After speaking with three different representatives, and using a combined 35 minutes of my time, I was told that 'dispatch' would need to be contacted and set up a resolution. UGH! Well, I asked for a supervisor. The representative stated to me that it is "against our protocol to get a supervisor on the phone". Interesting, since I had spoken to one previously about this issue. She stated that a supervisor would call me back within two hours. I asked her for her supervisors name, she refused stating that "it is against protocol to give out my supervisor's name. I can get fired." I have little faith I will get a call back, but we will see.
Now, I have also sent an email to the team that handles email sent to the VP of Customer Service. We will see where that takes us. Oh, and I also have a complaint already to go with the FCC.
Isn't the internet great!
Lou Everett
b2Networx, Inc.
UPDATE:
ReplyDeleteFINALLY a resolution! After alot of searching, I got a hold of the direct phone number to the President of Comcast's office. I spoke with a very nice lady (an assistent). She saw all of my calls and complaints. She assured me that I would get a call by the end of the day from the manager that handles my district. An
d sure enough, I received that call.
A tech was dispatched out within a day. The technician that came out was extremely knowledgeable. He spent about an hour at my house. He informed me that there was something wrong with the line coming to my post from another post. He fixed that and the issue was resolved. So far we haven't had any issues at all.
Conclusion:
While Comcast does have great products and services (when they work), their customer service skills leave much to be desired. All it takes is a little training. The secret word:
TRAINING.
Lou Everett
b2Networx, Inc.