Why is customer service so hard for companies? Why do they hire front line people that have no business being front line people?
I have been a Comcast customer for years. We used to get OnDemand, a feature you will see them frequently tout on their commercials. Well, it does not work in my house. So, I have switched out boxes as they suggested. We have resent signals to the box. Disconnected and reconnected the cables to the box. I even did an ancient dance to the Cable Box Gods to get the damn thing to work.
Through the process, I have decided that Comcast is a PTA company. (Pain in The ASS)
Image via Wikipedia
I had upgraded my box to HD and requested it be sent to me for self-installation. (They wanted to charge me $35.00 to have a technician do it). Setting up the box was very easy. Getting Comcast to turn the service on from their offices was a royal pain. The website activation did not work. I had to call several times to get it resolved and it required a Technician to do.
While it was a pain, most of the people I dealt with on the phone were very nice and apologetic for the PTA process of getting my box running.
Ok, now we have HD, great. Let’s try OnDemand. BZZZZZZ “Please call customer service and let them know error 7 has occurred.” Damn – nothing has changed. Well, come to find out, Error 7 is a popular topic on their forum with no input from Comcast in the discussions. The offer the same solution every time and it is not working.
So, I was nice enough to drive across town to take the extra box they sent me back. I could have sent it back at their expense like the agent offered over the phone.
I bring up the Error 7 problem and ask for help.
Unthankful and unhelpful Comcast agent: “You have to pay $60 to have a technician come out to fix it.”
Me: “Why? It’s your service that is not working.”
Unthankful and unhelpful Comcast agent: “I see you don’t have line insurance, so you have to pay $60.”
Me: “The lines in my house are fine.”
Unthankful and unhelpful Comcast agent: “We don’t know that”.
Me: “Error 7 seems to be a common problem and your forums say it is “YOUR” line that is the problem.
Unthankful and unhelpful Comcast agent: “You need line insurance otherwise it is $60” (She hands me a brochure).
Me: “I don’t understand how the line on the telephone pole is my problem and I have to pay $60 for you to fix.”
Unthankful and unhelpful Comcast agent: “If you have line insurance it would not be a problem.” (At this point, I feel like I am talking to a parrot).
I started getting angry. I finally gave up. I said, “You know, it’s this kind of stuff that pisses people off about Comcast. You did not listen to a word I said.”
I went to my office and started telling my colleagues. I told them it was like talking to a parrot, “Blak, you don’t have line insurance, blak” I asked them, “Did they go out and hire former TSA agents as their counter staff?”
Comcast,
Here is the deal. You have a problem with your OnDemand Service – Fix it! Your staff in Indianapolis need to understand that talking down to customers and berating them is not how to endear them to your company. I am not mad that she did not help me. I am mad because she didn’t even listen to me. If she did not have the answer, selling me insurance I did not want was not the answer. If that agent worked for me, I would have fired her. She is a front line person and the face of your company.
The only reason I have Cable TV any more is to get my Soccer games on TV. Otherwise, I would just buy a good air antenna. The HD is just as good over the air.
UPDATE:
After all that, the answer was simply the service I have is not eligible and it would be a $34 upgrade a month to get OnDemand – $408 annually. I guess I will go for a walk instead, its healthier.
modernizing the home with a new kitchen to a 2 car garage with opener. It is a home that has a small moment in history as the last place that Admiral Horthy the leader of Hungary during the interwar period stayed before his exile to Portugal.
