Worst customer service ever - Comcast in the US

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jarledb

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#150282 17-Jul-2014 12:04

Wow, I have had some bad conversations with customer service, but this is really off the charts bad.

Happy I don't have an ISP that does this when you want to switch service:

https://soundcloud.com/ryan-block-10/comcastic-service

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#1090610 17-Jul-2014 12:09

FYI Ryan Block was the second employee of Engadget, and basically a founder of it.

I recognised him from his voice, many hours of listening to him and Peter Rojas on the early Engadget podcast.

Basically, don't mess with him.

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jarledb

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#1090612 17-Jul-2014 12:11

I am amazed he is able to stay calm. I am not sure I would have been able to stay as calm through that..

Dratsab

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#1090620 17-Jul-2014 12:19

Listened to this yesterday - could hardly believe what I was hearing!

SaltyNZ

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#1090624 17-Jul-2014 12:26

A Reddit thread about it has a post from a former analyst for Comcast. TL;DR just as you expect, the behaviour on the phone is not only directly incentivised by the remuneration structure of those agents, but other even more evil stuff is too, such as a 3-5% rise in charges every year, even though costs actually *fall*.

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trig42

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#1090626 17-Jul-2014 12:29

I can't believe his patience.
I would have lost my rag long before that. Maybe just telling him you were recording it for posting on the internet. He would have shut up pretty quick I think.

sidefx

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#1090629 17-Jul-2014 12:32

Summary or transcription for those of us who can't listen to it now please? :) (actually the link 404s for me)

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andrewNZ

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#1090640 17-Jul-2014 12:53

Summary:
Why do you want to cancel
I'm not saying
Why do you want to cancel
I'm not saying
Why do you want to cancel
I'm not saying can you please just cancel my service
Why do you want to cancel
Can you please just cancel my service
Why do you want to cancel
Can you please just cancel my service
Why do you want to cancel
I'm not saying can you please just cancel my service
Why do you want to cancel

Most of involves the CSR actively talking over the customer.
Listening to it made me furious. I imagine if Comcast stopped this behaviour, gun crimes would plummet.

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#1090642 17-Jul-2014 12:57

I lasted 1 minute 13 seconds before I had to stop listening. Just ugly to say the least

meesham

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#1090656 17-Jul-2014 13:16

SaltyNZ: A Reddit thread about it has a post from a former analyst for Comcast. TL;DR just as you expect, the behaviour on the phone is not only directly incentivised by the remuneration structure of those agents, but other even more evil stuff is too, such as a 3-5% rise in charges every year, even though costs actually *fall*.

That was a pretty amazing post (assuming it's true). The bit about the employee being penalised financially for customers actually going through with the cancellation was the biggest surprise.

mattwnz

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#1090674 17-Jul-2014 13:38

I think it reflects worse on the company than the employee. The employee was obviously part of their retention team, so his job was to try and retain the customer from leaving. The problem was that he was useless at it. He should have picked up that it would have been a hopeless task from the first couple of minutes, and just processed the cancellation, or directed the customer to a website form to fill out. I have experienced similar things when canceling from retention teams, but not to that extent. But you have to remember that one bad staff member doesn't mean that a company is bad, people are only human and make mistakes.

jarledb

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#1091120 17-Jul-2014 23:52

sidefx: Summary or transcription for those of us who can't listen to it now please? :) (actually the link 404s for me)

Thats strange, are you on Comcast? ;)

Here is the note that Ryan posted with the recording:

Please note: this conversation starts about 10 minutes in -- by this point my wife and I are both completely flustered by the oppressiveness of the rep.

So! Last week my wife called to disconnect our service with Comcast after we switched to another provider (Astound). We were transferred to cancellations (aka "customer retention").

The representative (name redacted) continued aggressively repeating his questions, despite the answers given, to the point where my wife became so visibly upset she handed me the phone. Overhearing the conversation, I knew this would not be very fun.

What I did not know is how oppressive this conversation would be. Within just a few minutes the representative had gotten so condescending and unhelpful I felt compelled to record the speakerphone conversation on my other phone.

This recording picks up roughly 10 minutes into the call, whereby she and I have already played along and given a myriad of reasons and explanations as to why we are canceling (which is why I simply stopped answering the rep's repeated question -- it was clear the only sufficient answer was "Okay, please don't disconnect our service after all.").

Please forgive the echoing and ratcheting sound, I was screwing together some speaker wires in an empty living room!

Coil

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#1091126 18-Jul-2014 00:18

He is the worlds most persistent retention agent.
I am sure those "Microsoft" callers have less patience and persistence.

Batman

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#1091176 18-Jul-2014 08:28

humans being humans. good days and bad days. some people are nicer some aren't so nice. moving along? (if he was top notch he wouldn't be a CSR eh)

nigelj

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#1091383 18-Jul-2014 13:16

SaltyNZ: A Reddit thread about it has a post from a former analyst for Comcast. TL;DR just as you expect, the behaviour on the phone is not only directly incentivised by the remuneration structure of those agents, but other even more evil stuff is too, such as a 3-5% rise in charges every year, even though costs actually *fall*.

Likely the most interesting post from that Reddit Thread about how Comcast operates was http://np.reddit.com/r/television/comments/2arg1k/comcasts_customer_service_nightmare_is_painful_to/ciy33bx really it didn't surprise me but there was still room for my jaw to drop.

andrewNZ

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#1091390 18-Jul-2014 13:27

TimA: He is the worlds most persistent retention agent.
I am sure those "Microsoft" callers have less patience and persistence.

That's a phone battle I'd like to hear! (Him vs a "Microsoft" caller)

Sir, do you see your start button.
Can you tell me why you need to know that.
Sir, do you see your start button, it's in the bottom left corner.
I'm just trying to understand.... why you'd want to know that.

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