  PolarBear03The bear formerly known as aaron8301Premium
join:2005-01-03 | Not for long I bet these numbers all get changed very soon. | |
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 |  hopeflickerCapitalism breeds greedPremium
join:2003-04-03
Long Beach, CA
kudos:1 | Re: Not for long said by PolarBear03:I bet these numbers all get changed very soon. Yep, i bet too. They dont want to talk to their customers, which is very sad.
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Fossils, Not Gospels. | |
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| |  Ebolla
join:2005-09-28
Dracut, MA | Re: Not for long I dont think that CC doesn't want to talk to customers, its the fact that dispatchers already have hands full, why should they do there job AND a job for frontline phone reps. | |
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| | | | | Re: Not for long said by Ebolla:why should they do there job Where job? Where?!
"Inga: Werewolf!
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Werewolf?
Igor: There.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: What?
Igor: There, wolf. There, castle.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Why are you talking that way.
Igor: I thought you wanted to.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: No, I don't want to.
Igor: Suit yourself. I'm easy." | |
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| | | | I think this is going a bit far. If these are Internal use numbers then they will get changed. I guess they wouldn't even hesitate to release an employee phone book either.
If you had a legit problem that couldn't be resolved then I would say use the numbers. Using them because your tech is 5 minutes late? BS. | |
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| | |  morboComplete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000 | Re: Not for long said by battleop:If you had a legit problem that couldn't be resolved then I would say use the numbers. Using them because your tech is 5 minutes late? BS. at least 5 minutes late. that IS a legit problem. maybe your time is worthless, in which case i understand how you don't see it as "legit". | |
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| | | | | | Re: Not for long Oh everyone look at morbo. He is really important. He is so important that he can't wait 5 minutes. | |
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| | | | |  en102Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA | Re: Not for long I could see his point though... typically CS will give you an appointment window... 8 am - 12pm of 1 pm to 5 pm. If its 1pm to 5pm and its 5:05pm. there _could_ be an issue of them showing up that day at all, and you may have wasted half a day of your time.
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Canada = Hollywood North | |
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| | | | | RadioDoc58ef2c0Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
2 edits | said by battleop:Oh everyone look at morbo. He is really important. He is so important that he can't wait 5 minutes. He's already waited eight hours at that point.
I know you run or are part of some little ISP, and probably never have to deal with these things (or god forbid have work to do instead of sitting around for a day for someone who never shows up), but sheesh, get over yourself. 
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Toolmaster of La Grange. | |
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| | | | | | | | Re: Not for long God forbid you actualy read my post. I said 5 minutes, not hours. | |
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| | | | | | | RadioDoc58ef2c0Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11 | Re: Not for long God forbid you actually comprehend what you read. By the time the installer is 5 minutes late you've already been sitting around for four to eight hours waiting for him to show up.
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Toolmaster of La Grange. | |
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| | | | | | |  cdruGo ColtsPremium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
kudos:5
 ·Frontier FiOS
| At what point does "just a few minutes" become "too long of a period of time"? If 5 minutes isn't enough, is 10? 15? 30? If you can wait 5 minutes, I'd think 60 minutes shouldn't be too much more. It's only cable. It's not like it's life or death.
Comcast made a commitment by specifying a appointment time. The least they can do is honor their commitment, or if they can't give the person ample notice that they are running late or can't make it.
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Go Colts | |
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| | | | | | | | bicker
join:2007-05-10
Burlington, MA | Re: Not for long And the proper, reasonable response is to call the front-line number for assistance, not to use inside information to bypass normal procedures because you feel you're "entitled". | |
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| | | | | | | |  SplitpairPremium
join:2000-07-29
Cow Towne
kudos:3 | said by cdru:At what point does "just a few minutes" become "too long of a period of time"? The second the hand ticks outside the promised appointment window.
They are a business and they made a commitment to arrive within a window of time agreed to by both parties. If they see they are going to fail to make the window they have an obligation to notify the customer in a timely manner and make new arrangements and if necessary kick the customer back to sales as a save and let installation take a ding for the resulting discounts incurred or the loss of new subscriber.
An installation appointment is a commitment and usually the first commitment a company makes with a new customer failing that first commitment is no way to do business.
Not having been in the cable business I cannot understand why it has become a truism that the cable guy is always late but it would seem looking at it from my side of the house they cannot get a handle on how to balance load vs. force. We do it with both maintenance and installation under one roof. IMO in the cable world it would be even easier as most times they subcontract out installation and do maintenance in house sparing the install side from the after the thunderstorm etc. maintenance load.
Wayne
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If you cannot fix it with a buttset and some beanies you ain't a technician. | |
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| | | | | morboComplete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000 | said by battleop:Oh everyone look at morbo. He is really important. He is so important that he can't wait 5 minutes. you obviously have some personal issues relating to this. or as i mentioned earlier, you don't value your time.
this happened recently with me. i had a 2 hour appointment window scheduled for maintenance. i intentionally scheduled my work day around this time, so when they didn't show up (or call, or anything) i went to work. i couldn't waste any more of my day because of their incompetence/unprofessionalism. i used another company instead. sometimes i will wait an extra 5 minutes or 45 minutes, but most of the time i won't. | |
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| | | | | |  KylemaulLovin' My FirefoxPremium
join:2001-03-30
North Port, FL | Re: Not for long Have it your way Morbo. What this will result in for you is completely carefree techs, which will not help you one bit. If a tech is not going to make his window, the last thing he needs to do is spend even more of his/her precious time to try to log into an 'update' system, which will undoubtedly be overrun by thousands of techs just like him. (Since [insert cableco here] cannot possibly predict how long an install will take, let alone a trouble call.) Not saying there isn't a problem here, just that I'd like to hear your genius idea for fixing it instead of your bitching. I personally left the industry quite some time ago, just because of assholes turkeys like you. | |
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| | | | | | | morboComplete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000 | Re: Not for long yes, the sky will fall if companies are forced to make realistic schedules!!! carefree techs, ebola outbreaks, oh my!
no, what this will do is force the companies in charge of scheduling appointments to value their customer's time, instead of assuming that customers want to wait around even longer, despite the agreed upon service window. of course they can't predict how long an install will take, but they can make the schedule with some cushion in case there are problems. but they don't want to do that because that is money lost. it boils down to cableco's wanting to save money (that's ok) at the expense of screwing customers on install times (not ok). | |
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| | | | | | | | | | Re: Not for long No, it will force Comcast to change the dispatch phone numbers, and it will also cause a severe tie up in other customers being serviced. Having worked for Comcast, I can tell you there will be customers that will refuse to hang up, or will call back repeatedly JUST to tie up phone lines. These temper tantrums will only serve to create a backlog for techs and agents who are legitimately trying to reach dispatch. Dispatchers are constantly busy, they don't have the time to waste on customers who think they are so smart for dialing an internal number.
Hooray, some asshat managed to get Comcast to spend a few extra dollars on changing phone numbers, guess who gets to foot the bill? | |
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| | | | | bigjimc
join:2003-04-21
Middleboro, MA | How about an 8 AM appointment and the guy shows up at 1 pm
I am not important, I just bill out at $135 an hour. Who is going to pay me?
An I pay $175 a month to Comcast.
Service This!!!!
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Just my 2 cents...Flame Lightly... | |
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| | | | | | | | Re: Not for long noone makes u use comcast. dont like it? go back to dial up. | |
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| | | | | | | bigjimc
join:2003-04-21
Middleboro, MA | Re: Not for long Nope...Went to FiOS.... | |
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thumbs down from:
TA63 
| talk to me when you call ronald mcdonald bc ur burger took more than 60 seconds. cry me as river. | |
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| | Reviews:
 ·Bright House
| You are so wrong. They don't have time to talk to customers. You don't understand. In many cases, there is only 2 or 3 dispatchers, and 100 to 200 techs they handle. The techs call them to get jobs closed, or correct work orders. It takes a real asshole to call a dispatcher. Just because you call them, doesn't mean they are going to call your tech and get them out there. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't start hanging up on "non-tech" calls, because their job doesn't involve giving ETA's to anyone but the call center reps. Whats sad is this, if you can't get the rep on the phone to give you the same info as the dispatchers. But that comment about them not wanting to talk to their customers is a real asshole thing to say, considering they have nothing to do with why your tech is late. They are only there for employees, hence why the number is INTERNAL. Imagine if YOU ran a business, and staffed your workers accordingly. Did you know that you can get $20 for a late tech. It's called the ontime guarantee. How about REALLY making them feel your pain by hitting them in the wallet, because if you piss off your dispatcher, you might not even SEE a technician. | |
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| | | hopeflickerCapitalism breeds greedPremium
join:2003-04-03
Long Beach, CA
kudos:1 | Re: Not for long said by phattieg:You don't understand. In many cases, there is only 2 or 3 dispatchers, and 100 to 200 techs they handle.
[/BQUOTE :And that's the problem right there. This shows the bare minimum staffing that the cable outfits have. Here we have these million/billion $$ corporations and they have bare minimum staffing. And that's the problem. And the asshole comment: No, it's not an asshole thing to say. If these cheap ass companies hired more man power, things like this wouldnt happen. And it's just not the cable companies. it's all about GREED and lining the fat bastard CEO's with billions of dollars and fluffing the stockholders. --
Fossils, Not Gospels. | |
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| | | |  Combat ChuckToo Many CannibalsPremium
join:2001-11-29
Erie, PA | Re: Not for long said by hopeflicker:And that's the problem right there. This shows the bare minimum staffing that the cable outfits have. The fact that there's only a couple dispatchers doesn't show anything, dispatch is going to be busy but the calls they take are likely short and to the point because the people calling them are going to know the protocol.
Quite frankly if any department is overstaffed it's probably dispatch due to the fact that CC is wasting money paying employees to sit around any time there's a hold que getting thru to dispatch.
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Revolution!!!... or some such nonsense. | |
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| | | | | hopeflickerCapitalism breeds greedPremium
join:2003-04-03
Long Beach, CA
kudos:1 | Re: Not for long said by Combat Chuck:said by hopeflicker:And that's the problem right there. This shows the bare minimum staffing that the cable outfits have. The fact that there's only a couple dispatchers doesn't show anything, dispatch is going to be busy but the calls they take are likely short and to the point because the people calling them are going to know the protocol. Let's just put it this way. When i was in the field (when i worked it) I would call in to close out an install and the techs were always on hold. Sometimes up to 20 min. The techs were pissed because it would put them behind sched.
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Fossils, Not Gospels. | |
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| | | SplitpairPremium
join:2000-07-29
Cow Towne
kudos:3 | said by phattieg:You are so wrong. They don't have time to talk to customers. No chit you have that right. They are already up to their bottoms in calls from techs. 
Just because you call them, doesn't mean they are going to call your tech and get them out there. Within the first few words they hear (in the business we all use some internal jargon tech number etc) they will know if they are speaking with a tech or not......
At that point the call will either be disconnected or my guess is Comcast will as a patch issue a speed-dial transfer number for such calls. At that point the caller will drop into queue as if they dialed the 800 number just only slightly behind those who called the 800 number directly or if they care off to a sales save number.
BTW Comcast can re-port new numbers into those dispatch centers within minutes issue a memo and cut the old ones in a week or so once they wean the techs off them.
Wayne
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If you cannot fix it with a buttset and some beanies you ain't a technician. | |
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| | | |  marigoldsGainfully employed, finallyPremium,MVM
join:2002-05-13
Saint Louis, MO
kudos:1 | Re: Not for long I still wonder what happens with the numbers that are not Comcast numbers.
As I posted elsewhere in the comments, quite a few of the numbers clearly do not belong to Comcast. Most of these belong to contracting companies of various types, but quite a few lead to cellphones and at least one leads to a private residence (probably someone who works for Comcast or a contractor).
These people are not going to be able to re-port new numbers within minutes and are probably going to have no clue why they are suddenly getting strange calls from irate Comcast customers.
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| fiberguyMy views are my own.Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3
1 edit | They WILL be changed.
Why? Because they are for technicians only!
I also bet that the consumerist gets their hands slapped too!
Already made sure security knew about this.. don't count on them being the same for too long.
hahahaha... great job, consumerist! not
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"Complaining is the least path of resistance for the self-reitchous and lazy..." | |
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| | Zoder
join:2002-04-16
Miami, FL | Re: Not for long said by fiberguy:I also bet that the consumerist gets their hands slapped too! While I don't support those numbers being posted, what can Comcast actually do to the Consumerist? Send a nastygram? They didn't break any laws. | |
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| | | fiberguyMy views are my own.Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3 | Re: Not for long You're probably right.. expect for the fact that dispatch numbers have never been for customers..
What could comcast do? They'd probably change them and move on with life.. however, one possibility is sue them for the money it cost them to change the phone numbers - labor and costs incurred, as well as the reprogramming of all the systems.
These are non-published numbers. It would also be very interesting to find out where the list came from. Internal? External? what?
This is actually a malicious attempt to disrupt the internal operations of a company. Any company like comcast spends large amounts of money to ensure that the customer service numbers are published to customer use. Dispatch is just that, for the dispatching of technicians. It's common sense to know that they are not public numbers.
I can also see that the consumerist was trying to be clever by saying that these numbers were intended for that use. I can tell you that any memo that was ever distributed always includes the standard statement about "for internal use only"...
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"Complaining is the least path of resistance for the self-reitchous and lazy..." | |
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| | go ahead... Go ahead and clog their internal system with calls they're not staffed or prepared to handle. | |
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cacoPremium
join:2005-03-10
Whittier, AK | Don't know what is worse Consumerist posting or BBR adding to stupidty.
1- Not all corps/sysprins are listed
2- Numbers wil be changed rather quickly
3- Influx of sub calls to dispatch will just clog the system, since dispatch isn't set up for 1000's of call a minute.
4- To Comcast employee who leaked this, you are a jackass and just made your co-workers job in dispatch much harder.
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www.seabee.org | |
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See 29 replies to this post |
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|
| | wow I got deleted ... I still think this is a dumb thread... | |
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| | Why its a bad idea Really guys if you call these numbers there is only a few dispatchers and think of it this way they have around 100-300 techs trying to call them too. Techs call in to get YOUR accounts fixed and to close out jobs. The more people that call in the longer the wait and if youre a customer you will probable get transfered back to the call center and have to wait on hold yet again! So whats the point of even calling? there are only 15-25 people in dispatch in Nashville dealing with all of middle tennessee think of the hold times! there is on any day at any given time there can be a 3-45min wait for the techs when its just TECHS! just think about this before calling these numbers please | |
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| | | Re: Why its a bad idea I spent an hour and 17 minutes on hold with Comcast yesterday,then was told a ticket would be generated.The issue is still unresolved.
It's good to know it's going to get even more screwed up now.
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Get Verizon FIOS,The Anti-DIOS | |
|
 HallPremium,MVM
join:2000-04-28
Dayton, OH
kudos:1 | How dispatch can deal with it When a customer calls into this number, the person should calmly but firmly tell them this is an internal number and they need to contact normal support channels ... "hold on while I transfer you" ... and send them into the same queue as everyone else calling in. | |
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| | | Re: How dispatch can deal with it But that is NOT their job. They are there for tech's, NOT Customers.
Get real people. I agree, whomever sent comsumerist those numbers is gonna hear about it. | |
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 La LunaSurvived AshrafulPremium
join:2001-07-12
Warwick, NY
kudos:3
 ·Vonage
·Optimum Online
| It would..... .....serve the smart ass who thought this was a cute idea right if this just slowed everything down worse than it is. Nothing like clogging up the tech lines with idiots calling. With any luck, this will backfire and bog things down so badly that people will now have to wait another day instead of 5 minutes for a late tech to show up. | |
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 wee96Your Local Confederate
join:2000-04-12
Clinton Township, MI | Christ Gee, its no wonder it takes 30 minutes to reach a dispatcher to get a simple box update, they are busy listening to people whine on the phones which they are not supposed to be calling. | |
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approval from:
koma3504
| in our shoes if this is really about being late ? I invite anyone to ride along for a day,.....then you morons will realize why techs are late......you are comepletly clueless, as to what a techs day consists of....... | |
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|  FiLPremium
join:2005-08-16
Silver Spring, MD | Re: Christ wait, was taht before or after these numbers got posted?
I already wait an hour on hold while comcast does whatever they do on the other line. Plus, why kill the messenger? No laws were broken, and its entirely plausible why the topic was posted.
If the numbers will change, whys it matter? Yall 'act' like yall know WHY Karl even posted up the article... | |
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| | | | Re: Christ The numbers will change because of someone stupid thinking they'd be cute. The problem is is that these are internal numbers, not public. How would YOU like it if we gave your information out to the internet and you didn't want it out there? My point exactly. | |
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| | | Reviews:
·RoadRunner Cable
 ·AT&T Midwest
·voip.ms
·MyPhoneCompany
| Re: Christ The numbers can be dialed from any phone. They're public. Saying they're not public is just talking about their intended use, not defining them in some quasi-legal sense.
If they don't want any old joe calling these numbers they can take steps such as giving techs SecurID cards, assigning PINS and so on. (But who wants people they're actually PAYING to wade thru a phone tree? Better to have people who are paying YOU to navigate that stuff.)
Journalists have a right to publish the info as long as it's true.
Employees, however, have probably violated their employment agreements by revealing the info. The only case to be made here is Comcast, plaintiff, vs. Employee John Doe, defendant.
The real problem as previously stated is that managers have every incentive to reduce service to the minimum required by law and pay occasional penalties. These things are all calculated by cost accountants or Excel jockeys.
Often it's not the fault of the tech or dispatcher that they're late or no-show, either. When setting appointments they can only guess how long something will take, and those guesses are programmed to be optimistic because no manager wants to have a "Maytag Man" sitting around waiting for a call. The customer always pays, until they get tired of it and sign up with the competition. Don't get me started on that.
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| | This posting will only hurt the Comcast customers in the end Dispatch is there to support the technicians by assisting them add equipment to accounts, process changes to the accounts, assist them provision equipment, etc... Yes they do talk to the customers. Their main responsibility is to help the customer.
The longer the techs have to wait, the more time they will spend at one house, and then the next customer has to wait longer.
Comcast is not holding back with hiring. They have added to their workforce. According to the financial reports they've increases their workforce from 80K to 90K in 2006. | |
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See 8 replies to this post |
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| | Lets post the Authers Phone number Lets post the Artur's Private Phone number on the internet so when somebody doesn't like a story he posts they can call him and complain. Nothing wrong with complaining to the source and since his phone number can be dialed from any phone there is nothing private about it. And just in case he is working we can provide his work number as well so he doesn't get any work done | |
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|  nipseyrusselNipsey Russell, yo
join:2002-02-22
Philadelphia, PA | Re: Lets post the Authers Phone number uh....most peoples' phone numbers are posted on the internet, genius | |
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| | | | Re: Lets post the Authers Phone number Working for a Comcast subcontractor formerly, I can tell you that dispatch is intended to assist the tech mostly. They are not there to discuss billing and service issues with customers, which unfortunately will be expected by Comcast's neandratalic(??) customer base who will now have these numbers and not fully (if at all) understand what they are intended for. | |
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marigoldsGainfully employed, finallyPremium,MVM
join:2002-05-13
Saint Louis, MO
kudos:1
1 edit | Some reverse lookups Trying to do lookups on a lot of these numbers, I could at least narrow all but a few down to location. A lot of them appear to be contracting companies or cell phones (likely also to contractors). A very large number of them are for Virginia and Maryland.
Universal: Comcast Corporate HQ (not a dispatch)
1105: Comcast emergency response, Lehigh Acres, FL
1108: Operator at Comcast Elizabethtown, KY
1110: Cell, Johnson City, TN
15010: Manassas, VA
15011: Manassas, VA
15012: Cell, Arlington County, VA
15515: Sarasota, FL
15552: Comcast Human Resources, Charleston, SC
15557: Little Rock, AK
1603: Adelphia internal number, Old Forge, PA
1619: Staunton, VA
1620: First three Tom's River, NJ. Last is the franchise manager of Comcast of Long Beach Island, NJ (Not Long Island)
1626: Greenville, TN and Staunton, VA
1641: Delray Beach, FL
1643: Stuart, FL
1668: Manassas, VA
1673: General and Sales Managers, Susquehanna Communications of Lawrenceburg (Aurora, IN)
1684: Richmond, VA
1710: Vero Beach, FL
1713: Richmond, VA
1714: Richmond, VA
1715: Staunton, VA
1722: ? matches 15012 though
1864: Richmond, VA
19204: Fort Myers, FL
1925: Vineland, NJ
1864: Richmond, VA
20001: Camden, NJ
2012: Richmond, VA
25201: Comcast Cable Repair (Customer Service) Chattanooga, TN
2573: Dorrs Corner, MD
2904: All from Hattiesburg, MS, the last is a home phone number
32007: Nashville, TN
3402: Camden, NJ
4418: Cell phone, Camden, NJ
5012: Dover, DE
5014: Silver Spring,MD; Millennium Cable Services of Clinton, MD; Pinkerton Security of Hyattsville, MD or Damron Accounting of Lanham, MD
5613: Alexandria, VA; Communications Unlimited of Woodbridge, VA; Silver Bullet Cable Services of Falls Church, VA
5620: Tuscon, AZ; Metro Cable Services of Tuscon; Allied Communications of Tuscon
8695: Richmond, VA
8696: Richmond, VA
9513: Cell phone, Philadelphia, PA
9517: Warrington, PA
9519: Baltimore, MD
9529: Beltsville, MD
9534: Comcast of Delmarva Customer Service
9562: Richmond, VA
9568: Cell phone, Lakewood, NJ; Fairfield, NJ
9568: Camden, NJ
9569: Rockville, MD
9586: Memphis, TN
9592: Richmond, VA
Minneapolis: Yep, it's in Minneapolis, MN
St Paul: It's a cell phone in St Paul, MN
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