marigolds
Gainfully employed, finally
Premium,MVM
join:2002-05-13
Saint Louis, MO
| reply to Splitpair
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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ISCABBS - the oldest and largest BBS on the Internet
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Professional Geographer
Geographic Information Science researcher |
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Splitpair
Premium
join:2000-07-29
Cow Towne
 ·T-Mobile US
| reply to phattieg
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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Splitpair
Premium
join:2000-07-29
Cow Towne
·T-Mobile US
| reply to cdru
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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bigjimc
join:2003-04-21
Middleboro, MA | reply to yambag
Nope...Went to FiOS.... |
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bicker
join:2007-05-10
Burlington, MA | reply to cdru
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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yambag
@comcast.net | reply to bigjimc
noone makes u use comcast. dont like it? go back to dial up. |
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yambag
@comcast.net
thumbs down from:
3SGTE
| reply to morbo
talk to me when you call ronald mcdonald bc ur burger took more than 60 seconds. cry me as river. |
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FusorFodder
join:2002-02-28
Frederick, MD
| reply to morbo
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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morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs:
 ·Charter Pipeline
 ·AT&T Southwest
| reply to Kylemaul
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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hopeflicker
Capitalism breeds greed
Premium
join:2003-04-03
Long Beach, CA
| reply to Combat Chuck
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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Combat Chuck
Too Many Cannibals
Premium
join:2001-11-29
Erie, PA
| reply to hopeflicker
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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Kylemaul
Lovin' My Firefox 1.5.x
Premium
join:2001-03-30
North Port, FL
clubs:
 ·Verizon FIOS
| reply to morbo
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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cdru
Go Colts
Premium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
| reply to battleop
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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fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
| reply to Zoder
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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hopeflicker
Capitalism breeds greed
Premium
join:2003-04-03
Long Beach, CA
| reply to phattieg
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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smcallah
join:2004-08-05
Home
| reply to Ebolla
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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phattieg
join:2001-04-29
Winter Park, FL
·Verizon Wireless B..
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| reply to hopeflicker
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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Zoder
join:2002-04-16
Miami, FL
| reply to fiberguy
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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RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11 | reply to battleop
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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battleop
join:2005-09-28
00000 | reply to RadioDoc
God forbid you actualy read my post. I said 5 minutes, not hours. |
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