Comcast Improves Customer Satisfaction > I'm happy with them

reply to Bit

Re: I'm happy with them

I'm just looking at the rankings and see Comcast as previously horrible, close to the worst in the video services industry and now merely mediocre. I then see people trying to explain why saying it's hardware issues, it's how many customers they have, etc but if that were the case, Cox would be horrible as well and they aren't.

Telephony rankings are the same way. Cox is at the top and Comcast at the bottom. That isn't a technology problem, that is purely a customer service practices problem. When you have mediocre rankings over a couple of different services that is a company philosophy problem in either company wide training problems, barriers of making customers jump through hoops to get to competent assistance, very long hold times, horrible automated phone navigation systems, company wide billing issues, etc.

But given their telephony rankings bounce up and down, this small increase in video results (that still aren't as high as they were in '06) can be a similar anomaly and not any revelation of a Comcast turn-around. Even with the improvement, if not for bankrupt Charter, Comcast would be tied with Time Warner for worse video service provider in the ranking just as they're the worse telephony provider in the rankings.

IOW, this is nothing for Comcast to be proud of. They have plenty of hard work ahead if they want to improve their reputation.

Well, you're also assuming that I am saying their ranking is based solely on hardware issues.. I"m not. But, you are implying that it is.

There is another difference between Comcast and Cox.. Cox doesn't really lead in anything.. Cox has powerboost, but they got it from Comcast. You don't hear Cox getting beat up over powerboost being a POS attempt to appear faster.. comcast, however did.

Comcast pushes the envelope out there and gets the industry to move on things.

VOD is another example. To date, Comcast still has the best VOD offering over any other provider. Have you seen MediaCom's VOD offering? Charter? If it wasn't for Comcast, VOD would be largely subscription based. It was Comcast that went to the providers and said "cough up the content".. and they did.

Comcast owes its poor ratings to a few major things..

1) They grew too big too fast.

2) They purchased many older systems and didn't move on updates to the plant itself fast enough. They tried putting in the new services that people wanted with out taking time to repair outdated and poorly maintained plants. This also gives you poor service quality on some advanced digital services like phone and internet.

3) There's a mental aspect too.. take some of the old adelphia systems that Comcast/TWC got.. customers were somewhat already at peace with their service, but when Comcast or TWC moved in, the customers expectation grew quickly that a "large company" purchased them and they wanted more HD, faster speeds, phone, etc. So by default, you get an angry base. (This particular one I don't care to go into too much as it's a conversation of it's own)

There are many reasons.. but, the main reason they scored low was customer service issue along side of price.. know what that equates to? "Value!" ... If you had EXCELLENT customer service and a system that ran well, the number of people bitching about the price would diminish quickly. But, when you have poor customer service and rates are as they are, you get angry customers every time they have to write a check. There is a large system base of customers, after purchase and system swaps, that saw increases in bills as well, so you're going to see a lot of that.

However, Cox, still, a smaller company, can also better manage their systems from the top down which also gives them the ability to provide better customer service.

Further, phone system problems? wait times? Today, a 60 second hold time is "horrible".. and while each comcast system, cuz I can't speak for Cox since I don't have them, is generally a 2 button menu (in most systems) which I consider acceptable.

And finally.. when you add things up, and you've got a customer angry, say, over a missed appointment - which happens in ALL businesses, its just funny how EVERYTHING about a company is all the sudden 'messed up' and 'horrible'...

I could care less about Comcast, Cox, TWC, Verizon.. etc. I'm speaking largely about customer service in general.. and in this post, speaking about polls and studies and how people respond to them. In all honesty, people are not honest when they fill out polls in general. And before you bite off my head on that one, not only do I agree with what I said, many top professors at honorable universities who study human behaviour and polls, etc. will say the same thing. People are vengeful and when angry over one thing WILL exaggerate many other responses believing it will "damage" or "get back at" the company (the "that'll teach 'em attitude) in the process.

Anyway.. I'm done posting on this topic..