dslreports logo
 
    All Forums Hot Topics Gallery
spc
Search similar:


uniqs
6004

Johkal
Cool Cat
MVM
join:2002-11-13
Pennsyltucky

1 edit

Johkal

MVM

Comcast Direct Forum Poll

Given that the Comcast Direct Forum is lacking support & customer needs are not being met, please vote on whether the forum should be closed or not. Ref: »Comcast Direct

***This Poll will not be the official determination of the Comcast Direct Forum. It is merely to express the opinions of members.

Topics:
»Direct forums abandoned?

»Direct forum dead again?

**Should it be Closed?




mb6
join:2000-07-23
Washington, NJ

3 recommendations

mb6

Member

The forum administrator should contact Comcast customer support and determine whether or not they intend to participate. If it no longer will be supported by Comcast then the answer is obvious...

beachintech
There's sand in my tool bag
Premium Member
join:2008-01-06

beachintech

Premium Member

.

WoofieInPC
Premium Member
join:2009-04-04
Panama City, FL

WoofieInPC to mb6

Premium Member

to mb6
said by mb6:

The forum administrator should contact Comcast customer support and determine whether or not they intend to participate. If it no longer will be supported by Comcast then the answer is obvious...

Exactly

Johkal
Cool Cat
MVM
join:2002-11-13
Pennsyltucky

Johkal to mb6

MVM

to mb6
said by mb6:

The forum administrator should contact Comcast customer support and determine whether or not they intend to participate. If it no longer will be supported by Comcast then the answer is obvious...

Hopefully the Poll will raise awareness so that either Comcast starts to attend to the forum or a determination might have to be made.

andyross
MVM
join:2003-05-04
Aurora, IL

andyross to Johkal

MVM

to Johkal
The poll is a bit confusing. It's labeled 'Live/Die', but has Yes and No as answers. Is Yes to Live or Yes to Die???

Johkal
Cool Cat
MVM
join:2002-11-13
Pennsyltucky

Johkal

MVM

Right above the Poll:

**Should it be Closed?

WoofieInPC
Premium Member
join:2009-04-04
Panama City, FL

WoofieInPC to andyross

Premium Member

to andyross
Andy, I think the question is "Should it be closed?". But I understand what you're saying.

Johkal
Cool Cat
MVM
join:2002-11-13
Pennsyltucky

Johkal to andyross

MVM

to andyross
I tried to edit the Poll, but it refuses to change.

Streetlight
join:2005-11-07
Colorado Springs, CO

1 recommendation

Streetlight to Johkal

Member

to Johkal
I agree w/ other posters: find out if Comcast is serious about the forum. Fish or cut bait. If they're not going to support the forum, then it's not just a waste of time it gives false hopes to folks looking for a direct line to CC support particularly to new DSL subscribers.

mustang50
Premium Member
join:2005-05-06
Roseville, MI

1 recommendation

mustang50 to Johkal

Premium Member

to Johkal
I voted yes...but I don't know why..lol

Zenit_IIfx
The system is the solution
Premium Member
join:2012-05-07
Purcellville, VA

Zenit_IIfx to Johkal

Premium Member

to Johkal
I hope that Comcast will continue to support the direct forum in the future. It was the only way I could get any issues solved. Their phone support people are helpless.

tshirt
Premium Member
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA

tshirt to Johkal

Premium Member

to Johkal
I went with No.
I agree Comcast should be asked if they intend to support it.
If it's temporary they should top post a closed until XX/XX/XXXX thread

I think one of the problems they had is people begin bypassing standard support for the simplest requests when it should be a court of last resort, to avoid wasting their time.
Also a few CC employees have been jumping in on problem threads in the regular forum which is great but not every similar problem gets the same attention/a bit inconsistent.

jaynick
lit up
Premium Member
join:2001-02-06
Sterling Heights, MI

1 recommendation

jaynick to Johkal

Premium Member

to Johkal
I suppose kill it if it's not going to be supported as it will save a lot of angst for those trying to get help there.

mustang50
Premium Member
join:2005-05-06
Roseville, MI

1 recommendation

mustang50 to Johkal

Premium Member

to Johkal
It's a shame that it's come to this. The direct forum was most useful when I couldn't get the regular phone customer service to fix something.
We should have known it was coming when Steve left. He was the best.

Like jaynick said, if no one is helping, better to kill it then leave people dangling.

Sunny
Runs from Clowns

join:2001-08-19

1 recommendation

Sunny to Johkal

to Johkal
No.

Just my opinion, Comcast had a great PR thing going by keeping the Direct Forum here staffed with knowledgeable, helpful, can do people. Even when it became mostly just one person, they gave him the time to staff it properly.

If they are taking that away then I think the forum should just sit there as a reminder and, as a customer, it speaks to me. They must make these decisions based on their priorities, but then so must I make mine based on my priorities.

Johkal
Cool Cat
MVM
join:2002-11-13
Pennsyltucky

1 recommendation

Johkal

MVM

I had great success with the forum. All of my topics were addressing updating FAQs here which gave me validated info. Now, my last topic has gone without replies & that absolutely sucks for this forum. I need to seek out other sources to keep our FAQs as up-to-date as possible.

jaynick
lit up
Premium Member
join:2001-02-06
Sterling Heights, MI

1 recommendation

jaynick to Sunny

Premium Member

to Sunny
IMHO, if that forum just sits there then make a sticky letting users seeking help know they may not get a response as in "use at your own risk".
jaynick

jaynick to Johkal

Premium Member

to Johkal
Sorto has a good point though, if we can make enough noise maybe Comcast would consider restaffing it. I imagine some powers to be there must look at this forum as long as it been around.

Johkal
Cool Cat
MVM
join:2002-11-13
Pennsyltucky

1 recommendation

Johkal

MVM

Absolutely!

Ref from an earlier post of mine: "Hopefully the Poll will raise awareness so that either Comcast starts to attend to the forum or a determination might have to be made."
rody_44
Premium Member
join:2004-02-20
Quakertown, PA

1 recommendation

rody_44 to jaynick

Premium Member

to jaynick
Lets just hope its a matter of not having the correct person to staff it. If thats not the reason we can make all the noise we want and it wont matter. Thats just the way comcast is. Once decisions are made people lower on the totem pole dont question it.

fuziwuzi
Not born yesterday
Premium Member
join:2005-07-01
Palm Springs, CA

fuziwuzi to Johkal

Premium Member

to Johkal
Even when it was supposedly "staffed", I tried using it twice and got nothing. So having it around, especially now, is no benefit to anybody and just gives a false-hope of getting any kind of support.
rody_44
Premium Member
join:2004-02-20
Quakertown, PA

2 edits

1 recommendation

rody_44

Premium Member

They stopped responding to some questions a long time ago. people were using it for everyday questions that comcast has internal forums for and phone support. I have no clue what you were asking so im not pointing fingers. Just sayyin the direct forum was loaded with i cant see my promo listed online and my email doesnt work. Lots of questions that should have been answered by regular phone support. Some people dont like the answer they got from support so they take it there, even if they dont deserve what they were asking for.

Someone could call out to comcast vic and ask for official answer as to whats going on. He still monitors the forum on a regular basis. Not sure he is willing to let us know whats going on tho. If someone calls him out in a thread (title of thread) and he doesnt respond. Pretty sure that would mean word came down to abandon the forum.

Personnaly, i think they are just looking for the correct person to handle it on a daily basis. Comcast Can be really slow sometimes on hiring people.

tshirt
Premium Member
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA

tshirt to Johkal

Premium Member

to Johkal
Another factor is the cost
suppose you have one fulltime person there at a modest $60k per year helping solving 100 problems a month on average...that's $50 per solved just for that person, not outrageous for finding the right person and getting extra attention on a unsolved problem, saving one more customer, BUT really expensive if it's people just looking for a cheap install or too lazy to follow the standard "call for a tech" first.
It's really valuable PR wise as well as customer relations when used appropriately, and a hole in the ground when abused.

Sunny
Runs from Clowns

join:2001-08-19

Sunny to rody_44

to rody_44
You make some very good points, rody_44. AFAIK, there has been no official word that they don't intend to keep up the sort of support for which their direct forum was intended.

I don't believe it was intended as a catch-all, either. It would be the place we go when the normal support channels don't lead to a solution. I suspect a lot of those unanswered posts in there now bring up issues which should be resolvable by calling the Comcast help number.

tigerpaw509
join:2011-01-19

tigerpaw509 to Johkal

Member

to Johkal
Unless generator ran outta gas the call centers are the way to go.............Also I have oceanfront property for sale in Arizona.Remember the major objective is to get you(as the customer) to hang up.The six sigma black belt time keepers give the csr 90 seconds(this actually is what they look at...call duration not the problem at hand) to complete the call or have their efficiency numbers held against them regardless if the customer was helped.Actually every BIG company works like this,the person on the other end of the call knows less than the customer.Getting you to beg for help is the new norm.

Ever been to those McDonalds with the display screen that shows average serve time shown above the cash register?Thats the time at which your order was taken and entered into the system(19 Seconds) but takes 7 minutes to get your food.The time to get your food isn't measured but the 19 seconds that it took is scrutinized and the black belts swarm over the poor person just taking the order.Of course the suits are rewarded with superior performance and the order person is fired.

ExoticFish
join:2008-08-31
Zebulon, NC

1 recommendation

ExoticFish to Johkal

Member

to Johkal
The way I see it... There's no point in the forum being open if questions are being ignored. I understand it's not "their main job" but my understanding is that they have agreed to answer questions and that's not happening. I understand not really getting to basic questions that should be handled by regular CSRs or even ones that we could help with, but when clearly 95%+ are ignored. Shut her down. Just my 2 cents.
neonturbo
join:2009-02-27
Lansing, MI

neonturbo to Johkal

Member

to Johkal
Dish has a program they call the DIRT (Dish Internet Response Team). They are on another forum I visit. You can use them for any Dish question or problem. They are super responsive and very helpful. I have used them for equipment upgrades, billing issues, and more. It is so much easier to PM them your account number, what your issue is, and they get back to you usually within an hour or so. I dread calling India or wherever Dish support is, and the Dish chat gets unwieldy, even downright useless if you have an unusual or tough issue, especially technical issues. DIRT do not have their own forum, everything is handled through PM messaging system to any team member.

Anyhow, if Comcast would do something similar it would be great. The direct forum is under utilized and it could solve many more problems than what it does or ever used to. I don't see limiting the help to certain things because wrong billing problems can build to extremes just as much as a signal issue could. Sometimes the phone or chat are not authorized to do certain things, and sometimes they simply do not want to. The DIRT team can get your problem handled or sent to any support level (at least as far as I am aware), they have even sent a problem of mine to engineering level to check out. Again, the Comcast direct forum should be this way.

So to finally answer the poll question. As it is now, the direct forum is worthless and should be killed off. No response is just as frustrating if not more so than the official support channels. It is not doing anyone any good as it is. Theoretically it should stay and grow, handle more problems and try to improve Comcasts horrible image.
rody_44
Premium Member
join:2004-02-20
Quakertown, PA

4 edits

1 recommendation

rody_44

Premium Member

You have to keep in mind this is a technology help site and the direct forum was monitored by higher level tech geeks. Do you expect your bank to only use bank managers as tellers? How can anyone know that its actually ignored? I know i posted a problem on the regular site last tuesday night and had a im by the time i came home next day. Maybe a way to be selective is just to answer via IM for problems they want to address.

When it comes time for comcast to hire for positions like this it literally takes forever. I would imagine even more now being the amount of moves they made in the last year or two. This is probably a position held at either the main comcast building in philadelphia or the oaks corporate center. Either of them locations is going to result in multiple job applications given the fact that dispatch and lots of jobs were moved to the Vorhees NJ location in the last couple of years. Comcast is going to want to interview every single person that applys before going outside of comcast to fill. Its probably all related to steve tebow being promoted and comcast placing priorities on workforce.

Hopefully, its not a director looking and saying im not paying these people at this level for issues like that. Because if thats the case like i said noone in comcast will even question him. Thats just the way it is.

I remember when they promoted the lady that did id badges years ago. Everyone wanted the job and it took a year or so to fill because so many applied from within and that only required the ability to snap a picture. Techs that lost or had them expired were without for as much as a year.

rolfp
no-shill zone
Premium Member
join:2011-03-27
Oakland, CA

1 recommendation

rolfp

Premium Member

I don't care about banks; "this is a technology help site", right? If Dish can cover the gamut of customer service concerns with DIRT, let Comcast do it. I've got a post that's been languishing in Direct for 3 1/2 weeks.
said by Comcast Direct Forum :

As part of an endeavor to meet Customers where they already are, Comcast and Broadband Reports have created this space where you can ask for assistance directly from Comcast's Customer Connect team. This is a SECURE area for member-to-tech communication. BBR members with full read and post access are Comcast Techs working to solve customer issues to the best of their ability. Questions about this forum should be directed to the forum moderator.

Bumping or responding to your posts will cause a longer than normal response time. Your post will not be in the unreplied section any more if you bump your thread! Also, please do not attempt to read other's threads or post there, they are not supposed to be read by default. Please keep all communications to one thread, not multiples.

Where's the restriction on post topic? The relentless rationalizations, the, yet again, blaming of the member-customer for failing to meet undocumented, ambiguous standards, all the nonsensical arguments for keeping that graveyard around have helped me make up my mind how to vote: Be like DIRT or begone! Thanks