Comcast XFINITY → [CustSvc] Going viral - customer trying to cancel service but .....!

This is pretty funny about the customer getting grilled before he can have service(s) cancelled. It's all over the internet in various forms:

»consumerist.com/2014/07/ ··· account/

I hate to be on the side of CC here, but was it really so hard to state why? There is a good reason for them to collect that data to "improve service".*

*If it actually does anything, I doubt it.

Still, the CSR should have dropped it and disconnected it after the first few back-and-fourths between the customer.

Yeah, if they want that data, they can pay for it, considering what Comcast charges its customers.

I didn't know John at AOL works for Comcast now. :P

(The irony: Ryan Block works for AOL)

Why tell the truth on a call like that?

I might have answered "the repairman who came to our house had his shoelaces untied and that was unprofessional".

Or maybe "my fortune-teller told me that Comcast is due for a fall and I want to avoid it"

Or "Feng Shui masters suggest that Comcast is upsetting my inner balance"

The guy in the Consumerist article should have been more creative.

Or maybe......

»www.youtube.com/watch?v= ··· GmF_ZnJo

looks like you scooped the front page

»Listen as Comcast Simply Refuses to Let You Cancel Service [124] comments

in all seriousness... this is pretty appalling.

It's disgusting, but are any of us really that surprised?

 
If the customer does not want to give a reason, the customer does not have to give a reason. Period.

There have been a couple of times where I called to cancel a service, and when I was asked why, I simply started that I just want my service cancelled.

The rep then said OK, and cancelled the service.

That is how it should work.

Comcast does not have any right whatsoever in demanding a reason why the service was being cancelled.

Oh crap ! I didn't know it was there (e.g. didn't look). Sorry. Feel free to have a mod delete this.

Your post was up way before the front page post.

 
Following the link back to the boing boing site, there is this:

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

An article on the Hollywood Reporter site:

Comcast 'Embarrassed' Over Employee's Treatment of Customer Trying to Cancel Service
By Kimberly Nordyke, The Hollywood Reporter - July 15, 2014
»www.hollywoodreporter.co ··· r-718641

quote:

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Comcast told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement that the customer service rep's behavior is "unacceptable" and that the company is reaching out to Block.

"We are very embarrassed by the way our employee spoke with Mr. Block and are contacting him to personally apologize," the company said. "The way in which our representative communicated with him is unacceptable and not consistent with how we train our customer service representatives."

Comcast added that it is looking into the situation.

"We are investigating this situation and will take quick action," the company said. "While the overwhelming majority of our employees work very hard to do the right thing every day, we are using this very unfortunate experience to reinforce how important it is to always treat our customers with the utmost respect."

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FYI - Another customer that had a problem cancelling Comcast service:

Comcast money-back offer doesn't hold up
Skokie resident follows rules in canceling service after switching from RCN, but gets bill, collection agency calls
By Jon Yates, The Chicago Tribune - July 15, 2014
»www.chicagotribune.com/b ··· 7.column

i wouldn't mind a personal apology for a few bad customer service experiences i've had... i guess you need to be a high-profile tech blogger to get that privilege, eh?

I wouldn't mind a personal apology either after the 15-day nightmare I went through recently. I'll settle for Comcast getting the "recognition" they so richly deserve.

"[So-and-so] in Retention is monitoring all my video chats."

That asshole used to work at Dish Network. That's almost exactly what it was like for me to cancel Dish. At the time Dish didn't have SiFi in HD and he argued that neither did Directv did even though I was watching it. Thanks to that jack ass I'll never be a Dish customer again.

About 15 years ago, I had the same thing on the phone when trying to cancel a Citibank credit card.

The card was fully paid, at that time I just had too many credit cards and too much credit available. (Ah, the good old days).

But the guy kept me on the phone for maybe 15-20 minutes trying to convince me not to cancel.

Looking back, I don't know why I didn't just hang up and call back, or just write a letter.

But it was the same as this Comcast situation.

-----

And for Citibank and Comcast, I am [sure] that the reps are following orders, or at a minimum are under intense pressure to not have cancels.

Comcast can ask that once.

Asking twice is being rude.

Beyond twice is totally unacceptable.

-----

Comcast is [well aware] of the reasons for cord cutting, which basically are high prices for poor service, awful customer service, lack of flexibility in TV channel choice, too much garbage on TV, Internet caps, etc., etc.

I have gone through similar situations with this company but no where as bad as this guy. And look at all the negative publicity Comcast is getting out of this. I have vowed I would never return to them and this just solidifies that decision. It is a shame because they do have the fastest internet in our area but I would rather have slower internet than deal with them.

Maybe the NSA requires it??

This is nothing more than some off shored CSR making $3/hr stuck on a script.

This is nothing more than some CSR who had already reached the monthly limit for allowing customers to terminate service trying desperately to keep his job. The life of a CSR (for any company) is to be judged by numbers; if you are on the wrong side of a particular number, you are no longer employed.

Which is the problem with metrics, once you get above managers in the call center itself the people have no clue what customer service jobs are like.

And the people who design metrics certainly have no clue what being a phone rep is like. They are likely outsourced consulting firms themselves.

I like how the reporter at NPR ended her review:

quote:

---

And Comcast is in the midst of of its merger with Time Warner Cable, which will make the cable behemoth even bigger. Will a merger improve speed and/or service? This call is not a great harbinger of things to come.

---

»www.npr.org/blogs/alltec ··· 1&f=1001

Comcast merging with TimeWarner Cable is the electronic equivalent of Iran merging with Iraq, or Ethiopia merging with Somalia.

Hopefully the bottom falls out on this, with Comcast wanting to merge and become a national monopoly (they are already a regional monopoly) I hope this kind of crap comes to the surface and somehow public pressure forces them to be a better company.

This is a driving trend in the the USA where companies literally crap on their customers and pay off all politicians to form laws to allow them to keep on crapping on their customers and raking in money hand over fist since we have no choice anymore.

The system is completely broken, as long as your company makes enough spare cash to pay off people you will get what you want and plow through regulations on your way to complete un altered abuse of your customer base.

It's none of their business when the customer replies back with a simple no to the question "Help me understand why you don’t want faster internet." then he asks this "What is it about this other provider that’s making it sound better?" witch is really none of their d#mn business.

"You’ve been a Comcast customer for 9 years. After a decade … clearly the service is working great for you. … All of a sudden you’re moving and something is making you want to change. What’s making you do that?"
I would tell a white lie like my mom said to hughesnet service when we tried cancelling, I am no longer going to be at home for I will always be out working my job and not get enough time to go home or be on the net.

 
The call made it to a European IT site.

»www.theregister.co.uk/20 ··· his_job/

Listen to WORST EVER customer service call – Comcast is 'very embarrassed'

Embarrassed it was caught on tape

Comcast has apologized to a subscriber who was subjected to a haranguing customer service call when he tried to cancel his account.

...

It's a common sales technique to force a person to reveal his or her desires so that the salesperson can pitch features that appeal – and close the sale. In this case the Comcast representative would not let the question go until an audibly annoyed Block simply refused to answer any more questions...