Comcast admits its policies are responsible for customer harassment

[Dietrichw]

Source

 

Comcast plans to reexamine the way it tries to keep subscribers from leaving its service, after a nightmarish call with one customer went viral last week and led to an outpouring of criticism. The recorded call included eight minutes of what Comcast calls a "Retention" agent attempting to argue a customer down from leaving, and Comcast now admits that much of this aggressive behavior was its own fault. "The agent on this call did a lot of what we trained him and paid him … to do," Dave Watson, Comcast's chief operating officer, writes in an internal letter that was published Monday morning, leaked to Consumerist, and verified by Ars Technica.

 

the agent's startling obstinacy was right in line with the ways in which Comcast motivates these employees — namely, having their pay rely on how many customers they lose and how many they keep from leaving. In its internal letter, Comcast doesn't say exactly what measures it will take to prevent situations like this in the future, and it certainly won't be wholly ending the "retention" practice — "He tried to save a customer, and that’s important," Watson writes.

 

wow that is really low comcast

[Fred Castellum]

Scum continuing to be scum. Passive aggressive business strategy. 

[antoainb]

They're a bit late, just a bit...

[beebskadoo]

DAMAGE CONTROL!

smells like bullshit

[AnnoyedShelf]

-snip-

wow that is really low comcast

no surprise here.

[RelentlessAF]

Comcast will still remain a terrible service, stupid bandwidth limits ;(

[APrettyCoolWalrus]

Comcast is fucking trash. The service is shit in Ocean City, which has a very large population during the summer.

[P e r s e p h o n e]

Comcast is the greatest service ever, right up there with steam, I will not have them slandered by miscreants. OMG, I couldn't even type that behind my keyboard and monitor with a straight face. 

[cubercaleb]

If Google created a colossal tv ad campaign comparing how much better their service is to other ISP's, and actually used prices, speed numbers, and inflated bill prices of other ISP's to educate America just how much the ISP's are screwing them then things would be different. A wake up call like that would be a slap in the face to them and they would be forced to upgrade infrastructure, and upgrade the lines of all their customers at no extra cost to the customer while dropping prices. Sadly because only tech-savvy people are aware of Google Fiber, there wasn't that backlash to the major ISP's from average consumers.

[ajoy39]

If Google created a colossal tv ad campaign comparing how much better their service is to other ISP's, and actually used prices, speed numbers, and inflated bill prices of other ISP's to educate America just how much the ISP's are screwing them then things would be different. A wake up call like that would be a slap in the face to them and they would be forced to upgrade infrastructure, and upgrade the lines of all their customers at no extra cost to the customer while dropping prices. Sadly because only tech-savvy people are aware of Google Fiber, there wasn't that backlash to the major ISP's from average consumers.

Things really wouldn't be any different, very few people find the current state of the ISP industry acceptable, but there's not much you can do about it. In a free market the best way to communicate your opinion as a consumer is with your money, and most people don't have other options from interenet service so it's either Comcast/TWC or nothing at all and for most people not having internet isn't a viable option anymore.

[wng_kingsley7]

Well they'd better be serious about treating customer's as their num #1 priority, speak when spoken too, give advice & thoughtful suggestions and never overstep your welcome. It's a good thing the company is re-acknowledging that a large issue with customer base leaving is because of there poor quality cs.

[Imaginaerum]

If Google created a colossal tv ad campaign comparing how much better their service is to other ISP's, and actually used prices, speed numbers, and inflated bill prices of other ISP's to educate America just how much the ISP's are screwing them then things would be different. A wake up call like that would be a slap in the face to them and they would be forced to upgrade infrastructure, and upgrade the lines of all their customers at no extra cost to the customer while dropping prices. Sadly because only tech-savvy people are aware of Google Fiber, there wasn't that backlash to the major ISP's from average consumers.

It's more likely the companies would sue Google for being correct, like AT&T suing Verizon when they compared cell phone coverage (Verizon had a whole lot more at the time)

[Misanthrope]

I told you this exactly, nice to see they won't just blame the outsources but acknowledge they breed this behavior themselves.

[cubercaleb]

It's more likely the companies would sue Google for being correct, like AT&T suing Verizon when they compared cell phone coverage (Verizon had a whole lot more at the time)

Yes, but if they had it up for just a week or a few days it would be enough to get out to the public, people would know about it, talk about it, and so on. Plus what would their case be? That they are insulting them by telling the truth and giving factual statistics? Where is the crime there?

[cubercaleb]

Things really wouldn't be any different, very few people find the current state of the ISP industry acceptable, but there's not much you can do about it. In a free market the best way to communicate your opinion as a consumer is with your money, and most people don't have other options from interenet service so it's either Comcast/TWC or nothing at all and for most people not having internet isn't a viable option anymore.

Actually, people would find out and the would call their isp's and bitch to them about it. So yes, if comcast has most of its customers bitching at them to upgrade their infrastructure they would be forced to change. Plus you know, the google fiber ad should also show how much money comcast and verizon get in tax breaks and government grants. 

[Misanthrope]

Actually, people would find out and the would call their isp's and bitch to them about it. So yes, if comcast has most of its customers bitching at them to upgrade their infrastructure they would be forced to change. Plus you know, the google fiber ad should also show how much money comcast and verizon get in tax breaks and government grants. 

 

Not really, they do have small monopolies on their designated areas of service so people often have no other high speed internet access option where they live.

[Jaybird]

business model should not be how do we keep what we have. it should be how can we better ourselves to get more people on board.

[ajoy39]

Actually, people would find out and the would call their isp's and bitch to them about it. So yes, if comcast has most of its customers bitching at them to upgrade their infrastructure they would be forced to change. Plus you know, the google fiber ad should also show how much money comcast and verizon get in tax breaks and government grants. 

Most of the majors ISPs customers are already verbally unsatisfied with their service, it doesn't effect the ISPs income (because no one can take their money elsewhere) so why should they care?

[Imaginaerum]

Yes, but if they had it up for just a week or a few days it would be enough to get out to the public, people would know about it, talk about it, and so on. Plus what would their case be? That they are insulting them by telling the truth and giving factual statistics? Where is the crime there?

Their case would be slander, defamation, libel, or any number of vague reasons that multi billion dollar companies can come up with. They wouldn't really have any case, especially in a free market, but they'd try.

[cubercaleb]

Their case would be slander, defamation, libel, or any number of vague reasons that multi billion dollar companies can come up with. They wouldn't really have any case, especially in a free market, but they'd try.

Lets hope they fail, or maybe it will be a fiasco like the netflix/verizon thing. Regardless, the general consumer needs to know how screwed they are getting, and considering verizon did this to att with their piss poor coverage att was forced to improve.