I’m putting this in IMHO, because I doubt there will be a factual answer - but if any former Comcast employees are reading, I’d certainly be interested in their perspective.
Comcast has been in the news recently for a few incidents in which customer service agents have become abusive toward customers. There was the customer last year who recorded his marathon discussion with a customer service agent, during which the agent refused to cancel the service unless the customer explained why he wanted to cancel. More recently, there have been a couple of incidents in which customers received monthly service bills on which their first name had been changed to either “asshole” or “super-bitch.”
I’ve never heard of such things happening with other businesses. This is not mere incompetence, it’s overt hostility. Why is this happening at Comcast and not at, say, American Express or Amazon or DirectTV? I’ve worked in customer service jobs and dealt with asshole customers, and of course we employees bitched to each other about the assholes, but we’d never think of treating any customer - even an asshole customer - with such brazen contempt. What’s going on here?
Well, the issue with the refusal to cancel is that Comcast refuses to let customers cancel. They are sent to someone who tries to sell them on keeping the service, and the reps are paid according to how many they can keep (and can be fired if the number is too low). So the reps have every reason to pull out all stops to keep a customer, since they’re jog is on the line.
I suspect that, in an atmosphere like that, reps might be more willing to insult the customers, part to blow off steam, and part because they know there’s little a customer can do about it. It’s either Comcast or nothing in some areas.
Like RealityChuck says, the goal of their customer service representatives is retention, not satisfaction. From a job-goal standpoint they don’t care even a little bit if you get upset at them, just so you hang up without disconnecting your service. But from a personal standpoint, who likes to be abused by their customers? If you took call after call from people who reamed you out up one side and down the other you’d eventually get short-tempered, too. Some people, knowing that Comcast operates this way, start off belligerently, and it’s no surprise that some of those people are answered in kind.
The funny thing is that Comcast is, like other cable/internet providers, often a monopoly. Their competition, where it exists, largely consists of slower DSL-type services and dish-based services, both of which have the same sorts of retention policies. Since they typically have a leg up in performance, quality and selection and they know that no matter who you deal with you’ll be faced with the same sort of resistance to disconnection, they have no incentive to be the nice guy. You’ll be back if the price is right and they know it. And all of that assumes you have any options to begin with.
A long-time friend is a former Comcast employee and I survived it with him in a manner of speaking. Comcast around here gets a lot of new blood from people fired from older and long-term jobs that faded away. Unemployment is running low and like the places where Amazon is a major player, Comcast always has the help wanted sign out. Comcast starts almost all their people on the customer service lines and the training is basically nil. You get a guide that says “if the customer says Y, suggest that they try W”. So the person answering often has about the same knowledge as the person calling and that quickly gets frustrating for both sides. And each call, the frustration level grows and grows. You have a Masters, formerly taught something, did something, or at least had some seniority. And here you are with someone on the line at 3AM explaining why if power is out in their area from the ice storm that just hit they just aren’t going to get a television picture. You see hopes that your lot could improve --------- but a lot of times it just don’t ever seem to. By year three you are either numb, a smartass, or just don’t give a shit as long as you have at least one interview a month somewhere else. And you realize Comcast is big enough that you can ghost your way through another few years and retire. Or at least stockpile a little egg so you can bail.
Does Comcast service suck? Yeah - one of the reasons I went Verizon. But after hearing about the inside from a friend, I’m surprised it isn’t worse than it is.
Yip, lack of competition. And while the service itself may not get better, I do hope the crap they put you through to cancel will be regulated once they become Title II carriers, though I have no idea if that’s possible.
I would not expect that to work, frankly, unless you did a signed delivery, which costs money. It’s trivial to claim you didn’t get their mail, and there’d be a long delay for confirmation.
Not to mention that you have to cancel earlier and thus lose out more on the money you paid that month. At least, I sure don’t expect them to keep you on the rest of the month.
Out of curiosity, did you pick those businesses randomly? I’ve never dealt with DirectTV, but the other two have amazing customer service. I deal with Amex on a somewhat regular basis, as business customer, and I never hesitate to call them and the few times I’ve had to ‘deal’ with the as a regular consumer they’ve always been above and beyond as well. Amazon too, for the one or two times I’ve chatted with them.
What I hate about Comcast is they will tell you you can have the package for this price, all taxes included, this is the total. Then the bill comes in $30 higher. You call, and there is no record of the price you were told in there system. Then the guy you have on the phone says he can get you it for this price (just a little higher than what the first guy told you), then the bill comes in and it is still not what you were told.
Lots of money? Long delay?
It costs a few dollars (four or five maybe) and you get the return card back a few days later.
Also, I just found this article. It looks like if you tell them you’re moving in with someone that already has Comcast or you’re moving and you don’t know the address yet* they shouldn’t put up a fight.
*I think that would be the best bet. If you say you’re moving in with someone they could still bug you for the new address to upgrade the service. I’d rather just say that I’m moving into an apartment on [date] in [another state], but I haven’t found it yet…yes, I’d still like to cancel my service.
This has been my experience multiple times. And so, when I have to call Comcast (my only internet option, I’ve bailed on cable altogether in the last few years) I start from the premise that the person I’ll be talking to is an asshole. I have been pleasantly surprised rarely. But, it probably sucks to be a Comcast agent when every person who calls is starting out angry before they ever talk to you.
I called to cancel my service because I was moving in with my GF who already service. The call still took about 15 minutes where they tried to get us to combine our services (which I saw no benefit for other than it costing us more money).