Comcast – Definitely a Different Company Than They Used to Be

I’ve been a Comcast customer most of my adult life. I have to admit unfortunately that most of that was not by choice.  I remember the days of going day after day of support calls trying to just get internet access, or to get the right speeds, or one time they claimed I had a modem when I had actually sent the modem back to them already.  They had a serious reputation with the Better Business Bureau back then. The customer was almost never right. Today they convinced me they’re a new company though.

It all started about a month and a half ago when I left to Boston to spend some time with my parents and just get a change in scenery.  I decided to cancel my Comcast Internet service, since it would be a waste to have it on for a month with no one using it.  Yeah, I’m cheap in that way.  Anyway, the guy we cancelled with was very friendly, understood our situation, and told us it would be free to terminate, and just a $39 (or so) installation fee to set it back up. I was happy to accept that, considering it was far cheaper than what we were paying per month in internet service.  We cancelled with no issues.

Coming back from Boston, I called Comcast again to set up our internet, hoping to have a connection ready when we got home.  The guy on the phone this time told me it was now costing $50 to install the service.  I told him what the other guy told us, and it didn’t seem there was much he could do.  We escalated it to his supervisor, and with almost no hesitation, not only did he bring it down, but he said he could give it to us for $25, AND they were willing to give us a deal at half the price per month we were paying before.

There was one caveat.  The local technicians couldn’t come out for an entire week.  As a blogger, CEO of a startup, and overall internet-dependent to be fully productive, this was a serious problem for me.  There was nothing this guy could do.  I was soon to be just another dissatisfied customer, as I was used to being with Comcast, at least so I thought.

I decided to make one last-ditch effort to get internet at an escalated time frame – I was even willing to pay for it!  So I sent a message on Twitter asking Frank Eliason (@comcastcares) if they might be able to help me.  As always he was very helpful, and had me e-mail their support staff.

It took a couple days, but yesterday my wife got a call from their support team saying someone would be out yesterday if any appointments opened up, or today for sure if that didn’t happen.  Sure enough, today I got a call from their support staff saying someone would be here, 2 days earlier than we were expecting.  The support person even left me his phone number and told me to call him if I had any problems at all.

The technician came, installed my internet, and I’m now a happy customer.  This was one experience I have to say I’m satisfied and really impressed me with Comcast.

The Caveat

Now, Comcast is better than they were before, as I mentioned earlier.  However, they’re still not where they need to be.  Here are a few things that would have made this experience even better for me:

• First, Comcast needs to get rid of the need to have a Twitter account to get the service @comcastcares is giving people.  Sure, @comcastcares cares.  I love that team – I’m happy that at least those of us on Twitter have access.  But my Dad won’t join Comcast because he has had similar experiences and he is not on Twitter to get that level of service.
• Second, I shouldn’t have to go to @comcastcares in the first place.  Local reps need to be given the authority and access that @comcastcares is given.  It’s not fair that I have to go through 2 steps every time I need good service from Comcast.  I should receive the service I need, from people that have access to it, on the first try.
• Lastly, the local technicians need to trust the customers more. I’ve never had a local technician from Comcast come by that didn’t think they knew more than me (not that I know much, but that’s besides the point).  If I say this works just fine in Safari and we’re going to use Safari, work with me on that.  If I want to connect via my router because it will work just the same, work with me on that (or bring your own laptop to do the set up).  Believe it or not, there are customers who have been in their shoes before.

In all however, I had a great experience with Comcast.  They’re doing better.  They’re not all the way there, though, and hopefully this new direction is a sign of much better things, all across the board, to come for the company.  Thanks to Frank Eliason and the team there for pushing such a great program throughout the company!