Comcast Says its Customer Service Has Dramatically Improved Comcast has historically had some of the worst customer satisfaction and service ratings of any company, in any industry in America. Given the "service" provided by many banks, the insurance industry, or airlines -- that's a particularly impressive feat. And while Comcast has been promising to shore up its lagging customer service every year for the better part of the last decade, most customer satisfaction ratings systems (like the American Customer Satisfaction Index) have shown that Comcast has simply moved from "downright awful" somewhere into the realm of "modestly bad."

But according to Comcast, the company has made some notable strides in its customer service efforts. Back in 2014, you might recall that Comcast's bad reputation went viral after former journalist Ryan Block recorded and published Comcast simply refusing to let him cancel service. Shortly after that, Comcast began to utilize the Net Promoter scoring system, a service that helps companies measure improvement or decline in customer loyalty and satisfaction efforts. Dana Crandall, VP for customer experience for Comcast’s West Division, tells the Denver Post that the company has seen "double-digit" improvement in the company's Net Promoter score since the peak of Comcast's reputation issues in 2014. Phone calls to customer service have decreased 11 million annually, notes the executive. That's thanks to numerous initiatives launched in 2015, including ramping up on-shore staffing, to pre-emptively fixing issues on customer lines before they're even noticed. “Transformations are hard. I don’t want you to get the sense that this has all been easy," Crandall. "It’s been an evolution. We’ve reoriented the company and employees in thinking and measuring through a customer’s eyes," the exec stated. Granted while Comcast has made some improvement with customer service, it tends to often shoot itself in the foot via things like sneaky surcharges, or the steady expansion of arbitrary and unnecessary usage caps and overage fees. Comcast users: have you noticed a significant improvement in Comcast customer service since 2014? Let us know in the comment section below. Comcast users: have you noticed a significant improvement in Comcast customer service since 2014? Let us know in the comment section below.







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Most recommended from 24 comments



t3chwizard

join:2016-02-20 Netgear R7000

Pace 5268AC

1 edit 23 recommendations t3chwizard Member About that "good comcast customer service"



Note, please feel free to pile on the downvotes, because it just confirms my statement.

When you have to call customer service several times just to activate the same modem, that speaks volumes of your actual customer service. Any message from their spokesperson does not mean diddly squat. Do not forget the ancient coax lines they rely on for their service and the refusal to upgrade their infrastructure.



This will not exist simply because they are Comcast and they don't care because they don't have to unless they have competition (which in that case they just will try to buy the local city elections with propaganda and over $100k) and since they are in bed with the politicians you can forget about that.Note, please feel free to pile on the downvotes, because it just confirms my statement.When you have to call customer service several times just to activate the same modem, that speaks volumes of your actual customer service. Any message from their spokesperson does not mean diddly squat. Do not forget the ancient coax lines they rely on for their service and the refusal to upgrade their infrastructure. »www.youtube.com/watch?v= ··· ny_pixDw soothsayer15

join:2002-03-01

Irving, TX 4 edits 15 recommendations soothsayer15 Member Tech Support turnover and contract employees



The thing is, people that are skilled and knowledgeable working in call centers will leave for greener pastures. I left after 9 months. A lot of people that got burned out talking to angry customers also left creating a skills and knowledge gap while new employees were being brought up to speed.



When I left Stream, I went to work for another telecom in their Tier 1 NOC. I didn’t have to speak to customers (except for a rare escalation here and there), but I did support those that did. As time went by, the company started choking the life out of the frontline support. They became super anal about any metric they could think up and started writing people up and walking them out the door for missing one or two metrics even if they were meeting the majority of them. They even implemented a Customer Survey similar to what the article stated Comcast is doing. The problem is that Frontline Support Agents would be held accountable for bad customer survey scores even if the issue the customer complained about wasn’t their fault. I witnessed this first hand when I was called in when it was my turn to do Root Cause Analysis for technical and troubleshooting issues on customer surveys at the end of each month. “They should have overcome that with professionalism and outstanding service” they would say when an agent got a low score for something out of their control. It’s hard for a Frontline Tech Support Agent overcome a low score because the customer was upset about hold times or because their bill was incorrect. A lot of surveys with low scores would actually say the agent was helpful, but the executives at corporate didn’t want excuses or even valid reasons, they wanted a number so, good employees were let go. Local Management had families to feed and bills to pay, so they weren’t about to fall on their sword for anyone.



Overtime, the pressure to meet metrics just got worse. The work environment downstairs where Frontline Support was became more stressful and turnover increased. To top it off, there was a hiring freeze so contract employees were no longer being hired on permanently, which lead to more people not giving a F@&*. Average call times rose as experienced employees quit and new employees where getting up to speed as turnover increased. As call times and hold times increased, the amount of hands-on classroom was cut and eventually replaced with computer based training that Frontline Support Agent took at their desk usually anywhere from 15-45 minutes, instead of the 30-120 minutes in a classroom. A lot of Frontline Agents just got the answers for the computer based training from one of their coworkers and used the “training” time as another break. To add insult to injury, Frontline Support Agents were the expected to offer or sell products to customers calling for help. They would be written up if they were caught not doing so. To top it off, the Agents had to recite some script at the end of each call even if the customer’s reason for calling wasn’t resolved, which enraged a lot of them even more.



You may be shocked to learned that the Genius plan put in place by the corporate overlords didn’t get the improvement in Customer Survey scores they were looking for. The scores declined most months or remained flat. The scores were higher when Frontline Support was staffed with experienced agents that weren’t micromanaged to death and angry at the company they work for.



After scores failed to improve, the company started to outsource to calls to Mexico, India, the Philippines, plus rural Ohio and Indiana. Once in a Blue Moon, I’d get a call from one of those centers from someone knowledgeable, but the majority didn’t know their a$$ from their elbows. I don’t think some of them knew what a computer was before they took the job. In the space of about 4 years, the company went from having decent tech support to being in the crapper. All due to corporate greed and the blind pursuit of metrics that meant nothing.



TL;DR



For a company to have good support, they must:



-Be willing to pay knowledgeable people or those capable of learning a reasonable wage for the work being done. If not, they will leave sooner rather than later



-Create a positive work environment built on respecting employees as people not numbers, free of constant micromanagement, and helping them improve on learning and performing their job with real training. Don’t build a toxic environment based on fear of employees being fired for making honest mistakes or things out of their control.



-Hire permanent employees if possible. I know it’s more expensive than contractors and vendors, but people who see a future at the company are more likely to make an effort to learn their job. When people know they’ll only be there a limited time no matter what, they’re more likely not to give a s&!+.



-If you must hire contractors/vendors, making sure they have a basic mastery of the English language is a plus. A lot of customers despise overseas support. You know this and I know this because we read the customer comments on multiple surveys telling us so. Having them understand technology is also a bonus . The only true way to improve service is to hire and retain competent people, pay them a reasonable wage, provide meaningful training, and treat them with respect in a good work environment. I worked for Stream taking calls from Time Warner Cable/Roadrunner customers about 20 years ago when I was trying to get my foot in the door. In those days, the work environment was pretty relaxed and the focus was more about helping customers than meeting some nonsense metric. The turnover was reasonably low for a call center. It paid $13 an hour for an entry level position in the DFW area, which was decent for the early 2000’s.The thing is, people that are skilled and knowledgeable working in call centers will leave for greener pastures. I left after 9 months. A lot of people that got burned out talking to angry customers also left creating a skills and knowledge gap while new employees were being brought up to speed.When I left Stream, I went to work for another telecom in their Tier 1 NOC. I didn’t have to speak to customers (except for a rare escalation here and there), but I did support those that did. As time went by, the company started choking the life out of the frontline support. They became super anal about any metric they could think up and started writing people up and walking them out the door for missing one or two metrics even if they were meeting the majority of them. They even implemented a Customer Survey similar to what the article stated Comcast is doing. The problem is that Frontline Support Agents would be held accountable for bad customer survey scores even if the issue the customer complained about wasn’t their fault. I witnessed this first hand when I was called in when it was my turn to do Root Cause Analysis for technical and troubleshooting issues on customer surveys at the end of each month. “They should have overcome that with professionalism and outstanding service” they would say when an agent got a low score for something out of their control. It’s hard for a Frontline Tech Support Agent overcome a low score because the customer was upset about hold times or because their bill was incorrect. A lot of surveys with low scores would actually say the agent was helpful, but the executives at corporate didn’t want excuses or even valid reasons, they wanted a number so, good employees were let go. Local Management had families to feed and bills to pay, so they weren’t about to fall on their sword for anyone.Overtime, the pressure to meet metrics just got worse. The work environment downstairs where Frontline Support was became more stressful and turnover increased. To top it off, there was a hiring freeze so contract employees were no longer being hired on permanently, which lead to more people not giving a F@&*. Average call times rose as experienced employees quit and new employees where getting up to speed as turnover increased. As call times and hold times increased, the amount of hands-on classroom was cut and eventually replaced with computer based training that Frontline Support Agent took at their desk usually anywhere from 15-45 minutes, instead of the 30-120 minutes in a classroom. A lot of Frontline Agents just got the answers for the computer based training from one of their coworkers and used the “training” time as another break. To add insult to injury, Frontline Support Agents were the expected to offer or sell products to customers calling for help. They would be written up if they were caught not doing so. To top it off, the Agents had to recite some script at the end of each call even if the customer’s reason for calling wasn’t resolved, which enraged a lot of them even more.You may be shocked to learned that the Genius plan put in place by the corporate overlords didn’t get the improvement in Customer Survey scores they were looking for. The scores declined most months or remained flat. The scores were higher when Frontline Support was staffed with experienced agents that weren’t micromanaged to death and angry at the company they work for.After scores failed to improve, the company started to outsource to calls to Mexico, India, the Philippines, plus rural Ohio and Indiana. Once in a Blue Moon, I’d get a call from one of those centers from someone knowledgeable, but the majority didn’t know their a$$ from their elbows. I don’t think some of them knew what a computer was before they took the job. In the space of about 4 years, the company went from having decent tech support to being in the crapper. All due to corporate greed and the blind pursuit of metrics that meant nothing.TL;DRFor a company to have good support, they must:-Be willing to pay knowledgeable people or those capable of learning a reasonable wage for the work being done. If not, they will leave sooner rather than later-Create a positive work environment built on respecting employees as people not numbers, free of constant micromanagement, and helping them improve on learning and performing their job with real training. Don’t build a toxic environment based on fear of employees being fired for making honest mistakes or things out of their control.-Hire permanent employees if possible. I know it’s more expensive than contractors and vendors, but people who see a future at the company are more likely to make an effort to learn their job. When people know they’ll only be there a limited time no matter what, they’re more likely not to give a s&!+.-If you must hire contractors/vendors, making sure they have a basic mastery of the English language is a plus. A lot of customers despise overseas support. You know this and I know this because we read the customer comments on multiple surveys telling us so. Having them understand technology is also a bonus

maartena

Elmo

Premium Member

join:2002-05-10

Orange, CA 12 recommendations maartena Premium Member Meanwhile, at Comcast HQ....

Saruman

join:2017-02-13

Livermore, CA 10 recommendations Saruman Member Just like how the internal affairs department at police stations... never find anything wrong.



'We have investigated ourselves and find that not only have we found no wrong doing, we are doing amazing! Improvements everywhere!'

brentos

join:2007-07-19

Monroe, NY 6 recommendations brentos Member And ... Roy Moore only dates women of legal age.

pclover

join:2008-08-02

Santa Cruz, CA 5 recommendations pclover Member Lots of work still required Yes, They have improved. They still have lots of work to do however.

Anon7c0b9

@rr.com 2 recommendations Anon7c0b9 Anon Of course Of course you expect a positive review. Why would a company promote a shitty review?