Comcast Is Investigating a Customer Service Call From Hell

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
*WARNING* This eight minute recording of a Comcast customer service call will seriously make you want to punch something out of frustration. You've been warned. :eek:

When the call ended, I looked at my wife, Veronica, and I asked her “Did that really just happen?” And we played back the recording. Many of the reactions have (I think?) jokingly referenced trigger warnings. I hadn’t made that connection, but it’s kind of true. Listening to it again even a few days later fills me with anxiety and dread.
 
Okay....okay....okay..okay.....okay...okay........okay....okay..okay.......okay..okay.......okay.......okay......okay.....okay......
 
Dude will probably get a bonus for being such an incredible pain in the ass. When I cancelled the guy tried to convince me I should continue to pay more for slower service then I was transferring to. This guy is just a whole other level of ass.
 
Mind you this is a billing person at comcast. I work in technical support and if I were to have this kind of conversation I would be straight fired.
 
Bad customer service is nothing new.. especially from companies who are put in a monopoly position by the Government!!

Lily_Tomlin.jpg
 
You know what? He is probably beat into doing that from the bosses.

I've worked part time at a call centre before and this is how they want you to deal with customers. It's STUPID and aggravating, but guess what?? You lost points for not doing garbage like this. And eventually it might make the difference between getting a raise or not at the end of the year.
 
Wow he's lucky it only took 8 minutes. It took me 19 minutes the time I tried to disconnect because I was leaving the state but they couldn't seem to understand why they couldn't keep me as a customer still even though they weren't in that area to provide me service. Wish I would have recorded that conversation!
 
This is called "quality control" that is forced on to the employees, where they have to hit "metrics" and either ask or state certain things where they are threatened to be fired. The company doesn't give 2 shits about how customers feel about their service and feel its more important to provide the same experience across the board, even if it is shitty service.
As someone who has done customer service this can be frustrating to us as well because before we're allowed to help you we HAVE to put you through bullshit the company says is necessary or we get fired.
 
This is called "quality control" that is forced on to the employees, where they have to hit "metrics" and either ask or state certain things where they are threatened to be fired. The company doesn't give 2 shits about how customers feel about their service and feel its more important to provide the same experience across the board, even if it is shitty service.
As someone who has done customer service this can be frustrating to us as well because before we're allowed to help you we HAVE to put you through bullshit the company says is necessary or we get fired.

QFT! This guy speaks the truth.... and dude would have had points deducted if he would have given up too easily and maybe lost a chance at a raise later that month.

YES. That is how this crazy call centre stuff works.
 
I wonder if the comcast CSR's lose a bonus or something when they have a certain amount of disconnects in a month, maybe this was the one that put him over the limit :p
 
Reminds me of the AOL disconnect call from hell.

I know he didn't want to tell the guy on the phone why he was switching, but he did list it in the article. I really like his reason and wish he DID tell Comcast why, wouldn't you feel better telling them the honest truth? Again, I get it, he doesn't have to say any reason but if I had the opportunity to let them know, I would.

When TW here were thinking about doing metered billing I called them immediately and let them know if this were to go through I would be canceling my service. Guess what, enough people did the same thing and there were even picketers outside their business stating they didn't want this, and they listened.

Why are you switching service?
I’m not happy with Comcast’s policies and net neutrality issues, and I figure that if we’re going to continue to have to pay for cable, and we have the extraordinarily rare luxury of having multiple cable providers in our area, we might as well better give it to the little guy who is fighting to do right by their customers. I wish I’d heard about Astound years ago, I would have switched long before now.
 
For fuck's sakes, was that CSR an ex NSA agent? Even had the "we're here to help" part from the "We're from the government, we're here to help". lol

Surprised he didn't drive to the customer's house and water-board him!

Anyone can post that early 80's cable TV video of the couple going to an ice cream shop and trying to order ice cream while the clerk gets more angry as they can't decide and ends were a mob of people bust thru the shop's walls to interrogating the couple? :D
 
I love these guys. I just start throwing out random veiled insults until they hang up or lose it.
 
Why are you switching service?
I’m not happy with Comcast’s policies and net neutrality issues, and I figure that if we’re going to continue to have to pay for cable, and we have the extraordinarily rare luxury of having multiple cable providers in our area, we might as well better give it to the little guy who is fighting to do right by their customers. I wish I’d heard about Astound years ago, I would have switched long before now.
But then you're just begging for a debate to be opened with a guy like this. ;)

"Ohhhh, you don't want to be interogated? That's too bad."

*insert image of Comcast management rubbing their nipples*
 
Fuck me!

I had to stop listening after about a minute.
I'd have just hung up and called back in to get someone else because that cocksucker would have had me wanting to kill something. Several times...
 
If these companies had any common sense at all, they'd have orders to treat disconnection requests in a fawningly helpful, sickeningly pleasant manner...! They'd go overboard in helping the customer disconnect his services, and then some...without ever once trying to change his mind. Their last words to the customer should be: "We hope you enjoy your new service!" Such a parting of the ways would fill any customer, regardless of how much he might've come to loathe the company he's leaving, with a "good feeling," a positive emotion that he'd think of every time he'd think of that former company in the future. And that means should he ever think of "coming back," he'll have all the more reason to do so.

Instead, these rather stupid companies would rather interrogate their customers and insult them when they are leaving--which of course *guarantees* that second thoughts about "coming back" are not very likely. The people who think up these insulting gauntlets for their departing customers are treating their customers like they treat their employees--like crap, in other words. No dummy, your customers don't work for you and won't stand for being treated that way, even if your employees let you get away with it.
 
Mind you this is a billing person at comcast. I work in technical support and if I were to have this kind of conversation I would be straight fired.

No, a billing person goes over the bill, this is a "RETENTION SPECIALIST" someone hired to retain customers.

As a tech person at comcast do you send all your "disconnect requests" to billing? :D Maybe they are better at it? :D
 
That was incredible. I was amazed the customer stayed almost completely calm throughout that whole thing.
 
OMFG I am so glad I ditched Comcast a year ago. I had been billed for $49.95 per month for many years for Internet service. I received a letter from them that said there had been a billing error and that I had really been supposed to be paying $72.00 per month all that time.

The good news was that I did not owe any back money and that they would give me a $7.00 discount for the first 6 months. What I did was probably not the smartest thing but I was angry. I continued to pay them the same $49.95 for months and the amount I owed continued to climb. Eventually they started to mess with my connection. That's when I changed ISP's and they have been trying to get that money ever since. I will never pay it even though my credit took a hit. I don't care because they lied to me and tried to screw me. Fuck Comcast! :D
 
This reminds me of when I cancelled my Vonage subscription a few years ago. Eventually I got to the point of putting my phone on speaker so they could hear the sound of me smashing the ever-loving shit out of the phone-network adapter box with a hammer, then offered to send pics if they doubted I had actually smashed a perfectly functional device just to demonstrate that there was no chance that they could convince me to stay...

The CSRs response? "We can sell you a new box for $39.99"...

Then I got mean and started questioning the girls life choices that had put her into such a shitty job where she was forced to act this way. I actually managed to turn the conversation into one where I was convincing her she should go back to school and get her degree! I almost felt bad for making her cry on the phone but she thanked me for helping her make "a long overdue decision", apologized for dragging the call out, and told me my service had been cancelled.
 
OMFG I am so glad I ditched Comcast a year ago. I had been billed for $49.95 per month for many years for Internet service. I received a letter from them that said there had been a billing error and that I had really been supposed to be paying $72.00 per month all that time.

The good news was that I did not owe any back money and that they would give me a $7.00 discount for the first 6 months. What I did was probably not the smartest thing but I was angry. I continued to pay them the same $49.95 for months and the amount I owed continued to climb. Eventually they started to mess with my connection. That's when I changed ISP's and they have been trying to get that money ever since. I will never pay it even though my credit took a hit. I don't care because they lied to me and tried to screw me. Fuck Comcast! :D


Seriously asking here. I thought you'd say something like... "They told me there was a mistake and the bill should be 70$ and then charged me for the last 2 years!" I could then understand the hate!!!!

I'm sorry, so let me get this straight... your basicly mad at comcast because they raised your bill?

I'm really trying to side with you here, but it sounds like your mad they raised your bill, they didn't back charge anything and they gave you an additional discount because of the issue. you chose not to pay that bill and blame them?

Maybe I'm getting senile in my old age, but if they raised my bill I'd have called and asked for the latest promotion :p
 
Seriously asking here. I thought you'd say something like... "They told me there was a mistake and the bill should be 70$ and then charged me for the last 2 years!" I could then understand the hate!!!!

I'm sorry, so let me get this straight... your basicly mad at comcast because they raised your bill?

I'm really trying to side with you here, but it sounds like your mad they raised your bill, they didn't back charge anything and they gave you an additional discount because of the issue. you chose not to pay that bill and blame them?

Maybe I'm getting senile in my old age, but if they raised my bill I'd have called and asked for the latest promotion :p

I don't think you understand my friend. I was an Insight (AT&T owned cable company sold to Comcast) for 5 or 6 years prior to Comcast buying them out. I was paying for 10 Mb monthly service for $48 something. Then after I was grandfathered in to Comcast my monthly bill was raised to the $49.95 amount. I was a Comcast customer for shit 7 or 8 years paying the same $49.95 per month then the letter came. From out of the blue they did indeed raise my rates but lied about it saying I was supposed to be paying the $72.00 per month all those years. Duh, anything else you don't understand? They were attempting to rip me off man to increase their profits on my back. Just like the Time Warner merger they will will fuck us all every chance they get. And that is personal experience! :rolleyes:
 
Mind you this is a billing person at comcast. I work in technical support and if I were to have this kind of conversation I would be straight fired.

I've had that type of conversation with your tech support in the past. Which is why I am now with Charter instead.
 
I don't think you understand my friend. I was an Insight (AT&T owned cable company sold to Comcast) for 5 or 6 years prior to Comcast buying them out. I was paying for 10 Mb monthly service for $48 something. Then after I was grandfathered in to Comcast my monthly bill was raised to the $49.95 amount. I was a Comcast customer for shit 7 or 8 years paying the same $49.95 per month then the letter came. From out of the blue they did indeed raise my rates but lied about it saying I was supposed to be paying the $72.00 per month all those years. Duh, anything else you don't understand? They were attempting to rip me off man to increase their profits on my back. Just like the Time Warner merger they will will fuck us all every chance they get. And that is personal experience! :rolleyes:

okay got it.... your mad cause they raised your rates... got it.
 
Because he was recording it, sounded like he wanted to bait the nut job CSR in to saying some more crazy stuff.



I agree this guy calling is baiting the csr, and also illegal depending in the state if the customer recorded the call and didn't state that he was is a dick move.
 
I agree this guy calling is baiting the csr, and also illegal depending in the state if the customer recorded the call and didn't state that he was is a dick move.

I always tell these kind of people I'm recording the call for training and legal purposes, it usually makes things proceed much quicker.
 
okay got it.... your mad cause they raised your rates... got it.

Dude you are not comprehending what I am mad about. I am mad because they lied about the "why" they were raising my rate and the probable "big picture" (multi-billion dollar Time Warner merger) reason they were doing it. No company as large as Comcast has bean counters that incompetent to make such a glaring billing error for so many years.You obviously are young, dumb and full of cum if you think that being so blatantly lied to is meh! What is it about the human mind that makes us so dense? When those Comcast liars get control of almost all the cable internet service in most of the United States you will probably still be clueless about why your service sucks and your bill keeps going up! Do you work for them? :rolleyes:
 
I agree this guy calling is baiting the csr, and also illegal depending in the state if the customer recorded the call and didn't state that he was is a dick move.
You ever call customer service?
They flat out tell you the call is being recorded "In order to improve call quality and customer satisfaction."
If the guy wanted to record the call for his own records it doesn't matter because the tech knows the call is being recorded anyways.
 
You ever call customer service?
They flat out tell you the call is being recorded "In order to improve call quality and customer satisfaction."
If the guy wanted to record the call for his own records it doesn't matter because the tech knows the call is being recorded anyways.

I agree.... when working at a call centre, I know that any and every call I made I would/could be recorded.
 
I saw this article on a different website and it stated that the wife made the initial call and was getting fed up dealing with the retention person on the phone. She then handed the phone over to her husband who started recording the call. The total amount of time both parties were on the phone with comcrap was longer than the mere 8 minutes captured on audio.
Now I do not know if I would have been that calm when getting the obvious runaround from this pipsqueak at comcrap.
 
I agree this guy calling is baiting the csr, and also illegal depending in the state if the customer recorded the call and didn't state that he was is a dick move.

In the article after the call in the Q/A he stated he also didn't file a complaint, likely for these legal reasons. It is a pretty dickish move. All the same I'm glad he exploited the CSR, these kinds of calls make me sick. I always try to remain calm when doing something similar because your likely to get better service over the call, if you come off pissed and start taking it out on the person on the phone they are likely to not help you at all. I do agree for his reasoning for disconnecting his service over the lobbying and net neutrality.
 
Back
Top