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Comcast Shoots For New Image, Rebranding As Xfinity
artemis writes "Comcast is making efforts to repair and restore its 'former glory' by the act of transformation, rebranding itself as Xfinity. Hopefully step 2 is an actual change in quality and customer service. 'Comcast will use the Xfinity rebranding to talk up its improved customer service as well as its technical upgrades. “There’s a lot to be proud of,’’ said Steve Hackley, Comcast’s senior vice president for the Greater Boston region. “We want to take credit for it.’’ W2 Group’s Weber said such a rebranding is “a bit old-fashioned’’ and a new name is unlikely to impress consumers. “I think the public is smarter than that now,’’ he said.'"
Xfinity = the amount of time you'll be on hold if you call Customer Service.
It ain't gonna help, guys. You're still in seriously deep trouble.
I piss off bigots.
I still can't wait for Verizon FIOS to be available in my neighborhood. I loathe Comcast. Its not just that their internet service is shoddy, but even my TV service has shown visual lag and dropping way too often.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your politician, and hitting them?"
Take a swig for every post titled "Meet the new boss..." or "Lipstick on a pig".
(honest)
I really don't see how a harder-to-pronounce name will make the company any more appealing to customers.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
AT&T rebrands as Compu-Global-Hyper-Mega-Net, hoping to shed its previous reputation as a bad wireless carrier.
Nobody changes their name because they "want to take credit" for things they're "proud of".
Comcast, do you really want to have your name mentioned alongside Phillip Morris ... errr, "Altria"? At least you're not *killing* your customers.
Xfinity sounds like it should be the name of a sports car company... or perhaps an adult film company.
It's Xfinityastic!
I say it's a fairly transparent attempt to shuffle previous bad behaviour under the carpet, not the hard work to seek redemption that they should be doing instead. Bad management is bad management no matter the name, it'll show every time.
they want their "x" back.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that your name is NOT your problem. I'm going to say that your problem is that you suck ass at providing service. You can change the name all you like, so long as your service blows, people are going to hate on you. Conversely, fix the service and it won't be a problem.
Seriously, I'm amazed how bad Comcast is. Where I live, both Cox and Comcast provide cable service of the TV, Internet and phone variety. Which you get depends on which part of the city you live in. I live in the Cox area. In general, I'm happy with them. They aren't prefect, but they are pretty good. They fix their problems, their speeds are good, etc, etc. My friends on Cox seem to feel the same way.
Not long ago my parents came to visit, and stayed in a condo owned by friends of theirs. This condo was in a Comcast area. I couldn't believe how bad it was. Not even dealing with tech support, just general usage. The net was amazingly slow, their DVR was a massive POS, etc, etc. I made very little use of it and I found it to be poor quality. I can't imagine how dissatisfied someone who uses it all the time is.
Rebranding won't fix shit. You have to fix your quality if you want people to respect your brand.
“I think the public is smarter than that now,’’
Everyone knows this isn't true. Why do you think Comcast still has customers?
Reminds me of a branding for a local bank... Their commercials talk about how big banks don't give you personal service, and that they're not all that big. Then they get the nerve to call their bank "Magnabank".
http://www.magnabank.com/
Installing 1Gb fiber to communities will be much more effective than an empty name change.
"It's Xfinitytastic!" OK, someone had to say it.
--
Want to rebrand your image?
0) Halt or scale back marketing.
1) Fix your problems.
2) Wait until people notice.
3) Resume normal level of marketing.
If you must market between steps 0 and 3, be apologetic about it, like Toyota's current "we're sorry" ads. The marketing budget during this time should be a small fraction of the amount you are spending on step 2.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
WTF is it with this trend of conjuring up completely meaningless words to use as company names?
On NPR in the mornings I hear about a company that used to be called Horn Murdoch and Cole (a sensible name that tells you they've been around for a while and actually means something) who for some unfathomable reason decided to call themselves "Acretive Solutions," or something. I mean, aside from the impossibility of being able to tell if it's "Acretive" or "Acrative" just by listening to it, what the hell is that supposed to mean? It sounds almost like "Excretive" which calls to mind images of someone taking a dump!
Accenture, Cingular, Elementis, Altria, I mean, what the fuck is that? At least the idiots at "Consignia" had the sense to revert back to the name that everyone understood and recognized for decades, i.e. 'Royal Mail.'
Sheesh!
There's a transcript here of a BBC radio show talking about this very subject.
Drill baby drill - on Mars
Xfinity = how many times smarter you are than the average customer service rep
Let's keep this rolling!
"All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"
Called them a few weeks ago, to complain that, for the past two mornings, both my cable TV and internet were out. It had been single digit cold, and everything came back on when the sun warmed things up. They said they'd need to send a truck to my house. I told them I wouldn't be home, but they should probably just log the call and wait for my neighbors to complain before sending some one to my house. (I was reasonably sure the problem was not just mine, as my cable TV and internet come in on different cables, and service has been essentially uninterrupted for the 15 years I have lived in the house).
The guy's answer was: "If you don't allow us to send a truck to your house, the call won't even go into the system"
When I came home a few hours later, I saw a Comcast truck in my neighbor's driveway. No problems with either cable or internet since.
Clueless...
Why does Comcast screw up everything it touches? I still have fond memories of Tech TV.
The spelling and grammar police can kiss my ass
Aspartame was just recently renamed, too, coincidence?
Is there some rule that says all rebranded company names have to start with 'X'?
On a positive note, at least Comcast isn't trying to hide after killing a bunch of innocent civilians (yet).
Have gnu, will travel.
More accurate, anyway. At any rate, I'll believe something has changed when I can talk to somebody who's not in India, knows something, can make a decision and can understand words like "I measured the Comcast line signal strengh for the last 24 hours and it dipped to just above zero 7 times in that period for a total of 95.4 minutes of non-functioning internet time so GET AN ENGINEER TO YOUR SWITCH AND DON'T SENT OUT THE LOCAL DUMBASS AGAIN."
Cheers!
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
Clearly, "Xfinity" is inteded to sound like "ex-finity", thus the opposite of "infinity". The opposite of infinity is zero... whether that refers to quality of service, chance of getting a useful response from customer service, throughput, or bytes transferred without overage fees, I don't know. I'm certain it's nothing to do with the bill, though.
Just curious.... Is the company name changing or is this just branding of services? Will their various sports networks change as well? At least initially the commercials aren't saying "Comcast is now Xfinity". They're saying "Xfinity by Comcast". It mat be splitting hairs, but i think it worth understanding. Will subscribers with @comcast.net addresses get new @xfinity addresses? So far there hasn't been much to this discussion beyond the expected bashing Comcast takes upon mention @ /.
XFinity? What happened to Comcastic?
A rotten company will be a rotten company, no matter how many times it changes it's name.
You get customers back, and customers to like you by actually DOING something for your customers, even if it hurts your bottom line. Companies like Verizon know this better than anyone - Verizon was more or less a 'last resort' until they brought out FiOS, improved their customer service, and basically focused more on what their customers were demanding. That's not to say they're perfect, but a LOT better than before, and have the rep to back it up. And they didn't even need to spend millions of dollars changing their name to do it.
Telstra (in Australia) by contrast, spent all the money changing from Telecom to Telstra, but didn't improve a damn thing with customer service or the services they were offering. So the stink followed them through the new name.
When will companies learn, it's the customers, stupid!
TFA mentioned "improved customer service" but I can't imagine that any focus will be placed on improving anything, unless it improves the bottom-line. The shareholders get dividends based on how profitable a company is, and my guess is that by changing the name, they're not necessarily trying to conjure up customers, but investors. They're not the ones sitting on hold for xfinity minutes just to talk to some McDonalds Drive-Through Graduate.
Spending millions on a name that resembles a pornographic version of Buzz Lightyear's favourite saying can't be good for that bottom line.
Whatever they call themselves, I will never write them another check.
Nothing but problems.
Like when I moved and they made 2 installation appointments, but never showed up.
Or, when they "upgraded" the network service and send a new cable modem, that didn't work and wouldn't fix.
Who's going to design their logo? Rob Leifeld or Jim Lee? I really hope Jim - Rob's a hack.
Wow, Xfinity! That sounds great. Where do I sign up? I want better service, faster internet and cheaper prices, and Xfinity sounds like it fits the bill. It's got an "X" in it, so it must be ten times better than what I have now.
Can't wait until it's available in my area.
Everything you know is wrong, Just forget the words and sing along.
Will this drive even more people to go to an email address they control themselves?
I'm sure glad I switched to a hosted domain of my own. I have been burned by too many ISP.
Seriously, how can our society ever hope to use email for real business if addresses aren't stable?
Is still Comcastic!
Isn't that name already in use for one of those wonder cars. Wasn't it in one of those car commercials that never mentioned what they were selling, and never even bothered putting a picture of their vehicle in the ad?
Are we going to see commercials with his and her outdoor bathtubs advertising for this new company name?
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
When will companies learn, it's the customers, stupid!
When customers do something about it, i.e. take their money and go to the competition. No competition due to govt. monopoly? Vote!
If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?
So, am I just lucky? I've been using Comcast for about 7 years now and I've never had a complaint. When I've had technical issues they've sent someone out within 24 hours and the issues have been very rare. Their customer service has always seemed just as good as any other company. I don't know, I either lucked out or I'm not that picky.
How about you never use the email address provided by your ISP? Web portal email works much better, and it will always be there as long as the portal is.
Also, never use work email for anything outside or work. You will not have access to it when you no longer work there.
Oh, I do still have a msn email account even though I stopped my msn dial-up account years ago so some isps do provide the service even if you no longer pay them. I think it only still exists since it was just re-branded hotmail.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
They better not mess up CSN Chicago with this or nbc deal our teams left FSN to form this network and comcast only has 20% of it and I will suck if that comcast / nbc deal better not take all the fun shows off on the network and get rid of there sets.
Nobody ever went broke underestimating the stupidity of the American public.
.nosig
.
That step is going to be a huge one for comcast who, in the past, has proven they are unable to traverse to chasm.
... so does that make me an XCustomer?
No matter the name, this is the same company that told me for over 3 years that all the problems I was having were my fault, not theirs. Despite having a 3 second ping (yes, 3000 ms), apparently Comcast considers that acceptable and not worth fixing. If I wanted a technician to come out and check the lines, I would have to pay for it. Comcast was my only option, my address didn't qualify for DSL, which is ironic considering I live in "Silicon Valley." AT&T finally started rolling out U-Verse in my area, which I jumped on immediately. By immediately, I mean 2 full months of trying to convince AT&T to send a technician out to hook me up because their survey monkey simply didn't put my address down in their Excel spread sheet database; every address around me was eligible for U-Verse, including three apartments I shared walls and ceilings with. AT&T "fixed" the problem, apparently, by inverting their spread sheet. Now I'm the only address at the complex eligible for U-Verse. *sigh* At least I have U-Verse and I can actually play games online. A couple weeks after I finally got U-Verse installed and canceled my Comcast, Comcast sent over two technicians. Despite having a large, red, "No Soliciting" sign on my door, they interrupted my friends and me on a nice Saturday evening of D&D (it was after 7PM). They explained to me that were aware of all the problems I was having, and attributed it to old, out-of-spec wiring at the apartment complex, and a misconfigured node in my area that was causing latency problems. I was actually pretty speechless. I finally asked them that after 3 years of telling me "it's on your end," you fucktards bother me on a Saturday evening to finally own up to your own incompetence? Pointed at the no soliciting sign, told them to fuck off, then slammed the door.
Verizon, formerly known as Bell Atlantic (and GTE)...
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
...Dunfer Mifflin Infinity.
And we all know how well that went...
is still crap. And smells like it.
I *knew* there was a reason I hadn't changed the tab on my filing folder filled with Comcast bills that is currently labeled: "Adelphia"
Would a turd by any other name still taste like shit?
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
I can corroborate all of the claims made about Time Warner.
The universally horrible service of subscription television is why we don't buy any service. It's a nice chunk of change at the end of the year. The shows are out on DVD the next year anyway.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
Changing the name just means that some people might be more inclined to obtain service from Comcast/Xfinity because even though they probably have heard of Comcast's terrible service, they might not know that the "new" company named "Xfinity" is really just Comcast with a new name. In other words, it's a move that was done purely for marketing reasons. More customers = more money, regardless of the quality of service.
... and a pr0n site probably owns "Assfinity."
a new name is unlikely to impress consumers.
I have thought about this with cell phone companies. I once got service from bell south, and hated it. I couldn't pick up a signal at home, or at work. Odds were that, I could find a pay phone more easily than an area where I could get service. I wasn't surprised when they changed their name.
The problem is that, now, I can't remember who they became. I could look it up, but it isn't that relevant. The part that matters is that, when xfinity comes to your town three years from now, and your friend told you how much Comcast sucks, and you have been reading blog entries complaining about Comcast's service, you may not immediately realize that it's the same company.
I hope this rebranding and shiny new Customer Service comes with training for your install techs. My RCN was disconnected by one of your jokers during a neighbor's Comcast install and your untrained monkey couldn't figure out what he did wrong. I had to show him his mistake (thankfully I was home at the time). Then he did it again 2 hours later. His excuse? "This building is confyooosin." Uhm. There are 4 units in the joint and only two hookups in the area where he was working. Shameful!
I blew all 5 of today's points on comcast trolls.
Most of the posts are just flames - zero content.
Those few that attempt to slam Comcast with facts actually point out the stupidity of the poster.
Three years of bad service?
No way I would put up with that from anyone.
Between me and my employer, we have 9 comcast accounts.
I think I've had about 12 hours of downtime on my residential account over the last 4 years.
I think I've had about 3 hours combined on the remaining 8 biz accounts.
I've never had a provider with better overall uptime.
. . . the new 'star?'
Used to be, when foundering companies relabeled themselves, the word 'star' was invariably in the new name somewhere.
];)
Regards;
seXfinity? its where the bandwidth goes.
We used to joke with their employees who shared the building (who joined in:)
Concast
Commiecast (we were calling each other comrade too.)
Comquest (I think their line should be "All your internet belong to us.")
-
Xe didn't help that corps image. People still call it Black Water.
Well, Arther Anderson pulled it off-- how many forgot they are now known as Accenture? (The people who brought you Enron.)
-
Who set us up the takeover?
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
comcast the jig is up and I want VS and CSN philly on direct tv now!
Fill in the X for anything you want- its a var!
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
How about you never use the email address provided by your ISP? Web portal email works much better, and it will always be there as long as the portal is.
ISP changes name or web portal changes name. No difference from a user perspective; their email address might change either way.
...change the name.
It will only cost you a bunch of millions to rebrand, then when you figure out that you just screwed up, it will cost you a bunch of millions to change your brand back.
This will only piss off the atheists, who won't like the cross in any form, and Christians, who don't like such blatant misuse of the cross in a commercial context, even with an allusion to infiniteness of G-d.
"Operation Infinite Justice" was a great slogan, too, wasn't it?
back around 99(ish) we switched one of our landlines from the local RBOC to comcast (or whatever they were called in our market back then). they initially screwed it up (wow, who saw that coming?) in such a way that we could make outbound calls but anyone calling us got a "this line has been disconnected" msg. when I called them (from that line - let me be clear: FROM THAT LINE) the in-DUH-vidual w/whom I spoke told me what I was describing wasn't possible because the line hadn't been installed yet. I pointed out that we were speaking on that line but she was completely undaunted - the line hadn't been installed & she needed to schedule an install. I was a bit taken back, this was a level of stupidity I'd never encountered, even from comcast. I finally hung up in frustration & called back, hoping to get someone a little less stupid. luckily the guy I got the 2nd time quickly figured out the problem was w/moving the # from the RBOC (hence we could call out but inbound call went to them/got disconnect mgs). the next day the problem was fixed. the day after that a technician showed up to install the line we'd had for almost a week & fully working for 24 hrs...
Buzz Lightyear will make a fortune.
If you polish a turd, it's still a turd!
Well, as you point out, VZW came from merging two companies. I don't think Bell Atlantic would sell as well in CA...
Peter Lynch, of Fidelity Investments, once wrote that he usually regarded a company name change as a sell signal. If the brand has value, why change the name? If the brand doesn't have value, why own the stock?
Suspicious name change of the month: ENVIRONMENTAL CREDITS, LTD. (FORMERLY BOYSTOYS.COM, INC.) "Prior to September 12, 2002 and through its wholly-owned subsidiary, RMA of San Francisco, Inc., a California corporation ("RMA"), we owned and operated an upscale gentlemen's club in San Francisco, California (the "Club") under the name, "Boys Toys Club. ... While our stockholders on March 7, 2008 approved the change in our name to "Environmental Credits, Ltd.," the exact form and nature of any business that we may pursue has not been determined. Our plans are in the conceptual stage only and we may or may not pursue any specific investments or business activity."
That which we call a rose By any other word would smell as sweet. Rephrasing: That which we call Comcast By any other word would smell as bad.
Xfinity will always be Comcast!
Xi will always be Blackwater!
Syfy will always be SciFi!
MTV will always be Music Television!
KFC will always be Kentucky Fried Chicken!
AT&T will always be SBC... wait... Pacific Bell (and friends)... no.. AT&T!
WAKE UP SHEEPLE!
Maybe an article on how Comcast is upgrading their already over-subscribed service to 100Mbps?
Why? Because web mail blows. Horribly. The web as an application interface sucks a dick.
I'll use outlook, thanks. And if my email changes.. well that's why I have a forwarder.
Somehow I don't think the old "Forget about our old crap, let's pull the wool over your eyes so the new crap we pull will take a while to sink in, then we can change our name again" switcheroo will work.
Yeah, but the point is more that the Verizon brand is only 10 years old.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
Wow, This story sounded a bit familiar, the news hit over two weeks ago!
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100203-708909.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines
The piece of news that is happening is that they started Marketing it on Friday. Wow... a company comes out with a new ad campagin.... great slashdot news.
You do know that most webmail is compatible with outlook right?
Actually I can't even think of one that isn't compatible with outlook.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
Alas, the exclusivity agreements were a requirement to get the infrastructure built, noone wanted to invest the millions to string cable unless they were confident of recouping their investment, and as a one way network, installing it as a "shared resource" where competitors could access the lines after the installation investment was recovered isn't practical.
I suspect part of the real reason Verizon and other Telcos are stringing fiber to compete with the cable companies is because:
1) Their cable infrastructure needed major updating anyway, and simplifies management significantly
2) Their landline business is drying up as consumers move to cell services. This allows them to capture more $$$ per household using the infrastructure they want to install anyway.
Just spent a week at a friends place with Comcast, their cable internet went out about every hour with use, the techs say a modern spec cable needs to be run to teh house, but Comcast won't do it. I wonder how long it will take once the "Verizon FIOS in here" flyer shows up on their door?
You are in a maze of twisted little posts, all alike.
They are clueless they offer free NHL CI 2/16 2/22 to bad that is the Olympics hockey brake.
Why does any company 're-brand' itself?
What was wrong with the old brand?
Finally, does a change in name equate to a change in fact?
Just asking.
A couple of years ago, I moved to a suburb which has a duopoly of ComCast & AT&T. I held my nose and signed up for ComCast cable internet service. I was careful to get a cable modem from their approved list.
Two years later, the modem got really flakey and needs replacement. I checked the web site, and the list of cable modems there is so old most of them aren't made any more.
So I wasted cellular minutes trying to get some semblance of current information from customer "service". I eventually found out that there is a list of approved models of cable modem which is less obsolete than the other, but I can't have a copy because it's secret!
... their XBitch.
I have nothing against Comcast. We had low (analog cable) signal levels a few years ago and the bunglers they sent out coudn't figure out what the problem was, so they just took all the traps out up and down the street and my whole block got free extended basic for free for 6 or 7 years. This only ended a couple months ago when they finally upgraded the neighborhood to digital.
My employer's commercial service is a different story. It WAS rock solid stable for three years, until somebody firebombed the local head end last year. Then, it took them a month to get BGP stable. And Comcast still doesn't honor our AS prepending, so we have to go through various kludges to split our incoming routes between Comcast and our other providers.
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
Xfinity.
ECKS-finity
ZIN-inity
CROSS-finity
OOOOPS-finity
Hugs-n-kisses-finity
?
Rebranding to "Xfinity" is not likely to cause me to forget how absurdly cable subscription rates have risen recently nor is it likely to cause me to hate comcast any less for charging extra because a fricking tivo is plugged into my cable service.
when you go to xfinity.com and click "buy", you are right back at the old comcast site with all the same comcast services and prices. they really outdid themselves on this one.
Hell - Hell has announced plans to rebrand itself as XBoilingHot as part of its bid to transform itself from the realm of Eternal Damnation into a kinder, gentler den of infinite punishment.
"This is part of an overall strategy to change our image in the eyes of our customers." Hell spokesman Adolf Hitler said. "I think we've got a bid of a bad rap, in part deserved, but in part because a lot of people just haven't given us an adequate chance."
"There's a lot to be proud of!" Nebraska regional director Pol Pot said. "We've changed the whole operation around, streamlining it with an eye on increasing overall satisfaction. Complaints have dropped a solid 50%, and we haven't even introduced the new Infinite Voice Mail Queue and the pitchforks with the built in silencers so the agonies of the Damned don't overwhelm those listening to an eternity of Liberace playing the anthem of the USSR at triple tempo in 7/4 time."
"It's a bit old-fashioned," says senior director of the market research division of Hell, Idi Amin. "I don't think our customers are going to be fooled by slick slogans. But we know they'll notice the difference."
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Only on Slashdot...
Is still crap. And people are stupid, it WILL be effective, for a while.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
We dumped cable TV/Tivo over a year ago and now get all of our movies and TV programming via the internet (over the internet connection the cable company provides) or Netflix/Redbox . The best way to cancel to avoid much of the hassle in canceling cable services is to pack everything up (which you'd have to do anyways) but instead of mailing it in (giving them free-reign to claim you didn't send something) drive down to their offices and plop all of the equipment on a customer service rep's desk. They have no way to rebuttal against you since they'd have to tell you to pack everything back up and set it up again and they have no way to "claim" you lost something since they have to give you a receipt right there.
BTW, I don't miss cable TV one bit and haven't run into bandwidth issues because we don't watch TV all day.
Faith is a willingness to accept something w/o complete proof and to act on it. Reason allows you to correct that faith.
shit, by any other name, is still shit.
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=lipstick+on+a+pig&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=ZNB5S8CMK5G4NfmwoLUH&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CCQQsAQwAw
Yes, I went there.
"Keep at least 3-6 full bottles of hard alcohol on hand, a 2 week resignation notice,..." - Poetmatt
Comcast works well if you buy your own modem. This allows you to actually pick one based on specifications/reviews and they will generally last long enough to save you money on rental fees.
With the exception of a brief interval on Knology, I've used Comcast internet service since they bought out the AT&T @Home service that I was on.
With Comcast, I haven't had any real issues with service reliability or customer support. At least not since I decided to skip the rental modem lottery and buy my own from Newegg. Prior to buying my own modem, I had a service tech out 2-3 times per month to tell me that there was nothing wrong with the installation that would cause me to lose my connection several times a day.
With Knology, however, I had nothing but terrible service and horrendous customer support. Comcast seems to be willing to invest the time and expense in maintaining and upgrading their networks, both the local systems and the national backbone. Knology in my area, however, has a very flaky local network ( to the point that customer service tried to convince me that 25% packet loss is normal and acceptable ) and that local network connects to the rest of the internet with an extremely oversubscribed link.
My God! It's full of eval()'s.
Appears Blackwater started a trend when it rebranded itself Xe. Whatever the RIAA decides to rename itself, I'm sure it'll start with X
Maybe it's just because "Crapcast" has a much nicer ring to it than "Crapfinity"...
Ok, so Comcast has soiled their old trademark beyond redemption. Rebranding will at best buy them a little while, mostly with new customers. It only helps if you have a plan in place to fix the issues, which in this case are (1) customer service, (2) high prices, and (3) customer service. How much do you want to bet that instead, all the effort will go into marketing? They seem to have a basic inability to understand that crappy service is the issue.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
I switched from Qwest to Comcast and in comparison, I'm very happy with Comcast. The tech support, the up-time, the speed. All much better.
never use the email address provided by your ISP *and* Web portal email works much better
It's a little presumptuous to make up random rules of thumb and offer them out as advice. Try a little supporting evidence such as...
"Web portal email works better because..."
"Portal xyz's offering was clearly viable and sustainable since your email address was first established so you should have gone with them instead..."
Sounds like your suggestions are aimed at someone who just bought their first PC at Best Buy yesterday. Give a little credit to the community.
I've been a Comcast internet customer for over 2 years. Their service is expensive relative to DSL, but the throughput, latency and tech support are top notch as far as I'm concerned. Every time I've called Comcast, I've never had to sit on hold, they've always addressed my issues immediately.
Maybe people hate them because they're a big corporation?
especially those incompetent people who think yelling at incompetent people will actually get anything done.
You should have hung up and sent a complaint after getting her info of course.
then call back and see if you cant get someone else on the line.
I'd love to say "hang up on them and it will make them look bad, but sadly, they get rewarded for the least time with a customer. So the people who will sit down and help you out and walk you through are punished for wasting time in these call centers as since you cant help the customer fast enough, you're failing at your job. someone who has a customer for a minute gets rewarded for great customer service skills while the guy on the line for 25 minutes trying to actually help gets reprimanded later for it.
This comes from someone I know who worked at a subcontracted call center for t-mobile in canada.
But for your own sanity, the instant they get stuck on stupid, hang up on them, make sure to let them know that they have been of no help. That stuff gets recorded.
...really, screw them. They screw everyone...well, at least they screw all of their customers. Its a corporate greed, lack of ethics thing.
Putting X in front of something ceased to be a good hook the moment Harold and Kumar ran across those X! treme!!!! dudes in their movie.
Doesn't anyone else see the fact that they actually have a "Senior Vice President for the Greater Boston Region" as a bad thing?
I never thought I would say this, but Comcast has gotten better. I was getting frequent and repeated drops of my Internet connection and after the initial attempts to solve the problem remotely, they sent a guy to my condo. Surprisingly, not only did the guy know what he was doing, but he went the extra mile to fix my problem. This included crawling under a metal gate to get into the space under my building and going up on the pole multiple times. He found the problem (too many splits) and got the home office to rewire the pole correctly.
I'm not saying this one event absolves Comcast of past sins, but if they keep on going in this direction, perhaps they will be worthy of their customer's business.
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
ISP changes name or web portal changes name. No difference from a user perspective; their email address might change either way.
Buy a domain name and set up an e-mail address using that.
Marketing people really get me. I doesn't matter if you call it poop, poo poo, feces, or stinky. Shit is still shit and it still smells bad. Whoop ee! lets git out our branding irons and brand them little doggies.
Looking forward to the merger of Xfinity with the Sy Fy channel...
"XSyFynyty"
... actually improve their customer service?
If not, then the new name doesn't mean a f*cking thing.
My kingdom for a mod point. That's better than my definition for Comcastic: "Your screwed, no matter what you do".
Good luck with all that, X-Bandwagon-Jumpers. So glad I dropped Comcast, now the latest in the "nonsense branding" war. ComCast could be shown to mean something, anything "Communications" "Broadcast" "ComCast". WTF is an Xfinity?
I like music
Except Uverse is a different service than anything AT&T was offering before. It's IPTV with fiber to the neighborhood. I have it, and it works really well.
Comcast is just changing the name of the same service they're already selling. That sounds like something companies do when their product is known for killing people and they wan't everyone to forget that.
Putting moderation advice in your
Comcast turned on the XFINITY upgrade in my town last week. This is what happened.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg9hRZ-3heE