Slashdot Mirror
Comcast Customer Service Rep Just Won't Take No For an Answer
RevWaldo writes: The Verge and other sources report on how AOL's Ryan Block ultimately succeeded in cancelling his Comcast account over the phone, but not before the customer service representative pressed him for eight solid minutes (audio) to explain his reasoning for leaving "the number one provider of TV and internet service in the country" in a manner that would cause a character in Glengarry Glen Ross to blush. Comcast has now issued an apology.
That's probably what they meant...
Comment removed based on user account deletion
What is this, backwards day?
where else can you get hundreds of channels of TV i hate and crappy internet for one low price of $200 a month?
what else would i do if i didn't have 400 channels of TV? how else would i watch commercials?
Comcast simply will not accept being second place in the competition for the worst company in existence.
We should learn what we need to know about issues, before we decide what we need to feel about them.
don't understand why this is not more widely understood.
Someone astutely put it somewhere else that a cancelation is probably a "failed customer problem resolution" and negatively impacts a performance review or bonus consideration.
I mean granted, maybe some people here can tell me how a single family home can use that much bandwidth (downloading several dozen torrents simultaneously?), but my family doesn't even use half of our 30 Megabit/second bandwidth.
Two words: Minecraft Server.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
They've done this to me. They interurpt you, they refuse to let you speak until you scream. They just keep talking. They make excuses, they contradict themselves. They are just unbelievable.
This recording is a great example of how Comcast representives are trained to talk you. Obviously, a monopolist can just abuse you and treat you any way they want.
Democracy Now! - your daily, uncensored, corporate-free
Their apology was sincere. They even offered to continue his service at a 'special rate'.
You don't have to 'explain' a goddamn thing to them or anyone else, and you damn well TELL them that. You are paying them, not the other way around, and if you want to cancel your service with them or anyone else for that matter, it's not their place to badger you or bully you. Being asked, once, politely, why you're unhappy enough to cancel is one thing, but if you don't wish to explain why then they MUST accept that. Arguing, bullying, badgering, or any other hard-sell tactics, is just plain bullshit. Anyone gives you that kind of guff? You tell them you want to speak to their supervisor, RIGHT NOW, and YOU don't take 'no' for an answer, either. Their supervisor is being a hardass about it, too? Go over their head. And so on. The only way you get shithead companies like Comcast to knock it off is to not sit back and take shit from them.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
I had little or no problem cancelling Comcast recently when I moved. I used the phrase "moving out of the Comcast service area" when they asked why I was cancelling, and they put it right through. Had a little more trouble returning their boxes, however.
Is it weird in here, or is it just me?
We are very embarrassed by the way our employee spoke with Mr. Block and are contacting him to personally apologize. The way in which our representative communicated with him is unacceptable and not consistent with how we train our customer service representatives. We are investigating this situation and will take quick action. While the overwhelming majority of our employees work very hard to do the right thing every day, we are using this very unfortunate experience to reinforce how important it is to always treat our customers with the utmost respect.
If you read this carefully, they aren't sorry for the content, merely the delivery.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
Sadly, then the company will send your unpaid bills to a collection agency who will hound you for payment and which will ruin your credit score. The burden will be on you to prove that you told them to cancel your service and they didn't. It won't be impossible, mind you, but you'll need to fight to clear your credit because some company refuses to stop billing you in the hopes that you'll just send them more money because it's easier than trying to cancel.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
I was thinking more along the lines of ...
. /Oblg. South Park - Cable Company
I had a 150Mbit connection and i found uses for it all. Having that much extra headroom is very useful.
Just because you can't find a way or can even fathom why someone would want that speed doesn't mean there aren't good uses for it.
I really don't understand the need to say no one needs more than 640k of memory. It plainly makes you look dull.
Me: "Hi, I need to cancel my service."
Rep: "Oh? [insert marketing speak that boils down to 'Why do you want to cancel our awesome service?']"
Me: "I'm moving out of your service area and I'm already set up in my new place."
Rep: "Oh. Okay then."
Doesn't matter if it's true or not. There's not really much they can say to that. They might fish for details about where you've moved to. Just don't be stupid enough to bite.
But that's boring. There's so many more fun responses you could give. CSRs don't argue as much with "crazy" customers so it even makes things easier for you (plus, it messes with their statistics). .666. I refuse to support any company with such obvious anti-christian leanings."
"That information is classified."
"The stars are in alignment. The prophecy must be fulfilled."
"I'm moving to Elbonia."
"The NASCAR team you sponsored keeps losing, so I'm switching to a winner like AOL."
"I got assigned an IP ending in
"I finished reading the whole internet, I really don't see any point in keeping it once I've read it all."
call center employees are being thrown under the bus
but it's a really nice bus that the CEO's are riding...does anything else really matter?
People in cars cause accidents....accidents in cars cause people
This same article was recently posted on Techdirt. The call wasn't 8 minutes. The RECORDING was 8 minutes. There was 10 minutes of call prior to the recording even starting.
... and the word of this day is: Amateur.
The correct hard ball approach is: I am recording this call and forwarding to my local cable franchise authority.
This is the entity that your local franchise must go through to offer service in your area and they are the ones that set rules like the number of seconds you may be placed on hold until you get a human without them having to pay a fine.
-- I was raised on the command line, bitch
If I am hearing correctly, this guy was signed up for 105 megabits per second... Do you know how hard it is to use 105 megabits/second?
Sigh.
Slashdot, how far you have fallen.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
Actually...if you use a credit card, and dispute the charge after you tell them you want to cancel, it goes a bit better than that.
Don't tell them you're transferring to a competitor. That gives them all the excuses to 'save' your account.
My father was canceling his cable Internet service and reconnecting with another provider. I knew about all these tricks they use to retain customers. He had tried calling before and was put on hold, transferred, then spoke to someone for a few minutes and was again put on hold. He ended up hanging up the phone in frustration.
My solution to him was provide a different reason to cancel.
Told my father a better excuse. The next call lasted less than 1 minute. No transfers, no retention reps. A CSR cancelled the service. The reason: carpal tunnel syndrome. As soon as he said he can't use the keyboard/mouse anymore they immediately cancelled no other reason needed.
Hope this helps others! :)
"This call may be recorded for quality assurance purposes" means that you have their permission to record it, too, even in California.
"Cancel my account."
"I can't do that unless you give me a reason."
"I'm recording this conversation, so I have proof that the account has been canceled. If I receive any more invoices, the next phone call will be from my lawyer, or the police."
Click.
The better method, though, is to do it in writing, by registered mail. End of equation.
As a former call center worker (multiple centers), I can tell you unequivocally that that is bullshit. Your average CSR does not give a single fuck about the company they're working for (or the company that their company has a contract with). They're paid to absorb anger and read scripts. There is no intellectual input other than saying what they're told accurately. The first time your manager at the call center chews you out for doing a fantastic job and resolving the problem to everyone's satisfaction, but going over your handle time by 3 seconds, you run out of fucks to give.
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.