Slashdot Mirror
Comcast Confessions
An anonymous reader writes: We heard a couple weeks ago about an incredibly pushy Comcast customer service representative who turned a quick cancellation into an ordeal you wouldn't wish on your enemies. To try and find out what could cause such behavior, The Verge reached out to Comcast employees, hoping a few of them would explain training practices and management directives. They got more than they bargained for — over 100 employees responded, and they painted a picture of a corporation overrun by the neverending quest for greater profit. From the article: 'These employees told us the same stories over and over again: customer service has been replaced by an obsession with sales, technicians are understaffed and tech support is poorly trained, and the massive company is hobbled by internal fragmentation. ... Brian Van Horn, a billing specialist who worked at Comcast for 10 years, says the sales pitch gradually got more aggressive. "They were starting off with, 'just ask," he says. "Then instead of 'just ask,' it was 'just ask again,' then 'engage the customer in a conversation,' then 'overcome their objections.'" He was even pressured to pitch new services to a customer who was 55 days late on her bill, he says.'
So is Slashdot an echo chamber now? When did we start coming up with opinions and then crafting stories to suit our own narrative?
Are we really going to sit here and pretend like it's a surprise that a company that sells cable might be pushy about selling cable?
Then they ask a question that, clearly, only disgruntled employees of that company are going to respond to... then from that, pick and choose the worst...
I've worked in places like that and I bet a lot of Slashdot has as well. We all know the guy that made this call famous... the "Super employee" that does everything by the book and thinks he's a rockstar because he goes over the top on every call... and that guy always ends up in a situation like this. Management loves him until he pisses some customer off so bad it gets escalated to the executive level. This call just so happened to go even farther than that.