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Comcast Drops Spurious Fees When Customer Reveals Recording
An anonymous reader writes In yet another example of the quality of Comcast's customer service, a story surfaced today of a Comcast customer who was over-charged for a service that was never provided. At first, the consumer seemed to be on the losing end of a customer service conversation, with Comcast insisting that the charges were fair. But then, the consumer whipped out a recording of a previous conversation that he had with another Comcast representative in which not only was the consumer promised that he wouldn't be charged for services not rendered, but the reason why was explained. Suddenly Comcast conceded, and the fees were dropped. But most telling of all, the Comcast rep implied that she only dropped them because he had taped his previous interaction with Comcast customer service.
I wish I had recordings of every conversation that I've ever had with AT&T, the USPS, and the landlord I once had in Philadelphia. Lifehacker posted last year a few tips on the practicality of recording phone calls, using Google Voice, a VoIP service, or a dedicated app. Can anyone update their advice by recommending a good Android app (or iOS, for that matter) designed specifically to record sales and service calls, complete with automated notice?
Just about every call I've ever made to a sufficiently-large company has started with the automated disclaimer that "This call may be recorded for quality assurance".
Well then, thank you. They just gave permission. This call may be recorded. Thanks, Comcast!
With any call to a place of business, credit card company, whatever - always start with the agent by telling them that you are recording the call (even if you don't - it covers your bases) - all of a sudden their attitudes will be very different and of course if you are recording then there is no question on legality. Works every time I've done it.
I suppose, once you know when the bot is going to say that line, just preemptively ask it:
Can I record this call?
Then when it says
This call may be recorded for quality and training purposes.
They almost certainly wouldn't have a leg to stand on.
All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
Seems like it should legitimately become a federal issue when there are transactions that occur across state lines with different laws affecting the same transaction.
For instance, if someone in a "one party notice" receives a phone call from someone in a "two party notice" state, and has an app on their phone that automatically records all calls... what happens? Which set of laws apply?
Does it change if the "one party notice" person is the one originating the call?
Does it matter if the person knows the laws of the other state?
Does it matter if the person doesn't even know which state he's calling?
How about if it's a New York phone number but it's routed to a call center in India?
I'm all for limiting the power of the federal government but sometimes it actually makes sense. In the case of inter-state phone calls, there either needs to be a federal law establishing which state's laws apply so that we all know once and for all, or (my preference since it's simpler) a federal law unifying all the state laws. Otherwise it's chaos!