It's now being reported that Comcast is expanding their customer complaint department and tripling the size of their social media and customer service teams in order to increase the productivity of their customer service. But is that enough?
I do not believe that hiring more people in the social media department is the answer for Comcast and below are four reasons why:
It does not guarantee that the customer can still contact Comcast.
The majority of Comcast complaints are about not being able to get a hold of anyone at Comcast, and have nothing to do with Twitter or Facebook. They keep getting transferred on the phone or are bounced around with email and unable to get their issues resolved. More social media employees will not fix the already problematic communication and a poor overall website experience.
I have been transferred from rep to rep to supervisor to being cut off. Then upon re-calling cannot get the same person even though it is 1) in the records and 2) I have the name and badge number and therefore start over. I have been on hold, I have been promised return calls that never happen, and in the end, the mindless customer service reps tell me to have a nice day.
It does not solve the problem of being able to have good customer service.
Hiring minimum wage employees to man social media with no training in customer service or communication is bound to get any business a bad name. Tripling the amount of employees is not the answer but hiring good ones and training them in customer relations from the start, would be a better use of resources. Quality over quantity is especially important when growing a company and building a great culture.
9 months of problems, including weak signal, slow internet, phone down for at least a week 3 months in a row, they lost my phone number (they ported my number to someone else), service came and unplugged my phone one time, then got in the truck and drove away, no paper work! Another time the service tech didn't show up or even call when scheduled.
They don’t back up what they advertise (low prices) and they create false expectations.
Hiring more people will not lower my monthly bill nor will it give me a sense of security in getting what was sold to me. I am constantly shown new offers and deals with Comcast products. Few pan out to be exactly what was promised and I usually end up with a large bill in the mail.
I left Comcast 2 yrs ago because Comcast took away channels that were on my bill and that I was paying for. They said I never had the channels. I told them I can show them the bill showing that I’ve been paying but they could care less. I never got a refund or the channels that I paid for and the customer service department was non-existent.
Their prices are too high compared to Hulu and Netflix.
With the reasonable pricing and wide variety of choices from Netflix and Hulu, more customers are leaving Comcast altogether. Streaming TV and movies is just to cost effective and too convienent. Why would I want to pay an ungodly amount for a bundle when I can have a la carte services I actually enjoy? Comcast pricing is too steep to stay competitive. Ironically more overhead usually leads to even higher prices.
The problem with Comcast, in general, is they just aren't worth it anymore. I love Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon, but I can live without Comcast. Poor service, no response from customer department on the phone when I called to complain, and too expensive for the choices I have now.
What needs to happen is a mindset change starting with the top of the company and trickling its way down, demanding excellent customer service above all else. It starts with every executive and corporate leader at Comcast and works its way down to every person in the customer service department.
This “quick fix” of tripling the social media size will not empower customers nor bring about the changes that are being demanded by Comcast users everywhere.
