Comcast Claims Its Notoriously Bad Customer Service Is Improving
Comcast does not have a stellar reputation for customer service. Just the opposite, it is one of only two companies to be voted by Consumerist readers as the "Worst Company in America," earning the blog's not-so-coveted Golden Poo award in 2010 and again in 2014. Comcast made a vow to change that perception, and there is evidence its efforts are paying off to some degree.
Yeah, we're as surprised as you are. After all, this is the same company that made headlines when one of its representatives changed the billing name of one of its customers from Lisa Brown to "A**hole Brown" after she decided to downgrade her service. In other instances of customer disservice, billing names were changed to "Whore" and "Dummy," to name just two other examples of abusing customer mail.
Comcast went on a hiring spree in 2015 to fix its embarrassingly horrid customer service. At the time, it committed to hiring 5,500 customer service jobs over the next few years. In the second year of its overhaul, complaints to Oregon cable regulators fell by 25 percent, The Oregonian reports. And since 2014, customer service complaints are down an impressive 40 percent.
"We know we still have a lot of work to do. I think what we're happy with is the progress we've made and the focus we have on it," said Charlie Herrin, Comcast executive overseeing the company's customer service overhaul. He just recent was promoted to chief customer experience officer, a newly created position within Comcast.
Comcast claims the number of customer service calls it fields fell by 22 million last year. That alone does not mean that Comcast is doing a better job, as customers could be taking advantage of online forms and chat instead of actually calling in. However, it does point to change within Comcast. The company is utilizing Apple-style stores in some locations and has rolled out new tools to help customers diagnose problems and improve their home Wi-Fi before calling in to complain.
Of course, bad reputations are tough to shed. On top of that, Comcast still has a ways to go. After a Comcast technician missed a scheduled appointment to fix service issues, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee vented on Twitter saying, "I'd rather have Obama back as President than have Comcast." The ISP also continues to draw criticism over data caps and rising prices.
Thumbnail Image Source: Flickr (Mike Mozart)
Yeah, we're as surprised as you are. After all, this is the same company that made headlines when one of its representatives changed the billing name of one of its customers from Lisa Brown to "A**hole Brown" after she decided to downgrade her service. In other instances of customer disservice, billing names were changed to "Whore" and "Dummy," to name just two other examples of abusing customer mail.
Comcast went on a hiring spree in 2015 to fix its embarrassingly horrid customer service. At the time, it committed to hiring 5,500 customer service jobs over the next few years. In the second year of its overhaul, complaints to Oregon cable regulators fell by 25 percent, The Oregonian reports. And since 2014, customer service complaints are down an impressive 40 percent.
"We know we still have a lot of work to do. I think what we're happy with is the progress we've made and the focus we have on it," said Charlie Herrin, Comcast executive overseeing the company's customer service overhaul. He just recent was promoted to chief customer experience officer, a newly created position within Comcast.
Comcast claims the number of customer service calls it fields fell by 22 million last year. That alone does not mean that Comcast is doing a better job, as customers could be taking advantage of online forms and chat instead of actually calling in. However, it does point to change within Comcast. The company is utilizing Apple-style stores in some locations and has rolled out new tools to help customers diagnose problems and improve their home Wi-Fi before calling in to complain.
Of course, bad reputations are tough to shed. On top of that, Comcast still has a ways to go. After a Comcast technician missed a scheduled appointment to fix service issues, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee vented on Twitter saying, "I'd rather have Obama back as President than have Comcast." The ISP also continues to draw criticism over data caps and rising prices.
Thumbnail Image Source: Flickr (Mike Mozart)
