Don’t guarantee what you cannot deliver.

By now you probably heard the customer service call from hell that a Comcast customer recently endured. While Comcast apologized, I think most of us can sympathize, empathize and/or identify with the situation. At one time or another we have encountered a company agent who was anything but helpful.

Coincidentally, I was having my own issues with Comcast at the same time the story above hit the national news.

The short story: Comcast promised to complete a repair order and bury a new cable at our residence on July 14.  After several phone calls (lots of holds) and social media posts (my Facebook feed and the Comcast site), I eventually got connected with a corporate email address…which finally got the job finished on July 20. Five days late.

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The teacher inside me has to pass along some suggestions/questions/lessons:

• Stop over-promising. State what you can do and when you can do it.
• Ditch the script. Please hire people who you can trust to speak without a script.  Someone who can think critically, speak clearly, and have a real conversation.
• Stop telling every customer, “I understand.”  The third time I heard that I was over it. Especially when nothing has been resolved for days.
• If customers call concerning a shortcoming in your service, why are your company agents hawking other products and services? If you cannot deliver on your current service, there is no reason I want to sign up for more (potentially) bad service.
• When you make an appointment, make an appointment!  I was told by one of the many Comcast agents I spoke with that although I had an appointment for July 14, it didn’t really mean July 14.  Comcast, the agent told me, considers it has 7-10 days to deliver on that appointment.  Say what?  Tell that to your boss, your clients or creditors: “Sure, I’ll mark down July 14 for you.  But that means I might not complete my obligation until July 24.”  Huh?
  

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  Video recommendation for the week:

  This video pretty much sums it up.

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• One customer service agent boldly told me “I guarantee it will be taken care of today.”  When I repeated his “guarantee” he said, “Definitely!”  It took another three days. Don’t guarantee what you cannot deliver.
• Please define “escalation.”  I was told by a number of agents that my ticket was going to be “escalated.”  Three days into the ordeal, a supervisor told me she would “re-escalate” the ticket.  Glad she “re-escalated” as it only took another 3 days for service delivery!
• Get more supervisors who can make decisions and tell a customer exactly what is what.
• If you can’t handle the volume of calls, then either reduce your business or get more (and better) agents.
• If you tell a paying customer (really, anyone) that “someone will call you later today” please make sure the call is made.
• I found out (from a post to my Facebook feed) that there is a special “Make it Right” phone number to Comcast (that requires a special ID#).  Why isn’t the first call to Comcast the “Make it Right” phone call?

I realize operating the behemoth muscle-bound company you have created has to be difficult; and that service is slow at times; and that you cannot always deliver as you promise.

I understand.

Not really.

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