And more.

While I was typing that last post, Child came in and said, "I need to vent some frustrations." She had three different companies she's trying to call (to give them money!), and 5 different phone numbers between them. No one answered.

Seriously, businesses. Do you honestly feel good running this way? I still think dark thoughts about Comcast, Dell, and Brent Brown auto, whose reps at various times misled, lied, and simply hung up on me.

Qwest v. Comcast: The First Month

After the first month of service, the first problem, and the first bill, who wins: Qwest or Comcast?

Qwest. No contest. (Yet.)

Setup

If memory serves correctly, it took us several phone calls, visits, and quite a bit of downtime to finally get Comcast working. Comcast eventually refunded two weeks worth of service, I believe, but I would have preferred forgoing the headache instead.

Qwest had me up and running when they said they would.


Service

I'm inclined to be a little more lenient to Comcast here, simply because our last apartment was old, as was the wiring Comcast had to deal with. However, even after they put brand-new wiring in, they couldn't keep my Internet connection up and running.

So far (knock on wood) my Qwest connection hadn't had any problems except a brief downtime that was fixed by rebooting the modem/router, but it's only been a few weeks. This is better judged over a series of months. We'll see...


Support

Qwest wins again. When my connection died, I called up customer support. Unlike Comcast, who refused to touch my wireless router (and enjoyed blaming problems they couldn't figure out on it), the Qwest support guy didn't even blink when I told him I had a wireless router hooked up to their modem. He simply walked me through rebooting it, in addition to their modem, which fixed the problem.

I can't go too far blaming Comcast for not wanting to deal with "unsupported hardware," but it certainly wasn't that difficult for Qwest, and it made all the difference in my opinion of them.


Billing

Again, this is better judged over a series of months, but my first Qwest bill was correct, and (helpfully) told me which month I was on in my discounted promotional period. Comcast rarely got a bill correct two months running.

Let's hope Qwest continues to impress.

Comcast v. Qwest

In our new house here in Draper, an obliging neighbor is currently providing me with wireless internet, but I have my own hookup coming on Tuesday. Or Wednesday. I can't remember which now. Too much going on.

I'm giving Qwest a try for a couple months to see how I like it, and I can always switch back to Comcast if needed.

ISPs definitely need more competition.

Prof IDs Types of Ticked-Off Customers

...which kind of customer are you when a company does you wrong? KSL had an article about a professor that identified three different kinds of ticked-off customers.

Utilitarian: just wants the problem fixed. Don't bother saying "Sorry," that might even be construed as trying to buy off the customer with emotion.

Oppositionals: aggressive, see the interaction as a battle. Give them options, let them feel victorious.

Relationals: all about the relationship. They want the "I'm sorry," save the compensation for after the apology.

Thinking back to three (more or less) recent experiences with big-name companies (T-Mobile, Comcast, and USAA Insurance), I think I fall into the Utilitarian category. Each time, I simply wanted them to refund me a incorrect charge, a month's payment for the month I was without service, and an incorrect late fee (respectively). I measure how sorry a company is by how willing they are to correct their mistake.

Comcast Part II: Nearing of the Cancelation

So, you remember last month? Here, let me remind you:

Finally, FINALLY, she tells me that all the additional changes/credits, whatever, should appear on my next bill. "As a matter of fact, it should be negative," she says.

I asked her three different times, in three different ways, to confirm that my next bill will be negative (i.e. Comcast should have credited me) and each time she confirmed it.

We'll see. I have more faith in Osama bin Laden converting to Christianity than in Comcast getting something right.
--"Comcast...DE MUERTE", 8/17/07

Well, welcome to Comcast de Muerte, part II. I'll give you a spoiler: it's going to end in cancellation.

I received our bill. It was 28.14. It's missing just one little thing: a negative sign.

No problem! I was smart last month: after finally resolving the issue, I asked the lady if she could write a note in her computer system stating, explicitly, "This guy's bill will be negative." "Sure!" she says. "Done!"

"Great," I say. "Now give me a reference number, so next month, when my bill ISN'T negative, I can call up and say, "Here's a note that says my bill should be negative."

"Here you go," she says, and gives me a number.

This month, my bill isn't negative. Again, no problem. Instead of calling, there's apparently a new "Chat Online About Your Bill!" service. I decided to try it. I log on. "Jeff" comes online to help me. "Hello! What seems to be your problem?" I start writing back, but before I can finish, Jeff leaves, with the chat message, "This issue has been resolved" or something along those lines. What the...?!

I try again. This time I get "Amis." This guy sticks around long enough for me to explain the situation and give him the reference number to the note. "Let me read the note...sorry, there's nothing here about your bill being negative. If you need more help, call Comcast. Goodbye." He vanishes with the same, "This issue has been resolved" note before I can even respond. Wow. Remember that picture I posted about Comcast's customer service being as smart as a brick? That was extreme flattery.

I go back to the phone and get Chuck. Chuck is nice, but confirms that there's no note about my bill being negative. "I *can* give you $10 credit for the 11 days you were without service," he offers. Thanks, but that's not really what I was promised or expecting. And 11 days? Where'd THAT number come from?

"Alright, Chuck," I say. "Give me the $10 credit." And what I didn't add, because Chuck doesn't care and I don't like taking my frustration out on low-level phone-answerers, "And when your supervisor approves it in the two days or whatever you said, I'm paying my bill and canceling."

So there you go. Comcast is gone. Not because I had to call them so often with problems that they made it to my "Fave 5" callers on my cell phone plan (it's true), and not because the service is spotty (also true), but because I was lied to. It's a "principle of the thing" now. I'll make do without internet at home rather than deal with a company whose employees will out-and-out lie to me.

...oh, and before I forget, when I signed up, I didn't want to give them my Social Security Number. Identity theft reasons and all that. "No problem," they say, "Give us a refundable $70 deposit instead." No problem. I give it to them. Now, what are the odds that I'll get that back? I'm not too confident.

Utah Community Credit Union and Customer Service

Even more important than the number of problems a particular company gives you is the speed and convenience with which they solve those problems. Think about it--if you had a company that you only had one problem with, but it took two months, a dozen phone calls, and the sacrifice of a goat to fix the problem, how would that compare with a company that gave you five problems but solved each one with a two-minute phone call?

Let's consider three companies:

Comcast, T-Mobile, and Utah Community Credit Union (UCCU)

Comcast: caused me lots of problems trying to get installed (do they want my money or not?!). Each time, I had to call and spend 15 minutes on the phone trying to explain the problem, then having to hear that the earliest they can schedule help is a week away. Three weeks later, the problem is fixed, but I have to make another serious of incredibly frustrating phone calls to get the billing fixed now. Customer satisfaction: non-existent.

T-Mobile: charged me a $30 fee, apparently a legitimate fee that the service rep forget to tell me about. Took one phone call, required a transfer to a supervisor, who then promised to call the service rep to double-check I was telling the truth. Supervisor couldn't contact the service rep, so went ahead and refunded the money. Great, but had the potential to turn nasty if the supervisor had actually contacted the service rep, and the service rep got scared he'd get in trouble and claimed he had told me about it. Anyway, problem solved. Customer satisfaction: good.

UCCU: charged us a late fee on a car-loan payment because the teller deposited the money in our checking account instead of loan account. Required a couple phone calls, and we had to do some digging in our transactions to find the day and error, but there was no need to transfer us to a supervisor, the first guy on the phone we talked to accepted our explanation and refunded the service food. Customer satisfaction: very good.

You're doin' it wrong IV

Thanks to my beautiful wife, Child, for this one!

Comcast...DE MUERTE!!!

So if I attempted to chronicle all my dealings with Comcast in the last month, attempting to set up internet at Child's and I's new home, this blog post would be several pages long. Instead, let me just comment on the latest call.

Background: due to circumstances, for the first three weeks of our "service," the internet didn't work. Each time I called and talked with a Comcast representative, I was given a "confirmation code" that they said I could use after the service finally worked to make sure I wasn't billed for downtime. In addition, one of the techs that came out to the house gave me a $20 discount for the trouble we've been going through.

So I finally received the first bill: $8.14.

$27.95 for the bill, minus the $20 credit the technician gave me, plus $0.19 tax. Makes sense. But no credits for the three weeks I was without internet--fair enough, I'm supposed to call up and cite my "confirmation codes."

I call Comcast and try to talk to billing. I run through the automated message and get to a prompt that asks for the last four digits of my account number, which I don't have handy.

I hang up and call back, this time aiming for an operator. I find one and he checks my name and phone number, then asks for my account number as well. I tell him I don't have it handy, so he asks for the exact amount of my last payment. Well, for starters, I haven't made ANY payments yet (except for whatever they charged when I signed up over the phone a month ago), and I wouldn't remember the amount off the top of my head anyway. I verbally spar with him for a few moments, asking if there's any other way to verify myself, but he remains adamant. No account number, no help. I hang up.

I call back again. Instead of asking the new operator for help with my bill, I ask her for my account number. She gives it to me. Ah, the joys of large corporations. Since this lady was helpful in giving me my account number, I decide to stick with her. So, over the next 19 minutes, I try time and time again to explain my situation, everything that's happened, everything that SHOULD happen. Finally, FINALLY, she tells me that all the additional changes/credits, whatever, should appear on my next bill. "As a matter of fact, it should be negative," she says.

I asked her three different times, in three different ways, to confirm that my next bill will be negative (i.e. Comcast should have credited me) and each time she confirmed it.

We'll see. I have more faith in Osama bin Laden converting to Christianity than in Comcast getting something right.