Comcast was named the worst company in America last week, and I have no idea why.
I never understood why people hate Comcast. For years online, I've seen a constant flow of posts from people about how "Comcast Sucks", but NEVER have I seen a reason that was actually decent.
"They're expensive!" Well, yeah, I don't doubt that. For my expanded cable package and internet, it's about $135+ a month. If you call them up and ask them to lower your bill, they will. In fact, my bill is down to $80 a month until September. In September, I'll call and ask them to lower it again and, you guessed it, they will.
"Their customer service sucks!" ...um, NO? In the many years I've been a customer, the only time I've complained about their customer service is when I have to deal with someone face-to-face, and even then its about once out of 10 times I've gone. They actually have some of the nicest reps I've ever talked to, and as long as you're nice to them, they tend to be incredibly nice to you.
In fact, I'll tell you a quick story: My internet went out once in 2008 and I had to call tech support. After being put on hold for 30 minutes I finally got to talk to someone for some help. I asked why the wait was so long... turns out she was the only rep in my area at the time. I told here what I had tried, and we had it fixed in 5 minutes. Really nice, didn't make me jump through hoops... I was pleased.
"Their service sucks!" I guess that one literally depends on where you live. I live in the Mt. Airy section of Philadelphia and have cable and internet with them. In the nearly 5 years I've had their internet service, it has gone out a grand total of 3 times. I was with Verizon before, and that was a monthly average. Same deal with the cable.
Personally, I don't get why people hate Comcast. They tend to be nice, kind, polite, offer great service and even if you hate the price they're willing to LOWER THEIR PRICE IF YOU ASK.
Now, that's not to say it's been great, there have been problems. I don't like the fact that it is so expensive to have cable ($75+ for expanded basic, which is a little more than 100 channels [but a TON of movies]). It took about 3-4 different boxes to get one to work when I had to get a new digital receiver in 2008. I don't like the fact that they have throttled people's internet service, or the fact that they want to buy NBC (which I'm 100% against).
Are they perfect? God no. Are they pretty damn good on a whole? Yes.
If I could take my pick for worst company, it would be Goldman Sachs, but that's for another day. But to me, a close second is Verizon. Why? Find out tomorrow.
5 comments:
This is why: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbyePuMYBis
Dude, that video sucked.
First off, you had to be basically clueless to not know that Xfinity was the same thing as Comcast. There were a million and one ads for it.
Secondly, the complaints about Comcast's customer service were incredibly vague. "Oh, it wasn't good." Why? What the hell happened?
Finally, the price increase dose suck, and I'm not going to defend it. Does the idea of a new brand cover up all the problems they had in the past? No. But you had to be an idiot to think it would.
Anecdotal evidence does not an argument make.
It's pretty easy to weigh your stories against surveys by Consumer Reports and other like-minded publications to see just how many people have had problems with the company, and it's even easier to find and collect data about the companies services themselves and compare them to competitors i.e., internet speeds, HD channel quality, and even noise on the phone.
Your own experiences may have differed, but guess what: you live in Philadelphia, where the company is based. It's no surprise that you'd get the best customer service reps possible when they absolutely have to foster a good reputation in their home city. Service in the rest of the country is wildly inconsistent, where Comcast is even available (don't get me started about the places they won't put lines down and thus relegate people to the last century).
Compared to the hard numbers, you are in the distant minority. Most people cannot just "call and ask for a lower bill." They may be able to negotiate through threatening to leave for a superior competitor, but if everyone could just ask them, "pretty please take $10 off," then they would be out of business. In most cases the company jacks prices up and throws in fees without telling their customers, and any refunds are fought over.
FWIW, I've never met anyone that thought Xfinity was different from Comcast, but I've met lots that thought it was some kind of expanded or higher tier of service, which it is not - it's a gimmick designed to try and keep their severely lacking cable and internet services competing with the fiber optic services from other competitors (Verizon FiOS, Chattanooga EPB) and other countries (Sweden, South Korea, Japan). This doesn't stop the company from thinking it appropriate to jack prices, again, on their customers to compensate for the added service they're not getting.
If you really want a reason to hate them, look up stories about their data caps, their lap-dog behavior for the MPAA and RIAA, their opposition to net neutrality, their opposition to Netflix, their merger with NBC Universal, and their extreme anti-union policies and poor labor rights for employees.
They're an American company in the absolute worst sense, content with their utter mediocrity, cutting corners to make as much money as possible, and completely refusing to innovate in any way, shape, or form - dragging the entirety of internet access in America down with the other giants (that also won't innovate - Verizon is only trying half-heartedly), putting us miles behind other first-world countries.
I can truly say that you are a biased imbecile. You must work for them.
Move to Atlanta and experience how dumb, useless, overpriced, and stupid they are.
Oh, and your service will go out once a week for kicks.
I used to write posts online for a PR company while in law school, combatting online "attack" sites aimed at our clients. It appears this is clearly what you're doing. It's fine, and you make money, but let's be serious. Comcast and its idiotic employees are the lowest rung of the business world. My last interaction with them"
Them: "uh, we need to rip into your wall in order to fix the problem, and that's not covered in your service contract that they make you buy."
Me: "don't do anything, that's ridiculous." I then had verizon come, they showed me that the comcast people simply hadn't connected the cable from the utility lines to the coax cable that runs into our house. Verizon then connected us to their network, and we've had no problems since... and at about 50% of the price.
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