Comcast and Xfinity are abusive by choice
Yes, this is another rant about customer service; skip if you’ve gotten tired of this. Believe me, I’ve gotten tired of it too. But it’s not me, folks. It’s them.
Many of you know that Comcast/Xfinity, the cable internet provider owned by NBC, is customer-hostile. But they have reached a level of hostility I haven’t seen before. I’m typing this out because I’m so frustrated and hoping for a competent adult or two who can tell me that what I’m saying makes sense, that I’m not crazy, and that I’m not unreasonable.
Yeah, my misery would like some company.
The problem, in steps:
My Internet service went down. I suspected it was because of an unpaid bill. Recently there have been Comcast-generated errors on my account causing them not to recognize my payments.
I know that, if this is the reason for my service being down, that I will not be able to confirm that by talking to Comcast’s AI robot by phone. Oh yes, it will take a payment, but it will not confirm to me that my service is off because of non-payment. It will also not tell me when to expect my service to return.
That means I can’t know for sure if it’s an equipment problem. I can’t know for sure what Comcast’s internal billing system thinks my payment status is. These are not options that an AI robot allows; I can’t ask these questions. Does this make sense so far?The AI robot by phone literally refuses point blank in plain language, to connect you to an agent unless you obey the AI’s irrelevant instructions. You can say “agent” with a mild tone of voice, or you can scream it. It doesn’t matter. The AI says, “OK, but an agent cannot help you until you use Xfinity Assistant and follow the troubleshooting steps.”
This is where we are. Robots programmed to just refuse you, and in a manner that is actually scolding. It’s unreal.When I finally get “Foarahiuoa8ralZXX” on the phone, it gets worse. That’s the best I can come up with for what his name may have been. Thickest Chinese accent I’ve heard in years. I’m straining to understand him.
His accent is so thick that I had to ask him to repeat the very first greeting out of his mouth. I was so polite in my tone. I said, “Thank you for your help. I’m not trying to make this harder for you, but I genuinely cannot understand what you’re saying. Please speak more slowly, and please understand I’m not criticizing you, but I have to be able to understand you in order to respond.” I had no idea if he was saying hello, if he was saying my name, or if he asked me to provide him information. Really. I couldn’t parse it.
This went on through the entire conversation. I’m sure he could hear the tension in my voice-I can remain icily polite, but I’m not able to camouflage built up frustration. I don’t yell, I don’t name call, I use the words please and thank you, but yes, you can hear my frustration. It’s reasonable.This keeps going on until I say to him, “Please, I just have a direct question that I need the answer to. Please confirm, yes or no, whether my service was cutoff because of non-payment. I need to know this to sort out what may be going on. I’m having a very hard time understanding you, and I’m not trying to frustrate you, but sir, I cannot understand the words you speak.”
Him: “Mr. Joshua I’m trying to help you!”
Jesus God. It’s. Not. Me. I’m speaking normal human. I swear.He insists on “sending me a link”. I have to pull from him whether that means he’s sending me a text by phone, or if he’s sending me an email. And, if that is the case, which specific email address he is sending to.
Me: “Please, could you take my payment right now over the phone? I’m ready with the card.”
Him: “No, you just have to pay with the link. It’s much better.”Me: [Internally screaming]
Then he sends me a link to the Comcast email address that I cannot access on my phone because the password function is not working for this account. I told him this. I said, “Yes, I know you’re used to people being able to do all functions on their phone. But in this case, I can’t. I’m not telling you I’m unwilling, I’m telling you it’s impossible. This is why I’m speaking to you, a human. Can you please tell me you understand that I can’t perform the action, and that you are willing to help me?”
I don’t believe he ever understood what I was saying, and he continued to get pissy with me as if I were a child disobeying a clear instruction.
Readers, I’m so angry about this I could break dishes. It’s getting worse every day. This isn’t normal, and it’s not a Josh Slocum problem. I am not tech stupid. I have been computing since 1984. What’s happening now is the entire psychological and technological system has been maneuvered into something that humans can’t work with, and the companies are unwilling to change.
There are actual instances when you can’t “fix it with your phone.” There are actual instances when you can’t follow the company’s preferred phone tree system. It’s not possible. This is real. I’m not making it up, and I’m not being unreasonable.
But there is no longer any room for humans. They don’t care. And they’re acting like normal people like you and me are stupid, an irritation, unreasonable, or incompetent.
I don’t know what to do. As customers, we don’t have the power to influence companies anymore. We can’t “use the market” to make this stop. If we could the market would already have responded to our dissatisfaction and this new system would not have become universal. They can simply refuse to help us, even if we are paying customers.
Is there any way at all, technical, cultural, legislative-anything-that we can do as a country to put pressure on this system and move it back to being reasonable?
Thanks for “listening.”
READ THIS BEFORE YOU COMMENT!-No, I cannot “choose another provider.” I live in a state where Comcast has a monopoly. Of course it occurred to me that I wish I had another choice. Of course I would dump Comcast if there were a competitor. I didn’t forget to think of that. Please, please do not leave a comment that suggests I’m too dumb to switch services. I’ve now explained why this isn’t possible.
No, you are not crazy, and you are right. I don't know what the solution is because all of the big companies are the same, so switching wouldn't help. I recently spent a total of 4 hours on the phone over the course of two months with Verizon. My husband paid upfront for his phone, but the company had added a payment plan to my bill anyway. I was transferred and hung up on repeatedly by people with Indian and Asian accents – almost none of them understood the phrase “paid cash for.” They wanted me to do their job (find the four month old receipt, find the date of activation) and would plainly tell me I had to make payments for a phone that had already been fully paid for because they couldn’t even understand the problem. Oh, and the reason it took two months? After an hour and a half, they found the initial receipt and removed the payment, but didn’t fill out the proper paperwork on their end, so it reappeared a month later and I had to spend another two and a half hours finding someone on the other end to locate the original receipt and remove the payment plan again.
You are 100% correct that it is abusive- not just sloppy customer service. They are trying to force us to match a business model they have put into place for their own sakes instead of a model that they know meets a consumer need (which builds customer loyalty). If we complain or cannot meet their demands, we are treated as if there is something MORALLY wrong with us.
What they are doing isn't actually business. I think of it as a type of extortion. Market solutions really won't work in this situation. I have started to wonder if this is something our congressmen can help with. If there isn't some sort of legislative pressure or financial punishment they can threaten companies with for creating customer-hostile business models and using cheap foreign labor that can't actually meet the demands of the business. Being able to communicate with customers should be a foundational matter of a business. If you are a business getting any tax or government benefits, and it is found that customers cannot even speak to you upon request and subsequently have their needs addressed, then heavy penalties should come your way. I don't like the idea of the government meddling in the market but I am to the point I don't look at these things as legitimate businesses operating in response to market forces. I think it is a form of social control and extortion. I just don't know how to go about getting that started.