If you've followed my Twitter and Facebook, you know I've had some Comcast issues this week; the short version is that the company is trying to clean up the lines around town in order to provide better service and so they showed up at my house this week and told us that some cable needed to be replaced.
We unlocked the back gate and gave them access to whatever they needed to do whatever they needed to do and when they were done, we had a bizarre install job that defied all reason.
I called, went through the frustrating automated customer service maze, finally got a human and was told that they would call me within the hour to tell me when they'd be out to fix the mess. No call came.
I called the next morning, went through the frustrating automated customer service maze again, got a human in Michigan who told me that there is no way to speak to a supervisor unless she puts in an expedited ticket and has one call me, which she would do, and that someone would call within the hour.
No call.
So I took to Twitter and posted pictures.
Customer service finally reached out to me and after a series of phone calls and direct messaging on Twitter, we got a guy out here last night and an hour later another guy came. It was this second guy who finally pronounced the install job to be "jacked up" and said it needed to be redone.
Now. I have heard, and experienced, horror stories with Comcast. In fairness, I'll say that once they actually heard me, they responded. The problem is simply in getting heard, and getting to a local human that can help you -- at least, in this case anyway. There is no local number in the phone book or online that I could find; it all goes to a call center.
This morning, Fred Levy showed up and said he heard me "loud and clear" and was here to help. He is the local Technical Operations Manager for Comcast and, bless his heart, is tasked with smoothing out these snafus that are giving Comcast such a bad reputation. Levy stayed here until the entire job was redone and didn't leave until he was sure it was done right and we were satisfied.
I told him that I didn't want the two original guys fired, but I felt badly for them that they weren't better trained and that they just didn't know what to do. They just needed more training and supervision -- their supervisor that first day gave them instructions and left them; he didn't follow up on their work, which is what they needed. I don't blame them.
Anyway, it's all fixed now and they've now run the line under the house as it should have been, instead of wrapping it around the house.
To Comcast, I will say this: Mr. Levy is your best asset. He explained in detail to us what was going on, what went wrong, and listened to our concerns. He answered our questions. And he genuinely wants to improve the customer experience with Comcast. He gave me three of his cards with his local contact information and told me "You don't ever have to call that computer again," and told me to share it with my friends who have trouble, too. We both agreed that a communication breakdown was the major component in this experience on several levels.
So, in the end it is a happy resolution. There is no cable to be seen anywhere out there and they even cleaned up some wild cable left behind by Direct TV. (At one point Comcast thought the entire mess that I posted was Direct TV cable, but once they put actual eyes on it, that soon was rectified.)
If you need a local Comcast contact number, hit me up. Mr. Levy will help you. I promise.
