My Internet connectivity began having significant latency, packet delivery, and reliability problems at the start of November. I called the Internet Service Provider (ISP; Xfinity) after spending considerable time texting with a technical support representative to no avail. I scheduled technicians to come to my house, also to no avail. The following is the account of ineptitude, hatred of customers, and the wasting of my resources by the ISP. As a side note, the problem is still not resolved sufficiently to handle VoIP, data transfer, and maintain reliable connectivity. My modem has been changed, my service plan changed, my cabling has been inspected and replaced, and the problem remains at the end of December 2021.
A critical part of this story, the technicians spoken to in-person and online have been outstanding and provided excellent services, even though the problem remains. However, the same cannot be said of those providing phone service on the account, and especially cannot be reported from the retail outlet. Report card on the un-service received by the account representatives includes, but is not limited to:
- Being hung up on
- A representative who cannot pronounce their words and offered nothing but hostility
- Unnecessarily transferred
- Improper information provided
- Not active listening
- Not listening
The retail outlet, however, is exceedingly worse, with behaviors to include, but not limited to:
- Refusing to service the customer
- Denying customers the ability to transact business
- Refusing the agent tools to conduct business
- Poor information
- Needlessly making customers wait
The excuse offered for such deplorable and ignominious behavior; the customer must wear a mask. Even after reporting the customer could not wear a mask, the customer was refused service, denied their transaction, and threatened with arrest for not complying with mask mandates. Seriously, in four different attempts to conduct business, the mask service refusal was used twice, twice the agent was sent to service the customer outside the retail establishment without any hope of accessing the customer’s data, and produced information that was inconsistent, at best, with that received from the telephonic agents.
Leading to a genuine question, during periods of government mandates and in extremis situations, whose job is it to prepare customer service agents to service customer transactions, the customer seeking a transaction, or the business leaders? In extremis situations arise, almost daily, this is part of business, but how you the business leader choose to treat customers is remembered forever! If I treated my customers, employer, and fellow employees as Xfinity has treated them, I would not be able to keep a job or have customers in my business. Yet, too often, since 2020 and the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies have placed the onerous upon the customer seeking a transaction to facilitate the atmosphere and environment conducive to completing the transaction.
I admit, fully, that Xfinity, before and during the pandemic, in the three or four different states I have been unfortunate enough to be forced into becoming a customer, has had a consistent problem with customer service. I am not singling out the experiences in Las Cruces, NM, as poor. The entire company has a poor to terrible reputation where customer service is concerned; thus, signaling that the problem is organization-wide and leadership-centered.
Leaving the question, asked by Myron Tribus, as applicable to Xfinity/Comcast, “Is the enterprise a money-pump, or is it to be a source of good to society?” From observation, money-pump is the only answer deducible from customers’ incredibly inhumane and disgustingly decrepit treatment. Yes, I include employees in the customer label, for I have spoken to several employees who have left the organization in utter disgust with nothing but contempt for the leadership.
Long have I wondered if the leaders of Xfinity have ever called their customer service department, suffering through the automated answering service. The automated answering system time to reach an agent has grown significantly and become less valuable. Then, when you finally get to a live person, you run the risk of being hurried off the phone, hung up on, provided information sending you to a retail outlet, or heaven forbid you to have to call back multiple times in a day. The customer is left asking about the leadership hatred for customers.
John Pinette used a line, “My cherub-like demeanor,” to discuss how he felt standing in lines, especially when a customer would ask, “How small is a small?” Most customers can forgive a problem requiring in-depth review or additional time; most customers can even forgive a harried agent for being less than perfect. I know of no customer who is willing to take the garbage thrown by Xfinity as “customer service” and remain pleasant and kind. After multiple years of Xfinity’s poor customer experience with unreasonable prices, and inept employees, my “cherub-like demeanor” has evaporated! I cannot tell which is worse, the DMV, the VA, AT&T, or Xfinity, where incredibly useless customer service is concerned.
Please note, replacements for your services are actively being pursued. I will not tolerate longer the abuse of the customer! I will no longer be the customer waiting for improvements! I will not be ignored or denied service when I pay such extortionate rates and receive deplorable (at best) service and support! To all the Xfinity customers, evaluate the price to value equation for yourself, and if you agree, join me in seeking out the competition!
© Copyright 2021 – M. Dave Salisbury
The author holds no claims for the art used herein, the pictures were obtained in the public domain, and the intellectual property belongs to those who created the images. Quoted materials remain the property of the original author.
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