Another Reason To Hate Comcast

Note: Full article follows below, since the Tribune is subscription based.

Customer Disservice

Published August 18, 2005

It's not hard to commiserate with LaChania Govan's complaints about Comcast. The 25-year-old Elgin woman said that when she called to complain about persistent problems with her digital recording system, she was put on hold, disconnected, even transferred to the Spanish language line. (Note to Comcast: She doesn't speak Spanish.)

We've all had similar experiences, not necessarily with Comcast. When we call a company to complain about a balky DSL line or a cable box or some other technological marvel turned nightmare, we expect prompt and expert service. Instead, we sometimes end up in a circle of hell that even Dante couldn't have imagined.

Oh, the customer service rep is perfectly polite. And also perfectly unhelpful. The rep may be robotic, reading from a script and unable or unwilling to improvise. He or she may just be clueless. Who among us hasn't at times raised his or her voice a fraction on such calls, if only to register the frustration and exasperation that comes from describing a problem over and over again but finding precious little relief?

Even if tempers flare, the reps are trained not to retaliate, not to stoop to yelling or name-calling, even if the customer does. But you have to wonder, what do they say about us after the phone call ends? Well, we have a little better idea about that, thanks to Govan's experience.

After the aforementioned problems forced her to make dozens of calls to the cable company in July, her August bill arrived. In place of her name were these words: Bitch Dog.

Someone, somewhere enjoyed a few days of snickering about payback. But that ended Wednesday when the company apologized to Govan and said it was "appalled" by her treatment. The company said two customer service employees have been fired. Smart move.

The same thing happened in another incident, this one involving a Peoples Energy customer named Jefferoy Barnes, 44, of Maywood. Seems Barnes received four pieces of mail from the company that included the words "scrotum bag" in the line with his name. Barnes said he couldn't recall any interaction with company employees that could have prompted the slur. But the company says it has traced the problem and the employee responsible is being fired.

Rudeness and coarseness have become ingrained in too many of our daily exchanges. No doubt customer service reps could tell more than a few stories about harsh treatment by their customers too.

So, just a gentle reminder. On the phone, over the fence, in traffic, at the store ... be civil, please.