Confessions of a Comcast client service rep: 'I don't personally care.'

If you lot've ever had to call Comcast's customer service, you lot're familiar with how frustrating a simple cable fix tin be. The section is the primary reason for the visitor's notorious national reputation. In the past year, multiple calls to 1-800-COMCAST went viral online thanks to beleaguered customers who wanted to get the promotion they were promised, protest phony charges or, most memorably, abolish their service. Last summer, for example, one client posted audio from a call with Comcast after the customer service representative tried, for 20 painful minutes, to talk him out of changing his cable provider.

In March, Comcast announced that in guild to improve its customer service – which the visitor's ain CEO called "embarrassing" – information technology would be tripling the size of its social media team to try to solve issues online. But the country's largest cablevision company can't solve everything via Twitter. In our latest Confessions series installment, a Comcast customer service representative tells what it's like from inside the call heart. Spoiler alert: Information technology's not and then pleasant.

Comcast's customer service has been having a rough time lately. What's it like on your terminate when blench-worthy calls go viral?
We want to go on customers, merely if someone says they want to leave, I don't personally care. The one phone call that went viral [concluding summer], I don't fifty-fifty know how that would happen; that's but not how the conversation goes downwardly when a customer wants to cancel. You lot try to offering them a good deal, only you don't try to force them to stay.

People need to understand, yous're getting beat up all solar day, everyday. You have to stay on the phones, you definitely can't hang upwardly. And a lot of times people are screaming at united states when we have no control over what's happening. Yous can't blame usa.

Do yous feel motivated to do a skillful job?
Not always. At that place are people there who care about post-obit upwardly with customers, and I practise likewise. Just if you're an asshole to me, I don't care. If you're degrading me and beingness awful to me, why would I want to go to a higher place and beyond to help you? We have sales goals and incentives, and I try, just I don't know if I'll be there long plenty to get promoted anyway.

What are your sales incentives?
A lot of times it'due south an 60 minutes or ii off the phone during piece of work. We're grown-ups, only it feels like we're existence treated similar children. Sometimes we'll get candy or have raffles. I won something small once only then had to pay taxes on it anyway. That got taken out of my paycheck.

How involved is upper management in your day-to-day?
If you lot need assist with something during a call – there are certain actions that a manager has to approve – you lot accept to put the customer on hold, and sometimes it takes a while. Y'all get stuck and you have no other selection but to put people on concur if you're waiting on a supervisor. The supervisors don't want to have the calls either. If a customer is request for a supervisor on the phone, 99 percent of the time, they're just talking to another client service rep who's pretending to exist a supervisor. It'southward because the customer doesn't actually need to talk to management; they're just yelling at you and demanding to speak to someone in a higher place y'all. You also rarely speak with your supervisor directly – it's all through an office chat and email. I only see them and talk to them in person once a calendar week to review my calls. It'south very impersonal.

What do you wish Comcast customers knew most your job?
I'd tell them to just recognize that we are people on the other line. We're doing all that nosotros can; anyone who'due south calling in, I never want to do them wrong. I want to help them. I don't want their Telly to exist cleaved. I want to set it, and I'1000 never trying to brand their lives harder, just a lot of times it's out of our hands. Nosotros're merely people trying to do our jobs. But people volition scream at you, then say, "I know it's non your fault, but…" and then go along to scream at y'all. Just remember nosotros're people working crazy schedules – information technology's a 24/7 telephone call center that closes for nothing. I might be on the phone with y'all property in pee considering I need to become to the bathroom and you won't cease yelling at me. Again, information technology feels like I'one thousand dorsum in school and it's very strict – they apply a lot of scare tactics, and you're merely so afraid all the fourth dimension that you're going to get in trouble for something.

Scare tactics?
Basically to make you think that y'all're going to go fired. You can't have your prison cell phone out; you can't go on the Cyberspace if it'south not Comcast-related. They monitor your computer screen constantly. If you don't meet your sales, yous get fired. They record every telephone call, and they really do listen to them. If you lot're mean to someone on the telephone, you tin't get away with it. Comcast client service has such a bad reputation, just you volition get caught if you pull annihilation on the phone with a customer. Fifty-fifty someone I know who has worked there for years is nevertheless afraid. Information technology'south non laid back whatsoever.

How'due south the office culture?
You really can't talk to anyone that much. Sometimes, very few times, there will exist breaks between calls and y'all tin can talk to your desk buddy, only y'all're not supposed to. They don't encourage you to be social. You tin can substitution looks with people across from you if you're both dealing with someone awful. You're just in agreement like, "this sucks." But it's not a very social environs.

There are also a lot of age differences, but we're all working in the aforementioned office, which is a footling bit weird. Y'all exercise accept benefits: After three months, you lot can get health insurance, 401K, or they'll pay for part of your school. Everyone gets free cable, too, which is nice. But I'1000 embarrassed of the job itself. I do everything I tin can to non tell people what I exercise. I don't remember everyone else there feels that style, though.

Have you ever had an out-of-the-ordinary, positive feel with a customer?
A woman called in and she needed to have her box reset and pay her bill. We got to talking and she was telling me that she was single with a newborn and only having a difficult time all around. Some people will tell yous a lot of personal things. Ordinarily, in that location's a surcharge for people who pay their bill over the phone, but since we were talking and she was a good client, I waived the fee. It was just a courtesy gesture, just she was and so thankful for the extra money, she got emotional over the telephone and eventually we were both crying on the telephone together.

I felt really good after that. You're helping people, in a small-scale way, but y'all're doing something. It seems silly, only people are really serious almost their cable.

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