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Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues

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Re: Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues

#211

Post by scott_s »

danielweber wrote: post #127
scott_s wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that's fair to the caller. He was polite, and was clear in what he wanted. Had the Comcast agent said "Okay, I understand that you don't want to tell me that, let's move on" the call would have moved on and not ended up on the internet. He wanted his service cancelled, and did not want to engage in a conversation about it. How else could the caller have possibly handled it? Also, the caller was not a "c…

How else could the caller have possibly handled it? This is obvious: by answering the question. I'll repeat that he was under no obligation to answer that question. My mother-in-law does the same thing this guy does: stands her ground and refuses to answer any questions. It's completely her right to engage in that manner, but she neither asks for nor gets any sympathy for how long she has to stay on the phone with pe…

He did answer the question, multiple times, just not in a way that the Comcast agent could use. Again, it was not an honest question. It was a rhetorical trick.

Re: Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues

#213

Post by duiker101 »

bshimmin wrote: post #144
duiker101 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This guys have it rough. I used to call them a lot and I can't recall a single instance where I saw someone raising their voice had a better outcome. The only had a more stressful call. The operator pushes it a lot but consider this: he is probably paid like shit and he probably get commission on how many customers he can retain. Maybe if he loses too many he can even lose his job. Knowing this and knowing that their…

You must be a saint. I don't really care much for the commissions, or the livelihoods, of people who knowingly take jobs that make other people's lives worse. I know in some locales call-centre jobs are the best (in terms of compensation) they can get, and I'm sorry that that's the state of affairs the world is in, but if they're willing to make my life miserable to make theirs a bit better, they can put up with bein…

As far as I know call centre jobs are not very high paying, they are just the only job people can get.

Re: Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues

#214

Post by bradleyland »

saamm wrote: post #169
tombrossman wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The easiest way to cancel services with shit companies like this is by mail. Spend a few minutes typing a letter, pay the small extra fee for proof of delivery, and you are done. Your post office probably has an automated self-serve kiosk where you can do this in under 5 minutes. Time is money, don't allow a company to spend your time like this. Sure, you should be able to cancel on the phone with no hassle but that…

I'm going to be canceling Comcast around the end of the month. You're telling me I can just send a letter to my local service center and say, "Peace out!"?

I have canceled many internet service accounts (while working with customers) from both Comcast and AT&T. While infuriating, this is not representative of the vast majority of my experiences. Reason being, this is not how retention reps are trained. This guy was clearly on a personal mission. I would be surprised if he still works for Comcast.

Here's a really simple guide to getting past customer retention:

1) Be courteous. There is no better way to get mired down in customer retention hell than to give the rep a reason to run you around.

2) Feel free to share your reasons (briefly), but be clear (politely!) that your mind won't be changed. "I need to see for myself" is always a good way to dismiss the rep's reasoning.

3) In the off chance that you get a rep like the one featured here, simply hang up and call back in a few minutes. There's absolutely no reason to invest this much frustration in a company like Comcast.

I've only had one or two cases where I simply hung up on an overzealous rep. In all other cases, the process consisted of answering two or three questions, then I was on to cancellation.

Re: Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues

#215

Post by renata »

vonmoltke wrote: post #180
netnichols wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nice idea, so long as you're in the US where you don't really have an 'official' location... I tried to do this once in Berlin to cancel a gym membership outside of the contractual limits. They required showing an official 'de-registration' from the city of Berlin. I was moving within the city at the time, so instead of telling the city I was moving, I instead told the city I was leaving and then a few weeks later re…

Why is a gym allowed to demand such documentation in the first place?

I'd be more concerned with having to register with a city....

Re: Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues

#216

Post by Kluny »

untog wrote: post #198
spodek wrote: post #174

We're an entrepreneurial community and here is a case of demand. Why not meet the demand to cut off internet services? One idea: create a phone service where I call a third-party (you, the entrepreneur) that connects me to the best number to cancel my service. The third party determines if recording the call is legal and records if so, posting the recording online, along with metadata: date, duration, agent name, loc…

Then again, it might make huge money too, since so many companies play hardball retaining customers. How would that result in this endeavor making money? In any case, this is not actually a problem that is difficult to solve. Yes, a phone call like that is utterly infuriating, but you can still cancel your service at the end of it. Maybe people would pay money to avoid dealing with that. Maybe. But you do it, what, o…

If you take away the adversarial part of the idea and don't assume that you have to work against the company, it becomes more profitable. Companies that infuriate their customers would be named and shamed, but shown where their customer service is failing, and how to do better. Mystery shopper companies work on the same principle.

Re: Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues

#217

Post by iand »

warfangle wrote: post #164
wallawe wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're missing the point all together. The only reason a company can behave this way and retain the number of customers who would have otherwise moved elsewhere is because there isn't a free-market. The companies are run as oligopolies. It is government intervention and protection that has caused this problem in the first place which is what most people don't realize.

(edited for source) There is no such thing as a free market: it is an idealistic theoretical construct. And even if it were real, it would only be efficient if P=NP[0]. 0. http://arxiv.org/abs/1002.2284

This sounds like woo science. A link to a paper proving this assertion would be cool.

Re: Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues

#218

Post by dllthomas »

warfangle wrote: post #164
wallawe wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're missing the point all together. The only reason a company can behave this way and retain the number of customers who would have otherwise moved elsewhere is because there isn't a free-market. The companies are run as oligopolies. It is government intervention and protection that has caused this problem in the first place which is what most people don't realize.

(edited for source) There is no such thing as a free market: it is an idealistic theoretical construct. And even if it were real, it would only be efficient if P=NP[0]. 0. http://arxiv.org/abs/1002.2284

"And even if it were real, it would only be efficient if P=NP."

Because finding global optima is hard? I grant that, but:

1) things can be intractably hard even if P=NP - O(n^10000) is in P, and there are complexity classes strictly harder than P (e.g. EXPTIME)), and since there are innumerable moves anyone could take out into the future "optimal resource distribution" could plausibly fall in EXPTIME.

2) Regardless, any single entity determining optimal resource distribution also needs to solve the same problem.

If you were saying something else, please clarify.

Re: Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues

#219

Post by icebraining »

tfinniga wrote: post #122
duiker101 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This guys have it rough. I used to call them a lot and I can't recall a single instance where I saw someone raising their voice had a better outcome. The only had a more stressful call. The operator pushes it a lot but consider this: he is probably paid like shit and he probably get commission on how many customers he can retain. Maybe if he loses too many he can even lose his job. Knowing this and knowing that their…

That is a bit like worrying about the innocents working on the deathstar. They know what kind of job it is. They do it anyway.

It's not exactly working for the Spanish Inquisition. The guy was annoying and wasted 20 minutes of the client's time. I wouldn't say it's ethical, let's not overreact.

Re: Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues

#220

Post by Strang »

warfangle wrote: post #164
wallawe wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're missing the point all together. The only reason a company can behave this way and retain the number of customers who would have otherwise moved elsewhere is because there isn't a free-market. The companies are run as oligopolies. It is government intervention and protection that has caused this problem in the first place which is what most people don't realize.

(edited for source) There is no such thing as a free market: it is an idealistic theoretical construct. And even if it were real, it would only be efficient if P=NP[0]. 0. http://arxiv.org/abs/1002.2284

Your point is technically true, but you can consider it an idiom for either "maximally free market" or "sufficiently free market".
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