COMCAST call centers

[Peoplearmy]

Where to start? How about that his company has complete lack of communication from one level of service to the next. This proves to provide extremely poor work efficiency and not to mention a complete lack of care towards the people who work there. A good company which CARES about the people working for it makes every effort to keep communication lines clear and to ensure that no one is left in the dark.

This company also loves to make promises that it never intended to keep in the first place. I work as a CAE for the billing and repair call center and we are told to tell customers who call in wondering why technicians have not yet come to their house that the tech is in their area and on their way there. This information is given out to customers with no truth behind it the company really has no clue where the technicians are and by lying to the customer it provides technicians with an angry customer to deal with once they are there. It also makes customers frustrated with the company when they call in as well. Not only do they lie to the customers but also to the employees.

When I was first contacted by Comcast for an interview I made it clear I had night school and could not work nights. The person I spoke to understood it and still proceeded to give me a phone interview. Afterwards I was given a face to face interview with that person at which time I made it clear again I could not work nights I have night school. Following this I was given another interview with 2 other people at which time I made it clear I had night school and was attending school full time I even had on my resume my available hours of work were ONLY day time nothing pass 6:00pm. After all these interviews I was offered a job. Keep in mind at this time I was already working somewhere else but accepted Comcast's offer and left my other job. I made it clear again at this time that I was going to school at night and could not work nights, I was told not to worry it can be worked out. So on I went to training during the span of 5 training weeks I told everyone repeatedly that I could only work days because I was a full time student at night. Now after training has completed I was told I would have to work nights because no day shift was available. When I asked why I was hired if no days were available and I made it clear I could only work nights I was told that I had said I could work nights. I was like WTF?!?! Why would I say that I could work nights if I repeatedly said I had night school and could only work days.

I was told there was nothing that could be done I had to choose a night schedule, when I asked them what I should do about school I was told that was up to me. In other words Comcast is telling me quit school and come to work. To me this is cause for a lawsuit, because I left my job to work for Comcast given the impression I would work days since I made it clear I could not work nights. Now I am being told I would have to leave school to keep working there or I would lose my job. If I didn't have a job before Comcast offered me a job I wouldn't be so upset however I had a job I made it clear I had school Comcast knew this and yet offered me a job, I believe not only myself but anyone would have felt as though they would be working days.

SO after debating with the supervisor on Friday I was told to call the Office Manager on Monday, well I called and called again left messages and guess what no answer no call backs. I have emailed and emailed and guess what no response, so now I have missed a good part of the day from work because I was told that starting Monday I would no longer be working days. But the thing is I have not committed myself to working nights and did not except a night schedule so now I'm stuck in limbo on what to do. So does this smell like lawsuit material? I think so I'm waiting on a response from comcast first before talking to the labor boards.

[vz_grunt]

I don't think you can get a lawsuit unless you have something in writing from them, stating that they would give you day shifts due to school.  I know it sux, because since you stated and they repeated dozens of times that it would not be an issue.  Talk to a a lawyer. I'm sure they will listen for free and you can find out if them saying it warrants a lawsuit.

On another note, maybe Comcast will offer you raise since they are raising the price for DVR
http://www.cablerant.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=77

[CableDude101]

Call centers are all BS.  They work you the bone and then think that some free pizza will make everything alright.

Shift bids are always a nightmare because all the good ones go the lady who has been there for 20 years and still can't reboot a digital box.

When I first started I worked the 3 to midnight shift with Sunday and Wednesday off.  It was horrible!

[disgusted]

Get used to crappy shifts.
That is the nature of the Call Center.
Shift Bids?  Management will always tell you one is coming shortly.
18 months later....still no shift bid.
Then some new hires will come in and magically get Saturday and Sunday off.
Ask the managers why and they will say "Staffing Needs"
Why not do a fair shift bid?  Managers would actually have to work.

[Kousei]

I used to work for one of the outsourced call centers, West, Inc., back when Comcast was doing the merger with Adelphia, and I don't know how scheduling was on your side, but West was good about it, but I started during the summer and got my schedule changed when school started. But I couldn't go part time, I had to work 4 days a week, 10.5 hours a day.

[Comcast_Rocks]

4 day work weeks sounds great.
Unfortunately, I don't know anyone who currently has that schedule.
I wouldn't mind having to work a 10.5 hour work day to only have to work 4 days a week.

[crazylady]

"This company also loves to make promises that it never intended to keep in the first place. I work as a CAE for the billing and repair call center and we are told to tell customers who call in wondering why technicians have not yet come to their house that the tech is in their area and on their way there. This information is given out to customers with no truth behind it the company really has no clue where the technicians are and by lying to the customer it provides technicians with an angry customer to deal with once they are there. It also makes customers frustrated with the company when they call in as well. Not only do they lie to the customers but also to the employees. "

No it is not the company, some reps I must say are guilty of this, but please learn to recognize when a customer is lying.  They lie because they think they will get preferential treatment if we "feel so bad" because they dont have tv for 2 days, when in truth it only happened that day, or the last problem was the tv wasnt even turned on.  Empathy is one thing, but learn not to believe everything you hear.  You must not probe. Because with the right line of questioning, I have customers tripping over their feet, contradicting themselves, but its okay...thats how I am able to be more efficient, because I uncover the truth.

[comcastic! what!]

I've worked for Comcast for over a year, and when I told them I just found out today I was starting school (3 days from that day) and what schedule I needed and what days off, I turned in my schedule and it was granted. I know different centers work differently, but here they're very accommodating for peoples' schedules here. I don't know of one person here who has had a problem with it.

[disgusted]

I don't know of one person here who has had a problem with it.

You're lucky that you don't work for Cablevision.

[underpaidtechhelp]

I have been told not all comcast call centers are the same.  I do not know if that is true, but once you get one that is litterally hell, it is next to impossible to get a transfer out of one.  I have been working at comcast for 3 years, and it has never gotten any better.  I just seen a news article on Monday, that Comcast is becoming the 4th largest phone company in america.  I do not know how that makes anyone else feel, but IMHO it is way to fast to grow to the 4th largest in less than 2 years of actually starting from the ground up.  This shows in the daily headaches I have fielding calls from customers who's phone install was botched or who's tech appointment was missed.  Up until August of this year I was just a high speed internet rep.  Through no choice of mine, I was coerced into CDV 1.5 training, had no choice in the matter.  I was told I would take CDV repair calls secondary only to internet.  Yet another lie, since going live to the floor I might as well have been put in a new CDV repair group as that is ALL the calls I take EVERY DAY.  And did comcast offer an increase in pay for this, no way.  

I have seen some bad companies in my time as a customer service rep, but I have never seen such idiocy.  I cannot believe that a communications company cannot and will not effectively communicate within.  If you try to help the customer, you get chastised for going above someones head or not following procedures.  I have given up trying to get a supervisor to take a call, they will not.  They have us fill out this call back request, but who makes the supervisors accountable for this list, no one that I can see.  They say things have improved, I still see the same amount of stress load day in and day out.  I work for the company simply to pay the bills, outside of the job, I do not openly admit to working for comcast, why would I want to admit such a thing, so that I can be attacked or mobbed.

Well now that I have vented, I feel a little better.  Nice to see there is a web site for this kind of thing.  Tommorrow back to the salt mines, you know unionization would kill comcast, why cant we comcasters unite and turn the tables on the sleeping GIANT?  Would be a hell of a wake up call and might actually knock the company down a peg or two.  Might get some needed change brought about too, just a thought not that I am trying to paint a target on myself.

[disgusted]

Up until August of this year I was just a high speed internet rep.  Through no choice of mine, I was coerced into CDV 1.5 training, had no choice in the matter.  I was told I would take CDV repair calls secondary only to internet.  Yet another lie, since going live to the floor I might as well have been put in a new CDV repair group as that is ALL the calls I take EVERY DAY.  And did comcast offer an increase in pay for this, no way.

The same thing happened at Cablevision.  I was hired to support internet related issues.  
They then started offering Optimum Voice.
Next thing I know I am thrown into a 1 day crash course on how to support Optimum Voice.  Not nearly enough to support it.
I figured it out eventually, but the point of the matter is I was not hired to support telephone service.
I now support two products and have not been given a raise to compensate for my additional skill set I have acquired.
They are getting us on the cheap.
On top of that, the calls are more stressful as customers seem to be even more crazier and angry when the phone service is out.
I could go on on and on, but I will save that for another time....

[prettynice_73]

hello there everyone i'm new to this site found it while i was looking for the story about the granny in manassas who took a hammer to the comcast local office...go granny,though by no means do i condone violence of any kind this grabbed my attention simply because...well she got their attention finally, where does this lead well thankfully i am not a comcast customer though i do work in an outsource call center that handle some of the calls for a comcast region, i like to think that i am good at my job and have honestly and to the best of my ability with all available resources that we (csr) are given to work with tried to resolve an issue when it comes to my attention. this is not to say that there are not various valid complaints about comcast service but just so the general public is aware when you call is that most of the time we do just what comcast tells us, forward the issue to the correct dept and advise customer that someone will contact them within 48 hours and from that point on it is out of our hands, when a customer calls in asking for a supervisor,9 times out of 10 they have no more ability to give you what you want that the csr has,when you want promises and guarantees and can't get one it is because they don't have the authority that you would think one would have,techs don't show up for jobs because-some not all are pretty pathetic and once one says he's been to the house or tried to call and got no answer and you call in saying he's a lier,it's not that we-csr-doesn't believe you,it's that once he's called in his reason dispatch can't send him back,filing a complaint by calling in..forwarded to the dept that 'looks into it'...out of our hands,good portion of customer frustration...calling into customer service to be told the local office has authority over an issue(true in most cases) to have the local office tell you its customer service job. when you call in to complain a good many of us do feel bad about the situation and what a customer has been through as most of us are someone else customer at the end of the work day,why due you get hung up on or just told anything to get you off the phone-well besides, poor people skills and just plain want a check for nothing-theres this mad  rush to 'resolve' the issue in about 5 1/5 min, no joke i have seen people fired because they couldn't get there handle time down,too much time on any one call go figure, and if for no other reason than i have kids to feed,when a customer calls in about an ongoing problem for months i would honestly love to tell them to stop calling in threatening to switch to dish to just do it because i promise they would notice the drop in revenue,file complaints with your local franchise authority vent where it would do the most good... in there pockets..but in all fairness i can say the high turnover rate is a big contributor to lack of good customer service reps as many who try this field of work become frustrated themselves with not only very valid complaints but mainly from very upset and verbally abusive customer who have been known to veer into areas non service related..racial,educational and even bringing family member name calling into this imagine how hard it is to be on the receiving end of the cable rage...for comcast their csr are their first line of defense...unfortunately they forgot to give the csr an outlet,thus they burnout and are replaced with people looking for a quick buck . and i have a feeling we the outsource will begin handling phone services which we hate simply because it's more work w less handle time so in order to try to satisfy all around unfortunately that's going to be more calls due to agents not fully reviewing an acct and actually resolving a prob because they need to hurry up to the next call ....the 'bad' cycle all over again

[disgusted]

do work in an outsource call center that handle some of the calls for a comcast region, i like to think that i am good at my job and have honestly and to the best of my ability with all available resources that we (csr) are given to work with tried to resolve an issue when it comes to my attention.

theres this mad  rush to 'resolve' the issue in about 5 1/5 min, no joke i have seen people fired because they couldn't get there handle time down,too much time on any one call

First welcome to the Rant.  Its good to hear a point of view from an outsourced call center.  I wasn't aware that there were some cable companies that are outsourcing.  At least Cablevision doesn't do that in the call centers.
That is crazy that the call time is 5 1/2 min.  Where I work it it is 10 minutes.  I thought we were tough, but that is crazy.
I wish you good luck with maintaining those call times.  

Who came up with those call handle times?  Was the company running the outsourced call center?  Or is it Comcast that is requiring those ridicules times?

[ExCoxTier2]

Actually, Cox outsources as well. And unfortunately having worked tier 2, i got the escalations from all of cox, both the outsourced call centers and the direct call centers. I don't know how outsourcing works, but the 3 companies cox used for outsourcing all sucked. The one we were using at first, was getting good, but then they decided to dump them for another company that didn't do s***. At the same time we picked up a 2nd outsourcing call center. Both were horrible at first, not knowing how to troubleshoot and escalating things that weren't what tier 2 dealt with. One started improving, the other remained stagnant with no improvements. I have since left cox, but I keep in touch with old coworkers, and they have told me that cox decided to drop the company that was improving. The logic in this decision is beyond me. I know it has to do with money, but really pay a little more to get a little better. On a side note, as far as I know, the outsourced call centers were all still within the US, they hadn't made their way to India yet.

As far as handle times. Cox did that for all it's direct reps, but I'm not sure how the outsourced call centers worked. There was a matrix that we had to meet. 3 different topics so to say. There was call time, amount of time on phone, and specific key points to hit. While I was there, every quarter the call time got shorter and shorter. Even in Tier 2 we had to meet call times that I felt were unreasonable. At the same time we also had to hit certain key points in a conversation. Had to say hi, thx for calling. Address them by name, ask them what problems they had, repeat the problem back to them, etc. On top of that, the phones have several modes, wrap, hold, break, lunch, etc. You had to be on the phone not in hold or wrap as much as possible. Wrap is the time after a call finishes, the phone goes into wrap, you don't accept new calls. Usually it's used for documenting the call. So here's the summary, you have to keep calls short to get a raise while still hitting certain things and stay available to receive calls nonstop while somehow documenting all this in remedy as well as in the account system. It's hard to make it within this matrix without customer service failing in some way. And if you fell out of the matrix too much, outside of it's range, you lost your job. It's horrible, that's why i left.

[bear]

I also work for a Comcast call center in billing and repair, called a CAE. All customers should be aware that in order for anything to get done, at least a dozen people need to do their jobs correctly, and that does not happen often. When a customer calls in with a cable outage, the standard reply is there is an outage in your area, we have techs working on it, it will be up shortly. In reality it is the shoddy Comcast equipment failing again, or someone internally put a wrong code on your account, or the Comcast infrastructure has failed again. If you raise enough stink, they will prorate a credit for one or 2 days of service just to shut you up, but most likely your service will be done for 3 or 4 days until you call back in about 10 times. Everything is solved with emails, since Comcast will not allow their call center employees to call directly to dispatch. Most of the times the techs are not qualified to fix much of anything except to replace a cable, and the problem continues. If its a friday afternoon, forget it, you might as well go to a 7-11 if you want to find your tech, as they sit in the parking lot and talk to each other until they have to go back to the office. Do not by any means ever order the High speed internet and phone service together. They have a modem called EMTA, which will guarantee almost a daily failure or interruption in service, and they use subcontractors to come to your home, and most of them are fired Comcast techs who then go work for the subcontractor. I see on a daily basis the same people with no service, and its a shame. Do not use their phone service by any means, no matter what price, stay with your same carrier!

[bear]

Yes, all Comcast customers, they dont care about you! I work in a Comcast call center, but i would never publicly admit to it. As a billing and repair rep, I some how survive the nightmare each day for each day of the screaming and yelling by the customers, and the total chaos that Comcast creates internally on dealing with them. As a CAE we also have a monthly sales quota to meet, and if we do not, we are written up and put on probation, so in turn you, the customer suffers because we are expected to shove some service down your throat on every call, even when your service has not worked correctly for weeks, and this is your twentieth call in to complain, expect one of us to ask you"How much do you pay for your home phone service". No wonder the customers are in such a highly agitated state all the time. If at all possible, go to satellite tv or any other provider but Comcast, you will be much happier in the long run. And if you do have a problem, expect it to go through at least 15-20 people until it is solved, because the internal barriers are so big, that unless you continually ask for the president of the company, your problem will linger. Now with competition giving Comcast fits, you can have any thing you want from them, just keep calling in and tell them you are leaving, they will put you to a retention team, and dont accept their first offer, keep on pushing them, it will get better. And do not under any circumstances order their phone service, the technology is shoddy at best, it will fail weekly, and your social life will consist of entertaining subcontractors every day in your home, ones who do not have a clue on how to fix your problem. Wake up Comcast, and realize you cant treat customers the way you do, die Comcast, Die!!

[disgusted]

Do not by any means ever order the High speed internet and phone service together.

With Comcast, customer's can order phone service without internet?  With Cablevision you have to have internet to get phone service.

[prettynice_73]

All customers should be aware that in order for anything to get done, at least a dozen people need to do their jobs correctly, and that does not happen often. When a customer calls in with a cable outage, the standard reply is there is an outage in your area, we have techs working on it, it will be up shortly. In reality it is the shoddy Comcast equipment failing again, or someone internally put a wrong code on your account, or the Comcast infrastructure has failed again

my feelings exactly when a sub calls in these are the main options we have available and requesting a sup doesn't much good because even if the tech missed the appointment,if list that he didn't receive an answer on pre call ..'well i do apologize i'll be glad to reschedule your appointment'.. it bites to have to say it because when it comes down to it its exactly like stated above when you have only half the dept actually following guidelines in resolving these issues the problem is that somewhere...someone is not doing their job and it doesn't matter to them simply because well they don't have to hear it because who ya gonna call??..customer service...and what will they do??? give you some money,report the issue...using the same email system to file your complaint and what will happen? do we see a vicious cycle here yet? i'm sure that there are satisfied customers around the us somewhere but then again how many calls do you get praising the service? for that matter can we at least say we get customers who very seldom have a problem with there service other than one that can be blamed on mother nature or just a freak accident? really my issue isn't the complaints it's the number of repeat problems for same customers ongoing for months, i mean in a perfect world there would be no need of our services but then alas i also have bills to pay, personally i think there just biting off more than a giant company can chew fix what you have before you go looking for more...

[prettynice_73]

First welcome to the Rant.  Its good to hear a point of view from an outsourced call center.  I wasn't aware that there were some cable companies that are outsourcing.  At least Cablevision doesn't do that in the call centers.
That is crazy that the call time is 5 1/2 min.  Where I work it it is 10 minutes.  I thought we were tough, but that is crazy.
I wish you good luck with maintaining those call times.  

Who came up with those call handle times?  Was the company running the outsourced call center?  Or is it Comcast that is requiring those ridicules times?[/quote]

thanks! and well with the times this highly inquiring mind here managed to find out and please forgive me i actually cannot recall where i found the info but as we all are aware of by now in doing this job anyhow is that most or all cable providers have a franchise agreement w the respective areas there serve some have been long standing and i only say this because of the difference in policies regarding a subs acct in a particular region, i.e say a customer who calls in from MN, services are p/ds-pending disconnection...they tell you the payment was mailed on such and such a date...you automatically are to cancel this status on the acct and restore there services...so say a payment never comes in or is lost or whatever what happens ...that acct once again goes into this status again  customer calls in same thing you cancel and so on... now in one of the regions i deal with we offer no payment arrangements..nada zip zilch no ifs ands or buts...your service is in this status you either make a payment or hope the payment comes in before the tech goes out....well back to the AHT i believe that part of the timing limit has to do with comcast agreements to answer a customer call within approx 60 sec (this can also be the ivr or auto system) and (how do you make this kind of deal really?)..and from there ideally you're call is to be answered by a live agent 90 sec after...hmmm so who was the einstein come up w that? so from there what happens well the franchise authority and whomever else actually tracks this mess tallies up whether comcast has met those agreed upon conditions and in total are fined when these are not held up on comcast end big surpise ergo in my opinion only i think..no factual evidence mind you that they may actually have a higher handle time in there own centers but when hiring outsource centers give them a lower amount of time and of course when the contractual agreement on the outsource end is not met fines are imposed on the outsourcer and of course comcast begins to throw around threats of pulling the contract...it's all such bs really either it's about good customer service or good lip service....

[bear]

Good to hear from an outsourcer and see its the same every where. I have never seen a company run so bad and still survive and grow, its only because of aquisitions that the multi headed monster still survives. it will only get worse now that competition is understanding the weaknesses of Comcast and successfully exploiting them. the poor customer does not understand that the CAE is the one place in the call center where everything is dumped on them, and management in return uses their position to intimidate the CAE with their jobs if they do not perform like robots and follow all matrixes to the letter. There may have been 10 people in a account before you, but since you were the last contact with the customer you will be the one who will burden all the responsibilty of what happened to the customer, blamed for not fixing the problem, and written up for not fixing the problem. So the game begins, the customer is cold transferred all over the place until they finally end up with someone who will eventually have to shoulder the blame. There are no real supervisors in a Comcast call center, just a bunch of rejects who are called leads. They are the ones that management could not deal with, so they pay them one dollar an hour more, promise them an eventual management position, make them dress up each day, and then all the crap funnels down to them. The actual so called supervisors never take a phone call, they sit in little square boxes all day,( when they are not stuffing their faces with free food) and monitor everones time off and on the phone, they even get up and chase down people on bathroom breaks! So you, the customer never really talk to a supervisor at all, because they are too busy trying to intimidate the workers into handling each call faster, so the company does not get fined for customers on hold too long. Sounds like a great place to work!