If you’ve spent some time on Twitter, you’ve probably spent some time bitching on Twitter about some company that provides some service to you. And if you have spent some time doing that, you have probably spent some time reading super friendly replies to your bitchy tweets from CSRs who spend their time searching all of Twitter for mentions of their company. If memory serves, Comcast was really the first out of the gate on that front with @comcastcares. Which, given the unholy amount of bitching about Comcast that happens on Twitter (and elsewhere, presumably), seemed like a good, ahead-of-the-curve move on the company’s part.
And maybe it is, in some ways.
But this week, as I wrestled internally and then externally on Twitter with whether I should dump my AT&T service (land line and DSL) in favor of Comcast (wireless and potentially cable TV), it occurred to me that having a company’s CSR crawl Twitter and find your complaint and then offer to fix your problem — even after you have called the company directly to address that same issue — could be damaging to the company anyway. Because — and maybe this is just me — it fucking pisses me off that a company wouldn’t dig its heels into my problem when I asked them to do so. Why do I have to passive-aggressively bitch and moan about a thing on some social networking platform before someone at a company will pay attention to what I am saying and offer to fix it? Is it because said company is trying to do damage control and squelch potentially bad PR from going viral on the web? Because, as we all know, we internetty people get loud when we get irritated.
I have no doubt that both Comcast and AT&T agents will find their way to this post because of Google alerts or some such. And they might even take a moment to comment and assuage my fears or assure everyone reading that their intent is true and they really are trying to help people. And I hope they will read to this sentence where I say that I have no doubt that there is good intent in their efforts to meet customers’ complaints head-on in an arena whose popularity is growing. My beef is with the entire customer-service structure that would lead to so many people going online to air their issues with companies to begin with.
My specific issue is that when I moved into a new house and neighborhood, I asked AT&T to transfer all of my DSL/phone services as-is. (Quibble with my DSL choice if you must; I was trying to a) keep costs down b) compromise because I need a phone line for the alarm system and c) hold out for U-Verse to be rolled out here.) So I got to the house and realized I had a bunch of dead phone jacks that need repair work, meaning my only internet access is in the kitchen, which means that until the phone jacks are fixed (tomorrow, hopefully), my internetting is done standing up on my laptop in the kitchen with wires running EVERY WHICH WAY. But that’s not even the dealbreaker, since it’s a stop-gap measure. No no no. The dealbreaker is that when I moved, I traded my maxed-out Midtown connection speed (6.0mb/s) for a more quaint Middle East 3.0. Which, granted, isn’t horrible. But I do a lot of file transfers. With big files. And I like to have lots of tabs open so I can multitask so I don’t spend every fucking waking moment of my life trying to finish all the stuff I need to get done.
So 3.0 doesn’t cut it for me and my needs. But the man who set up my new service when I called to tell AT&T about the move never told me that my connection speed wasn’t transferable. (This is the same really sweet man who also tried to sell me a long-distance plan by telling me my cell phone was full of harmful radiation. My cell phone is powered by AT&T. Sigh.) So it wasn’t until I called AT&T to complain that I was told that 3.0 is the fastest I will ever be able to get from them. Which, had I known that from the get-go, would have caused me to completely rethink my connectivity options and NOT pay the connection fee and NOT base my alarm system on a landline and et cetera and so on and first-world dominoes hooey. All this amounts to me probably being out more money than I had originally planned. Which, whatever. It happens, I know.
I aired my frustrations on Twitter and got a very nice inquiry from one of AT&T’s roaming Twitter CSRs, who asked for my contact info and told me her DSL team was looking into my issue. Which is very nice, right?
Except it fucking pisses me off. Because I already spent more time than I care to recount on the phone with AT&T trying to hammer out why I wasn’t told what my connection options were and why I was still going to be charged for 6.0 when I was getting half that (I can’t wait to see my first bill). Why can some CSR on Twitter do more to help me than the person I called SPECIFICALLY TO TALK TO ABOUT MY ISSUE? I haven’t responded to the Twitter rep’s most recent request for my contact information because a) she seems really, really nice and I am far too bitchy to engage right now and b) because if she tells me that she CAN help me and I CAN get a faster connection, I am going to LOSE MY FUCKING MIND. Because I was already told that I couldn’t get anything better than what I have. And because I shouldn’t have to beg and moan and bitch and hem and haw to get good service from a company I pay good money to.
And if this rep tells me yep, sorry, you’re really out of luck, then what? She has wasted her time and gotten my hopes semi-up for nothing. I guess I’m supposed to feel grateful that she went out of her way to seek me out and help me, and in a way I do because awww they really do care, but at the same time? I want to be able to bitch in peace.
I don’t know if any of these people mentioned it, but the connection speed is based on your distance from the switching station. You got lucky before like I did when I was in High Point Terrace. Thing is, they’ll eventually upgrade all of that, but there’s no telling when that will come to your neighborhood. And the same issue exists with Comcast, but it’s based on whatever cable they’ve got in your area. Your speeds may not be great with AT&T, but before you dance with the Comcast devil, check with your neighbors to see how often the service goes out because phone service almost never goes out and the old CableVision/TimeWarner/nowComcast lines in Memphis are shit. My neighbor in HPT had issues with cable going out all the time. Just like most people in Memphis. And I had the same problem here in Nashville until they upgraded my line after CONSTANT complaints.
Incidentally, no kind gap.com or Sears Twitter rep has contacted me. You must be special. :)
Ugh, dealing with this shit SUUUUCKS.
I have Comcast Internet because it’s fast where I am and hardly ever goes out, but I went through an ordeal with them at the beginning of the year when I was canceling our TV service (HD/DVR and the minimum channel package available w/ HD) because what we were going to have to pay Comcast $180 a month for we could get from DirectTV for $53.
After numerous calls and fucked up bills, I finally resorted to bitching on my blog and then BAM all of a sudden I was getting calls for all sorts of corporate office types who “just wanted to help” me keep my service with them. But they couldn’t give me cheaper service, and they couldn’t guarantee I wouldn’t be charged for shit I wouldn’t use, so I dumped them anyway. Oh, except their Internet service is cheaper if you get local channels with them. Yes, it’s cheaper to get Internet + local channels than just Internet. Nice.
Anyway, hang in there. I have never had Comcast’s phone service but I don’t like VoIP service as a rule. If you want a rec on their Internet service, though, despite all their bullshit TV billing issues, it can’t be beat.
@Lesley
Ooooh, that’s a good point. I need to talk to the neighbors about Comcast to see how much they hate it. Once upon a time, when I lived in the Ridgeway area, I had TimeWarner and never had any complaints. *fingers crossed*
@Megan
UGH, that is so ridiculous. My plan is to take advantage of one of those $20/month for six months offers and then dump cable and just keep internet, and then keep my AT&T land line for the alarm (I’d have to pay for a hardward upgrade for my alarm were I to switch from AT&T to some other service). I swear, it’s kind of a clusterfuck no matter what you do.