Comcast: How to Lose a Sale

October 23rd, 2008 by Gregory Silvano Posted in Business, Technology |

Comcast announced its new high-speed internet offerings today, so I jumped on board and signed up for their Ultra package: 30Mbps download.  Verizon Fios isn’t available on my street yet (one of only a few streets in the entire town?!), so Comcast is my only option.

So I go through the checkout process and at the end I am greeted by Da in a mandatory chat window.  Here’s the unedited chat session, which lasted just 6 minutes.

Da(Thu Oct 23 09:14:31 EDT 2008)>Hello. Thank you for choosing Comcast. My name is Da and I will be processing your order. It will take me just a few minutes to pull up your order information in our system. I will let you know if I have any questions.

Da(Thu Oct 23 09:16:01 EDT 2008)>Can you please verify the last four digits of the social security number on your account?

Gregory_(Thu Oct 23 09:16:49 EDT 2008)>****

Da(Thu Oct 23 09:16:28 EDT 2008)>Thank you.

Da(Thu Oct 23 09:17:10 EDT 2008)>You current have the bundle for cable, internet and phone.

Da(Thu Oct 23 09:17:34 EDT 2008)>If you want to upgrade to ultra tier, it’s an additional $20 per month.

Gregory_(Thu Oct 23 09:19:02 EDT 2008)>that’s fine…what’s the total monthly bill?

Da(Thu Oct 23 09:20:47 EDT 2008)>I’m sorry but I am unable to upgrade the internet speed. The system is stating that the  ultra speed upgrade is only available for customers with the $114.99, $129.99 or $159.99 bundle.

Da(Thu Oct 23 09:22:22 EDT 2008)>Is there anything else that I can assist you with today?

Gregory_(Thu Oct 23 09:23:02 EDT 2008)>odd

Gregory_(Thu Oct 23 09:23:18 EDT 2008)>nope, that’s all.

Da(Thu Oct 23 09:23:12 EDT 2008)>This could be a glitch with our system because the $99 bundle is grandfathered. Please contact our technical department at 1-800-266-2278 for further assistance.

Da(Thu Oct 23 09:23:15 EDT 2008)>I’m sorry that I could not be of more help to you today. Thank you for your time! Goodbye.

Sale…lost.  Could you imagine being so close to a sale and letting it walk away?  Isn’t that astounding?  Where’s Da going?  Is there another customer waiting who is even closer to buying?  How about “Let me check with a manager because this should work…”?  Could you imagine standing at the checkout counter at Walmart, only to hear “Sorry, the scanner’s not working right…have a nice day.”

Obviously I’m not going to call the Comcast technical support line in order to buy more products.  Ironically, I was about to ask Da to upgrade to the Extreme plan at $145/month.  And I would have upgraded my entire package too.  But I didn’t feel like spending the next 45 minutes in a chat session trying to pursuade Comcast to let me spend more money on them.

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3 Responses to “Comcast: How to Lose a Sale”

  1. Comcastcares1 Says:
    October 23rd, 2008 at 1:05 pm

    I agree with you and I apologize for the experience.

    I will be happy to reach out to my contacts to double check the restricions on the package. Please send me the phone number on the account so that I can help.

    Thanks for sharing the post. I appreciate the opportunity to assist!

    Mark casem
    Comcast Corp.
    We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com

  2. Robert Voica Says:
    January 1st, 2009 at 3:48 am

    I scheduled an upgrade to the Comcast Ultra Plan on December 31, 2008 (10am – 12noon, local time). I clearly “told” [more than once] the customer support agent (an “agent”) my desire to upgrade was due to the speed gained by “N” connectivity over my current “G”. Pursuant to this desire, I purchased the Belkin N+ USB Adapter.

    As a sidebar, I am scheduled for a changeover to Comcast’s Digital Voice [be a triple play member] on January 2, 2009.

    Result of my December 31 upgrade. The Modem was upgraded to accommodate DOCSIS 3.0, however, the router was not upgraded. As a result of the latter, I still only have “G” speed capabilities. During the afternoon of December 31, I placed four (4) different calls to customer support/technical support detailing the specifics of the situation. I was told by three (3) different agents that my problem has been escalated and will be resolved during the afternoon of December 31 [two (2) different case numbers assigned]. On the third call, the agent actually passed me back in the call queue (via a cold transfer). During the fourth call, I was told by this customer support agent an appointment has been scheduled for January 2, 2009 for router resolution/upgrade; between the hours of 12noon – 4pm local time. This was the first I had heard of said appointment. Additionally, I was told by this agent that there is no difference between the “G” and “N” speed. An interesting comment.

    Bottom line, I not very happy with the a) support service received and the b) perceived “run-around”. Is this typical for Comcast!?

  3. Stature Software Blog » Comcast: Managing Your Online Presence Says:
    January 4th, 2009 at 4:30 pm

    [...] Comcast: How to Lose a Sale [...]

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