It’s funny how a company who proved to be so bad at online sales could be so good at managing their online presence.

I posted my complaint at 9am and by 1pm Comcast had found my blog post and responded to it online.  And within minutes of my reply to them via email, I was in contact with somebody at the Comcast home office.  The problem was resolved in a matter of a day.

OK, well done Comcast, really.  Every company should be as on-top of their online presence as you are.  Just a few Google Alerts would allow any company to receive an email whenever somebody blogs about their company or brands.  It’s easy, it’s free, and it just plain works.

Oh, and I did get the Extreme plan ($150/month) and it is indeed very fast.

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.