Cable guys learning they need to hurry
Did you hear the one about the cable company that’s actually improving customer service? The punchline: Comcast and its rivals say it’s no joke.
These companies have poured hundreds of millions into new tools and staff to de-agonize the process of getting cable TV, Internet or phone service. It’s part of a yearslong effort to assuage customers as the specter of cord-cutting — dumping cable for Netflix and the like — haunts the industry.
Comcast, for instance, is trying to demystify the wait for the cable guy via a new map-based app customers can use to track its techs in real time. Just ask Johann Bilsborough, a 43-year-old in suburban Boston, who tapped it open while waiting for his installation appointment. Nearby construction was holding up the truck, forcing its driver to circle his neighborhood several times as he tried to find a way into the development.
That was helpful, but Bilsborough also found it reassuring to identify the tech via his online picture as he waited at home with his wife and two children.
“If they look a little bit like a serial killer, you can cancel,” he says.
Trapped customers
It’s difficult, however, to tell if the tracking app — along with other improvements such as shorter waits, more responsive reps, and do-it-yourself installations — can shake the widespread sense that cable companies charge too much while inflicting lousy service on hapless customers.
After all, while internet-based TV options — Netflix, PlayStation Vue, Hulu — and satellite alternatives like Dish have mushroomed, most Americans have no choice but their local cable company for home broadband. And cable bills typically only go one direction — up — as the companies look to cover their own rising costs for TV programming.
The industry is eager to confess its sins.
“We got this thing wrong historically,” says John Keib, formerly Time Warner Cable’s executive vice president for residential services. “I think some of that image was definitely earned.”
The economics of cordcutting are certainly one big motivation. Another one: Bad customer experiences can easily devolve into public-relations nightmares, thanks to social media.
‘Really nasty things’
Unhappy customers also cost more.
“They call more, take more time on the phone, say really nasty things,” says Scott Broetzmann, a customer-service consultant. “They seek revenge.”
One such was Amanda Vogel in Memphis, who tweeted her frustration after waiting five days for a new appointment after her Comcast technician didn’t show up. The 33-year-old environmental consultant said she made “like 30 calls overall” to address various issues.
“It was just so baffling,” she says.
Comcast says it was human error and it’s working on training employees on new policies.
Efforts to improve service reach back several years. Comcast, for instance, is hiring an additional 5,500 customerservice reps over three years. Charter also plans to hire 20,000 in-house employees to replace contractors who worked in customer service and elsewhere.
Staying in touch
The companies say they’re making it easier to get in touch. You can leave a number for a call back instead of waiting on hold. They’ve shrunk appointment windows from four hours to one hour at Time Warner Cable — one to two hours at Comcast.
But companies are also trying to put their own cable guys out of business by offering self-installation kits and streaming services that don’t require a cable box. (Comcast says about 10 percent of people who choose self-installation eventually require a tech anyway.)
Comcast is also trying to woo subscribers with cheaper, smaller TV packages and prepaid service that doesn’t require a credit check.
Are customers happier? The number of complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau didn’t change significantly in 2014 or 2015, but those represent just a tiny fraction of all cable customers.