Comcast Lobbyists Give Lawmakers Golden Tickets: Secret Phone Numbers To Reach Good Customer Service
from the giving-a-damn-is-a-special-perk-just-for-you dept
Comcast has certainly been pulling out all the stops to get its $45 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable approved by regulators. That has involved calling everyone who opposes the merger ignorant and unreasonable, paying minority groups to parrot the company's positions, and generally repeatedly denying all of the competitive and monopsony concerns raised by deal critics. All while the company's top lobbyist, David Cohen, busily dodges lobbying rules by pretending he's not actually lobbying (he seriously calls himself the company's "Chief Diversity Officer").Comcast has employed some forty lobbying firms to court DC politicians, and offered up cash donations to 32 of the 39 members of the House Judiciary Committee that recently held hearings on the merger. In a piece exploring how David Gregory lost his job on "Meet The Press," (and the rise of Comcast's David Cohen as a K Street powerhouse) the Washingtonian points out that Comcast lobbyists have also been busy handing out special "VIP cards" to DC lawmakers. These cards feature a single-use phone number that will prioritize your customer support call:
"Comcast also had an even more personal way of sucking up to Washington. Its government-affairs team carried around “We’ll make it right” cards stamped with “priority assistance” codes for fast-tracking help and handed them out to congressional staffers, journalists, and other influential Washingtonians who complained about their service. A Comcast spokeswoman says this practice isn’t exclusive to DC; every Comcast employee receives the cards, which they can distribute to any customer with cable or internet trouble. Nevertheless, efforts like this one have surely helped Comcast boost its standing inside the Beltway and improve its chances of winning regulatory approval for its next big conquest: merging with the second-largest cable provider in the country, Time Warner Cable."Comcast's customer service is, as we've noted a few times, historically awful. As in, surveys show it's worse than nearly any other company in any other industry, which is no small feat. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts frequently complains that this is simply because the company's so large, and that statistically you're simply going to have a lot of squeaky wheels. So amusingly, in addition to throwing cash at DC lawmakers, Comcast is using actually giving a damn about your customers (or the illusion of giving a damn, as Comcast employees tell me these cards are common and don't actually do all that much) as a "special perk" you can only get if you're immeasurably annoyed with the company -- or a DC lobbyist that can help it out.
What's the over/under on a larger Comcast someday waking up and realizing that the company should focus on giving everybody decent customer service?
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Filed Under: customer service, david cohen, lawmakers, lobbying, lobbyists, merger, policymakers, vip
Companies: comcast, time warner cable
Reader Comments
The First Word
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Wait? Are you saying that those minority groups are not actually advancing their cause and instead parroting a bunch of dogmatic or political diatribe to "shake down" organizations for money and good public will?
Say it isn't so!!!!
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Re: Xfinity Signature Support
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Tell the real story
This is misleading reporting and you should be ashamed of yourselves. I know it's hip to ride the Comcast hate bandwagon, but shouldn't you have a shred of journalistic integrity here?
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Re: Tell the real story
Can we get some confirmation from a Comcast employee that every employee gets them to give out?
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Re: Re: Tell the real story
Then we can check.
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Re: Tell the real story
This program doesn't seem to work very well.
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Re: Re: Tell the real story
Sadly, it does work very well, though apparently not for Comcast. My cable vendor (not Comcast) has the same process, though it isn't really a secret. When the technician arrives at your house, after they complete whatever it is that they were sent to do, they automatically give you their business card and tell you to call the number on the business card for up to six months for issues related to whatever they did.
I had a problem once with a device that wasn't working properly. The technician arrived and replaced the device, then a couple weeks later the new device failed. I called the number and he came out the next morning to replace the device and track down why the devices were failing (which turned out to be a ground loop issue in that their cable line was improperly grounded and the device was becoming the ground for everything else attached to the cable.
It was nice being able to call directly to someone who was already aware of the issues without having to re-tell the problem and go through the scripted troubleshooting for a problem that wasn't mine to begin with.
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Re: Re: Re: Tell the real story
Sadly, it does work very well, though apparently not for Comcast. My cable vendor (not Comcast) has the same process...
If it's a different vendor, then it's a different program. The Comcast program isn't working very well. Your experience with some other ISP is irrelevant.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Tell the real story
True. They are different programs. However, dismissing the fact that other vendors do the same thing with different results is not irrelevant.
What it points to is what Techdirt has called the Cargo Cult mentality on the part of Comcast. Other people are doing this with some success, so Comcast implements it, and then doesn't understand why it is failing because everyone else has implemented it with success.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Tell the real story
Possibly, though I wonder if that gives Comcast too much credit. That is, they may understand perfectly well that this will fail. Rather than an honest but misguided attempt to improve customer service, it seems more likely to me that it's a cynical attempt to look like they're improving customer service without having to spend the money that would be required to actually do it.
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Hanlon's Razor and all, I'd be more likely to assume they are trying everything they possibly can to fix their problems so the FCC will allow them to buy TWC, but they are so lost and incapable of actually doing so.
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Yeah it can be hard to tell the difference sometimes.
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(Yes, I've seen a few techs who deserved to get their pay docked.)
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Re: Tell the real story
Yes, just as the article mentioned.
Interesting, though, that despite having nothing but trouble with Comcast customer support, I'd never heard of the existence of these cards until now. Every Comcast employee may get them, but they don't seem very eager to hand them out.
"This is misleading reporting"
What is misleading about it?
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Re: Re: Tell the real story
Secret Phone Numbers To Reach Good Customer Service
With or without one of these cards Comcast customer service is awful.
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Re: Tell the real story
If every employee has them and passes them out, then it's likely the finite resources of 'good customer service' (teehee) will be overrun and become normal, shitty Comcast customer service.
So what is the point?
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Re: Tell the real story
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Re: Tell the real story
I have made a point of noting this to every Comcast technician that I've seen in the neighborhood since 2001 -- y'know, if I'm out walking the dog when they show up or something like that. I would estimate that this happens 2-4 times a year, so by now I've reported it 25-40 times.
See if you can guess what's been done. Go on, guess.
So if there's a Comcast hate bandwagon (is that a thing?) then I'm on it. And I want a seat in front.
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Re: Re: Tell the real story
Once some cable laying folks left some conduit and other installation materials in a vacant lot near my house. After a couple of weeks where there was clearly no signs of activity, I simply took pictures and posted it all to CraigsList Free. The stuff was gone the next day. One man's trash is another man's treasure.
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Re: Tell the real story
This is supposed to be acceptable behavior? "It's your fault you didn't ask for good service after paying for it!" Really?
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Re: Tell the real story
I beg to differ on this matter as I have been a Comcast customer for several years. And the only reason I have not changed is we are just getting Verizon available in my area. I have been very unhappy with my service and the customer service numerous times and have tried to be very patient with customer service personnel.
Never once has a service rep or the manager I have asked for a few times offered my family a card. So I am sure they only go to friends and family of the employees,and now politicians.
So you are obviously some kool-aid drinking management person.
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Judges 12
5 The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a survivor of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead asked him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he replied, “No,” 6 they said, “All right, say ‘Shibboleth.’ ” If he said, “Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that time.
They divided everyone up into haves and have nots.
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Monopoly Promotes Abuse.
Worse, it's being done with YOUR money.
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Re: Monopoly Promotes Abuse.
WE keep giving them OUR money!
What reason do they have to make any changes?
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Bandaid Fix
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GO TO THE LOCAL OFFICE TO GET CONNECTED..... THEY GET A COMMISSION ON THE HOOK-UP.
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The wheels are already greasy?
I think you mean squeaky wheels.
What's the over/under on a larger Comcast someday waking up and realizing that the company should focus on giving everybody decent customer service?
That depends on whether the FCC forces them to compete. If not, they will never give a damn about customers.
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Re: The wheels are already greasy?
Is it safe to assume customer service experiences fall on a bell curve? If so, then some people will have crappy service, more people will have poor service, most people will have average service, some people will have good service, and a small percentage of people will have excellent service.
We've been hearing from all the people who have crappy service, so where are all the people who have excellent service?
I know the press tends to inflate the crappy-service stories, but why doesn't Comcast itself start a marketing campaign to promote all the excellent customer service stories? Or have they just given up?
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Not as bad as it looks...
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Re: Not as bad as it looks...
And how does that make it "not as bad as it looks"? That some lawmakers use the bribes*ahem*perks they're given in the best possible way doesn't mean the bribe*ahem*perk isn't as bad as it looks to begin with.
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What this tells me is Comcast has a policy of poor service and does it intentionally. This is not accident, this is planned. This is what no customer wants in a company much less one proposed to become the biggest ISP in the nation.
Just on the basis of its customer service record were it up to me, Comcast would not have a chance to merge with TimeWarner.
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1st. is an exploration into how much money Comcast has, how it accumulated so much, was it from ripping off customers as has been proven in the past that it does?
2nd. those in Congress and the Law Makers need to be investigated for bribery and corruption, but then i suppose they are more powerful than any of the security forces, so are able to go on their merry ways, getting whatever a company wants to throw at it to achieve their ends
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Upgrade to our Gold customer service package for only $19.99/month and we'll actually solve your problems
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I got one once
Anyway, the tech gave us a make it right card.... we tried using it.... it resulted in the same responses. There was no "special treatment". We knew the techs and they new us... they were nice guys, but the things they would say about Comcrap! WOW!!!!
There is nothing special about these cards, they are intended to make you feel warm and fuzzy inside and that is it.
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Cards with secret passwords
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1st Class Peanuts in Gold Foil Taste Like, . .
Of greater importance IMO is an omission in the Hill's article on COMCAST's lobbying- one of my favorite D.C. critters was not mentioned, long-time COMCAST lobbyist former Sen. Don Nickles and his firm, the Nickles Group LLC. While the Nickles Group is only middle of the pack in terms of COMCAST's lobbying dollars (OpenSecrets.org) The New York Times mentions that Sen. Nickles is one of the hotshots on Comcast's Time Warner merger strategy team (NYT- Comcast’s Web of Lobbying and Philanthropy) And just this past week, one of Don Nickles' right-hand lobbyists, and dedicated servant of COMCAST, Hazen Marshall, was named Mitch McConnell's policy director. (POLITICO- GOP goes on K Street hiring spree).
May you continue to enjoy your fine COMCAST customer service in the coming new year, with help from the U.S. Senate leadership.
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reminds
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Comcast
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