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Any ideas why he actually wants to cancel? If it's for a lower price surely Comcast would match that? I've done that with mobile operators here in the UK, phoni

Any ideas why he actually wants to cancel? If it's for a lower price surely Comcast would match that? I've done that with mobile operators here in the UK, phoning up to switch to PAYG because of a new deal that comes up then the "retentions" agent offering me the same deal on a contract for half the price. Edit: My point is although it is none of their business why he wants to cancel, it's probably less effort, and helps them out by saying "The customer service is poor" than declining and arguing with the agent who is just trying to do his job (and probably getting paid $10/hour).

DevX101 12y ago
I see the Comcast agent has found the HN thread :)
epi16 12y ago
Poor customer service? That would be enough for me, in the purely hypothetical scenario where I had a choice other than "no internet", "hook up an antenna to steal internet from the Starbucks down the street", or "Comcast".
sigkill 12y ago
Firstly, Comcast has no business why he wants to cancel. He might want to cancel because he landed a tails on a coin flip on a Tuesday, and it shouldn't matter. Secondly, with such strongly hostile customer service representatives the more you speak that's more ammo you're giving them to argue without cancelling the contract. If you say, 'customer service is poor' there's a high chance that CSR going to pull up records saying that "You called us X times with Y and Z complaints and we have responded to them within 48 hours. That's well within our metrics" or some bs like that. Talking to hostile CSRs is akin to talking to the cops - don't speak more than you have to.
sp332 12y ago
Last week my wife called to disconnect our service with Comcast after we switched to another provider (Astound).... she and I have already played along and given a myriad of reasons and explanations... which is why I simply stopped answering the rep's repeated question https://soundcloud.com/ryan-block-10/comcastic-service https://soundcloud.com/ryan-block-10/comcastic-service
mikeash 12y ago
It doesn't help them out by saying "The customer service is poor." They know their customer service is poor. Comcast is legendary for having poor service. They are one of the most hated companies in the US and consistently have the lowest customer satisfaction ratings among ISPs. They're not blind and deaf, and they're well aware of where they stand. That they haven't improved means they're either unable to, or (IMO more likely) they've determined that good customer service isn't important to their bottom line.
thanatropism 12y ago
It's a common ruse in Brazil to call cancellation in order to get to the retentions guy and bargain a better deal too. I can't do this anymore because I have a small, few-channels package and 14-inch analog TV, and cheaper internet packages are bundled with HDTV cable plans. But thanks to anti-bundling laws (and a general sentiment that makes even McDonald's sell their toys independently of lunch boxes), internet-only packages are not unrealistically expensive.
chris_wot 12y ago
He said he told the rep in the first 10 minutes, which is not recorded. It's also irrelevant.

DevX101 12y ago

I see the Comcast agent has found the HN thread :)

epi16 12y ago

Poor customer service? That would be enough for me, in the purely hypothetical scenario where I had a choice other than "no internet", "hook up an antenna to steal internet from the Starbucks down the street", or "Comcast".

sigkill 12y ago

Firstly, Comcast has no business why he wants to cancel. He might want to cancel because he landed a tails on a coin flip on a Tuesday, and it shouldn't matter. Secondly, with such strongly hostile customer service representatives the more you speak that's more ammo you're giving them to argue without cancelling the contract. If you say, 'customer service is poor' there's a high chance that CSR going to pull up records saying that "You called us X times with Y and Z complaints and we have responded to them within 48 hours. That's well within our metrics" or some bs like that. Talking to hostile CSRs is akin to talking to the cops - don't speak more than you have to.

sp332 12y ago

Last week my wife called to disconnect our service with Comcast after we switched to another provider (Astound).... she and I have already played along and given a myriad of reasons and explanations... which is why I simply stopped answering the rep's repeated question https://soundcloud.com/ryan-block-10/comcastic-service https://soundcloud.com/ryan-block-10/comcastic-service

mikeash 12y ago

It doesn't help them out by saying "The customer service is poor." They know their customer service is poor. Comcast is legendary for having poor service. They are one of the most hated companies in the US and consistently have the lowest customer satisfaction ratings among ISPs. They're not blind and deaf, and they're well aware of where they stand. That they haven't improved means they're either unable to, or (IMO more likely) they've determined that good customer service isn't important to their bottom line.

thanatropism 12y ago

It's a common ruse in Brazil to call cancellation in order to get to the retentions guy and bargain a better deal too. I can't do this anymore because I have a small, few-channels package and 14-inch analog TV, and cheaper internet packages are bundled with HDTV cable plans. But thanks to anti-bundling laws (and a general sentiment that makes even McDonald's sell their toys independently of lunch boxes), internet-only packages are not unrealistically expensive.

chris_wot 12y ago

He said he told the rep in the first 10 minutes, which is not recorded. It's also irrelevant.