Comcast puts up a fight

Actually, the funny thing is how little of a fight this was.

So, I found out last night that our $19.99/month Comcast High-Speed Internet was increasing to $42.99/month.  Yikes!  Double-the-cost for the same service.  No thank you.  I decided to ‘chat’ with Comcast and either “lower my cost” (most desirable), “lower my service”, or “change service altogether” (least desirable).  All that said, I was not going to pay almost $50/month, after taxes, for just my Internet connection.  That was not an option.

To that end, I started a ‘chat’ session with Comcast customer service to see what options I had.  I was fully expecting some wrangling back and forth.  Instead, here’s what actually happened (with names, etc. changed to protect the innocent):

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user Guest_ has entered room

Guest(Thu Dec 17 2009 13:40:56 GMT-0800 (Pacific Standard Time))>

Order Information

analyst ComcastDude007 has entered room

ComcastDude007(Thu Dec 17 2009 13:41:07 GMT-0800)>

Hello Guest_, Thank you for contacting Comcast Live Chat Support. 

My name is ComcastDude007. 

Please give me one moment to review your information.

ComcastDude007(Thu Dec 17 2009 13:41:10 GMT-0800)>

Hi! You can call me 007.
I hope you're doing great today!

ComcastDude007(Thu Dec 17 2009 13:41:10 GMT-0800)>

Do you have an ACTIVE Comcast account/service
in your new OR current address?

Guest_(Thu Dec 17 2009 10:41:25 GMT-0800 (Pacific Standard Time))>

Yes, we have an active account.

Guest_(Thu Dec 17 2009 10:41:34 GMT-0800 (Pacific Standard Time))>

Address is XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

ComcastDude007(Thu Dec 17 2009 13:41:50 GMT-0800)>

awe3

ComcastDude007(Thu Dec 17 2009 13:41:52 GMT-0800)>

My apologies for the typo.

ComcastDude007(Thu Dec 17 2009 13:41:54 GMT-0800)>

Awesome! Thank you very much for your continued patronage and loyalty to us. We really appreciate it.

Guest_(Thu Dec 17 2009 10:42:08 GMT-0800 (Pacific Standard Time))>

thanks.

ComcastDude007(Thu Dec 17 2009 13:42:07 GMT-0800)>

I understand that you are interested to order -Internet $19.99 for 6 months- Am I correct?

Guest_(Thu Dec 17 2009 10:42:27 GMT-0800 (Pacific Standard Time))>

Actually, I need to see about our current pricing.

ComcastDude007(Thu Dec 17 2009 13:42:37 GMT-0800)>

You're most welcome!

ComcastDude007(Thu Dec 17 2009 13:42:38 GMT-0800 )>

Sure thing.

ComcastDude007(Thu Dec 17 2009 13:42:40 GMT-0800)>

Please let me take care of that for you.

ComcastDude007(Thu Dec 17 2009 13:42:59 GMT-0800)>

You may visit https://www.comcast.com/localization/Localize.cspx?Referer=/shop/buyflow2/products.cspx to check for our promotions as well

ComcastDude007(Thu Dec 17 2009 13:43:10 GMT-0800)>

To ensure integrity in your account, please verify your account number OR the last FOUR digits of your SSN.

Guest_(Thu Dec 17 2009 10:43:40 GMT-0800 (Pacific Standard Time))>

Actually, we are currently a Comcast customer.  I need to figure out what we're CURRENTLY paying for our service.  I think it just increased quite a bit.

Guest_(Thu Dec 17 2009 10:44:00 GMT-0800 (Pacific Standard Time))>

Last 4 of my SS are... XXXX

ComcastDude007(Thu Dec 17 2009 13:44:11 GMT-0800)>

Thank you for verifying.

ComcastDude007(Thu Dec 17 2009 13:44:46 GMT-0800)>

Yes, your paying $54.95/mo but I can lower it to $19.99 for 6 months. Shall we go ahead?

Guest_(Thu Dec 17 2009 10:45:05 GMT-0800 (Pacific Standard Time))>

That would be *perfect*.  Yes, please!

ComcastDude007(Thu Dec 17 2009 13:45:22 GMT-0800)>

Sure thing.

ComcastDude007(Thu Dec 17 2009 13:45:27 GMT-0800)>

Great news! I am proud to offer our next 
generation Triple Play with FREE HD! It 
includes cable, internet, and phone 
for just one low price. Get yourself and 
your family an entertainment-filled home now!

ComcastDude007(Thu Dec 17 2009 13:45:49 GMT-0800)>

Please wait one moment while I process your order/request.

Guest_(Thu Dec 17 2009 10:46:06 GMT-0800 (Pacific Standard Time))>

Thanks, 007 

ComcastDude007(Thu Dec 17 2009 13:46:36 GMT-0800)>

You're welcome, Guest

ComcastDude007(Thu Dec 17 2009 13:47:09 GMT-0800)>

Thank you for waiting.

ComcastDude007(Thu Dec 17 2009 13:47:13 GMT-0800)>

Account: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Order: 1000xxxxxxx
Succeeding Monthly Fee w/ tax and modem rent:$25.47

ComcastDude007(Thu Dec 17 2009 13:47:16 GMT-0800)>

Congratulations! You are all set.

ComcastDude007(Thu Dec 17 2009 13:47:16 GMT-0800 )>

Before you go, have I resolved and answered 
your reason for chatting today in my end?

Guest_(Thu Dec 17 2009 10:47:40 GMT-0800 (Pacific Standard Time))>

Yep!  Everything resolved. Thanks again.

ComcastDude007(Thu Dec 17 2009 13:47:56 GMT-0800)>

Great!

ComcastDude007(Thu Dec 17 2009 13:47:57 GMT-0800)>

Thank you.

ComcastDude007(Thu Dec 17 2009 13:47:58 GMT-0800)>

You're most welcome!

ComcastDude007(Thu Dec 17 2009 13:47:59 GMT-0800)>

It's a pleasure to serve our most valued customer
such as you. Hope to hear from you again soon!

ComcastDude007(Thu Dec 17 2009 13:48:01 GMT-0800)>

Have a good one. Cheers! 

Guest_(Thu Dec 17 2009 10:48:03 GMT-0800 (Pacific Standard Time))>

You too.

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What I find most humorous is that I never actually requested a reduced monthly price.  It was pretty obvious, I suppose, when I mentioned that our “current monthly bill had just increased quite a bit”, but after that the rep just gave in.  No fight necessary.

Perhaps the goal is to make the customer feel “in control”, which is fairly effective.  Whatever the deal, I like the fact that I’m getting our Comcast service for $19.99/month again.

Hmmm.  Maybe I should’ve requested that pricing for the next 12 months…

Wow! It really is “Comcastic”!

We’ve been using Verizon DSL at home for the past 6 years or so.  They’ve been good, quite reliable, and reasonably priced.  Recently, though, we’ve had the “need for speed”, and Verizon just couldn’t come through.  We were paying for 3mbps (down) / 768k (up), but only really realized about half of that speed.  We were too far from the CO to get any faster.

I began shopping around.

Verizon DSL couldn’t do any better for us, FiOS isn’t available in our area, and everything else was either 1) only comparable on speed, or 2) just too expensive.  Who saves the day?  Comcast.  For $19.99/month for the first 6 months (+ $60 install fee), we decided to bit the bullet.  I’ve never been a huge cable Internet fan – fluctuating speeds, rumors of numerous outages, etc. – but I’ve never had cable Internet either. 

We setup an appointment to have them out between 8AM and noon today.

No phone calls or “acknowledgements” of our appointment, and 11:45AM quickly rolls around.  I was ready to lay waste to someone, but then the phone rings a few minutes later.  The technician arrived relatively on-time, and was very friendly.  After about 30 minutes, we were plugging in cables and testing out our service.  The Speakeasy “speedtest” pretty much tells it like it is…

Yeah… that’s 29mbps (down) / 2.6mbps (up).  Whoa!  I realize that those speeds will change with additional users online in the neighborhood, but still… that’s pretty amazing.

All in all, a pretty good experience thus far.  Here’s hoping that the rest of my “Comcastic!” switchover goes as well. 🙂

Branded Browsers = LAME

In the course of my day job (techy “IT” sys admin-type stuff), I deal with a fair number of new computers — laptops, desktop machines, servers, etc..  You home users typically have to wrangle with all of the preinstalled *crud* that comes with a new computer — here, here and here — but business clients, such as our company, usually get some say in what is and isn’t loaded.

Usually.

Our buddies at Dell evidently *have* to have their hand in something on these new computers.  Anything!  So what do they do?  Check it…

Honestly…how useless is that?  Does Dell really need to ‘brand’ my browser window?  Are the Dell-branded screen, laptop case, and bootup screens not enough?  Perhaps I’ll forget where I purchased my computer from??!  Well, Dell has the solution for that.  And how *exactly* is Dell (in this case) “providing Internet Explorer”?  Just by *allowing* it to be preloaded with the OS?  Hmmm.  Good thinking, guys — and thanks for the subtle reminder. 

May I suggest a few more “branding” opportunities that you’ve missed?

To be fair, I’ve seen other vendors pull the same, lame stunt <cough> COMCAST <cough>.  Thanks, but no thanks, guys.  We can do without it.

By the way, here’s how to remove that text.