September 23rd, 2008
Comcast really does care (aka how Twitter helped save Nick at Nite)
It’s a little embarrassing for me to admit this, but I go to sleep every night watching Nick at Nite. Loser, right? What can I say, I never tire of the antics of Will and Carlton on the “Fresh Prince of Bel Air.”
All was fine last night until I dozed off and then awoke about 2 a.m. to an infomercial for the Kiyoseki and what appeared to be a scrolling TV Guide. I couldn’t change the channel. I couldn’t turn the cable box off. The same thing was going on with the television in the living room. Either my TV had been possessed by a ghost wanting me to have more naturally curly hair or something was amiss with Comcast. I decided to ponder the matter at a more reasonable hour and go back to sleep.
I awoke about four hours later and flipped on the tube, out of curiosity. Same story. This time it was an infomercial for an ab roller but the TV Guide was still there and I still couldn’t turn off the cable box in either room. I called Comcast customer service, went through the menu options and just as I was about to reach a representative I was disconnected due to “technical difficulties.” After this happened five times I did what any normal person would do…
… I complained on Twitter.
Within minutes of my post and subsequent conversation with my network about my cable woes, Frank Eliason, the man behind @ComcastCares on Twitter, addressed my complaint. He suggested I email his team at We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com for help and agreed that the issue I was experiencing was unacceptable. Within about 30 minutes my issue was resolved, both televisions were working properly, I received an email back from customer service and I had the confidence that Nick at Nite would be waiting for me at bedtime.
It’s not just Comcast’s quick Twitter response that impressed me. It’s not even about how he so quickly found my complaint. It’s how Eliason communicated with me and how he appears to communicate with all of the customers he engages. My being impressed with Eliason had more to do with his approach than the fact that he leveraged social media to get there (though I write about social media so, of course, I think it’s cool). Every time Eliason engages with a customer he appears to do three very important things:
- Acknowledges the issue
- Apologizes for the issue
- Offers quick resolution
And, many times, he seems to follow up later with some of these customers to make sure they are still satisfied. This kind of customer care has been largely lost, especially with big cable and telco companies who have entered the monopoly game.
At the start of this process, blurry eyed and just awoken, I considered finally tossing Comcast out and moving onto satellite. But the company’s attention today impressed me. I’d read about Comcast and its great customer engagement through the social Web before but this was the first time I experienced it as a consumer.
Well done, Frank. Well done, Comcast.
Jennifer Leggio, aka "Mediaphyter," writes about the "social business" side of social media - including enterprise, security and reputation issues. See her full profile and disclosure of her industry affiliations.
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