Comcast: Expect a Consumer Revolt

Michael Arrington just told his Twitter fans that Comcast has been down for 36 hours and he’s told after a half-a-lifetime on hold that it’s California-wide. Others pipe in with their troubles. I go looking at the news and find more problems on the East Coast.

Here you can watch the Comcast revolt spread across Twitter. Arrington is vowing “expend significant energy over the next three weeks trashing Comcast.” Heh. Can’t wait to watch that. I also told him via Twitter that he should join forces with Bob Garfield at ComcastMustDie.

I’m willing to bet a few dollars that this could be the start of the first (or an early) consumer revolt spread on Twitter (as the Laceygate revolt spread at SXSW): the Instamob. I wonder whether Comcast is monitoring Twitter and whether it will be man enough to come in and explain what the hell is happening (without hold music).

Comments

[idepops:]

ComCast's problem, from my prospective, is not ComCast's ability to deliver an excellent technical product, but it is her inability to provide customer service in a courteous and timely manner. I have been a ComCast customer for many years and the only problem I have ever encountered is lackidasical discourteous attitude of their customer service personnel. It is a problem that is easily fixed with good management. But, I have seen no progress whatsoever for quite a few years.

2008 Apr 07 09:25 AM

[BudH:]

I've had Comcast for years and recently added the telephone service. $15 more a month to add phone, plus get a bunch more TV channels, and I shut off my Verizon landline that was costing $55/month.

2008 Apr 07 09:31 AM

[Itsonlymoney:]

What are you trying to say?

2008 Apr 07 11:15 AM

[Julio:]

I agree wholeheartedly with idepops. I was a triple play customer in California but had only minor issues technically. However, the customer service was so bad that I went running back to DirecTV for video and dropped IP phone altogether (I reluctantly take Comcast internet now). The CSRs have only gone from arrogantly rude in the old days to indifferently rude now. One definitely gets the feel that one is dealing with "the cable company".

Comcast has made a few public comments about improving customer service, but it's either just noise or the comments aren't translating into action at the operational level. CS improvement needs to be made a high profile priority within the company with active involvement from top management.

2008 Apr 07 11:53 AM

[jackooo:]

I am located in S. Cal. The service stinks. I have called over and over for lack of service. The DVR goes out and is replaced with the newer model. It quits after a week.
The phone quits working. The rep fixes the problem. By the time the service rep clears my driveway it is not working.
He comes back later in the day and he finds out the central office changed the code.

2008 Apr 07 11:53 AM

[BudH:]

Comcast and their people are no worse than any large corp. The locals I've dealt with have been fine. In 5+ years I only had my modem go out once and they replaced it immediately. I think the anti-comcast clones have been called in here today.

2008 Apr 07 12:26 PM

[martyg:]

anti-comcast has more members than pro-comcast. my service is awful with constant stoppages with no one to call. this past week e-mail was down for hours. try and trade stocks when your service is down and the only reply is "re-boot your system". if direct tv had speedy uploads and downloads, comcast would be sucking wind.

i have service in nj and my comcast internet defaults to delaware. comcast ads ask me if i want to reduce my delaware insurance costs or go to a delaware high school. try and explain that to anybody in order to correct the problem. about 1 1/2 years ago my service was out for about 10 days. a truck hit a pole killing the service. a quality company would have fixed it in hours. not comcast.

comcast's days are numbered, despite their size.

2008 Apr 07 03:51 PM

[Tedspick:]

Comcast service varies widely across the country. I just fearfully added their internet voice service and got an excellent installer who spent 3 hours in my house - adjusted everything so it was perfect - and I have had no problems at all.

2008 Apr 07 05:16 PM

[mozart_fan:]

I've been a customer for 10+ years. Never had a major issue, and the times I did call CS they were courteous and helpful. I agree with others that every company has customer service problems. The internet is the place for that small percentage of their millions of customers to complain(Talking about every large corp. out there.)

2008 Apr 07 10:41 PM