 
RadioDoc
Sortofadog
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
Chicago, IL
edit:
June 8th, @11:49AM
| They've worked hard for it Cable has had a reputation for bad service since it devolved from municipal CATV (Community Antenna Television) to commercial "cable" in the 70's.
That's a lot of bad blood.
--
Toolmaster of La Grange. | |
|
 | 
hopeflicker
Capitalism breeds greed
Premium
join:2003-04-03
Long Beach, CA
edit:
June 8th, @12:20PM
| Re: They've worked hard for it I think it was a lot to do with the caliber of employees they hire and a few other things too. You pay shitty, you get shitty work done.
--
Fossils, Not Gospels. | |
|
| | 
TScheisskopf
World News Trust
join:2005-02-13
Belvidere, NJ
 ·Sprint Broadband D..
| Re: They've worked hard for it said by hopeflicker  :I think i was a lot to do with the caliber of employees they hire and a few other things too. You pay shitty, you get shitty work done. In the music business we had a cautionary saying:
"You pay peanuts, you get monkeys" | |
|
| | | 
jsinaiko
Premium
join:2001-04-25
Chicago, IL | Re: They've worked hard for it Another moke from Jersey.
Are you saying that $60 per month for basic cable is peanuts? What friggin planet are you from?
Oh yeah, Jersey. Home of Joe Piscipo.
--
Illegitimati non carborundum
| |
|
| | | |
TScheisskopf
World News Trust
join:2005-02-13
Belvidere, NJ
·Sprint Broadband D..
| Re: They've worked hard for it said by jsinaiko :Another moke from Jersey. Are you saying that $60 per month for basic cable is peanuts? What friggin planet are you from? Oh yeah, Jersey. Home of Joe Piscipo. Reading comprehension. Reading comprension. Read the whole thread, especially the post to which I was responding. | |
|
| | | | |
jsinaiko
Premium
join:2001-04-25
Chicago, IL
 ·AT&T Midwest
| Re: They've worked hard for it I stand corrected - I see that you are referring to what Comcrap pays employees, not we we pay.
I have been in a snit over the way Comcrap has acted in Chicago for weeks - at least when I bother to think about it. Makes me more unreasonable than usual.
Sorry.
--
Illegitimati non carborundum
| |
|
| | | | | |
TScheisskopf
World News Trust
join:2005-02-13
Belvidere, NJ
·Sprint Broadband D..
| Re: They've worked hard for it No apology necessary. I have watched what has happened here in NJ for years(My mother worked for the first CATV company in the area, for many years) and I am very familiar with what Comcast has pulled. I have spoken to the local officials and have heard the stories of the last local franchises negotiations. Comcast negotiates like Tony Soprano. I have seen the regular increase in bills. I have heard the service horror stories.
And that's just around here. You get out into Eastern PA, where Service Electric and RCN are, it gets worse, mostly with broadband overselling in the rural areas.
It's high time to clean up the cable industry. Sadly, with Kevin Martin at the helm of the FCC, that will happen right after pigs file flight plans. | |
|
| | | | | | |
jsinaiko
Premium
join:2001-04-25
Chicago, IL
·AT&T Midwest
| Re: They've worked hard for it Well put.
There is little or no competition here - in my part of Chicago there is zero; just Comcast.
Of course because we live in the city it'll take eons for IP TV to get here and we have a high-rise across the street that blocks too much of the Southern sky for Direct or Dish.
And no FIOS here - only out East in your neck of the woods.
--
Illegitimati non carborundum
| |
|
| | |
| | | cvbn
join:2003-11-03
| Re: They've worked hard for it It has a lot to do with the hiring and training of employees. These companies dont train or give classes to employees. I live in L.A. and my parents live in Chicago. I have worked in both industries (cable and telco). I have tried to get my parents dsl but ATT (managers and techs ) have stated that my parents get a second telephone line for dsl. Since I work for ATT I called the managers in my parents service area and questioned them what the ____? This particular manager says that he/she has been working in the phone business for twenty years and knows what they are talking about . When you have managers like this then you can only think of what the techs are telling customers. Charter also I was on vacation at my parents watched the Charter tech do the install he had a problem connecting the modem and the computer( nic) he was confused and said that it wasnt the right combination so he couldn't finish the install , I proceeded to connect it while he was on-site and configure the modem and had it up and running . Now you tell me what kind of training these guys get unbelievable . | |
|
|
jsinaiko
Premium
join:2001-04-25
Chicago, IL
·AT&T Midwest
| See my post in the digital topic.
Notwithstanding their subcontractors murdering women, they are absolutely the worst. How does anyone deal with their Internet service?
When we had our (third) outage since the city went all-digital in April the tech who showed up had no idea where the vault for the block was - I had to show him, and I wasn't even the jamoke who called in - and then he didn't have the tools to open up the vault, which is under the sidewalk.
Amazing.
--
Illegitimati non carborundum
| |
|
| | patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
| Re: They've worked hard for it said by jsinaiko :When we had our (third) outage since the city went all-digital in April the tech who showed up had no idea where the vault for the block was - I had to show him, and I wasn't even the jamoke who called in - and then he didn't have the tools to open up the vault, which is under the sidewalk. Did you offer him a crowbar or a monkey wrench? Nothing like hacking CATV under the watch of a agent of the company. | |
|
| | |
jsinaiko
Premium
join:2001-04-25
Chicago, IL | Re: They've worked hard for it Actually he came out with the lug wrench for his pickup truck but it didn't work! ROFL!
--
Illegitimati non carborundum
| |
|
| Sammer
join:2005-12-22
Pittsburgh, PA | Reminds of that old commercial about how they got their reputation ____
"We errrrrrr-ned it!" | |
|
Chuckles
Premium
join:2006-03-04
Saint Paul, MN
 ·Comcast
| the truth As long as you have people who don't give a crap and get away with horrible job performance without consequences you're going to have this problem.
That's why I love/hate working for Comcast. You basically just have to show up!
--
kustomerservice.net | |
|
ender7074
join:2006-11-21
Saint Louis, MO
·AT&T Southeast
·Charter Pipeline
| Won't Happen Cable companies are run by mainly inept jerks that don't give a rats behind about the customer. Charter is a perfect example of this. Each consecutive CEO for the last 5 years has made service progressively worse. I think they don't care since they are the only CATV business in town. Who cares if the people are happy? | |
|
|
Chuckles
Premium
join:2006-03-04
Saint Paul, MN
·Comcast
| Re: Won't Happen I definately dont give a crap about the customer. I hate every last one of 'em!  I love to torture them on the phone.
--
kustomerservice.net | |
|
| | ender7074
join:2006-11-21
Saint Louis, MO | Re: Won't Happen hehe that how charter worked. They didnt care if the person on the phone was happy as long as we tried to sell them something. | |
|
| | LeftOfSanity
join:2005-11-06
Felton, DE
| said by Chuckles :I definately dont give a crap about the customer. I hate every last one of 'em! I love to torture them on the phone. Wow, what a way to help your company. You don't help the perception. | |
|
| | |
Chuckles
Premium
join:2006-03-04
Saint Paul, MN
·Comcast
| Re: Won't Happen said by LeftOfSanity :said by Chuckles :I definately dont give a crap about the customer. I hate every last one of 'em! I love to torture them on the phone. Wow, what a way to help your company. You don't help the perception. Making suggestings or asking questions at work has no effect. It all runs down hill. Constant overflow of information to phone reps, but when we ask a questions, explain a customer's situation or make a suggestion we're ignored. Maybe some Comcast ignoramous will read what I say here and get a clue. I highly doubt it though.
--
kustomerservice.net | |
|
| | | | alchav
join:2002-05-17
Palm Desert, CA
|  Re: Won't Happen
said by Chuckles :said by LeftOfSanity :said by Chuckles :I definately dont give a crap about the customer. I hate every last one of 'em! I love to torture them on the phone. Wow, what a way to help your company. You don't help the perception. Making suggestings or asking questions at work has no effect. It all runs down hill. Constant overflow of information to phone reps, but when we ask a questions, explain a customer's situation or make a suggestion we're ignored. Maybe some Comcast ignoramous will read what I say here and get a clue. I highly doubt it though. Chuckles, you are partly right, but if you don't like working there get another job. It does start from the top, and if the Company doesn't build a good Corporate Attitude, the wrong attitude will filter down to it's employee's. If the Company Attitude is they are the only show in town, and Customer Satisfaction is not at the top of their list. It will show like with Chuckles, his manager probably has the same attitude. | |
|
| | | | |
Chuckles
Premium
join:2006-03-04
Saint Paul, MN | Re: Won't Happen I'm lookin' But I will say the pay and benefits are good here.
--
kustomerservice.net | |
|
| | | | mobbo
join:2005-04-13
Denton, TX
 ·Verizon FIOS
·Charter Pipeline
·Grande Communicati..
 ·Vonage
| Really?!?! Charter techs are the WORST. In Ft. Worth, they have the wrong feed coming across the FSN Southwest HD channel. Feeds have ranged from the wrong RSN feed, to no RSN feed (just the FSN national feed), to National Geographic HD. Try explaining that to a tech, and you get instructions on how to unplug the converter box and plug it back in... that is IF they don't just hang up on you halfway through the explanation of the problem.
The fix? TELL THE PEOPLE AT THE FT. WORTH OFFICE THAT THE WRONG FUCKING FEED IS ON THE FSN HD CHANNEL!!!
Charters fix? Send a tech TO MY HOUSE. The tech just looked, said "yup, that's weird", called the Ft. Worth office, reported the problem, and it STILL isn't fixed. A problem that has been going on since the beginning of April and has been reported at least 20 times by myself is still unsolved. Apparently, the people at the Ft. Worth head-end are like the Wizard of Oz. No one can talk to them or see them. | |
|
inteller
Sociopaths always win.
join:2003-12-08
Tulsa, OK | not as long as they charge $30 to install a CableCARD they can fuck off as long as they need charge me to $30 to come out nad pop in a PCMCIA card into my TV. That is totally insulting....especially WHEN I HAD TO POINT OUT THE SLOT TO THEM!
cox cable service can rot in hell | |
|
| 
TK Junk Mail
Go ahead, make my day
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Margate City, NJ
clubs:
·Comcast
| Re: not as long as they charge $30 to install a CableCARD said by inteller :they can fuck off as long as they need charge me to $30 to come out and pop in a PCMCIA card into my TV. That is totally insulting....especially WHEN I HAD TO POINT OUT THE SLOT TO THEM! cox cable service can rot in hell Your TV has a pcmcia bus in it. Can you give me a link to where I can get one? 
--
--
Internet News
My BLOG
My Web Page | |
|
| |
inteller
Sociopaths always win.
join:2003-12-08
Tulsa, OK
·Cingular Wireless
| Re: not as long as they charge $30 to install a CableCARD don't be an asshat:
»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cablecard
"The card, provided by the local company for a nominal monthly fee, is a PCMCIA card and looks exactly like those used with laptops."
I said it was a PCMCIA card, I didn't say the TV had a PCMCIA bus.
You must be one of those cable "technicians" Where did you get your degree in smartass at? I'd ask for a refund. | |
|
| | | 
PhoneTechguy
@charter.com
 from:
TK Junk Mail
| Re: not as long as they charge $30 to install a CableCARD They should just come out for free because it clearly doesn't cost them anything.
Gas = Free
Trucks plus insurance = Free!!
Cost of purchasing the cable card from motorola which will go bad 10 minutes after the warranty expires = Free
What do you do for a living? I'd like to you come to my house and fix up a few things for absolutely nothing. Then after you leave I'm going to go online and look up a handyman forum and tell them what crappy job you did. | |
|
| | | | 
KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK | Re: not as long as they charge $30 to install a CableCARD I guess his point was that they don't let you pick up the Cablecard yourself or mail it to you or whatever, they insist on "Installing" it for you and charging you a service fee. | |
|
| 
dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
| said by inteller :they can fuck off as long as they need charge me to $30 to come out nad pop in a PCMCIA card into my TV. That is totally insulting....especially WHEN I HAD TO POINT OUT THE SLOT TO THEM! cox cable service can rot in hell but just think... in two and a half years, the money you save with cablecard vs. cable box will pay for the 3 seconds it took the tech to slide in the card(assuming cablecard rates dont get jacked. FAT CHANCE THERE.
--
You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth | |
|
moonpuppy
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD
·Verizon Online DSL
edit:
June 8th, @01:16PM
| From the comments of the employees themselves..... ....we hear all the time how no departments talk to one another.
CSR rep puts in an order for a simple install. Tech gets to house with a simple digital box and customer wants 2 boxes, an additional DVR and a cable modem.
CSR sends a truck to a location for a TV signal issue. Tech gets there and the cable modem doesn't work.
Tech gets held up at last stop and notifies no one and when he shows up late, customer is irate that he spent the entire day at his house for a missed appointment.
If they want to improve their image, they need to improve their internal communication first. Otherwise, you have a "he said, she said" mentality where no one takes responsibility and the customer suffers.
Also, if cable companies don't provide for some leeway, then they look bad. If a simple job goes WAY over, techs are so booked, they will throw off the rest of their schedule. Late appointments = pissed off customers. | |
|
|
Chuckles
Premium
join:2006-03-04
Saint Paul, MN
·Comcast
| Re: From the comments of the employees themselves..... If they want to improve their image, they need to improve their internal communication first. Otherwise, you have a "he said, she said" mentality where no one takes responsibility and the customer suffers. Absolutely 100% hit the nail on the head! We're a communications company with horrible internal communication... mooohahahaha.
--
kustomerservice.net | |
|
| | LeftOfSanity
join:2005-11-06
Felton, DE
| Re: From the comments of the employees themselves..... said by Chuckles :If they want to improve their image, they need to improve their internal communication first. Otherwise, you have a "he said, she said" mentality where no one takes responsibility and the customer suffers. Absolutely 100% hit the nail on the head! We're a communications company with horrible internal communication... mooohahahaha. Wow. | |
|
|
CableTech11
@comcast.net
| Alright Im a contracting tech for comcast and what you dont see is the HUGE maintainence costs of the miles and miles of cable, constant replacement of fittings, taps, ports, and city trace bills( county fee every time we have to dig up old line). If you dont want your bill to double, than Ill keep pulling 9 jobs a day and ill keep being late to the last 7. Unfortunately people who take your calls are not field techs, so they dont have the same experience that I do in the field. So unless you want me to come look at your house/problem/install, charge you, than come back a week later and charge again to fix it( just like an electrician) than yes the cable guy will always be late and problems wont disappear instantly, but your bill will stay relatively low with comcast making 5% profit like every other business on the face of the earth. | |
|
| | moonpuppy
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD
·Verizon Online DSL
| Re: From the comments of the employees themselves..... said by CableTech11 :
Alright Im a contracting tech for comcast and what you dont see is the HUGE maintainence costs of the miles and miles of cable, constant replacement of fittings, taps, ports, and city trace bills( county fee every time we have to dig up old line). If you dont want your bill to double, than Ill keep pulling 9 jobs a day and ill keep being late to the last 7. Unfortunately people who take your calls are not field techs, so they dont have the same experience that I do in the field. So unless you want me to come look at your house/problem/install, charge you, than come back a week later and charge again to fix it( just like an electrician) than yes the cable guy will always be late and problems wont disappear instantly, but your bill will stay relatively low with comcast making 5% profit like every other business on the face of the earth.
Relatively low? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Again, it is both a staffing issue and a communication issue.
And you are late to most of your appointments, maybe you need to look into another line of work. | |
|
Vertickle
join:2003-08-05
Madison, AL |  Greed and lack of competition.
| |
|
newview
Ex .. Ex .. Exactly
Premium
join:2001-10-01
Parsonsburg, MD | As long as there is little to no competition there will ALWAYS be the mindset on the part of the cable company that they are the "only game in town" and if you don't like it, that's just too bad.
I see the exact same mindset from the electric company. | |
|
|
hopeflicker
Capitalism breeds greed
Premium
join:2003-04-03
Long Beach, CA
| Re: As long as there is little to no competition Somewhat of a comparison here:
I seem not to have any problems with my phone service (land line). I know the phone company pays a whole hell of a lot better than cable. And the type of people they are are much better.
When was the last time you had to call the phone company for telephone issues?
--
Fossils, Not Gospels. | |
|
| | LeftOfSanity
join:2005-11-06
Felton, DE
| Re: As long as there is little to no competition said by hopeflicker :Somewhat of a comparison here: I seem not to have any problems with my phone service (land line). I know the phone company pays a whole hell of a lot better than cable. And the type of people they are are much better. When was the last time you had to call the phone company for telephone issues? What kind of people are they?
And i had to call VZ last month for service issue. | |
|
|
Chuckles
Premium
join:2006-03-04
Saint Paul, MN | I love that mindset! Totally gets me through the day. | |
|
JSRoman
Premium
join:2005-03-10
Callahan, FL
| Price and that's about it IMO it all boils down to price. For example most people are happy as hell with their chsi service when it is 19.95/mo for x amount of months, as soon as the price goes up it all of the sudden sucks. Mark my words as soon as Verizon starts raising their prices on par with cable they won't be as pretty anymore. Starting to happen already.
--
»www.seabee.navy.mil | |
|
|
RadioDoc
Sortofadog
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
Chicago, IL
·AT&T Midwest
| Re: Price and that's about it That's fine prognostication, but how do you explain the decades which came before FiOS competition? How about the horrid reputation cable earned before there was cable HSI?
This arrogance and disregard for customer service has been the corporate mentality since day 1.
--
Toolmaster of La Grange. | |
|
jmn1207
Premium
join:2000-07-19
Reston, VA
·Verizon FIOS
| Nice News Icon That guy with the dunce cap on in the news icon should put a shirt on or at least pull his pants up. Is this a plumber? (hey, everyone is due a couple of brainless observations now and again) | |
|
| |
supernac
join:2003-03-26
Springfield, MO
| slow service Recently moved to a new house, called up mediacom to get basic service, told them repeatedly that they had to show up after 3, no one was at the house before then CSR said no problem. Well it took the guy a week and a half to finally show up, what time does he show up? At 1. Called dish that night, had satellite installed the next working day. | |
|
|
See 15 replies to this post |
|
b10010011
Whats a Posting tag?
join:2004-09-07
Bellingham, WA | Why would they bother? 99.9% of the time they are the only game in town.
All this expaneded support will just be another excuse to raise the rates. | |
|
sherman10594
join:2000-10-15
Thornwood, NY
·Verizon FIOS
| Cablevision I've only had Cablevision for cable, and they were decent. About every 6 months, their data service would just go down. It would last 20 minutes, 2 hours...the worst was 36 hours.
It seems that biyearly someone screws up the routing in Long Island and the whole (NY) service is f***ed. Staff are pretty friendly...but they will schedule a useless service call only to cancel it the next day when service is back up.
I suspect previous posters are correct - internal communication is poor. I hear stories of techs showing up to calls only to sit on hold with dispatch for long periods of time.
- Sherman | |
|
Dewi
Premium
join:2001-09-28
united kingd
·BT Broadband
·Mediacom
| All stick, no carrot Lack of training, disenfranchisement with management, low wages, no career prospect leads to lack of pride in their work, which quite frankly, leads to a sloppy job.
Twenty years ago US customer service was the best in the world (I was living in the UK then). Now it seems among the worst. Metrics to monitor call-center employee to give more "stick" just make turnover so high that your don't have the "loyal base" that keeps good service going. Where's the reward for doing a job well? | |
|
|
RadioDoc
Sortofadog
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
Chicago, IL | Re: All stick, no carrot You don't need a carrot when you use the stick as a whip.
--
Toolmaster of La Grange. | |
|
| 
chelman
Chelman
join:1999-10-21
Cypress, CA | No competition, lack of regulation. They bribe congress and state regulators to avoid being regulated and have competition. And we keep paying those high prices for that lousy servicee.
--
Sncerely,
Manny
So. California | |
|
|
| Insider101
join:2006-09-19
Brooklyn, NY
| Re: excuse sounds familiar. iraq media coverage anyone? Management purposely makes efficient internal communication impossible to obtain for fear of unionizing. Its alot easier to stand together when you know everyone very well. Constant turnover and a mixed ethnic ratio does the trick every time.
P.S. Satellite is trash. | |
|
| 
Toadman
How do you like these Apples
join:2001-11-28
Medina, OH
| said by morbo :is this a prime excuse or what? hear it all the time from the Bush administration for the iraq quagmire: "you only see the bad on the news" "the media doesn't show the good" etc sounds to me like this excuse has been focus group tested to be believable! Give me a break, always you liberal type to tie anything and anything into a comparison to the Bush administration.
Why don't I say the cable company reminds me of the Clinton administration. Caught most of the time with their pants down making excuses... | |
|
| | 
morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs:
·Charter Pipeline
·AT&T Southwest
| Re: excuse sounds familiar. iraq media coverage anyone? said by Toadman :Give me a break, always you liberal type to tie anything and anything into a comparison to the Bush administration. Why don't I say the cable company reminds me of the Clinton administration. Caught most of the time with their pants down making excuses... Bush and company are the most incompetent gaggle of idiots to ever run this country. they routinely use the "iraq is doing great! just the media doesn't show the good stuff!" line of b.s. and expect the public to believe it.
say whatever you like about clinton. i'm an independent and am hoping for a Ron Paul presidency. you can't get much more right leaning than a true libertarian. | |
|
Toadman
How do you like these Apples
join:2001-11-28
Medina, OH
| What about Sat My experience has been different.
Started with Dish Network, which was ok, but always an annoyance when I made a call to change something or had an issue, I always had to talk to someone I didn't understand to resolve an issue. Usually it would get elevated enough to come back to the US call center to get it done. My time is valuable.
About 4 years ago I switched to a local cable provider that services OH and PA. Service has been very good, reliable, and all digital now like sat. Whenever I have had to make a call for service or questions, not a problem. Plus I feel good helping my US community (OH and PA).
I truth is that your experience may vary and to lump all cable providers together is a mistake. | |
|
nixen
Rockin' the Boxen
Premium
join:2002-10-04
Alexandria, VA
·Cox HSI
·Speakeasy
| Packet-shaping Ain't Gonna Help So, right at the time they want to improve customer satisfaction, they're going to start degrading the service they sell? Good plan.
--
Everyday, thousands of new cars are delivered to their new owners with poorly-selected radio station presets. | |
|
Anonymous
Premium
join:2004-06-01
IA | Funny How people badmouth cable employees and yet expect top notch service.
I'm starting to think I am not appreciated | |
|
dadkins
Go For It
Premium,MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA
·Comcast
edit:
June 8th, @01:55PM
| Hmmm... Must me an area thing...
Cable HSI install years ago - fast, easy, works fine still!
CDV install last Friday, Tech called and asked |
|
Can Cable Shed Its Bad Service Reputation?
