A Twitter Story
The story begins with the purchase of a new Tivo. In order for Tivo to function, one must install something called a Cable Card. The card, which comes from the cable company (in this case Comcast) is about the size of a credit card and fits into a slot on the back of the Tivo unit. It can be installed by a fourth grader or in the absence of a fourth grader, anyone with a modicum of intelligence will do. I know this because my own modicum of intelligence was more than sufficient to install a card myself on a previous Tivo unit.
The trouble started when I called Comcast to inquire about the card. When I finally got an actual person (although not a clever one) on the phone, the unclever and ultimately unhelpful customer service rep gave me still another number to call. As this would be the third number I’d tried, I asked if he was sure it was a Comcast number. He was. It wasn’t. He’d instead given me Tivo’s number.
Although Tivo was thrilled to hear from me, the card really does come from Comcast so it seemed a different approach would be required. The new approach involved going directly to an actual Comcast office where I was told Comcast no longer gives out the cards for installation and that a trained technician would now be required to install the card. Naturally Comcast charges a fee for this high tech work. I explained that I’d previously installed a card myself and that I’d charged nothing at all for the service but unsurprisingly thatfell on deaf ears. Comcast insisted that was simply not possible. With no other choice, I made an appointment for the “trained technician” (who presumably had passed at least fourth grade) to come out at the end of the week.
Then, in frustration, I posted the following on Twitter:
Resolution: I will find something good to say about Comcast. Anyone can lose weight. This is a far bigger challenge. #comcast #resolution
Ten minutes later, much to my surprise, I got a response via Twitter from someone claiming to work for Comcast, offering to help. This implies one of two things. One, this Comcast employee just happened to be skimming the Twitter wire or two, and more likely, Comcast is actually paying someone to watch over Twitter in a big brother kind of way.
In any event, my new Twitter pen pal eventually gave me an email address to write to about either a self install kit or the possibility of waiving the fee. I wrote the email and sure enough, later that day, I received a call from someone at Comcast. Unfortunately, the caller was condescending at best, scoffed at the idea of self-installation and also insisted it was completely impossible. Then he dismissed with almost no discussion, any notion of the waiving of fees.
I wasn’t surprised and wrote to my Twitter pen pal to say so. To her credit, she seemed unhappy and insisted I email her with all of the details. Two days later, coincidentally while the “trained technician” was installing the card, I received another call from someone else at Comcast. Unlike the previous caller, this guy was apologetic and immediately offered to waive the fees. What's more, rather than insist that it was not possibleI’d ever installed my own card, he admitted that Comcast “no longer lets customers install cards themselves because too many cards were damaged.” Of course he left out the part about Comcast nowmaking piles of money on the fees they are imposing on their customers. Mr. Apologetic went on to say that other Comcast employees perhaps were unaware of this because they “hadn’t been at the company long enough.”
Overall, there are several lessons to be learned here. One is that there is apparently a considerable turnover problem at Comcast. Another is that while Comcast may appear to be a huge, unfeeling corporation, it does fortunately employ at least one person who is not only willing to listen but seems to genuinely care about the customer. This leads us to the most important lesson of all which is that big brother is not only watching, he’s tweeting, and in this case that was a good thing.
