So now you’re all caught up.

Frank Eliason (@comcastcares on Twitter) followed up on the issue and found the rep that called had a different story. You don’t say. My notes — typos and all — from all my calls with Comcast thus far are after the jump below.

Frank managed to get someone to call me back. It was the same guy who had called that morning and tried to get me to switch to Comcast Voice. This time, however, he was much more professional and simply arranged an appointment. A Comcast tech would be at my house this morning between 8am and 10am. Al the Comcast rep told me that they’d be calling in the morning to confirm and that I needed to answer the call or they wouldn’t come.

At 8:30, caller ID announced an incoming call from 866-Comcast. I answered on the second ring and was greeted with the click of the caller hanging up. At 10am I tweeted my disappointment.

Within minutes, I had a reply from @comcastbill offering to look into the problem. Nice, they’re monitoring Twitter for mentions of Comcast. An hour later, I’d still heard nothing from Comcast and left to run some errands. When I got back a little after 1pm, I sent a tweet to @comcastbill and asked what was going on.

Bill had earlier escalated to some managers, but this didn’t elicit any responses. So after my second inquiry, he emailed a Comcast VP. Within an hour, I had a call from the Comcast executive offices. They tracked down a tech and had someone at my house in under half an hour.

He’s outside right now installing a new cable. I still don’t know if the changes will solve my Vonage issues, but at least they’re working on it.

Tara recently pointed out how fantastic Twitter was at resolving a UPS problem. Through her Twitter network she was indirectly connected to a UPS VP and they completely solved her problem.

That’s sort of what happened here, too, and it’s great that Comcast has someone watching for these sorts of problems and working to resolve them. But it can’t scale. There’s no way that a couple of individuals at Comcast can possibly resolve every issue. And the fact that they had to escalate to a VP to get a problem resolved points to another scaling issue.

Not everyone knows a startup CEO that happens to have lunch with a UPS VP like Tara did. Not everyone is going to know that tweeting @comcastcares will connect them to Frank. These companies need to improve their regular communication channels and train, educate, and empower their customer service agents to resolve customer issues without having to get a VP involved.

All this service via social media is very cool. Forward thinking early adopters heading off problems using social media can only go so far if the execution on the ground is shoddy.

Incidentally, I wonder if @comcastcares and @comcastbill were hired by Comcast as social media customer service or if they simply showed some initiative and did it on their own?

Update The tech that came over left his cell phone number in case more problems arise. Syed from the executive office called back about an hour after the tech left to check and make sure he’d come by. Syed also left me his number in case I need it. And Frank (@comcastcares) tweeted to make sure I was being taken care of. Frank’s on vacation, but is following Twitter anyway.

See also: Comcast and Vonage, Part 2, Meeting limits, Comcast and Vonage, Vertical Response. Awesome.

Tagged as: comcast  customerservice  twitter  vonage 

Comcast tweeted back (on Christmas day!), suggesting that they might have a line problem and would test it out.

Today I get a call from a Comcast tech. I didn’t catch his name because I was jumping out of the shower to answer the phone, but he was calling from an east Bay area code.

He explains that the problem I’m having is because Vonage doesn’t work with Comcast. Vonage, he says, is an analog line and won’t work on Comcast internet because Comcast is a digital internet connection. His solution? Start using Comcast’s phone service, since it’s 100% digital.

Dumbfounded, I explain to him how voice over IP really works. I point out that there’s no such thing as an “analog internet” and a “digital internet.” He then tries to tell me that 100% of every phone conversation, on both ends, is 100% digital with Comcast. So I explain the PSTN and how every call, unless it’s between two Comcast subscribers, will eventually pass over the phone network. And that once the call gets inside the caller’s house, the signal is converted to analog since phones are analog.

I ask him why the service works fine on AT&T DSL. He tells me that he used to be an AT&T tech and that AT&T service is analog, so that’s why Vonage would work.

At this point, there’s not a chance that I’ll believe anything this idiot tells me. He’s lost all credibility.

Finally, I ask him why Comcast and Vonage would announce they’re working together if Vonage was fundamentally incompatible with Comcast. The tech tells me that it’s not true that they’re working together. He’s seen the story on message boards and blogs, but it’s not real. There aren’t any credible publications that reported it. You know, like the Wall Street Journal. Or Comcast’s own press release on the matter.

I started with a positive reaction to Comcast. @comcastcares did a fantastic job of responding to my issue and getting a resolution started. But this single tech was either stupid or lying and blew Comcast’s credibility.

The only choices for broadband at my house is Comcast. But I’m carefully watching other providers and the moment they offer service, I’m switching. I won’t use a company who messes with my packets if I have a choice.

See also: Comcast and Vonage, The ongoing Comcast saga, Comcast customer disservice, Meeting limits

Tagged as: comcast  customerservice  netneutrality  twitter 

Gah, I hate Comcast.

See also: Comcast and Vonage, Part 2, Comcast customer disservice, The ongoing Comcast saga, Pins and Needles

Tagged as: comcast  comcastsucks  netneutrality  vonage