Error processing SSI fileCustomer gripes dog Comcast
Cable, Internet giant works to regain trust as competitors gain ground in Metro area.
Comcast customer Brian Boettcher of West Bloomfield holds his letters of complaint.
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Michigan's largest cable and Internet provider is battling persistent complaints about unreliable service, uncaring customer support and unfriendly prices as it faces intensifying competition.
Comcast Corp., which recently riled customers with a nearly two-month delay in rolling out faster high-speed Internet service, has one of the lowest customer satisfaction ratings in an industry notorious for poor service.
It earned the worst score possible in six of seven categories in J.D. Power and Associates' most recent cable and satellite provider survey.
If that weren't dismal enough, its biggest competitor in Metro Detroit, WOW! Internet, Cable and Phone, won top honors in the survey with a near-perfect score.
With phone companies such as SBC Communications Inc. already offering Internet access and preparing to roll out TV service, Comcast could lose big if it can't make more customers happy.
"They have grown too big and they don't have any real concerns about their customers," said Keven Allen of Westland, who canceled his Comcast service last summer.
Allen now watches only what his TV can receive from rabbit ears.
Officials from Philadelphia-based Comcast deny any large-scale problems and say the company has focused intently on improving customer service in recent years. There are signs of progress: Complaints to local cable commissions have fallen, and the company ranked even lower on past J.D. Power surveys.
"The majority of our customers are having a great experience," said Jerome Espy, Comcast's spokesman in Michigan. "It's not like there's a rampant problem with customers having bad experiences."
Comcast has been training its 3,300 Michigan employees more thoroughly and making other changes, such as shortening appointment windows. The company, which serves 1.35 million customers statewide, recently opened a customer service center in Ann Arbor dedicated to resolving issues with high-speed Internet service.
"The wait time for getting their questions answered is going to go down and the response is going to improve because of the investment that Comcast has made in Michigan," Espy said.
West Bloomfield resident Brian Boettcher hasn't seen any evidence of that. Boettcher lost the digital channels he was paying for in June after a Comcast employee cut his line while burying a cable to a neighbor's house.
The problem kept getting worse until it was finally fixed last week. Technicians showed up late or not at all, and the $20 discount the company offered didn't make up for the 12 hours of work he missed.
"It was just a comedy of errors," said Boettcher, who needed Comcast's Internet service to work from home on the weekends. "They'll cut you off if you're five days late on your bill, but they'll make you wait two months to get service."
Comcast also irritated many of its Internet customers this summer when it said speeds would be increased by July 20 in the Detroit area. But the upgrade didn't roll out until early September, and network problems in the meantime made Web surfing excruciatingly slow for some.
Espy said the delays, which arose as the company changed how it managed the network, affected only a few subscribers.
"There are going to be people that have issues because of the number of people we serve," Espy said. "We want everyone to be satisfied. But for the small percentage of people that are not, we want to make sure we get their issues resolved."
Cindy Stewart, community affairs director in Troy and chair of the Intergovernmental Cable Communications Authority, which represents 11 Oakland County communities, said Comcast has seemed more responsive to problems. The number of complaints she receives has slowed, although any that do come in are about Comcast.
The cable industry was deregulated in 1996, leaving commissions with little authority over providers.
"It was overwhelming a couple years ago," Stewart said. "Comcast has really come around and straightened things out. I think they're really trying, because of the competition, to take care of their customers."
Even outside the 42 Metro Detroit communities where WOW! is available, pressure from satellite providers DirecTV and DISH Network has prompted Comcast to make changes. Last year, the company spent $18 million upgrading its antiquated network in Detroit.
Mounting competition is finally forcing cable companies to work on their image, said telecom analyst Jeff Kagan in Atlanta.
A lousy reputation didn't matter when a cable company was the only game in town, he said, but customer satisfaction levels become critical when another company offers similar services. Right now, phone companies are generally more highly regarded because state regulators have been able to watch over them while cable companies go unregulated.
"It's only now that there are competitors taking some customers that the cable companies are trying to fix their problems -- the perception problems and the real problems," Kagan said. "The perception is going to be the killer. The perception is going to hurt Comcast."
Steve Kirkeby, senior director of telecommunication research for J.D. Power, said Comcast also is hurt by its status as the only cable provider in most markets it serves. Unhappy customers can't choose a competing provider, and many aren't interested in satellite, so most simply keep Comcast and criticize the company to anyone who will listen.
"They get stigmatized by all the problems they've ever had since day one," Kirkeby said.
Comcast's emphasis on customer service is beginning to show in the survey results. Even though the company got the lowest possible score in that category this year, some respondents had more positive comments than in the past, Kirkeby said.
The J.D. Power survey, released last month, was particularly untimely for Comcast. The same day, it was embarrassed by a front-page story in the Chicago Tribune about an unhappy subscriber who received a bill with an offensive phrase printed in place of her name. The company fired the employees responsible and offered the customer six months of free service, which she declined -- but only after the story was printed.
Comcast also has been criticized for being slow to launch an Internet-based phone service.
Within a few years, analysts expect most households to get all of their telecom services from either a cable company or phone company.
"That's when the customer is going to be king," Kagan said. "Service should be excellent."
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