Comcast Internal Message Addresses the Call

Last week, a customer service call with a Comcast representative went viral and embarrassed the company. The agent was relentless in asking the customer why he wanted to cancel his account, and the call lasted way too long.

At the time, Comcast said that the rep didn't act as he was trained. But in a message on Comcast's intranet, COO Dave Watson admits that, at least in part, he did follow protocol.

A Message From Dave Watson,
July 21, 2014

You probably know that there has been a fair amount of media attention about a recording of a phone call between one of our Customer Account Executives (CAEs) and a Comcast customer. The call went viral on social media and generated news headlines. We have apologized to the customer privately and publicly on Comcast Voices, making it clear that we are embarrassed by the tone of the call and the lack of sensitivity to the customer's desire to discontinue service.

I'd like to give you my thoughts on the situation.

First, let me say that while I regret that this incident occurred, the experience that this customer had is not representative of the good work that our employees are doing. We have tens of thousands of incredibly talented and passionate people interacting with our customers every day, who are respectful, courteous and resourceful.

That said, it was painful to listen to this call, and I am not surprised that we have been criticized for it. Respecting our customers is fundamental, and we fell short in this instance. I know these Retention calls are tough, and I have tremendous admiration for our Retention professionals, who make it easy for customers to choose to stay with Comcast. We have a Retention queue because we believe in our products, and because we offer a great value when customers have the right facts to choose the package that works best for them. If a customer is not fully aware of what the product offers, we ask the Retention agent to educate the customer and work with them to find the right solution.

The agent on this call did a lot of what we trained him and paid him - and thousands of other Retention agents - to do. He tried to save a customer, and that's important, but the act of saving a customer must always be handled with the utmost respect. This situation has caused us to reexamine how we do some things to make sure that each and every one of us - from leadership to the front line - understands the balance between selling and listening. And that a great sales organization always listens to the customer, first and foremost.

When the company has moments like these, we use them as an opportunity to get better, and that's what we're going to do. We will review our training programs, we will refresh our manager on coaching for quality, and we will take a look at our incentives to ensure we are rewarding employees for the right behaviors. We can, and will, do better.

Thank you for your support, and many thanks to the thousands of exceptional employees all around the country who work so hard to deliver a great customer experience every day. I am confident that together we will continue to improve the experience, one customer at a time.

Dave Watson
Chief Operating Officer, Comcast Cable

I'm curious how Comcast's reward and compensation systems are linked to these calls. (And why is "Retention" capitalized? Clearly, this is important to the company.) It's also surprising that these calls aren't monitored. Most call centers have supervisors listening for coaching purposes. Or, perhaps they are listening, and this type of call is far more frequent than Comcast will admit. 

Regardless, Comcast is making top-ten lists of companies with the worst customer service. Nothing to be proud of, for sure.

Discussion Starters:

• Assess Dave Watson's message: content, organization, tone, and so on. What works well, and what could be improved? How do you think employees reacted?
• If you were Dave Watson, what, if anything, would you change in the message thinking that it may go public?