Why Customer Service Isn't or How many different ways can you say Dumb-Ass

I have really come to detest stupid people. I am not exactly the most laid back guy, but I do try to under that the world does not revolve around me. However, a few things that happened this week concerning Verizon and Comcast have just made my blood boil and my cold heart even colder. Customer Service does not exist and the people who work for these organizations in the Mid-Atlantic Area are both stupid and rude. I can deal with stupid, but it costs nothing to be polite. However, rudeness today appears to be a way of showing how “cool you are”.

As I stated in an earlier post I have finally come into the 21st Century with an HDTV. After dealing with people on the phone that did not talk English well enough for my public school educated mind to understand, I went to the local Comcast Office and dealt with a friendly lady who set me with an appoint for Tuesday to have the new cable boxes installed. The appointment was scheduled between 6-9pm so that someone would be at home. The gentleman showed up about 9:05 pm to install the HD/DVR box and the digital box for the other TV. Guess what? The HD/DVR was broke. He was very apologetic about the situation and even left me his cell phone number in case I needed some assistance when I went to re-install the box the next day.

I awoke on Wednesday and took the wife to the airport and headed over to Comcast to the new box. I explained to the moronic individual behind the counter my issue and I was not going to pay for the installation charges. She appeared to be very confused as to why I wanted a credit—the man had shown up. She did not have the brain cells necessary to understand that I was installing the box because it the original did not work. I finally received a $20 credit for my troubles.

I arrived back at the homestead, hooked up the box and the damn remote did not work. I tried the one from upstairs and it did work. So I called Comcast to report the in-op equipment and the idiotic woman who took my call said they could bring me another on Sunday. WTF? Another trip to the Comcast store for a new remote the system is working. Could customer service by an more crappy? Yes—Hold on for more.

The wife and I noticed that our house phone was not working on Sunday night. I called Verizon to set up an appoint and the next available was Thursday from 8 am to 6 pm. Again, WTF? Since I have been suffering from a bad cold I opted to work from home yesterday and await the repair guy incase the problem was actually in the house and not outside. Around 2:30 yesterday afternoon I received a robo-call informing me that the repair guy would not make it and I would need to reschedule. So I called to find out the story and raise a little hell. I initially informed the dimwitted human that this was intolerable and what I needed to do to have Verizon credit me for my lost time at work. She told me she could issue me a $20 credit and so politely informed this slack-jawed scum sucker that I bill at 7 times that an hour. To make a long story short, I was on the phone for over 90 minutes and never talked with a supervisor or anyone who could assist me in my efforts to make up my lost wages. Finally at 7:25 last night someone knocked on my neighbors door and it was the Verizon repair man. His work order had the wrong addressed listed. If I had not been in the kitchen and unsure whose door had been knocked on he would have looked at my neighbors phone line and seen nothing wrong. Finally close to 9pm he had the problem repaired and my phone was working again.

If any of my readers work for either Comcast or Verizon and can provide me contact information someone in a leadership position in the Virginia area I would greatly appreciate it.