Time Warner Cable (TWC) cable went out today. I took a couple of hours to diagnose the problem to ensure the problem was with the service and not my equipment. I know how to do this, as I’m a professional at doing that.
The people at TWC customer service offered an upgrade to my service so that I could enjoy higher speeds.
It was, of course, a terribly inappropriate time to talk to me about upgrading my service when I’m calling to say I’m not even getting what I’m paying for.
This point was entirely lost on them, until the first one abruptly hung up on me. I asked him they deliberately interrupted my service in order to get me to call and ask for the upgrade? Then, click.
The second one was willing to help, and I had to tell him how inappropriate it was, and it didn’t really sink in.
I think these customer service agents have some kind of incentive to sell instead of repair. And it’s even conceivable that they are using software tools to send signals to customers’ modems to wedge them. The service goes down, people complain, some of them go for the upgrade which, gee, just so happens to take a non-working connection and make it a working connection.
Maybe this isn’t policy at TWC, but I think it’s going on anyway, and upper management may be blissfully ignorant of it.
Has anyone else seen a pattern like this with their internet service providers?
As I was complaining to the second person, my connection came back up. I do know that it is possible to send a modem a signal or reconfiguration, so this agent just might have “done the needful” as some of my colleagues so eloquently say.
So it’s entirely conceivable that they act like this, earning bonuses by disserving us. If the tools are there to make such a scheme, it’s a safe bet that some people would eventually build it, for the same reason a dog licks his testicles, because he can.
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2 comments:
As a Comcast customer, I feel your pain. As to the whys and what to do about it--I don't know. I believe the root cause is traceable to the completely anti-competitive deals made at the dawn of the cable age between municipal governments and the cable companies, which have resulted in virtual monopolies in most areas of the country. And cable companies have also (successfully) thwarted local governments from building publicly-owned and financed alternatives in court--claim, ironically "unfair competition." I've spoken to the local city attorney in charge of this are here in ABQ, and she totally agrees that their hands are tied and Comcast basically does whatever it wants and the bare minimum level of service to maximize profits while avoiding open revolt.
The people that you and I interface with are (IMHO) just drones, without much real ability to help even when they want to. It's kind of scary to depend on these borg-like corporations for vital services!
STP
Thanks for your comment, Stephen. The two guys I spoke to were worse than drones. I believe they were part of the problem, taking the incentive to cheat me for their gain. Now it appears I've been signed up for the faster service, without my approval!
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