Despite their TERRIBLE customer service…
I’m writing this email from a brewery down the street from my place.
Why?
Because my internet is out at home.
My first thought when I realized what was going on was “Oh fuck, I’m going to have to call customer service… at COMCAST!”
If you’re not American, or if you’re fortunate enough to live somewhere Comcast doesn’t have a monopoly on acceptable internet access, I’ll explain.
Comcast is WIDELY known for their terrible customer service. They even made an episode of South Park about it.
Incompetent script reading NPC’s, high pressure upsells, long wait times, all of it.
That’s what I had to look forward to.
So why am I writing this, about how good their customer service is?
Because I almost never have to contact them about anything.
Ever.
My internet (when it works) is FAST. It’s just there, and I don’t think about it.
And this is the first time in years that there’s been a general outage like this.
When there’s a problem with my equipment, or the wiring in my building, I don’t have to worry, because I can connect to a neighbor’s free “xfinitywifi” hotspot that they have spread out all over the country.
Today, when even that wouldn’t work, I used my phone in a half hearted attempt to see if they had some kind of (terrible) online support. Before I gave in and called their (terrible) phone support.
But I was pleasantly surprised. I didn’t even get that far.
Right on the main page was a message.
“Outages reported in your area.”
I clicked on it, and it gave me an estimated time that it would be resolved.
So instead of waiting on hold, in customer service hell, I went outside for a leisurely walk in the sun.
When I got back, the Xfinity truck was outside the neighborhood, and the internet was back on.
So what does this have to do with customer service?
Everything.
People call customer service because they have a problem. Something they need help with. Something they can’t resolve any other way.
The first step, and the MAIN step under my system, in customer service is making sure as few people as possible have to contact customer service at all.
I’ve talked about this before.
This is how, despite their terrible customer service, Comcast usually provides excellent customer service.
So why am I writing this from the bar if the internet is already fixed?
I do what I want.
— Mark
P.S. Your customer service can’t be as bad as Comcast, IF people have to contact you.
But few businesses are as good as Comcast at preventing people from needing to contact customer service at all.
A problem prevented is always better than a problem “handled.”
It’s pure 80/20. And it’s the cornerstone of my (profitable) customer service system.
It can take you from Comcast to… Comcast.
Get the details here: https://gumroad.com/l/rkbth/VIP
