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Comment by richiezc | Hacker News Reader

Comcast/xfinity is horrible, last month during the atmospheric river my parents lost internet for 4 days. There was no update ever of when it would come back and their CS agent actually suggested that although they are working from home they should go use a public xfinity wifi spot... I suggested to him that he turn off his internet and go work at a public wifi point and tell me if that's a good solution

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Don’t hassle CS agents in a situation like this. S/he was trying to help. Obviously the CS agent can’t go out and fix cables or reboot servers or do whatever needs to be done to fix it. But there is a chance that the customer will be better off knowing there is the hotspot option.

That’s not “hassling,” that’s “clarifying criticality.” The notion that we can’t even pass complaints along to support agents isn’t helpful. In my case when I lodge a complaint or turn down a solution it’s not meant as a personal attack. I legit want the company to know that they’re falling short and that I’m probably looking for alternatives.

Obviously don’t start getting angry, but if there’s a point of frustration please pass it along.

I spent some time time as a tier one agent, and will gladly confirm that any complaints given to us were forgotten by the time the call disconnected. If you're rude enough we might leave a note in your file as a warning to the next agent, but that's about as far as complaint handling ever went. Same goes for wanting a manager. Floor managers have no special tricks that they can use to fix problems, just nicer bedside manners.

Tier one CS is there to confirm where a fault lies, teach you basic troubleshooting, and send out techs. If the issue isn't on your premise the best we can do is check that outage for an ETR, though most of the time the crews won't establish one because that creates a deadline for them to meet.

Where did you work? Different businesses have different policies.

A third party doing support for Frontier Communications, among others. I wouldn't put too much faith in their practices being an outlier though.

That’s really only been my experience with telecoms. Other companies I’ve called in to have absolutely put me in touch with higher level managers who can actually resolve the problem. It depends a lot on what company you’re calling in to, but I’m not going to stop doing it just because it doesn’t change anything at EG Comcast. And I’m totally fine with you mentally erasing the conversation after I’m done.

'why don't you go work from a public wifi spot' is not a constructive or polite complaint. Just say, 'if you would pass along a customer complaint, here is what I'd like it to say: I need more reliable service to work from home; I may have to look for alternatives. I find it very frustrating. Thanks for sending that on for me.'

The human being at the other end of the phone is not your therapist or the object of your frustrations. It's the same with waitstaff. They have their own problems; they aren't their to be kicked when you are frustrated.

That's what Comcast told them to say. Don't abuse them; have some empathy - you have to deal with Comcast for a few minutes; they have to deal with it all day every day, and take the bullets from customers for Comcast's support policies and training.

> their CS agent actually suggested that although they are working from home they should go use a public xfinity wifi spot

That's a reasonable workaround, given that their home Internet is unavailable.

> have some empathy - you have to deal with Comcast for a few minutes; they have to deal with it all day every day, and take the bullets from customers for Comcast's support policies and training.

I spent 6 and a half years working for what was once the largest privately owned prime contractor that did work for Comcast.

I'll measure my empathy based on the fact that their continuing to agree to work that job is in fact enabling Comcast's abusive/neglectful behaviors towards customers, contractors, hell even non-customers can get caught in the crossfire.

I mean FFS, I made a point to live in areas so that I don't have to get Comcast and they -still- found a way to make my life a living hell a couple years ago. We're talking kafka-esque levels of "You can't speak to a human that will do anything but tell you to fill out this form with information you legally should not have to give." (Yes, I tried filling out the form omitting the information that was not legally required. They rejected it and then asked for even MORE.)

Sadly, the only thing that -did- work in stopping the harassment was to harass back. I would politely argue, ask them to consider a career that wasn't so soul-sucking, and point out at the start and end of every call how much time I had spent on the phone with Comcast, and the resulting number of dollars it was costing them to not just leave me the F alone.

I probably can never get Comcast service at this point, but at least they stopped violating my FDCPA rights and messing with my credit...

> I'll measure my empathy based on the fact that their continuing to agree to work that job is in fact enabling Comcast's abusive/neglectful behaviors towards customers, contractors, hell even non-customers can get caught in the crossfire.

Wow. I've seen people say that you shouldn't work for people like NSO, or national security agencies, or Facebook, but you should fall on your sword for Comcast customer service problems? There aren't many jobs left that meet your standards. I think we are taking rationalization way too far.

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