I was a loyal customer and employee (through a company Comcast outsourced customer service calls for W. Palm Beach Area) and I have to warn people that Comcast Knoxville has the WORST customer service I have ever dealt with.
When calling to make a payment I was told (after the payment was processed) that I was charged an extra $7 to process it over the phone. I informed the woman I was speaking with that I had went to the payment center in Oak Ridge (where I lived) but the line was to the door with only 2 people working the counter.
Sure there were other employees there, they were standing around chit-chatting with the employees who were working the counter. After waiting 30 minutes without the line moving at all, I (and several other customers) left out of frustration.
I remember being told by the installer that I can make payments through the 1800COMCAST phone number. The woman then informed me that "that is not her fault" and that I should have waited in line.
I calmly explained that I had to work that day and did not have time to stand in line waiting while comcast employees stood around chit-chatting. She then informed me that I could have mailed my payment.
This is the point where my frustration was beginning to show in the tone of my voice as I pointed out to her that she SHOULD HAVE told me about the "fee" to process the payment. She stated that there was nothing she could do about it.
I then asked to speak to the manager, at which she replied "I am the manager, and there is nothing I can do about the fee, it is company policy." I asked if it was company policy to inform customers of the fee up front, to which she replied "If we think of it, we can tell you."
I could see this call was going nowhere so I told her fine, and said goodbye which she replied "Now you have a wonderful day sir." As if I needed the sarcastic remark at the end of the call.
When I received my bill for the next month (a few days later) it showed that I had paid the $7 fee as well as my bill. When I received my credit card statement it showed I was charged 2 times for the fee and 2 times for the bill.
This infuriated me. I called again and explained my situtation to which the agent was smug and rude and stated that I should not get that tone with her, she did not cause the problem. I apologized for my tone (realizing it wasnt her fault) and asked if she could fix the error.
She told me the same line of "there is nothing I can do about it", so I asked who I have to talk to to get this fixed. She told me to go to my local payment center.
That was it. I informed her that I wanted to discontinue my service with comcast (knowing through my job that the money would be refunded after my equipment was turned in). She told me it was "good" that I discontinued service.
I was shocked. Through the training I received at my job, we were told to always remain polite regardless of how rude the customer was, and when confronted with a loyal customer wanting to leave to always try to retain the customer with some perk (either free channels, discounts or upgrade in service).
This woman did not care. She was glad I was leaving comcast. I see why she would make a statement like that if her manager was training her employees to be as rude as her.
What really burned me up about the whole situation was that I worked the hardest area comcast has, as far as rude customers, and was ALWAYS polite and courteous and empathetic regardless of how the customer was talking to me and I was making FAR less an hour to do it (I was desperate for a job).
The knoxville comcast customer service employees (that covered the entire east tennessee area) made $10 more an hour with benefits and treated their customers like crap. They are obviously OVER paid for the amount of actual work they do (as I witnessed at the Oak Ridge payment center).
I have since switched to Direct TV who, as far as I am concerned, has the best customer service I have ever talked to over the phone. They are the complete opposite of what I had to deal with at Comcast. I also quit my job in customer service through the outsourcer (I felt that the outsourcer was getting alot of money from comcast but gave us very little).
So if you ever have to go to the Oak Ridge Comcast Payment Center, plan on being there awhile, they are in no hurry, and DO NOT make a payment over the phone unless you want to be double billed and talked down to like you are the problem.
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