X

Comcast hires more Twitterers to soothe the kvetchers

Technically Incorrect: A company with a poor reputation for customer service announces it's tripling the number of social media agents talking directly with customers.

Chris Matyszczyk
2 min read

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.


comcast678.jpg
This is Comcast's announcement on its site. It cares. Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET

When it comes to customer service, Comcast tends to have the sort of reputation that Lindsay Lohan has for even-keelness.

When you're calling customers " A**hole" and " Super Bi***," it tends to be made public and it tends to not reflect too well on your brand.

The saving grace is that Comcast realizes it's not been behaving with grace. So today, it announced that it's taking one small step toward been kinder to mankind.

Comcast is tripling the size of its social care team in order to be a touch more responsive to its customers' (sometimes difficult) reactions.

In a blog post, the company explained that "with a much bigger team, we'll be able to support customers across more platforms. And we'll be able to get to them faster." Yes, no two-hour windows on social media. You either get to it pronto or the hive mind gets at you.

The post further offered: "The social care team has access to all the same advanced tools and training as our call center agents do, which means they can quickly jump in to solve problems."

And there are just a few problems to be solved.

Comcast says that improving customer service is its "top priority." Which means that its legendary retention agents will now have all the unctuous charm of George Clooney trying to seduce.

I dream, of course. However, I did wonder how many people Comcast currently employs to man and woman its social media feeds.

A company spokeswoman told me: "Right now we have about 20 people and we're going to 60+. This is just the beginning. We're going to keep staffing up to make social platforms a quick and convenient way for customers to get help."

"Quick" and "convenient" aren't the first two words that have always been associated with Comcast.

So the true test of these hires will come in more people declaring that Comcast has bordered on being proactive and fewer people contacting the media when Comcast manages to create a mess of cataclysmic proportions.