I’m not going to name names, but there are only a handful of cable companies out there.  And given I live in Jersey City – you could probably figure out who I’m talking about.  But the point of this story is really not to berate them, but to pose the question:  what happened?  what was the turning point to make them improve their customer service?

It was nearly two years ago when I had cable installed after moving into my new place.  Here’s the synopsis of my original experience:  I called and told them I needed hi-def, with DVR.  The day before they arrived, I called and reminded them of what I needed.  The next day:  dude shows up with the wrong box.  He tells me I can either take this one OR go to the cable office to get the right one.  No, hey, yeah, my bad.  I’ll be back.  He blamed the dispatcher.  I called and was told they could send someone else out, but it would cost me a $50 visit fee.  They blamed me for not telling them. I think I may have referred them to listen to the two supposedly recorded calls in which I was very explicit in my instructions.  And I think I was very explicit on how much they sucked.

They told me I’d have to come to the cable office to pick up the box.  The problem with this, as I told them, is that I don’t have a car.  And the office is, well, not close.  I asked a neighbor to take me, and once we arrived at the office, I had assumed I could find my back by bus.  But one look at the neighborhood said otherwise.  My neighbor insisted on not only waiting for me, but waiting in the car…with it running.

I went into the cable office, which had an armed guard and people sitting behind 3-inch plexiglass.  They gave me the new cable box but they “didn’t have any remotes.”  wtf?

So I called repeatedly to get a remote dropped off, but heard on multiple occasions that I would have to come to the office to pick one up.  The same office that told me they didn’t have any.

This went on for weeks until finally I was routed to someone who said, “Oh, I’ll just mail it to you.”

It was like a bad joke – how many people does it take to mail a fucking remote.

So that was the old story.  Recently, I was having problems with my cable -  the sound kept cutting out every few minutes or so.  The cable arrived, as I should have predicted, with a new box.  But faced with the prospect of losing all of what I had saved on DVR – I was devastated. “NOoooo,” I whined.  A lot.

The cable guy then surprised me.  He offered to com back 7 hours later – at the end of his shift – and install the new box then.  I think I may have shed a tear of appreciation as he left me to my DVR marathon. (Note, I later called and commended him to his supervisor.)

More recently, I saw a $20 increase on my bill, due to the expiration of a previous promotion.  I called to see what I could cut in service to bring the charge back down.  And they brought the charge down – to below what I had been paying – without changing any of my service.  As I sat on that call – with the world’s nicest rep – I was just speechless.  She had to ask me if I was still there.

That was a couple of days ago, and I’m still confused.  What happened?  Was my cable company bought out?  Did they finally wake up to the competition and decide customer service might actually be important?

Could this happen with other companies – like my cell provider?

Tags: cable, customer service, humor