Comcast Unveils Much-Needed Customer Service Overhaul

The company's hiring 5,500 call-center workers, vows never to be late again.

Comcast today unveiled an ambitious new plan to fix its horrifying customer-service record. The company vows to be on time for all service appointments by the third quarter of 2015 — one minute late and customers get an instant $20 credit.

To keep its promise, the company plans to hire hundreds more technicians and rollout new technology — such as allowing agents to screen share with customers on the X1 platform to remotely fix problems. It also plans to rollout Tech Tracker nationwide — which allows customers to use their smart phones to track the location of technicians in real time (much like the Uber app.)

The company also announced plans to build three new customer-service centers in the United States, employing 5,500 workers (likely meaning that less calls will be routed out of the country — eliminating language barrier difficulties.) It will also triple the size of its social care team to serve customers more quickly on Twitter, Facebook and other social sites.

“We’ve got to get the customer experience down,” said Comcast Cable President & CEO Neil Smit, speaking at the The Internet and Television Expo in Chicago. “We’re going to get this thing right.”

Comcast gave a $300 million budget to Charlie Herrin, executive vice president of customer experience, to get the overhaul going. (Want an inside look at Comcast’s efforts to rebuild its relationship with customers? Check out our expansive story here.)

“If we can improve retention by 10 or 20 basis points, these things will pay for themselves,” said Smit.

The company has already updated some of its retail stores (including the Columbus Blvd. location), making them more spacious, adding employees and allowing people to wait in line virtually. It’s also planning to use cloud technology to proactively diagnose issues in the network and enable engineers to solve them before they reach customers. 

Can the company deliver? Let us know in the comments.