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A good company (my some measures) is one which makes money while spending as little as possible on the customer experience. Doesn't that make Comcast a good one already?
Good for the shareholders, not so good for the customers.
Here's another example of their customer service. Comcast services usually work pretty well, but when things aren't going so well, you can expect that they'll get a lot worse, and this isn't an isolated incident.
Location: Mableton, GA USA (NW Atlanta suburb, 4 miles OTP)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NHDave
Good for the shareholders, not so good for the customers.
Yes, but doesn't the company exist for the shareholders? Customers are income sources. As long as that income source remains constant or growing, there is no need to change behavior.
Yes, but doesn't the company exist for the shareholders? Customers are income sources. As long as that income source remains constant or growing, there is no need to change behavior.
I can argue with it. The whole concept of "shareholders first" only took off in the 1980s. Before that, stock issuance was used differently by companies and stockholders had far less say. A company that is at the whim of large stockholders or those who vote as a block is at a distinct disadvantage, as the core purpose and mission statement of the company often gets compromised. The perfect example is the difference between Winn Dixie and Publix. Winn Dixie was forced into poor strategic decisions, and even though it was a powerhouse of a company, those decisions took it into bankruptcy, while Publix was in the exact same market and flourished. The difference is that Publix stock is employee owned and not subject to outside pressures.
Location: Mableton, GA USA (NW Atlanta suburb, 4 miles OTP)
11,334 posts, read 25,986,896 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NHDave
Can't argue with that I guess, as sad as it is.
I don't like that attitude at all myself (I'm in a customer support role in some respects, and to me the customer is what provides my paychecks). However, I see it espoused all the time, so the mindset is real.
Location: Mableton, GA USA (NW Atlanta suburb, 4 miles OTP)
11,334 posts, read 25,986,896 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by harry chickpea
I can argue with it. The whole concept of "shareholders first" only took off in the 1980s. Before that, stock issuance was used differently by companies and stockholders had far less say. A company that is at the whim of large stockholders or those who vote as a block is at a distinct disadvantage, as the core purpose and mission statement of the company often gets compromised. The perfect example is the difference between Winn Dixie and Publix. Winn Dixie was forced into poor strategic decisions, and even though it was a powerhouse of a company, those decisions took it into bankruptcy, while Publix was in the exact same market and flourished. The difference is that Publix stock is employee owned and not subject to outside pressures.
I agree, but until that attitude manifests itself somehow in the bottom line, I suspect you won't see a change, at least at Comcast.
If there is a corporate vulnerability which the customers might exploit, it is probably the public relations aspect.
We had an illustration here. Clearly Suddenlink had someone, or some system set up to monitor the web for all mentions of the company. When I mentioned it here in a negative way, it drew a response, causing someone to have to register as a poster and provide a response in order to make it look like Suddenlink gives a damn about customer concerns. It actually doesn't of course, but it does show that Suddenlink is sensitive to its image and has gone to some trouble to watch for any bad mouthing it might be receiving on the internet.
If they had not finally solved this, my next plan was to go to the local newspaper and tv stations and see if any of them were interested in the saga.
Customers are not in a position to do them any significant economic damage, short of organizing some nationwide boycott, but it looks like we can punch them in the image department.
harry chickpea above had the straight of it. Since the '80's, corporations have been hiring big brain efficiency experts to teach them how to chisel every last penny out of their customers while offering their services at the lowest possible cost to themselves. Does anyone ever hear "The customer is always right." any longer? The dynamic is definitely "stockholders uber alles"
Maybe I should have tried to find out who the major Suddenlink stockholders are, and written to them about the problems.
I'm an attorney and live in Branson, Missouri and the same thing has happened to me the last two months, despite no difference in my internet habits. We have no kids in the house, hence no gaming, and all we do is use the internet in a very usual manner. We even got rid of NetFlix (although when we watched House of Cards earlier this year, my data usage was minimal. Now they're doing what the initial poster said. 35 - 85 mg per day! It used to be 2-5 per day. I have reported it once already to Suddenlink and I will call again on Monday. If nothing changes, I will not hesitate to contact the FCC
A good company (my some measures) is one which makes money while spending as little as possible on the customer experience. Doesn't that make Comcast a good one already?
To the tune of billions. Yes. In 2010, prior to their acquisition of a certain well known news channel, they were trending at roughly 40 billion a year. Out of that, 27 billion went to content (ergo, the need to buy a certain media outlet for 5 billion).
Telco is a crazy world. People want it two ways. Cheap, and cheaper. Nothing wrong with that right up to the point when said carrier(s) have to support the service, UPGRADE to death, and groom and re-install their entire networks, quarterly, to maintain an optimum level......
Enter the Wall Street venues....ask a C level anything about the pressures they face for returns....soooooo, put that all together and sooner or later, someone/something is going to suffer. Customer care, argued by finance people makes nothing. Creates nothing and is truly a cost-center. So, let's cut.....
Sales and Marketing, on the other hand, try to eat some of their own dog food and make things better....to no avail.....MBA's run it, sales sells it. In the end, it's easier to manage by Excel than it is to build AND maintain a customer base. Enter your problem....
Those auto-generated emails are similar to the ones with Comcast and others. It's intended to clobber the a-clown who has 4 devices burning 24X7 on Netflix and porn and because of this behavior, they have the potential to degrade the service facilities in a given area. This guy/gal never complains. The rest of the neighbors, do. No matter, those emails are auto-generated. How else can you serve thousands??? You think they are going to CALL you???? The thought being, it's cheaper to wait until you scream than to pro-actively do squat. They are all pretty much the same and it's not contained to Telco. It's business.
Me? I believe in building brands. Doing the right thing. Always. Without your customers you have no job. As you might surmise, I will never make it in executive row...it's a war between profits and service...short term results (wall street) and long term gains (Honda, Toyota)......everyone else below that decision level is noise. Not by choice (usually) but, by design....
Remember, when AT&T had you by the chimichangas you biotched about the price of goods and services....without competition you wouldn't be past DSL right now...with completion you got everything....and now this......can't have it both ways but, the next time that "darned salesperson" calls, get off your collective assets and return the call? He/She might really have something that will make things better.
Until then, write the Attorney General's office...they are actually quite good at humping and pumping carriers. File a complaint and watch the arrows fly. Service will be something they dust off and suddenly believe in and will see to it that it is in compliance....if only for a little while. Make no mistake, AT&T, MCI, Level 3, Sprint, Windstream, Suddenling, Southern Telecom, blah blah blah are ALL facing similar challenges. It's just that will all of these, you get things cheap and in a constant state of improvement....
Don't believe me? Look at Clear....when they came out, they were the only 4G offering....stores popping up like zits on the commercial real-estate landscape.....a mere 5-6 years later, LTE is here and Clear is a punchline....always remember that before you roll over and say, out of ignorance, "it was easier when AT&T had everything"....really...
Enjoy those smartphones and high-speed internet to your house and in some cases, over fiber.... they weren't an accident.
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