A few minutes ago, I tweeted a line of “geek rap” that referenced Comcast dropping packets. I did this because I am a dork, and because Cory and James were talking about it.
Within two minutes of sending the tweet, I got an @ from Bonnie at Comcast asking if there was anything she could do to help. Fortunately there wasn’t anything she could help with, as there isn’t anything wrong with my service, but I was impressed that Comcast reached out. Here is an example of a company that customers are quick to criticize for having “bad service” actively listening to their customers (or at least the subset of their customers on twitter) and reaching out to solve problems. Brilliant.
If there had been something wrong with my Comcast service, Bonnie could have created a conduit for solving it almost as soon as I showed frustration.
Opportunities to fix issues when they are small exist everywhere, but all too frequently we wait to take action until we the issue is brought to us specifically. Sometimes we even make it harder for customers to redress their issues, as in the stereotypical customer service hotline.
Listening for things like this makes Comcast a better company. It also makes me a better customer; one who is more likely to work with them if anything were to go wrong with my service instead of fighting against them.
