Cable Technology Feature Article
Comcast To Test Cutting Service and Installation Windows in Half
By Tracey E. Schelmetic, TMCnet Contributor
Last year, readers of the Web site Consumerist.com, a consumer affairs blog maintained by the Consumers Union, ranked Comcast dead last behind all the U.S.'s cable providers in terms of customer service.
Not exactly something to be proud of.
Philadelphia-based Comcast is now making a new customer service pledge, similar to those made by other (and higher ranked) cable companies. Comcast is carrying out pilot programs in Lancaster, Philadelphia and Salt Lake City, Utah using newer dispatch management solutions to help cut its repair and installation service windows (as in, “A service representative will be there between 10:00 and 2:00”) to two hours from its previous four.
In addition to using the specialized software solutions provided by Englewood, Colorado- based CSG Systems (News - Alert) International Inc. and Ventyx, a division of Zurich-based ABB Ltd., technicians will start carrying mobile, handheld devices to relay their whereabouts and allow regional coordinators to use the scheduling and dispatch software to tighten schedule and make quick adjustments, said Comcast said. All this will be accomplished without the need to hire new employees, reports today.
The information was relayed by Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, who recently said that better service is one of Comcast’s main goals as it rebrands its cable service into “Xfinity.”
“Xfinity service should mean something different than it did in the past,” said Roberts. “It should stand for better technology and better customer service,” he said last week in an interview during the National Cable & Telecommunications Association’s Cable Show in Chicago.
The company's pledge will put it more in line with other cable providers, such as St. Louis-based Charter Communications and the nation's second-largest cable provider, Time Warner (News - Alert), said Bloomberg.
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Tracey Schelmetic is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Tracey's articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Jennifer Russell