November 2008

To whom it may concern-

I’ve recently become acutely aware of how you run your cable utility company due to the recent purchase of my first TV. In addition (to our dismay), our family decided to bundle our services and choose your company to provide our home with cable TV, phone service and Internet.

You need to be aware that your inability to properly operate internally and provide excellent, no basic, customer service puts your organization in danger of being out performed and pushed out of the marketplace.  Your industry’s false deregulation in 1996, and  exclusive contracts with state and local governments will eventually be your downfall.

This is a warning that your mediocrity can’t last forever.

There are four general areas where I have seen the failures of your internal operating systems to correct customer problems and sufficiently meet their needs:

1. Lack of adequate access. There are two primary ways that I can access your company – through your tech support call centers and through the contractors you sub your installation services to.  I’ve sought to access someone above these authorities, and that option is unavailable to me as the customer. These two means of access are probably manned by your lowest waged employee and an outside contractor who is not even under your direct management and control. It is an unwise business move to allow your lowest waged employee to manage the direct interaction with your customer, or subcontract your most important business function (which is directly tied to your customer’s satisfaction) outside your ability to train, manage and improve that business function.  Your customers need additional access to someone besides these employees and subcontractors so that we may offer amicable suggestions to improving your quality and service.

2. Inconsistency of service. Unfortunately, the only consistent thing about your service is that it is always inconsistent. My experience with your company is that I may or may not be able to receive calls or call 911 when needed, or watch the Carolina/Clemson game once a year, or write blog posts on the internet as a means to enhance communication with my clients (i’m writing this post on my iPhone).  As I’ve written before, Consistency is the means by which you create trust with your customer and develop loyalty as to your commitment to their continued satisfaction.  Your consistent inconsistency shows that you are not aware of the fact that you are damaging your trust and loyalty with your customers… I’m just letting you know.

3. Improper pay structure.  “Installation specialists” got paid when they should have had pay deducted.  You can not continue to operate in this way.  The installers that visited my house recently did not perform their job accurately, and yet I’m sure they were paid.  If their pay structure is similar to another service provider I worked for in a similar industry, then they get paid for the number of jobs performed in a day, NOT for the excellent or accurate service they provide.  If these “installation specialists” are the main interaction with your customer (see point #1), then your customer should have the ability to rate their service and ultimately affect their pay.  And you should care about this as well – you had to send some of your own employees to complete the job the installers could not sufficiently finish.  This is a business decision – your bottom line will be bigger by simply deducting pay from your installers when they perform a poor service (to cover the cost of having to send your own employees to fix their mistakes), and offering bonuses to installers who go above and beyond the basic service required of them.

4. Improper use of automated services.  Since my interaction with your service I received numerous automated calls to thank me for my business, make sure everything was okay and that I’m enjoying my cable service (which was delayed for a number of days).  These automated services tend to upset me when I know there is no remedy for the service you provide.  I know the truth – I have no voice with your company.  This is proven due to the two access points you allow me with your company (again, see point #1).  I know WHOM you want me to deal with, and that proves your honest lack of interest in my feedback.  So please save some more money and stop the automated calls to my home, when I know I can not reach a real person at your organization to honestly voice my complaints and needs.

All I have is my blog to rat you out on the Internet.  I feel better now…  but I hope it ultimately helps your customers.

(and for my clients who read this blog, use these points as a list of what NOT to do in your business)

Thanks, Jason M. Blumer

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