I just finished another long frustrating chat session with Comcast. I should know better and just call them, but calling Comcast is it’s own losing proposition I guess. Today I wanted to turn on Xfinity Streampix to check it out. It seems simple enough. Here’s what happened, along with what I would have expected to happen as a reasonably savvy online shopper.
Don’t Hide The One Thing You Want
I go xfinity.com/streampix to order it, just as directed by the commercial I saw on television. One would expect a big fat “ORDER NOW” button to click. Unfortunately there was not. I had to search for it and instead of taking me directly to a page, I was returned a list of possible results.
I clicked the one that seemed likely, and it was the right one.
Ask For What You Need When You Need It
It asked for my address to see if I was eligible and after verifying it, requested a long form of information including account number, date of birth, social security number, address, phone, etc.
It seemed like that should be all populated, so I logged in to my account to see if it would be easier signed in. I got the same exact form.
I filled in all of the requested information, submitted, and up popped a chat window to “confirm” my order.
Don’t Make Me Repeat Myself
It took nearly 10 minutes before the representative showed. He asked me to verify my address. He asked me for my account number. He asked for the last four numbers of my social. He asked me to confirm what I had asked to order. He basically asked me to fill out the form I had just filled in again.
10 minutes after he came into our chat, we were done. I was finished.
It’s All Sort of Obvious, Right?
Now I am pretty sure can sign up for Netflix in less than 5 minutes from scratch. It takes me 25 minutes to make a change to my Comcast account and I’m already a customer.
For a moment, forget about my time. Think about their time multiplied by all of the other customers who decided to subscribe to Streampix. It seems like Comcast enjoys frustrating their customers, and enjoys it so much, they are willing to throw away money to do it.
I can change my AT&T account online. I can change banking services online. I can manage my 401k, do my taxes and add cars to my insurance. What is it about Cable Television that is so sensitive I need to have a chat session to confirm my changes?
We’re talking about a $4.99 per month service. I borrowed thousands from my 401k for a house down payment without a chat or phone call. I ordered half of the gear in my studio online without chat or phone confirmation.
It just doesn’t make any sense. Requiring chat in the name of security doesn’t pass the common sense test. Here I am annoyed that I wasted 30 minutes of my night while they just paid some guy for the time he spent wasting mine.
Asleep at the wheel, that’s the only logical explanation. Anyone with some common sense and fiscal responsibility would kill this process as soon as possible.
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Agreed. I’m online with them right now wondering why on earth they need my SSN. “Unless specifically requested, we will not conduct a credit check.” they say while the chat guy says, “In order to process your order we need to run a credit check on your account. I will need your full social security number to go ahead with this.”
They say they’re doing it for security, but in reality they’re really running a credit check.
Holy overkill.
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