Tangled

 Remember that story I told about the Comcast offer that turned out to be a scam? Well, if I didn't already bore you with the details, the short version goes something like this: I picked up a call that identified as "Scam Likely," but since I tend to tease these moments out into something beyond just annoyance I decided to play along. The offer being made by the gentleman on the other end of the line was to cut my cable bill in half. Or close to it. And as much as I wanted to bring the experience to an abrupt end, I felt drawn in by the bait. The pitch this guy gave about giving back to their loyal customers was appealing enough that I kept playing along. It was all going along so professional and friendly like until the suggestion was made that I pay for three months in advance. In the form of Target gift cards. From my perch in front of my computer, I was quickly able to Google this specific scheme, and then the fun was over. 

The worst part about this was that recently when I was having trouble with my Xfinity/Comcast/NBC/Universal services, and I found myself once again dealing with the spiderweb of automated systems that are in place specifically to keep customers from speaking to human beings, I wanted that guy back. At least, I wanted to talk to the guy who was understanding about how the price of getting cable TV and Internet and landline service. Shouldn't those who pay their bills on time, and have been doing so for thirty years or more be given some sort of volume discount? Or at the very least have easy access to real people who are interested in helping solve problems with the aforementioned services? 

Because that has all but disappeared. Recently I went to a burger joint for some fast food and found that I could almost completely avoid human contact by ordering at a kiosk, paying there, and waiting for my cell phone to buzz when my order was ready to pick up at the counter. Grocery store runs are also streamlined by the self-service checkout. Get all those barcodes lined up right and don't accidentally remove something from the bagging area and you can be in and out without ever making eye contact. 

Which is great, except when there is a glitch. In my latest Comcast imbroglio, there were several glitches. And once they started, they just kept compounding because there wasn't anyone on the receiving end to slow down the chaos to try and straighten things out. When I finally reached the nominal end of the tech issues, I wanted to be able to relate my experience to someone in customer service. This required another twenty minutes of starts and stops with the phone maze, and I was finally able to get a real person from "Customer Care" on the line. As I began to relate, for that seemed like the twentieth time, my situation, the connection began to falter. 

It was only after waiting for a call back and then reengaging with their system that I was at last told that the "Customer Care" department was shut down due to technical difficulties. Which made me wonder: Who do they call for support?