Comcrash tech support to frustrated user: "what's Vonage?"

Fellow VoIP blogger Ted Wallingford points to an account of Jim Studnicki's problem getting help from Comcast for some Vonage call quality issues.

Apparently, when Jim first logged on to Comcast's chat feature to complain about the problem, the first thing the customer service rep said was:

"'You cannot use vonager is this your inquiry.'"

Then, after Jim described the problem in more detail, the customer service rep came out with this badda-boom line:

"What is Vonage?"

Then Jim said "Oh, come on? VoIP? Can you transfer me to someone who knows what it is?"

After a one-minute pause, the rep said:

"Comcast does not support VoIP and this would be why I am unfamiliar with this."

Oh, there's so much more.

The problem, I'll say here again, is the fact that Comcast's customer service is largely outsourced, offshored, and is centralized to the point they are unfamiliar with local issues. Neither are the reps cross-trained.

Do you know that when you call Comcast customer service, you are likely to reach a call center in Winnepeg? Happened to me over the weekend. Neat city, but no Comcast systems within hundreds of miles.

Well, maybe when Comcast VoIP gets up to full speed, they will hire staffers or contract with companies who can find service reps familiar with what VoIP means.

But I wouldn't bet on it. This is a company that will nickel and dime you to death to raise revenues and shareholder values - at the same time they pinch pennies by sending tech support outside the U.S.