Timed to the release of a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey revealing that telecom customers are among the most receptive to customer service delivered over digital channels, Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) says it will triple its social media-based customer service team.
On Monday, Comcast revealed in a company blog posting that it is adding 40 members to its social service team, which currently tallies only around 20 staffers.
"With a much bigger team, we'll be able to support customers across more platforms," blogged Tom Karinshak, senior VP, customer service, Comcast Cable. "And we'll be able to get to them faster. A larger team also means that we'll be able to increase bicoastal and bilingual coverage to make sure we are available 24/7 to customers who speak either English or Spanish."
Comcast continues to reel from bad customer service interactions proliferating on the viral Internet--which included a billing rep who simply refused to indulge the cancellation demands of a high-profile technology executive last summer, and reports of Comcast billing reps changing the names of customers into profanities.
Certainly, having a bigger presence on the social Internet can't hurt Comcast.
And if it needed any more convincing, a recent study conducted by PwC of 1,000 U.S. consumers showed that the broader telecom industry has the most active customer service use, with 25 percent of consumers reporting two to four interactions with a telecommunications service provider within the last six to nine months.
According to PwC, nearly half (47 percent) of these frequent customer service visitors use a combination of traditional channels (live agent via phone or in person) and digital methods.
For more:
- read this PwC press release
- read this Comcast blog post
- read this Huffington Post story
- read this Fortune story
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