A Very Modern Frustration With Comcast Service

I thought I would take a few moments this morning, in the aftermath of my frustration, to comment on my very modern frustration with Comcast this morning.  I took a vacation day so they could come through and install new internet and telephone service.  Last week, they called to confirm the appointment.  Sunday, they called to confirm the appointment.  This morning, about fifteen minutes before the appointment window (8:00 - 10:00 AM) they called to confirm that I would be here.  Then, about 8:15 the technician calls and cancels the appointment because they don't have the equipment (the modem) to do the installation AND that I need to re-call and re-schedule the appointment.  Needless to say, I was a bit vexed.

Now, this isn't the fault of any of the individuals I dealt with - big corporations are impersonal and the people who work inside those corporations tend to be good and decent folks who are just trying to make ends meet, like the rest of us.  This was not a person failure, but a process failure.  They needed to have, built into their process, a step that confirms the necessary equipment is available prior to confirming the appointment. Much of my frustration would have been lightened if they had simply called 24 hours in advance to cancel the appointment and reschedule it.  That they didn't is a failure of their logistics and customer service processes.

It irks me, since I currently manage a customer service desk, when a foreseeable failure of process (the presence or absence of a piece of equipment in the supply chain), isn't properly logged. With the power of modern computers it is pretty straightforward to simply a.) confirm the order, b.) confirm and tag the equipment, and c.) deliver and install the equipment.  There are computers.  There is no reason to match up the equipment to the order the day of the order delivery.  That is just bad process.