Double billing. Service phone numbers that don’t work. Long hold times. Those are just a few of the complaints that have some Indiana residents ruing the day that Comcast Corp. took over operations of the former Insight Communications Inc. systems there beginning in the first quarter.
Once more, a system ownership transition has proved more complicated than an operator hoped. Once more, an operator has exacerbated the problem by launching a rate hike just as consumers are trying to adjust to new services and billing schedules.
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, which has been assigned authority for consumer complaints now that franchising is a state issue, confirmed a stiff spike in complaints at the same time Comcast took over and issued the rate hikes, which was the second week of March. Beth Roads, assistant general counsel for the IURC, said before Comcast took over Insight operations, the agency would get two or three complaints a day, half of which were about Comcast. Since the rate hike and take over, that is now 12 complaints a day with 10 attributable to Comcast. Since the beginning of the year, the agency has recorded 177 complaints, 168 of which are about Comcast.
She could not detail the gist of the complaints, but angry consumers quoted last week in the Richmond Palladium-Item provided, er, insight. Subscribers complained about long on-hold times; of CSRs who refer complaints to a different number, which was not in service; and balky Internet service that prevented access for home-based workers and distance learners. Others carped they received two bills in one month that arrived so close together that the second bill dunned them for not paying the first bill. (Comcast had to integrate the workings of three different back office systems in order to take over the Insight operations, and stated in January this had been completed).
Jerome Espy, vice president of communications for Comcast’s Detroit area, took my call and said the company was working to complete the integration process as soon as possible. The company has apologized for any inconvenience caused to consumers and is working to proactively resolve any problems, which have "by no means been widespread," he said. The "double billing" was actually a change in the billing cycle which resulted in a small number of customers receiving two bills, he said.
But consumers don’t care about internal logistics. They want what they buy to work. Cable’s not about entertainment anymore. In the minds of many consumers, it’s a communications utility, vital to daily household operation. Subscribers need to see that mindset mirrored in the provider they choose.