Sales Pitch Gone Wrong
Please read the updates at the bottom of this post.
Tonight the phone rang. I checked caller ID and it was unavailable… some random 1-800 number. I almost didn’t answer, but I thought better of it. I’ve been able to stop most of these random calls by picking up the phone, hearing them ask for someone I’ve never heard of, and telling them they have the wrong number. So yeah, I was a little sharp when I said “Hello?” A woman was on the other end of the phone and the conversation went like this:
Her: Is Mr. Wonder there?
Me: There is no Mr. Wonder.
Her: Oh…. Mrs. Wonder?
Me: No, there’s no Mrs. Wonder either.
Her: Ummmmm… I’m calling for…. Jane Wonder?
Me: I’m Jane Wonder but I’m definitely not married.
Her: Oh. This is Comcast and we recently got your order to disconnect… [insert sales pitch here]
Now let me tell you something. I have had this cable account for two years. In those two years I have always been Ms. Wonder. There is no Mr. Wonder nor was there at any point in our cable relationship. Nor was I a Mrs. at any point. Which makes this an incredibly grave error. Especially on the part of a company which has had a two year relationship with me.
Let me be clear. This is not a random sales pitch. It’s not a cold sales call where some telemarketer doesn’t know what they’re walking into. No. This was a call from my cable company of two years. My cable company which I have paid, on time, a rather large sum of money every single month. My cable company who ought to know exactly who I am or at least have a cheat sheet attached to my file so they can pretend to. Furthermore, the cable company was making this particular call to try to entice me to give them yet more money and not cancel my service. They were trying to strengthen our relationship.
How can you strengthen a relationship with a customer by assuming because she is a woman she must be married and because she must be married her husband must be the default person in charge of the account? Especially when there has never, not once not ever, been a man’s name on said account? How do you expect to sell anything to a woman after telling her her non-existent husband is their preferred person to talk to?
If you see this Comcast, never fear. I terminated service because I’m moving. And there already was no need for me to transfer my service. However, if there had been a chance for me to do that, you would have ruined it the moment you asked for Mr. Wonder, my non-existent husband that your sales rep made up because every woman must be married and her husband must be in charge of everything. And if you intend to continue to do business with anyone, you need to train your people to pay attention to the names on those accounts and not assume every woman is a voiceless little housewife. You’ll certainly piss off less people that way. And less pissed off customers equals better business for you. So I hope this turns up in your tireless searches through the internet for dissatisfied customers. Because I’m dissatisfied Comcast. I’m dissatisfied because after two years of taking my money, you can’t even figure out who has been paying you all that time.
Hmph. Glad I got that out of my system at least. Now pardon me while I take out my aggression by packing some boxes.
Update: Comcast formally apologized to me after this entry was posted. Unfortunately, later this same week another Comcast rep called me about my internet service AND DID THE SAME THING. When I complained, she told me it is their policy to ask for Mr. or Mrs. on every sales call. So Comcast lied to me when they said it shouldn’t have happened. And Comcast in fact trains their staff to behave this way. Not only is it unacceptable to assume everyone is married, but it is unacceptable for any business to ask to speak to someone who has never been listed on a given account. I recommend everyone take this into account when deciding whether or not to use Comcast as a cable/internet/phone carrier. And I firmly recommend that you find another alternative. An alternative who will only speak to the account holder. And an alternative that does not, by policy, assume everyone is married.
7 Responses to “Sales Pitch Gone Wrong”
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*Blink*
Dude.
*Blink*
I know, right?
I sincerely apologize for the experience. I will make sure that this is communicated to our local contacts to evaluate. If you don’t mind, will you please send me the phone number that was associated with your former account?
Thanks in advance.
Mark Casem
Comcast Customer Connect
National Customer Operations
We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com
I’ll email you. I kind of guessed someone might find this and appreciate any action you could take to keep other women from having the same experience.
OMG I recently paid off my car after a couple of very long years!! Well I guess that they have some database with the names of “people who are not going to be shelling out ginormous amounts of unpaid interests anymore” in order to call them and try and rope them in again because I received a phone call from them. The person who called me, obviously from a calling center, couldnt even manage to say my name. Granted my last name is a little complicated, my first name is Alexandra with a j, NOT that complicated AT ALL. After about 3 tries, this mas was not able to say anything remotely close to my name, so when I pronounced it for him he says “Yeah, that, whatever.” WTF?!?! I immediately asked for a supervisor and WENT OFF on them. I just hate when they don’t take a minute to try and figure out who they are attempting to talk to. Ugh.
You’re better than me. I was so dumbfounded in the moment that I didn’t manage to tell her the huge mistake she’d just made. I wish I’d thought quickly enough to do that.
Recently I had Neilsen Rating Service call me for a survey. I rarely pick up the phone either but I did this time. The woman was asking me about my sports viewing habits, which I am happy to say I do have some. Not once or twice but about four times during the call she asked if there was anyone else the house who watches sports. At first I thought “Ok, Demographics question” But after about the 3rd time I started to wonder if she heard herself.
I did state “No, I live alone”
She asked “Do you have a spouse?”
“No, I live alone”
“Are there any children”
“No, I live alone”
Later in the call “Are there any other adults in the house?”
“How many times have I told you I live alone?”
Really she could not get off the script to save her life. I think at one time I even said “No husband, No partner, No children, the only other living being here are my cats and they sleep when I watch football.” Or I really really wanted to say that, I can’t remember.
I’m glad Comcast is looking into this, I hope it helps. I know these days we all seem to be going through sensitivity training at work, maybe call center people need it more than the rest of us.
I did have a co-worker point out to me that after I said there was no Mr. Wonder, going on to ask about Mrs. Wonder was a failure of logic on the point of the caller.
I can understand. I get Miss every once in a while. Like WTF?
I am baffled by this.
I’ve personally never had anything but great service from Comcast (both in Michigan and in Alabama) but reading that post and the comments cracked me up!!
Well in Baltimore they are not helpful. The only useful service I’ve ever gotten was by going online and getting help from Twitter. Regardless, I guess we can safely say that they never called you up and asked to speak to your non-existent husband who was never listed on your account.
I didn’t apply to Harvard because they converted my name to a male (it only involved changing one letter) and addressed it to “Mr.” Showed them!
But calling women, especially of a certain age, “Mrs.” when they aren’t can be traumatic. I recently used my bf’s Safeway card and was addressed as “Mrs. Hislastname,” which I confess I loved, but on the wrong day that might make me cry. I think when I was renting a car yesterday they addressed me as “Mrs. Mylastname.” It was in person, kids. I’m not wearing a ring!
People should be more careful of the use of Mrs. Especially in this day an age of lots of divorces. You really can upset the wrong person on the wrong day.
This case rankled the most because they directly asked for Mr. too. (Had it just been the Mrs., I probably wouldn’t have posted a thing.) But here’s the thing. If you want to address someone by a title, then when establishing the account, ask which title is appropriate. If you can’t be bothered, then just ask for them by name, no title included. If being respectful is the goal, then that’s the way to do it. Any other way is bound to create a situation eventually.