And You Thought Your Market Was Crowded

Cable World, July 28, 2003

Byline: K. C. NEEL

There's no such thing as a monopoly cable system anymore, but few cable properties have as much competition as Comcast Cable's Detroit operation. Some 40 communities in the area - representing over 40% of the system's service territory - are now served by four video providers: Comcast, DirecTV, Dish Network and WideOpenWest. DBS providers vie for video customers throughout Comcast's entire service territory and the MSO also competes with SBC Communications and WOW for high-speed data consumers. As if that weren't enough, Comcast also competes with SBC in select areas where Comcast is offering phone service.

Yet Comcast executives take the competition in stride. "Detroit is a highly competitive market, no doubt about it," says regional SVP Mike Cleland. "But we position ourselves as the best value with the best products and the best customer service. We are also very visible in our communities. All these things set us apart."

Comcast has had some growing pains as the company went from 500,000 customers in the area to 1.4 million almost overnight in 2001 via a series of acquisitions. The company settled several complaints last year offering a slew of free products and services and is now intent on changing the infrastructure. The MSO has recrafted its customer service departments from seven centers into three and 21 technical operations sites to 14. One call center is up and running in Ann Arbor, Mich., another is solely dedicated to HSD calls and a third is being built south of Detroit and should be finished by the end of the second quarter of next year, according to Annemarie Patton, Comcast's VP of customer service.

About 85% of the customer calls to Comcast are now handled in-house, Patton says. The company hopes to have 100% of the video-related calls answered by Comcast customer care reps by the end of the year. About 95% of the HSD calls are now handled in-house; 100% will be taken care of by Comcast reps by Aug. 31, she notes.

But expanding the call centers is just one of the things that Comcast is doing to improve its customer care department. The system found that following up with a phone call after a problem has been solved or service has been added significantly improved the customers' overall satisfaction with the product. Patton also aligned the company's dispatch operation to the call center so that both departments work more closely.

Clearly, customer service is a top priority for Comcast's executive team in Detroit. "We pulled together four companies in 2001 and more than doubled our customer count," Cleland says. "We continue to improve our customer service, and our biggest challenge right now is making sure we are efficient and smart and effective."

Comcast has had some service problems in Detroit and is addressing those complaints now. The MSO agreed last December to give $4.2 million in cash refunds, free upgrades to digital, free pay-per-view coupons and free HSD installations to settle a dispute with the city of Detroit, according to the Detroit Free Press. The rebates affected about 120,000 customers in the city of Detroit. The city had been at odds with Comcast since May 1998 over the cable company's equipment and service charges. The city argued that Comcast was overcharging subscribers; Comcast disagreed and appealed to the FCC. In December 2000, the commission ruled in Comcast's favor on service rates, but agreed with the city that rates for remote controls, converter boxes and other equipment required adjustment.

And in May 2002, Comcast gave nearly 1 million of its Michigan customers a package of free services to make up for a rash of service complaints.

The package, according to the Detroit News, included two free pay-per-view movies, a free upgrade to digital cable, one free premium channel and free HSD installation.

Perhaps one of the things that will make the biggest difference in how Comcast's customer service is perceived is the introduction of a special force of reps that speak Spanish and Arabic. Detroit has a significant number of Hispanic residents and several of the DMA's communities are highly concentrated with Arabic-speaking residents. Indeed, some Detroit-area communities, including Dearborn and Sterling Heights, are as much as 60% Arabic, according to the company. The area also has a sizable Asian population. According to the 2000 Census, more than 10,000 (or 13%) of Troy's residents are Asian. That's up from the 4,800 that lived in the area a decade earlier.

The second-language pilot program has been coming along slowly, Patton says, because Comcast wants to do it correctly the first time. At this point, there are eight special customer care reps that can handle the dual-language calls but Patton hopes to expand that number as demand increases. The dual-language reps work Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Comcast found that customers that speak Arabic or Spanish have the most trouble getting help during the daytime hours.

"At night or on the weekends, they can often find someone who can speak English to help them," Patton says. "But during the day is the hardest for them to find help, so that is where we started."