And the customer service award does NOT go to ...
When LaChania Govan's Comcast service wasn't working, she called for help. And called. And called. It was a frustrating process, and then she got the bill.

By Scott Goldstein
Tribune staff reporter
Published August 17, 2005


Until recently, LaChania Govan's complaints about Comcast's service seemed relatively tame. The 25-year-old Elgin mother of two said she was put on hold, disconnected, even transferred to the Spanish language line.

But after persistent problems with her digital recording system forced her to make dozens of calls to the cable company in July, her August bill came with a change really worth complaining about: In place of her name were the words "Bitch Dog."

"I could not believe it," said Govan, who works in customer service for a credit card company.

She said she immediately called Comcast to cancel her service and was sent to an operator.

"She asked me for my name. I said, `You really don't want me to go there,'" Govan said.

Recounting her problems on Tuesday, she said she was transferred to a supervisor who assured her he would find out what happened and get back to her soon.

In the meantime, she said, he offered her two months of free cable, which she declined.

A Comcast official said Tuesday the company was aware of the incident and that the bogus name change was authentic but said she couldn't discuss the specifics until the company discovered how it occurred.

"If this is not that customer's name, it shouldn't be on that bill," said Patricia Andrews-Keenan, vice president of communications for the company. "But we don't know why that happened. It's obvious that that's inappropriate to have a name like that on that account."

The name on Govan's account has been changed back, said Andrews-Keenan, who is based in Chicago.

The company should be able to track who made the change, she said.

"Generally, it's much like any other billing services. You should be able to look and see who made different notations on that account," she said. "And that's where we are now; we're looking to see if we can find that out."

Martin Cohen is executive director of the Citizens Utility Board of Illinois, which handles complaints about utility and other service providers. Although Govan's troubles aren't all that common, the organization learned this week about a similar case involving a Peoples Energy customer, he said.

In that case, Jefferoy Barnes, 44, of Maywood received four pieces of mail from the company that included the words "scrotum bag" in the line with his name.

Unlike Govan, Barnes said he couldn't recall any interaction with company employees that could have prompted the slur. One of the company mailings, a July 23 letter, concerned an overdue payment on a gas bill.

"I was shocked," he said. "I showed my friends and a couple of relatives. I can't believe they did that, and I couldn't even understand why."

After a reporter inquired about the problem Tuesday, a company spokeswoman said the employee responsible was being fired.

"We have identified the representative who is responsible for this change, and this person is being fired immediately," Elizabeth Castro said.

"Additionally, we are now checking all records that this person had contact with to ensure that no other similar changes have been made. And finally, we have called the customer and have spoken with him directly to apologize for this. This is not how we treat our customers."

Barnes said he received an apologetic call Tuesday evening from a company executive.

But more than a week after receiving her bill, Govan has not heard back from Comcast, she said.

Her August bill for $77.50 came after a month in which she estimates she called Comcast 40 times because of repeated problems with a new digital recording box.

Govan, who does not speak Spanish, said she didn't appreciate being transferred to the company's Spanish-language line.

But receiving the bill with the obscene name topped it all, she said.

"That hurts my feelings, and I feel that is just beyond the bottomless pit," Govan said. "You don't do a customer like that in any business that you're in."

Govan said she was never abusive to Comcast employees.

"I did express my dissatisfaction with their customer service," she said.

She said the company did eventually replace her digital recording system--twice, because the first replacement didn't work either.

Now, with her cancellation request pending, she is simply waiting for the company to show up and disconnect her.

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sgoldstein@tribune.com

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ ... i-news-hed

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I don't know, I guess maybe Jew couple isn't so bad

"Scrotum bag" is an incredibly amusing redundancy.

But so is "Bitch Dog." Could this be the work of one angry person in need of a thesaurus?

I'll bet $50 that this woman is a Bitch Dog.

I thought it was going to be the 21st centuries version of Ten Speed and Brown Shoe.

If this characterization bothered her, then why did she promulgate it by going to the news? She chose to advertise herself as Bitch Dog.

If she was smart enough to figure that out, she never would have been labeled "Bitch Dog" in the first place.

So, it's her fault now?

My guess is that many of us would react in a similar fashion if our requests for service were treated as hers were.

i'm surprised this has never happened to me...i am relentless when something is not working right and I need to call some customer support line.

but other than being called "ungodly" (because of my taking the lord's name in vain) and being given shitty service, I have never gotten a bill with any profanities.

something to strive for, methinks.

i hope they never plan on eating in that resteraunt or any others anytime soon, they are going to digest alot of bodily fluids for causing such a big stink about this

Did I miss the part where she went to a restaurant?

oops, wrong thread

No one should have "bitch" printed on their bill, but if this is the only time in this woman's life that she's been called a bitch, I would be flabergasted.

Ha! I was wondering what you were talking about...

the title of this thread sounds like a bad adult swim feature

seems to be a trend


http://abcnews.go.com/US/Business/story?id=1059341

Ha ha...i love it. It's just a pissed off bored call center worker/workers fucking with peoples heads til they get fired. I've worked in that position before and it sucks...though i never resorting to shit like this, it's pretty easy, and its also just as easy to find out who made the changes. I could have found out who did it while i had the person on the phone. It probably just would have been an employee ID number, but it should not be this hard.

Here's a fact. Call center customer service SUCKS. It's a demeaning job, with minimal pay and benefits and terrible hours and all you do is deal with bitchy people all day...even if they aren't yelling at you personally, they are negative and dealing with that level of negativity for 8-10 hours a day takes it's toll on you. Obviously nobody calls to say how awesome there service is.

I worked in shitty kitchen jobs before, yet I somehow manged not to jerk off into everyone's soup. That's a bullshit excuse. If you don't like your job, find a new one, don't take it out on the people you're hired to help.

So, how many people's soup DID you jerk off into?

*slurp*