Cox Communications, which has been lauded by telecom studies as having the highest telephone service provider ratings in the west, leaves much to be desired when it comes to basic customer service. Case in point: Transferring service within the same area.
You, Mr. Customer, may be under the impression that you can contact the company, speak to a rep, and, have your issue addressed satisfactorily, but you would be incorrect in your assumption. What you will encounter, instead, are employees unable to comprehend spoken language and incapable of correctly notating a numerical address. Oh sure, the really advanced ones can probably walk and chew gum at the same time, but Cox usually installs those wizards into executive offices.
In what can only be described as a Three Stooges episode, I attempted to transfer my telephone service. I had done so twice before on separate occasions during this past year, and, it was executed flawlessly and in a timely manner. But fast forward to September, and, I'm not sure what exactly happened in the meantime, but since the last time I transferred service, two months prior, the company has apparently nosedived into incompetency and ineptitude.
The first incident that should have tipped me off that Cox had deteriorated into a mickey mouse operation was the inability to pay a bill via the auto-payment system. Ordinarily, the customer was able to dial the number and then routed through the system. It was all very efficient. You input your phone number and credit card details, and then the system finds and credits your account accordingly. Easy peasy. No fuss no muss. It had been like this for over a decade that I am aware of because that is how long I have had services with Cox Communications. But this time, the auto-pay system was not working. Instead, I was routed to a live rep, who then wanted to charge me $10.00 for the privilege of taking payment.
I explained that I wasn't speaking to her because I wanted to – that the system had connected me to her line by default because the auto-pay was apparently not in working order. The rep was confused, but then this is not in any way news. In large companies like Cox, it is standard operating procedure that one hand has no clue what the other is doing, especially as regards employees. In the quest for ever larger profit margins, service and performance are routinely sacrificed as a matter of course on the altar of the god of the Dow Jones. And unless customers complain en masse about it, the company continues to coast on its previously stellar reputation, and, the profits continue to roll in. It really works out fabulously for the company in a country where the telecom industry has bought off pet politicians to ensure that there is a duopoly of providers in any given US market.
In effect, the company upwardly fails. And because of the service duopoly, the customer has very little recourse. In fact, the only other competitor will most likely be just as inept and overpriced as the provider you are leaving. Don't you just love how telecommunications and broadband works here? There is no meaningful competition because we have a pay-to-play government that never met a big business that it wouldn't allow itself to be bought off by. Meanwhile, we, as a country, are being left in the dust because in other parts of the world, internet service is 1/3rd the cost and broadband speeds are 10x faster. But that is fodder for a future discussion.
In attempting to pay the bill, there was a problem with the prepaid debit card that I intend to detail in a future piece, so let's just focus on the Cox debacle currently before us. Long story short, the bill was eventually taken care of, but in attempting to have the number ported, I continued to experience a three ring circus.
I spoke to four different Cox employees within a 96-hour time frame, and, each of them assured me that I would have service that very evening. Suffice it to say, I had to keep calling back to ensure that they had all the details, correctly noted, because I just didn't trust that the employee fully comprehended the objective. (They didn't.)
One rep had canceled the account outright, which in turn, generated an ensuing tsunami of complications and difficulties. Another attempted to fix the previous screw up, but never noted the transfer service address correctly in the system. Each time I was told I would be given a call back to provide a status update, and, each time, that was not the case. The last employee I spoke with in customer service could barely communicate – she sounded high and spoke like she had a mouth full of marbles. I don't think this was attributable to a drug problem as much as it was a brain problem, as in, lack of.
Finally, I was inexplicably routed to someone in technical support. The employee in this department seemed like she possessed an IQ slightly higher than room temperature, but then again, this isn't brain surgery that I required. All I wanted was for her to check that the transfer-to address was correct in the system, and, to tell me when I would have telephonic services restored. She was able to provide the barest minimum of service and communication, but also took attitude with me. When I attempted to express the level of frustration I was experiencing as a direct result of Cox Communication’s incompetency, she sanctimoniously reminded me that she didn't have to be spoken to in such a manner. Well la-dee-da, Miss America. Seriously?
If the employees detailed here are the best that Cox has to offer, then it needs to recalibrate and substantively retrain everyone sitting in its customer service departments across the country because if all of its employees are like the ones I had to deal with, they are not able to perform even on a fundamental level. They should should be pushing a broom or scrubbing a toilet, not sitting behind a computer talking to customers.
In a country that is currently under and unemployed, I won't buy that there aren't quality people out there currently looking for work that can do the job. What I can believe, however, is that age 30 is the cutoff age, and, so today's customer base is forced to deal with a bunch of halfwits, and, evidently, they all work for Cox.
Way to go, Cox Communications. I'm giving you the Golden Mediocrity Award for failure of leadership, as well as hiring the most inept and incompetent employees on the planet. Oddly enough, JD Powers and Associates, the outfit that continually blows sunshine up Cox's rear bumper for excellent telecom services, has nothing to say about employees, however.
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