Can Time Warner Cable Deliver "Happiness?" - Steve Rosenbaum - MediaBizBloggers

Why Time Warner Cable Should Hire Tony Hsieh or at least read his bookThe other day I had a problem with my cable Before I picked up the phone I took a moment and wondered what the call I was about to place might be like if Zappos took over answering the phone for Time Warner Cable for a few glorious minutes I drifted off into cable dreamlandTWC quotHello Mr Rosenbaum Glad you called what can we do to either fix or improve your cable servicequotSR quotWell I39m having trouble making my VOD work It says Error 32 try again laterquotTWC quotOh right we39ll fix that right up Sorry about that silly error number we39re about to replace that with a sentence that says Call TWC your box needs a bit of help to work rightquotSR quotNo prob Just glad I didn39t have to sit on hold for 40 minutes to figure that outquotTWC quotSure by the way while you are waiting I39m sending a restart signal to your box I notice you used to have HBO and you don39t any more can I ask whyquotSR quotI liked The Sopranos but since then haven39t loved any of the series on HBOquotTWC quotI loved The Sopranos and I really enjoy Boardwalk Empire have you seen that seriesquotSR quotNo because I don39t have HBOquotTWC quotOf course well why don39t we give you a free month of HBO to check out Boardwalk Empire and we39ve got your VOD fixed up that was pretty easy So you should be all set Glad you39re enjoying TWC StevequotSR quotThanks appreciate itquotWoooosh Burst of cold water as I wake from that dreamHere39s what REALLY happenedFirst weekend try to use VOD get error 32 and no downloads Time wasted 30 min No movieSecond weekend try again restart box 20 minute restart then error 32 again Pick up the phone and dial a local number quotI39m sorry the country you are trying to call has all circuits busyquot Yes you read that right COUNTRY Try another TWC local number fast busy Search quotTime Warnerquot on Twitter Yikes Many angry boxing fans it seems VOD has somehow left tons of cable buyers of a PPV fight without service They39re pissedThe next day Sunday Dial again The 39Country39 of TWC appears to have fixed its phone lines but 39due to heavy call volume we39re experiencing delays you can hold on or try again later39I hold for 35 minutes At the start of the call I39m annoyed By the time they pick up the call I39m pissed The operator knows nothing about the borked phones the failed prize fight or my VOD problem She directs me to a secret channel 996 called 39diag39 I39m pretty sure that39s short for diagnostic but she doesn39t know After 10 min Channel 996 times out with quotdiag not available try again laterquot She decides to 39send a signal to the box39 and after another 10 min restart I39ve got VOD workingAh ok 47 min on a Sunday humorless tech support and now all I want is an apology and some sort of gift or freebie for my troubles She seems stunned by this quotsir what do you expectquot she asks quotWell my service has been out for two weeks so how 39about two weeks of a rebatequot I suggest gamely She goes to checkFive minutes later she39s back my account has been credited 391 for the outageNow I39m furious How are two weeks three restarts and an hour of my time worth less than 4 I ask She offers to transfer me if I want to cancel my service Honestly it is like she wants me to leave Fine transfer meAnother 10 min wait on holdIt39s now been over an hour and I39m on with a tired uninspired unhappy TWC 39retention expert39 She says if I want to cancel I can set up an appointment and wait two hrs so a truck and come and pickup the box or I can bring the box to a TWC cable outletNow I feel bad She should TRY to keep me Talk about value about all the great new services and programs on TWC Instead she hawks their phone service I point out that I39m unhappy with their service have just spent more than an hour to get a 391 rebate and I39m hardly going to give them MORE businessOk how quotabout a year of free Showtimequot she gamely offersWe agree and I39m off the phone Rather than get me excited about cable or networks or shows or new services Time Warner kept me on hold forever reminded me that I39m going to keep looking for an excuse to cancel cable and gave away a premium service without any attempt give me something I might want need or valueAny chance there39s premium channels around education if I39ve got kids Or a free VOD movie to replace my failed VOD attempts Or free sports packagesHeck despite the fact that I39ve been a customer for 15 years TWC still calls me by my wife39s name her name is on the account I39ve told them MY name about 20 times but there doesn39t seem to be a field in the database for that informationZappos considered every customer phone call a marketing and relationship building opportunity They enjoy talking with you they enjoy solving problems and they deliver a great service at a great valueTime Warner Cable cuts costs by not scaling up operators during peak times turning basic problem solving calls into angry cancellation calls Since almost every call I39ve ever made to TWC results in them sending a signal to restart the box why not automate that request via their web site and make it a standard step in trouble shootingOverall cable is on the verge of facing real competition with Boxee Roku GoogleTV Apple TV Amazon and Netflix all taking bites out of their value propositionA lesson in customer service from Zappos could keep valued customers feeling appreciated Ignoring the quality and spirit of their call center experience could be another nail in a coffin that is already about to be lowered into the groundCan Time Warner Cable Deliver quotHappinessquotThey39ve got about 18 months to figure it outSteve Rosenbaum is founder and CEO of Magnifynet and the Author of the forthcoming McGrawHill Business book quotCuration Nationquot March 2011 Steve can be contacted at stevemagnifynet Follow Steve Rosenbaum on Twitter wwwtwittercommagnifyRead all Steve39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at 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Can Time Warner Cable Deliver "Happiness?" - Steve Rosenbaum - MediaBizBloggers

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