On Goverment Allowed Monopolies and Bad Customer Service

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 These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert, to fleece the people. -Abraham Lincoln

 

Customer service is the first causality of congressional meddling with the freemarket system.  How can I say this?  Allowed monopolies (like utilities, cable companies) do a horrible job of customer service.  Don’t think so? google “Comcast sucks.”

 

 

Customer Service is a now so bad in some places that 1) I am surprised when i get good service 2) complaints against how bad it is have started to approach discriminatory or even venomous 3)some level 3 tech always seems to fix the problem in 2 minutes, after you get past the person reading from the script. 

 

I may be upset with my cable company, but i don’t get another choice to choose from.  Same for many utilities.  Better business parts of most states are tougher on the utilities.  To combat this monopoly power, companies are generally not really allowed to sign me up for years on end, however, we know we all sign package deals all the time.  

 

This is a example of where monopoly power shows just how bad things can get for consumers.  Not all cable companies are good, but if you live in an apartment complex, you generally cannot change to another.   FCC was set to remove this exclusive contracts but so far it has not changed. 

 

While talking to a rep on why i couldn’t get better customer service he laid it out for me.  Generally, their concern is to sign people up, and then turn them over to phone customer service.   Their is no incentive to actually keep the customer happy, because the customer is usually locked into a contract, and generally can’t go anywhere anyway.  

 

So there you have it.  

We should all write the FCC with each missed appointment and ask them for the money you wasted sitting around. 

 

OceansOfThought @ March 11, 2008