Apparently, Ricardo Brown is not the only customer whose name was changed to something inappropriate and downright unacceptable by Comcast customer service.
Days after consumer protection blogger Christopher Elliott or Elliott.org reported that a Comcast representative changed Brown's billing name to Asshole Brown, three other Comcast customers have contacted Elliott saying their names have also been changed to something insulting.
Customer Julie Swano sent her bill to Elliott. It was addressed to "Whore Julia Swano." According to Swano, the change in her name was instituted on Dec. 6, which is surprising because she did not have contact with customer service during the days preceding the name change. What is even more appalling was it took her the entire time between Dec. 16 and Jan. 6 talking to at least 20 people to have her name changed back.
"Whoever chose to re-name me picked my account out of a hat," Swano says. "That says there are probably millions of us out there who Comcast employees have renamed. We need to find all of them."
Carolina Heredia also got in touch with Elliott. She said Comcast changed her name on her online bill to "dummy." Every time she opened her account, it would greet her with "Hello dummy."
"I had to call several times but they said they didn't see it until I went in person to Comcast and they removed it," Heredia, who never received an apology, tells Elliott.
Another customer, Maida Bezdjian, saw her name changed to Fakoe Bez. Her son, Sako, tells Elliott he believes the name is a variation of the expletive "fuck you" and is meant to insult his mother and father for having their TV and phone services removed.
"This 'Fakoe' name is nowhere near either of their monikers and seems to be an insult in the form of the F-word aimed towards my parents," Sako says.
The report comes just days after Steve Kipp, vice president of communications for the Washington region at Comcast, publicly apologized and promised to take the "appropriate steps" to address the changing of Brown's name. Brown's wife, however, asked to be refunded everything she paid Comcast for the last two years, a request granted by the company, says Elliott.
"Each and every customer deserves to be treated with respect," says Comcast in a statement to Ars Technica. "We fell short of that and are taking immediate steps to make sure we fix this. We've ended our relationship with the vendor call center that was involved with the first incident and are investigating the others."
The company also says that it is investing in new technology that will prevent employees from being able to change the names of customers without permission and is re-training employees across the country.
"Respecting our customers is paramount, and we need to do everything we can to make sure that this never happens again."
The name change blunder is just the latest in countless other examples of how Comcast treats its customers jaw-droppingly horribly. Just a few weeks ago, at the International Consumer Electronics Show, Comcast CEO Neil Smit promised that customer service will soon be one of the company's "best products."
"We do need to transform our customer experience, and I think we have a lot of work to do," Smit said, winning the award for making the biggest understatement of the century. "It will take time but we'll get it done."
