How Spectrum made me write this post

I recently had to cancel my Internet service at home, and it was the worst experience I've ever had with customer service. A year ago, a new company that offers fiber internet was added to my neighborhood, so I decided to switch to the new service. I signed up online, entering all my information, including my credit card, only to find it wasn't available yet despite what their website claimed.

It took a full year before I received said service. I have to admit, the installation was quick, the technicians were friendly, and now I am a happy customer. It was 10 times faster and a third of the price of my old service, Spectrum. So, naturally, I decided to cancel Spectrum.

Using the chat function on their website, you can upgrade to any service you want without ever talking to a human. But to cancel a service, you are presented with two different phone numbers. I called the first number, wasting 10 minutes before I realized that it was for canceling your mobile phone service. The second call lasted a total of 41 minutes.

In Los Angeles, you don't really have a say in which internet service provider you can use. Whatever is available in your neighborhood or building is what you get. I had had Spectrum for two years, and I was a happy customer. It was an upgrade from AT&T that I had had for many years before. I wasn't dissatisfied with Spectrum; I had just found a better, cheaper service. I tried to convey this to the customer rep who was located in Texas.

He was friendly at first, asking me why I was leaving and asking which company I was going with. I told him I had no complaints, just that I had found a better service. "Totally understandable," he replied. "But you know we can cut your bill in half, right?" he added.

I understand that they will try to keep you as a customer by giving you deals and whatnot. But I already had the new service, and it was working well for me. So all I needed was for the service to get canceled. The man wouldn't let me cancel it. Since I didn't tell him which service I was switching to, he started listing competitors and their prices. I decided to keep a friendly tone and said, "Yes, that's nice. But this is not what I called for. I just want to cancel my service."

"But you understand I have to try to keep you as a customer, right? We know that we have the best prices, and that you are probably not telling the truth."

I was shocked to hear this. But he was holding me hostage. I had no choice but to stay on the call if I wanted my service canceled. "Does it matter? If I want to cancel the service, I don't have to explain myself," I replied.

"OK, so how many devices do you have at home connected to the router?" he asked.

"Why do you need to know that? I won't be using it anymore," I answered.

"Yeah, but I have a form that I have to fill out."

"What if I don't want to share this information?"

"Well, it is protocol. I have to ask these questions and enter your answers to move forward."

"50!" I answered.

"O...Kay. What's the speed of your new service?"

"100 Gigabit."

"OK, now you are just being rude," he replied. I wanted to be rude now. But he was holding me hostage. I just wanted my service canceled so I wouldn't get charged for it again.

"Listen, I appreciate your help..." I said.

"Do you?" he interrupted smugly. I had to mute the call and remind myself of my goal: Cancel the service. I just want to cancel the service.

"Let's go through your questions, so you can cancel my service please." I had been on the phone for more than 15 minutes now. I did not give him the answers he wanted. But I went through it all. He then put me on hold to process it. When he came back, he was back to his normal self.

"Thank you so much for holding. We are currently processing your cancellation order. In the meantime, is there anything I can help you with?"

"Oh great, how long will it take to process?" I asked.

"Just a couple of minutes."

I should have ended there, but I was just so pissed. I work in customer service automation, and one thing I know for a fact is that fast customer service trumps everything. While companies think that offering a discount is the best thing they can do, resolving a customer's issue is always the best option. I have worked with clients that offered single-click subscription cancellation before California mandated it. Customers who would click to cancel were the most likely to come back. With companies that made you jump through hoops, customers would even cancel their credit card just to avoid those hoops.

Now that I knew my cancellation was in progress, and I was no longer a hostage, I decided to talk to him frankly: "When I started this call, I was a happy Spectrum customer switching to another service. I often recommended your service and said good things about it. After this call, I'll never use Spectrum again."

"Well, we are losing a customer, so we have to ask these questions. All the other companies do it."

"I don't care what others do. If you had canceled it after I told you I didn't want to share any info, I would have probably come back. Now I want nothing to do with Spectrum. I understand it's not you personally, but damn, you guys have a pretty bad customer retention script."

The funny part is that he kept arguing. It became personal. At some point I told him, "You're like an ex-girlfriend asking how my new girlfriend is better. Just let it go!"

I had to interrupt our quarrel and ask if the service was now canceled.

"Yes, it is," he answered.

I still had to pay for the rest of the month, but I would happily do so and get it over with. I asked him for a confirmation number to make sure he did the job, but he didn't answer. He put me on hold. At this point, I started playing video games on my phone. Ten minutes later, I heard his voice overlaid on my game. "Thank you for calling Spectrum, how may I help you?"

"It's still me. You haven't given me my confirmation number."

"Sorry, you will receive an email confirmation."

"Thank you. I appreciate your help," I said.

"..." Silence.

I didn't hang up. I kept playing my game for 5 minutes before he said again: "Thank you for calling Spectrum, how may I help you?"

"It's still me."

"I'm sorry, I cannot hang up. Customers have to end the call."

So now it was my turn to hold him hostage. I completed two Clash of Clans battles before I decided to hang up. But something was amiss. What if he was so mad that he decided not to cancel my account? Not very likely, but it wouldn't hurt to check. So I called back.

Once more, I was routed to someone in Texas. He repeated the same script.

"Listen, I'm canceling my service, I've already talked to someone, and I need to get the confirmation number. Can you help me?" I implored.

"Oh no, that's too bad. Let me see. Which service are you moving to?" This man managed to waste 11 more minutes of my time, asking me all sorts of questions while he "sent a request for more info." He was stalling.

Every minute or so I would ask, "Did you receive the information?" And he would check, say no, but then say something like "Let me see the services available in your area."

At some point, I got really frustrated and said: "Hey, are you going to give me the confirmation or not?" He wanted to derail, so I repeated myself. He finally gave me the information and I hung up.

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I spent a total of 52 minutes on the phone in both calls. Who in a company looks at this data and says "Yes, this is the best way to treat a customer"? If they had just canceled when I requested, the moment I have an issue with my internet, I'd come back to them. It doesn't matter that they have stable and fast internet. Their service is represented by the weakest link in the chain.

One of my favorite anecdotes is from when I was working in customer service automation: our AI failed to detect the customer's name and quickly replied: "Hey Bitch, Thanks for reaching out." It then proceeded to help the customer by resolving all her issues in one swoop. The customer thanked the bot-agent and gave it a 5-star rating. Speed trumps everything.

I understand that in America, this is a typical experience with cable companies, but know this: If you treat your customers right, you get repeat business. But if you are only looking at the aggregate number of net gain or loss per month, you see only the forest and miss each individual tree. You rely on vague metrics that don't reflect the experience of your customers.

So to Spectrum, I give zero stars. You effectively turned a happy customer into a vocal critic. It's not me, it's you!

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