According to an Ars Technica report, ISPs say that their customer service is so good that customers don’t seek other providers. That claim was made by the NCTA-The Internet & Television Association, a cable industry trade association in response to an FCC filing proposing new rules to improve customer service.
The situation is, of course, rife with politics but there are some points worth making:
- Not all providers are the same. I’m more or less satisfied with my provider, Spectrum, although they are far from perfect. On the other hand I have friends stuck with the provider who shall not be named that thinks customer service is a bad joke.
- The growing trend of using never ending phone trees and, worse yet, AI chat bots will do nothing but increase customer frustration and will likely cause more customer complaints. It’s just silly, and in the end, not really serious to claim that those measures will improve customer satisfaction.
- It’s just not true that dissatisfied customers can simply change providers. In Tampa, the main choices are Spectrum and Verizon: by no means the worst but no one would describe them as a panacea. Many areas aren’t even this lucky. They have a single provider that has absolutely no incentive to provide decent customer service.
- Irreal, as many of you know, is always skeptical of involving bureaucrats in our affairs but ISPs are essentially monopolies and the quid pro quo for that status is agreeing to the regulatory regime.
All of that aside, it’s surely humorous to hear claims of customer service so great that customers wouldn’t leave even if they had a choice. That’s not a serious claim and gives one reason to doubt anything else those making the claim say.