Elderly woman smashes up Comcast office with hammer...

[Andara Bledin]

Don't know about "innocent". This rep first made the couple wait in the lobby for two hours for a manager, then never bothered to check on them. But again, this couple could have avoided this mishap had they done something like ask the rep, "How much longer are we going to be waiting?" Who actually sits in a lobby for two hours waiting on someone without getting huffy in between?

No, no no... This rep didn't make them wait in the lobby for two hours. She made them wait outside on a bench, in August, for two hours, in Virginia. I'm willing to bet it was uncomfortably hot and humid and the clerk was trying to annoy them into going away on their own.

^-.-^

[greensinestro]

Ah, I see I did not read the entire article. I had heard this on the way in to work this morning and decided to look it up. Unfortunately, I'm so busy it was hard to read the entire thing. That is awful, particularly for elderly people like that. This couple went through hell (no pun intended) to get their service, and yet she pays a price for committing a crime like that.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

That is awful, particularly for elderly people like that. This couple went through hell (no pun intended) to get their service, and yet she pays a price for committing a crime like that.

And the problem with that is....

Lousy service does not give one the right to destroy private property.

Comcast did dick the lady and husband over, and they seem to be a pretty shitty company to do business with, but two wrongs do not make a right. I would hope this is something that does not need to be debated.

[Caveat Emptor]

What I don't understand is -where was the security? How could someone....anyone just waltz in to that call center? How stupid is that?

[CancelMyService]

I know I'm biased but I'm pretty pissed this lady's being treated as a hero. You just know all the attention she's getting is going to make more people think damaging property is an acceptable response to any real or percieved slight by TEH EVIL COMPANIEZ (OH NOES)~!

Any other context this would have been reported as a loony old bat off her meds and probably a thread in the Sightings folder. Because she struck a blow at the evil empire, she gets to go on Good Morning America and treated like the next American folk hero.

Who among us has not longed for a hammer in this age of incompetent "customer service representatives," of nimrods reading from a script at some 800-number location, of crumbs-in-their-beards plumbing installation people who tell you they will grace you with their presence between 12 and 3, only never to show?

Man, that's a high water mark in journalism history right there. The author of the article was practically masturbating at the thought of someone sticking it to the MAN like that.

I mean look at that paragraph. It's basically giving the green light for the ultimate SC behavior because you know we all really want to do it, and if Gramma here can do it why can't YOU?

[greensinestro]

And the problem with that is....

Lousy service does not give one the right to destroy private property.

.

Oh, definitely not. I do not condone violence at all being I myself have dealt with angry and violent customers over things normal people would not get violent about. When I was still in training with Adelphia, we all went out for a day with a tech to see how they do the job. Most of the visits were pleasant enough, but one guy literally threw the DVR device at the technician, telling him how disgusted he was with the service. This was a repair call the customer had made, but he did it to get the tech to take the DVR so the customer himself would not have to drive to the office himself to return it. Well, the tech charged the man $25 for the trip there, took the DVR, and we left.

While I was not there personally, another trainee said on one of the calls she was on, the customer had put the DVR out by the trash. It was all beat up, as if it had been stepped on or smashed with a hammer. Again, this was another SC who claimed she had lousy service, and felt it was up to her to give Adelphia a message. In turn, the lady was sued for destruction of company property, and had to pay $300 for the equipment she destroyed.

[Rubystars]

Hammer Lady called a hero?

This crazy old woman went to the comcast offices and destroyed property with a hammer, because she didn't feel like she had gotten good service. Now some people are calling her a "hero" for this asinine and violent behavior.

I'm scared.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21379720/?GT1=10450

[unholypet]

I like that she stood up for herself, but wow.

Amusing to read if you're not the recipient.

[greensinestro]

This crazy old woman went to the comcast offices and destroyed property with a hammer, because she didn't feel like she had gotten good service. Now some people are calling her a "hero" for this asinine and violent behavior.

I'm scared.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21379720/?GT1=10450

It's no different from when people thought that crazy lady in Texas drove over her husband over and over again with her Mercedes Benz. Most thought she was a hero because he had an affair with another woman, and most thought he got what he deserved. Nobody has the right to commit murder, no matter what that person did. Infidelity is not a crime in the eyes of the law, it's just a breaking of the marriage vows.

OK, so this woman received lousy service and had a right to be angry. But, she provides a bad example of what others out there may want to do with their cable provider, let alone all the other utilities people love to hate.

[greensinestro]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21379720/?GT1=10450

In that article, she stands by what she did, despite receiving a jail sentence (suspended, of course). It also describes her as this churchy person. So, after reading something like this, is leads you to the conclusion that people from all walks of life are capable of unjustified behavior like this. With the way she's telling everyone how she feels, it's just going to lead to others out there thinking "Well, she only had to pay $345, got a suspended sentence, and can't go into any Comcast office for a year, hmmm.......you know what? I think I'll go out and do this to my phone company, and teach them a lesson."

What really galls at me is how do we know this woman is telling the truth about what really happened? In Florida, we have some of the same people who visit the Comcast offices around here, some more than once a week, or visit the same payment centers where they pay their phone bills being customers think those people are actual reps that can explain their bills to them. How do we know this Comcast employee didn't just have her sit outside to get rid of her? Maybe she's a constant annoying visitor to their offices. Maybe something awful happened on the phone causing Comcast to do what they did in the beginning. We just don't know the whole story here.

[mattm04]

Lady takes hammer to comcast office, smashes stuff..

http://consumerist.com/consumer/foll...ads-312685.php

A older lady is mad at Comcast for installation issues. Her way of getting back, bringing a hammer to the local office and smashing some office equipment. Violence against anyone is wrong and should not be tolerated. If a CSR touched her, I bet she would be suing comcast. If comcast thinks this is OK, than I guess it is OK of I hold up a bank because I am mad at them. Their are plenty of avenues to deal with this, including the state's Public Utility Commission and others.

If I were Comcast, I would 1) press charges to the fullest extent of the law, 2) make he pay for all damaged equipment, 3) allow company lawyers to help the poor receptionist who had to deal with this POS, if he/she wanted it, 4) prevent her from ever being served by comcast again.

EDIT: The comments to this post at the Consumerist are the reason why I don't like that site. Yes, some of the issues they post are valid. Issues like this, and the people who treat this women like a hero are the reason. Someone, including the women could have been killed or seriously injured. If she did something stupid while the cops were on scene, she or an innocent employee could have been shot.

[mattm04]

I have some relatives who have Comcast and they have had no problems with them. As with any large company that serves multiple regions, their will be good reps and bad reps. Violence is not acceptable, regardless of what happened with your install.

[CancelMyService]

EDIT: The comments to this post at the Consumerist are the reason why I don't like that site. Yes, some of the issues they post are valid. Issues like this, and the people who treat this women like a hero are the reason. Someone, including the women could have been killed or seriously injured. If she did something stupid while the cops were on scene, she or an innocent employee could have been shot.

To be fair, I'd say the general reaction on Consumerist has been at least 60-40 if not closer to 70-30 that this lady's actions were not called for. They have the usual "retail/customer service folk exist to fellate the customer" types, but there are some sane posters there as well.

[Rapscallion]

Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable company, disputes Shaw's version of its customer service record

From the MSNBC article. I have no idea how much difference there is between them, but I do know that if I were Verizon I'd be considering whether or not I wanted her as a customer.

I work in wholesale these days. We make errors from time to time, and we try to solve them as best we can. Sometimes, the errors in a few cases are compounded. Crap happens. However, nothing justifies this behaviour. What next?

Customer interviewed on news, hailed as a hero. "They wouldn't accept a coupon from another store, so I drove my truck through their front window."

Rapscallion

[Jester]

Comcast did dick the lady and husband over, and they seem to be a pretty shitty company to do business with, but two wrongs do not make a right. I would hope this is something that does not need to be debated.

No, two wrongs don't make a right....but there are times when being wrong can be so much FUN!

Yes, this lady was wrong. Yes, as people who work with customers, this can strike some of us as seriously troubling. But come on now....who among us has NOT gotten dicked over by this company or that company so badly that smoke was coming out of our ears, and we wanted so desperately to do something like this? I am not saying she was right, or that we know the whole story, but we have all at some point been tempted to do something along these lines. The best part for me, honestly, was after she smashed one piece of equipment, the lady turned to the CSR that had ignored her the week prior and asked, "NOW do I have your attention?" Classic.

Probably the better way of doing this is something I saw at a Nextel office when I was there with a friend of mine. (I am not a Nextel customer myself.) He was having some trouble himself, and we were there for a while, and I was sitting in the lobby while he was in one of the back offices talking to a rep. And a guy walked in to the lobby and walked up to the desk. The CSR there looked up and said, "Hi! How may I help you?" And the guy put his phone on the desk, looked the CSR straight in the eye, and very seriously replied, "Give me a hammer!"

I had to actually walk outside because I was laughing so damn hard!

By the way, I have say that I am a Comcast customer, and I have been satisfied with my service, for the most part.

This story still gives me the chuckles, though.

What I don't understand is -where was the security? How could someone....anyone just waltz in to that call center? How stupid is that?

It was a customer service location, not a call center. People walk in there all the time...that is what it is there for.