Comcast apologizes after man’s name changed to profanity on billing statement

Given the level of customer service your average Comcast customer has come to expect from the cable giant, we can probably intuit what some of its reps think about us. But for Spokane, Wash.'s Brown family, someone at Comcast went ahead and just spelled it right out: "A--hole."

Or, more specifically, "A--hole Brown." Originally addressed to account holder Ricardo Brown, wife Lisa Brown says they began to receive bills with Comcast's apparent new pet name after they attempted to cancel the cable portion of their bill.

Via BoardingArea's Chrisopher Elliot:

I asked Brown why a Comcast employee might want to change Ricardo's name to Asshole.

"I am shocked," she told me. She explained that her family was having financial difficulties and needed to reduce their cable bill. She'd called Comcast to cancel the cable portion of her account, for which she had to pay a $60 fee. Instead of complying immediately, a representative escalated her call to a retention specialist, who tried to persuade her to keep the cable service and sign a new two-year contract.

"I was never rude," she says. "It could have been that person was upset because I didn't take the offer."

Comcast has since reached out to apologize to the Browns after the incident went viral, with several higher-ups having offered to look into it:

First, there was a call from Rhonda Weaver, a Comcast senior director of government affairs, promising to waive the $60 cancellation fee. Weaver also said Comcast was investigating the name change and would terminate the employee who was responsible.

Then there was a call from Ken Watts, a Comcast general manager for Spokane. He assured her they'd corrected the name on her account. He also promised a swift investigation and that he would find the vice president's address.

Brown has also reportedly received a full refund for her previous two years of service.

"We have spoken with our customer and apologized for this completely unacceptable and inappropriate name change," writes Comcast corporate communications director Jenni Moyer in a statement. "We have zero tolerance for this type of disrespectful behavior and are conducting a thorough investigation to determine what happened.  We are working with our customer to make this right and will take appropriate steps to prevent this from happening again."

The company is also reportedly looking into technology that could help prevent similar events in the future. Via Ars Technica:

"Comcast confirmed to Ars that it has apologized to the customer and that the company is looking into technology solutions to prevent future problems of this nature. Comcast is also revisiting the training it provides to its representatives to make sure that customers are treated with respect, a company spokesperson told us."

This, of course, is just the latest customer service flub for the communications company, with last summer bringing us the saga of Ryan Block and the Rep Who Wouldn't Quit. In response to that incident, Comcast apologized, called the agent's behavior "unacceptable," and tasked exec Charlie Herrin with bettering customer relations in the coming year.

Herrin, for his part, has released a statement indicating that the employee responsible for the name change has been released from the company. Similar to last summer's nightmarish call, Herrin also called this latest incident "unacceptable":

It's a privilege to have customers use our products and to have them invite us into their homes.  Each and every customer deserves to be treated with respect, and in a recent situation with a customer in Spokane that clearly didn't happen.   

We have apologized to our customer for this unacceptable situation and addressed it directly with the employee who will no longer be working on behalf of Comcast.  We're also looking at a number of technical solutions that would prevent it from happening moving forward.  

We took this opportunity to reinforce with each employee just how important respect is to our culture. In every interaction we have with a customer, we need to show them respect, patience, and enthusiasm to provide them with an excellent experience.  

The culture of a company is the collective habits of its people – we have great people at Comcast and we need to treat customers with the respect they deserve.  Respect is not just how we speak with customers, but also respect for their time and making it much easier for them to interact with us ... whether it's solving a problem, ordering service or simply asking a question.

[BoardingArea]