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Comcast’s new call center is stuffed with Silicon Valley-style perks. Will that help its customer service problem?

Miles Bryan Oct 28, 2019
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Call center employees can decompress around a turtle and fish-stocked pond. Miles Bryan/Marketplace

Comcast’s new call center is stuffed with Silicon Valley-style perks. Will that help its customer service problem?

Miles Bryan Oct 28, 2019
Call center employees can decompress around a turtle and fish-stocked pond. Miles Bryan/Marketplace
HTML EMBED:
COPY

Cable service provider Comcast doesn’t have the best reputation for customer service. The company’s rankings in the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index still trail those of competitors AT&T and Verizon.

But taking customer calls may be even more difficult than making them. A study based on responses from call center workers in Korea suggests a link between this type of work and depression and anxiety.

Workers at Comcast’s new Delaware call center. (Miles Bryan/Marketplace)

By building a new multi-million dollar call center in Newark, Delaware, Comcast is betting that happier employees will provide better service.

Workers there can unwind by the fish and turtle-stocked pond or work on their short game at the indoor putting green. 

But experts say those perks only go so far if workers don’t have adequate training and tools for resolving customers’ issues.

A Comcast spokeswoman said the move into the new building wasn’t accompanied by a change in either, although she said the company has been updating its customer service systems over the last few years. 

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