Overzealous Customer Service Rep Goes Viral

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We’re jumping on this a little late, but it’s too entertaining to ignore. Over the weekend a recording of the latter portions of a phone call between tech-journalist, Ryan Block, and an unnamed customer service rep — for a very popular cable TV and Internet provider — hit the Web.

Block Tweet
As the recording begins we catch the rep in the midst of giving Block the hard-sell on his company’s virtues, as Block calmly but sternly insists that he just wants to cancel his service (the recording picks things up after they’d already been going on for a little while). From there on out, it’s eight hilarious and horrifying minutes of impenetrable stonewalling from the rep, with Block exhibiting a level of patience and persistence most would find admirable.

The call, in total, was something like 18-minutes, with the very simple process of canceling a subscription turned into an almost disturbing, Kafkaesque nightmare.

Here’s a sample transcript:

Rep: I’m just trying to figure out what it is about Comcast service that you don’t want to keep.

Block: This phone call is actually a really amazing representative example of why I don’t want to stay with Comcast.

Rep: OK, but I’m trying to help you.

Block: The way you can help me is by disconnecting my service.

Rep: But how is that helping you! How is that helping you! Explain to me how that is helping you!

The company (who, it’s not secret, was Comcast) issued the following apology, insisting that this behavior is neither trained nor encouraged by them:

We are very embarrassed by the way our employee spoke with Mr. Block and are contacting him to personally apologize. The way in which our representative communicated with him is unacceptable and not consistent with how we train our customer service representatives. We are investigating this situation and will take quick action. While the overwhelming majority of our employees work very hard to do the right thing every day, we are using this very unfortunate experience to reinforce how important it is to always treat our customers with the utmost respect.

Check it out below, and be prepared to laugh in awe through your gritted teeth, as the tenacious rep will just not take no for an answer. A visit to Block’s PeekYou profile will give you an opportunity to peruse his sizable and well-maintained digital footprint; consisting as it does of numerous social accounts, websites, articles, and much more.