“Usually it all gets worked out,” Boffetti said. “They’re pretty responsive to the complaints.
Most of the time, complaints are settled in the customer’s favor. The representatives are given wide latitude to settle problems quickly and quietly - often refunding large sums of money, extending generous service credits, resolving ongoing service problems, or waiving service fees that ordinary customer service representatives insist cannot be done. Comcast and Consolidated assign senior level customer service departments to specifically handle these types of complaints. When consumers file complaints with the New Hampshire attorney general’s office, the office forwards them to a designated person or department at the provider. In every case, companies assign their best representatives to handle those complaints in an effort to protect their reputation. Only a small percentage of consumers realize they can file complaints with private groups like the Better Business Bureau, state officials like an attorney general or telecommunications/utility regulator, and federal agencies like the FCC. Those government officials can potentially return “the favor” of years of arrogance and condescension when a company needs state or federal approval of a merger or permitting issue. “It’s just the way these people do business.”īoffetti doesn’t believe the number of complaints is unusual either, “considering the business that they’re in.”Īlthough the New Hampshire regulator cannot usually intervene to set prices, change conduct, or force resolutions, most telecommunications companies fear riling up state or federal regulators. “The hassle factor is enormous,” he said. Boffetti’s theory of how these companies handle consumer complaints is partly based on wearing customers down. Boffetti told The Laconia Daily Sun the two companies are familiar to staffers, responsible for more than 250 complaints for the phone company since Consolidated took over for FairPoint last year and 561 “racked up by Comcast” since 2009. New Hampshire is dominated by Comcast for cable service and Consolidated Communications for telephone service. Jim Boffetti, in charge of that division, says his office receives 4,000 written complaints and 7,000 calls a year about consumer issues, a not insubstantial number from residents upset with their local cable and phone company. Phillip Dampier AugComcast/Xfinity, Consolidated Communications, Consumer News, Public Policy & Gov't 1 Commentįrustrated New Englanders that can’t get anywhere dealing with Comcast or Consolidated Communications’ customer service are getting fast fixes in New Hampshire by taking their complaints to the Consumer Protection and Antitrust Division of the attorney general’s office.
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