Behind the scenes at Comcast customer service [Comcast Roundup]

Calling Comcast Customer Service? You Should Probably Record It. [Mashable]: “Now, another Comcast customer has gotten results from the company only after recording his frustrating call with customer service.”

Comcast Confessions: when every call is a sales call [The Verge]: “These employees told us the same stories over and over again: customer service has been replaced by an obsession with sales, technicians are understaffed and tech support is poorly trained, and the massive company is hobbled by internal fragmentation.”

Media Mobilizing Project statement on Comcast Internet Essentials changes [press release]: “The limited ‘amnesty’ that Comcast has added to the Internet Essentials program will help some families holding old Comcast debt to get online.  And the lower rates Comcast is offering for its back to school promotion will help others. But the digital divide isn’t going to be closed by Comcast charity; by executives trying to dress up a merger that few think will benefit our nation. We will close the digital divide by demanding real change from our telecommunications giants:  by blocking mergers that don’t serve the public interest, by holding these companies accountable and protecting net neutrality, by ensuring that franchise agreements really serve communities, and by allowing cities and towns to create their own high-speed Internet networks to compete.”

Leaked: Comcast’s Insanely Detailed Manual for Persuading Customers Not to Cancel Their Service [Slate]: “It includes sentence-by-sentence instructions on the proper way to greet the customer, ‘set the agenda,’ ‘take control of the conversation,’ ‘overcome objections,’ and ‘close the save.'”

Comcast Confessions: growing pains of a Goliath [The Verge]: “This installment is about how Comcast’s splintered organizational structure undermines efforts to improve customer service.”

Get through to Comcast’s semi-secret customer service line with one of these special cards [The Verge]: “While the cards will unlock access to a dedicated team, those agents do not have any more power than regular customer service agents, Comcast says.”

Comcast Posts a Strong $2 Billion Profit, and Says It’s Done Buying for Now [New York Times]: “Comcast said on Tuesday that it should be big enough if its $45 billion deal for Time Warner Cable goes through and will not need to make any more major acquisitions, even as merger activity intensifies across the industry.”