Released: April 30, 2008

An outbreak of caring

Source: Cecelia Kang, Washington Post (Free Registration)

Tom Maguire, Verizon Communications’ new Customer Care Czar, is one tough customer. When served chicken tacos without the chicken recently, he first complained to his waitress, then went online to the restaurant’s Web site to fill out a survey with scathing remarks about his experience.

That accept-no-excuses attitude serves Maguire well when dealing with his own customers. The straight-talking Long Island native knows how enraging poor service can be. He understands that perfect service is difficult to achieve. And he grasps how important it is that companies hear about it when they fall short.

Customer service problems in the telecommunications industry have been nearing legendary proportions—last year’s “angry 75-year-old Virginia woman attacks Manassas cable office with hammer” comes to mind. It’s a challenge that telecommunications and cable companies are struggling to overcome as they compete for new subscribers paying $150 to $200 a month on average for phone, Internet and television services. AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast are working to keep subscribers and lure new ones into subscriptions that bundle those services. 

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