Apologies in advance to the Comcast folks who read this blog, but I am fed up with Comcast.com!

One feature I find to be especially ridiculous is that you have to chat with a representative just to place an order. I tried to order their $5 a month digital sports package online, and instead of just being able to place the order through the web checkout, they redirect you to live chat to set up an appointment (not needed for what I was ordering) and to confirm identity.

OK, I understand the need for security — the site I work for does a heck of a lot more online business than comcast.com, but overkill is overkill (John Ferrara where are you?). When security encroaches so much on the user experience of the site, I must ask — is this the only way to safely protect people? Is putting the valued customer through all this garbage really worthwhile? Is there a better way to handle this so that customers are happy and security is preserved?

I can’t think of any other eCom sites that require chatting with a representative to complete a transaction. And that includes my bank. Furthermore, how can someone steal another’s identity by adding $5 a month to their cable service? Comcast provided me with no information that I could have used if I was fradulent. Worst case scenario — I contact them once I get my bill asking why this new service was added. Not exactly a MasterCard commercial.

(Oh, and the security certificate had expired, making it nearly impossible for me to submit this feedback to them. Embarassing!)

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 13th, 2006 at 8:43 pm and is filed under web UI. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.