Repairman gets youtubed, then fired

A blogger caught his Comcast repairman asleep on the job, filmed and youtubed him. Apparently, Comcast fired the repairman. This story even made the New York Times:

"A spokeswoman, Beth Bacha, said the repairman no longer worked for the company, which has "reached out to the customer to apologize for his unsatisfactory experience." Indeed, Mr. Finkelstein said that after he posted the video, he got a call from a regional vice president at Comcast and, a day later, "a team of Comcast guys" worked for five hours to fix his Internet connection."

A response video was made.

James Durbin of Durbin Media Group had some suggestions on how a corporate blog could have deflated this snafu and turned it around in Comcast's favor:

1) Link to the video from the Comcast blog. Comcast screwed up, and admitting it is the first step to take. Link the video, admit how embarassing it is, and call up Brian to personally apologize. Give him six months worth of free service.

2) Work to correct the problem. The problem is not the poor tech. It's the fact that cable service is a mockery, and everyone from sitcoms to comedians to average customers make fun of the service of cable guys. They even made a movie about it!

3) Don't fire the tech. Make him into a commercial where he drinks a lot of coffee. Turn this around. Use the guy as an example of how they are improving.

4) Highlight your successes by tracking progress. Highlight your successes. Make your improvements public.

5) Focus on other positive ways you can use blog marketing

Now that Comcast has fired this guy, what about a Comcast competitor hiring him and highlighting their lightning-fast customer service call center? Since Comcast won't use this as an opportunity to appear charming and to address a problem of their own, this is a perfect opportunity for a competitor to swoop in and steal their thunder. And some subscribers.

(Source, Source)