Mr. Roberts, your mother on line two ? and boy is she mad

Cable giant Comcast is a publicly traded company controlled by the Roberts family of Philadelphia.

Comcast is often reviled for its poor customer service and broken promises. It’s been criticized, sued, excoriated and lampooned. To no effect. In fact, according to DSL Reports’ Karl Bode, “… Comcast's customer service tends to be the worst in any industry because they lack the competitive incentive to improve in most of its markets.”

That doesn’t mean customers are completely powerless, though. Recently, the Airoldi family of Philadelphia got so frustrated with a six-week wait for service that they called Ronnie Polaneczky, a columnist for the local Philly.com.

According to the columnist, “… I took pity on the couple and called to the ultimate authority at Comcast Corp. – Suzanne Roberts, the 92-year-old mother of the company's CEO. In less than a day, Comcast trucks were at the Airoldi home, and the problem was solved.”

Polaneczky knows that this kind of guerilla action is limited against the nation’s eighth most disliked company. Polaneczky quotes a local marketing consultant Chris Malone who told the columnist that he’s surprised Comcast’s ratings aren’t worse. “The stories that come out about them are just unbelievable in terms of the torture – not just bad service, but torture – they inflict on customers,” said Malone.

Ronnie Polaneczky knows she’ll hear from yet more Comcast customers. “They call when they've waited in vain for technicians who never show, when they're socked with overcharges for things they never ordered, when customer-service people promise to help but go AWOL instead of going the distance,” she wrote.

She’ll help the Comcast-damaged, but admits, “I can't guarantee results… But I can promise that if [Comcast spokesman Jeff] Alexander doesn't resolve your problems, I'm calling Mama Roberts again… I have her number on speed-dial.”

Reporter Has to Call Comcast CEO's Mom To Get Decent Service (DSL Reports, Feb. 10, 2015)

Bombast from Comcast? (Philly.com, Feb. 8, 2015)