[nfb-talk] [Electronics-talk] letter from a blind Comcast customer; feedback wanted

[Steve Jacobson]

Ray,

I am with you all the way regarding the CAPCHA blocks.  One thing that helps us there is that we have a precedence and a possible solution, that being an audio 
alternative which at least helps most of us.  My thought is that it's the CAPTCHA that is the problem, and the extra fee is only an issue if the CAPTCHA is not fixed.  I 
don't think you should suggest, even indirectly, that waiving the fee is a suitable alternative to providing a way around the CAPTCHA.

However, I am not so certain as to what the solution is to the HD recorder and menus.  While I don't disagree that we should make progress on this and perhaps 
even try to get ComCast to help, I don't know if it is clear what you want the vice-president to do.  There are some devices that we can apparently control pretty well 
through their network interfaces, and seeing if such a device could be made compatible with ComCast is one possible road.  Maybe others here know of specific 
devices that could be mentioned.

I also don't know that we have ever claimed that every company should provide braille bills.  Again, it isn't clear to me why ComCast should provide one more than 
any other company.  yes, some companies do and many don't.  Would you need the braille bill if the CAPTCHA thing is resolved?  My thought would be to 
concentrate on the first issue with him, and maybe include the second issue with a request that they perhaps assist us to find a solution.  

On Wed, 13 Feb 2008 09:46:27 -0600, Ray Foret jr wrote:

>Hi,

>I would like y'all's input on the following which is a draft of the letter 
>I'm intending to send to Rick Germano, the Vice President of Customer 
>service at Comcast.


>Dear Mr. Germano:

>            I have been a customer of Comcast ever since January 24th, 2008.
>I am a totally blind customer.  I use a screen reader to access my computer.

>For the most part, I have very much enjoyed your service.  The courteous
>attitude of nearly all of your customer service representatives speaks well
>of their love of working for Comcast and of their strong commitment to try
>to help their customers as much as it is in their power to do so.  And yet,
>Mr. Germano, I do have some serious problems with certain aspects of the
>service which Comcast provides to its customers; and, particularly, the lack
>of knowledge of the special accommodations which are sometimes needed by
>blind customers.  This is the case regarding especially two key areas of
>service; the totally inaccessible barrier put up by the use of the visual
>captcha found when a customer signs up for the online bill payment service
>and for Fancast, and the other is the lack of a convenient way to access the
>menu structure of the cable set top boxes and DVR units you provide.

>            Let me give you specific examples of exactly what I mean.  I
>went to:

>www.comcast.com

>to try to set up my online bill payment account.  I was able to fill out the
>form for the most part, until I got to the bottom of the form.  At the point
>in the form just before the "submit" button, there was the instruction,
>"please type in the numbers you see in the image.".  It is not possible for
>screen reader programs such as the one I use to access and read the numbers
>or special characters indicated; moreover, neither was there an audio
>alternative which I could have used.  I called and requested a special pin
>to try to resolve this issue.  I got the pin in the mail but it didn't work.
>I then called customer service.  The lady who answered the phone was very
>nice and she too tried to fill out the form using the information I'd given
>her; but, she couldn't make it work either.  Upon consulting her supervisor,
>she was informed (and she thus informed me) that customer service
>representatives are NOT supposed to fill out those web forms because it
>opens up liability issues which could potentially compromise security.  I
>then asked about paying my bill via telephone.  I was informed there is a
>$4.00 (Four dollar) charge for this service.  Mr. Germano, this is
>unacceptable!  This practice and policy on the part of Comcast eeffectively
>shuts out the blind customer from being able to independently pay bills and
>otherwise transact business with your company!!!  Why should the blind
>customer be charged a fee and thus be penalized merely due to blindness and
>inexcusable oversight on the part of Comcast policy makers who most likely
>haven't taken us blind customers in to account?  It is not just this matter
>which I wish to communicate to you.  There is another.

>            I have the Hi Definition DVR.  When I first got it, I was unable
>to get any customer service representative to assist me with the
>properoperation of the DVR.  To his credit, the representative scheduled an
>installer to come to my home for the purpose of helping me learn the menu
>structure of the box.  This memorize and press routine is, however, very
>much a hit and miss solution.  IF a wrong key is pressed, how does a blind
>customer know where he is and thus how to navigate to where he needs to be
>to find the menu item in which he is interested?  For a second time, I
>needed help.  For a second time, I was offered the solution of an installer
>to come to my home to help.  Mr. Germano, I do not think it is an acceptable
>solution that an installer should have to come to the home of a blind
>customer to get him or her out of a jam with a cable box menu structure;
>especially when he may have much more important calls to make; whether they
>are installation or trouble shooting calls.

>            Finally, Mr. Germano, I asked for my Comcast bill to be sent to
>me in Braille.  The customer service representative indicated that he didn't
>even know if this was possible or not.  He told me this after I waited
>nearly two hours on the phone.  I am informed this is in fact possible.

>Mr. Germano, I would like to remind you, or make you aware in case you 
>hadn't
>heard, that the National Federation of the blind:

>www.nfb.org

>passed two resolutions at our 2007 national convention which deal very
>directly with the issues I have raised.  If you have any questions, please
>feel free to contact me at my home number:

>(985)360-3375

>or my e-mail:

>rforetjr at comcast.net

>or Dr. Maurer, President of the National federation of the blind:

>(410)659-9314

>or by e-mail:

>officeofthepresident at nfb.org

>Here are the text of the relrelevant resolutions we passed regarding the
>issues I raised:

>RESOLUTION 2007-07

>Regarding Elimination of Barriers Created by Online Security Measures

>WHEREAS, an ever-increasing number of financial transactions are taking
>place online, including bill paying, stock trading, account management, and
>the

>purchase of almost every imaginable kind of merchandise; and

>WHEREAS, the vast sums of money now moving over the Internet tempt the
>unscrupulous to develop schemes and scams to steal this money as Internet
>users are

>painfully aware from the all too familiar emails pretending to be from
>various banks and institutions, which are not actually sent by them; and

>WHEREAS, online merchants, financial institutions, and others recognize the
>growth potential of the Web, but also realize that this growth will be
>thwarted

>if individuals are concerned about the security of their transactions; and

>WHEREAS, for security reasons banks are rapidly adopting systems using the
>method known as "visual CAPTCHA" because so far it cannot be circumvented by

>computerized means, but requires a human to enter numbers displayed on a
>screen; and

>WHEREAS, visual CAPTCHA is impossible for blind people to use, and online
>entities are developing yet other systems, also impossible for blind people
>to

>use, such as credit and debit cards whose security numbers change visibly in
>accordance with a particular pattern; and

>WHEREAS, all these security systems to eliminate fraud may also eliminate
>blind people from engaging in financial transactions online; and

>WHEREAS, security systems that prevent fraud and do not prevent blind users
>are achievable and should be mandated by our country's laws requiring access

>for the disabled: Now, therefore,

>BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention
>assembled this sixth day of July, 2007, in the city of Atlanta, Georgia,
>that this

>organization call upon online merchants to find solutions that enhance
>security but do not block the access of blind users to these extremely
>important

>online services; and

>BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization seek congressional or
>regulatory solutions to this access barrier if online merchants choose to
>protect security

>only by closing out blind Americans.

>RESOLUTION 2007-16

>Regarding the Inaccessibility of Digital Cable Services

>WHEREAS, cable television companies such as Comcast, Time Warner, Mediacom,
>and others are offering a growing number of digitally based and interactive

>services through their networks such as video on demand; digital video
>recording and playback; and on-screen, interactive program guides; and

>WHEREAS, none of these services can be used without the ability visually to
>read menus and prompts that are displayed on the television screen, thus
>rendering

>them inaccessible to the blind; and

>WHEREAS, given that technologies now exist to make computers, cell phones,
>and other electronic devices fully accessible to the blind, and given that
>synthesized

>speech is now available for hand-held devices, this regrettable lack of
>nonvisual access is difficult to understand, let alone accept; and

>WHEREAS, blind cable customers pay as much as everybody else for the cable
>services they receive, even though some of these services are not fully
>available

>to them: Now, therefore,

>BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention
>assembled this sixth day of July, 2007, in the city of Atlanta, Georgia,
>that this

>organization call upon cable companies such as Comcast, Time Warner,
>Mediacom, and others to take immediate steps to remove the nonvisual access
>barriers

>they have created for their blind customers through the adoption of
>digitally based, interactive services; and

>BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization urge these same companies to
>work with the blind themselves, through the National Federation of the
>Blind,

>to design, develop, and implement specific solutions that will allow their
>blind customers to use the same digitally based, interactive services as
>their

>sighted peers.

>Mr. Germano, I strongly urge you to take my letter with the utmost
>seriousness and to work with me and your other blind customers and the NFB
>to find resolutions to these issues.  Thank you very much.

>That is the end of the letter.  Thoughts?

>Note, my e-mail signature will not appear in the text of the letter.


>Sincerely yours,
>The Constantly Barefooted,
>Ray
>Home phone and fax:
>(985)360-3375
>E-mail:
>rforetjratcomcastdotnet
>Skype Name:
>barefootedray

>God bless President George W. Bush!
>God bless our troops!
>and God bless America

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