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

Wed Feb 13 21:29:56 CST 2008

Hi Ray!

I like your letter very much.
It is polite and to the point!

I would go ahead and send it.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ray Foret jr" <rforetjr at comcast.net>
To: "BlintTalk" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>; "Electronics Talk" 
<electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>; "NFB Talk" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 9:46 AM
Subject: [nfb-talk] letter from a blind Comcast customer; feedback wanted

> 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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