Over the years we've featured some stories about crappy customer service, so I thought I'd relay an example of one company who's taking a different approach - Comcast.

My friend and business partner, CC Chapman, recently got a big-ass HDTV (obviously paying him too much), but the picture quality was never quite what he imagined. During the Celtics game the other night, he used Twitter to vent his frustration:

@Comcast - Why is it that on any HD channel I get a line across the top of the picture? REALLY noticeable with sports.

If you're not familiar with Twitter, think of it as a public Instant Messenger stream, where people write short 140 character blog posts. Apparently, Comcast must have been paying attention because, within minutes Frank Eliason at Comcast had messaged him back:

OK, no big deal really. But the fun started the day after. According to CC:

This morning I got a call from their service center. This afternoon someone came out. Now my HDTV rocks! THAT my friends is customer service and how it should work all the time.

I completely agree. I'm not about to believe that Comcast as a whole is faultless because of this one example, but at least it's a move in the right direction. You can read the story here, or listen to it on CC's excellent marketing podcast, Managing The Gray. And check out Comcast's Customer Outreach Twitter account - they really do seem to be on the ball here. Not that it's gonna make me give up my DirecTV and Verizon FiOS :)