Comcast, still one of the most-hated companies in America, just announced what it calls a “multi-year plan to reinvent the customer experience and to create a culture focused on exceeding customers’ expectations.”

Part of this initiative involves creating more than 5,500 new customer service positions. The company says it’s building three new customer support centers in Albuquerque, Spokane, and Tucson.

“This transformation is about shifting our mindset to be completely focused on the customer. It’s about respecting their time, being more proactive, doing what’s right, and never being satisfied with good enough,” said Neil Smit, President and CEO, Comcast Cable. “We’re on a mission and everyone is committed to making this happen.”

Comcast is also pledging to give you money if it’s late for an appointment. Comcast already operates a two-hour window guarantee, but now if its technicians fail to arrive in that timeframe the company will credit you $20.

Last year, Comcast began testing a tool that lets customers track the location of their technician via an app. And just a few weeks ago, it announced it was hiring more social media reps to help with customer issues.

Comcast knows it’s despised among a large swath of customers, and it knows that its customer service record is a large part of why. Not only is canceling your service a nightmare (as we’ve seen in multiple high-profile incidents), but various Comcast customers have been degraded with obscene “nicknames” appearing on their bills. Has Comcast called you a “Super Bitch” or “Asshole Brown” – because some people have.

Earlier this year, Smit said that he expects customer service “will soon be one of our best products.”

Hiring more customer service reps is nice, but I guess you have to make sure they know that calling customers bitches isn’t great for business.

Image via Wikimedia Commons