The 12 Biggest Customer Service Failures of the Year

At 247WallStreet.com, Charles B. Stockdale tallies up the dozen retailers that suffered the biggest declines in customer service rankings in 2011. 

It's a pretty interesting list, including some companies that are actually customer service winners with plenty of room to spare: Amazon's rating, which Stockdale derives from the American Customer Satisfaction Index, went down 1.1 percent, but the online bookseller started by hero of freedom Jeff Bezos still has the highest score among all e-commerce and retail trade companies.

There are also a few expected basement dwellers (such as CVS, which in my experience offers a shopping experience even less pleasant than Rite-Aid's); both Wals (-green and –Mart); one company whose ranking may only be dropping because more people are shopping there and absorbing the low-rent ambience (Dollar General, which I'd doubt anybody ever patronized for the friendly service and about which Stockdale concedes "[C]ustomer satisfaction concerns have done little to slow sales"); most of an entire sector (Office Depot and Staples, which together make up the majority of the U.S. office supplies market, clocking in at number 8 and number 7 respectively);  and at Number One by a wide distance, our era's greatest cautionary tale of customer service gone wrong: 

12. Amazon.com
11. Charles Schwab
10. Winn-Dixie
9. CVS Caremark
8. Office Depot
7. Staples
6. Dollar General
5. Expedia
4. Walgreen
3. Barnes & Noble
2. Walmart
1. Netflix

Full story, with comments. Any such list that doesn't include Time Warner Cable and every broadband/telecom company in the solar system should be viewed with suspicion. But again, this is just a list of 2011's biggest decliners, not the worst of the worst. 

Who else sucks? Should Reason's server squirrels be on the list? Bellyache in the comments. (And if you like our service, tell a friend!)

Comments

[Fernando]

I'm still pissed at Apple.
No western corporation moves operations to Third World countries for the purpose of bettering the lives of the peasantry there. They did it to profit from the low wages and lax standards. All to boost their own profits. It therefore seems unlikely that Apple would give a rat's ass about the working conditions of people in their Third World sweat shops. Any initiative they take would be mere window dressing to placate the complainers in the west. When they're confident no one is watching, they'll go right back to working people to death. And why not? The workers are only peasants.

[Zombie Jimbo]

Foxconn is probably better than subsistence farming.

[Fat Indian]

Nonsense!

But not for me, of course.

[Episiarch]

Tim, I have to ding Reason's customer service rating for allowing comments as stupid as Fernando's.

[rector]

Hey Episiarch I feel one of my manic episodes coming on strong tonight just warning you man...it's going to be a hell of a spell

[I]

I blame Reason for the rather/rectal spoofs. Not that they are responsible for Warty's painful butthurt.

Threaded comments is not customer service.
Not that we are customers.
In fact, most of us are slugs.
Never mind.

[rather fart in a jar]

Rectal poof right into a number 2 jar. Tight fitting lid and store for later. CH4 for life!

[Ooooh!]

The spoofer has entered his manic stage.

[Fernando]

I see you've bought into the propaganda the corporations have been feeding the public over the past two decades. The products they manufacture would not be out of reach of the average consumer if they were manufactured in the west. It would just mean that the share holders would make less money. When corporations moved their operations overseas, the prices for commodities never dropped--at all. The share holders, and the business executives reaped an enormous windfall that they distributed amongst themselves. Savings were never passed on to the consumer. The implication being that these savings were never meant as a necessary step in keeping commodities affordable for the average western consumer. The savings were simply more money for the rich. And the propaganda was meant to delude the public to ensure we believed that the change was necessary for ourselves.

But it was only a gift for the rich.

Why share wealth with western workers when you can buy some cheap Asian slaves? And if a few commit suicide, well, there's a billion more where that came from...

[I]

I am sure this is an open forum, not that you will not be abused for daring to challenge the collective.

[cw]

Standard liberal boilerplate. What's not to love?

[Ice Nine]

The products they manufacture would not be out of reach of the average consumer if they were manufactured in the west. It would just mean that the share holders would make less money.

Yeah, and making less money for shareholders is of course the raison d'?tre for the existence of corporations. You have some fascinatingly stupid insights into the nature of business. Perhaps you should seek out some Occupy retards in some defiled park somewhere to share them with.

[John Thacker]

It would just mean that the share holders would make less money.

And the peasants, previously the poorest people in the world, would make less money.

Not that you care about the poorest people in the world. They've probably got the wrong skin color or speak the wrong language or were born in the wrong place for you to care about them.

[JW]

What's with you Thacker? The Chinese aren't human. You know that.

Only human beings have value. Specifically, American, loyal Democrat human beings.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Epic trolling

[Suki]

They manufacture in Communist China and get raves in the New York Times about it (both Apple and the Chicoms). Both are run by "the right people". DOES ANYTHING EVER SATISFY YOU PEOPLE?

[Ted S.]

I have to complain because H&R is a consistent browser memory hog to a much greater extent than almost any other website I can think of.

[John Thacker]

No western corporation moves operations to Third World countries for the purpose of bettering the lives of the peasantry there. They did it to profit from the low wages and lax standards.

Sure, they don't do it for that purpose. However, they manage to achieve more bettering of the lives of the peasantry there than you and all your friends will ever do. In fact, your possibly high minded complaints will actively make those peasants worse off. To quote Adam Smith:

"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own neccessities but of their advantages."

[Suki]

How can their lives possibly be bettered than the betterment Mao delivered?

[The Left]

50 million dead chinks. What's not to love.

[Amakudari]

No western corporation moves operations to Third World countries for the purpose of bettering the lives of the peasantry there.

No company moves anything anywhere to better anyone's anything. They did it for lower labor and supply chain costs.

And uh, pretty much all tech manufacturers are doing the same thing. Many of them at worse places. Apple's the most visible, but let's not pretend Dell, HP, Nokia, Sony, Microsoft, etc. don't contract with Foxconn (or often, lesser known and less scrutinized suppliers). The only way you could come to the conclusion that only one of the above is immoral by your standards is by taking the New York Times at face value.

[Fernando]

This situation is really the product of our instant gratification society. We prefer quantity over quality, and we go for the lowest price without any care as to where or how the products we buy are made. Unless we change our consumer culture, more of this is going to go on.

[JW]

He's right. Things were much better when everything cost more, was far less plentiful and the proles didn't have any significant material wealth.

Fuckin' proles. Getting all high and mighty with their smartphones and sneakers, thinking they're as good he is.

[protefeed]

Hey!

[JW]

What? You're not a prole any more.

[Brandon]

You didn't address any of the arguments, you just repeated the next line of boilerplate. Can you even read?

[EDG reppin' LBC]

I'm glad you are mindful about the products you buy. I think it is great that you care about where and how the products you purchase are manufactured. However, corporations don't force products on consumers, instead consumers tell corporations what products to produce, with which features, and at what price. In the case of Apple, consumers world wide have told Apple that they want an iPhone with voice activation, an 8MP camera, 1080p HD video, with cross platform media sharing, all for $299 retail.

Many folks here get concerned when you write things like, "Unless we change our consumer culture..." because most often that change is enacted by government force. Well meaning, but misguided people will lobby the US government to impose tariffs, import quotas, and other schemes to nudge Apple into returning manufacturing to the US. These schemes, while making some people feel better and morally superior, ultimately hurt the consumer. My advice to you is, if you want to change consumer behavior, do it by introducing alternative, competing products that reflect your values. Do not get subsidies to produce your product, and let the market (the entire world of consumers) decide which product they want.

The results may surprise you.

[Amakudari]

Hm, feels like a Poe.

[Zombie Jimbo]

No Best Buy? I thought their Christmas preorder fiasco would win them some nastyness.

[Joe M]

Maybe their ratings were already in the tank, such that they couldn't decline much more.

[R]

I don't know if it was part of the pre-order fiasco, but my sister recently ordered a $1200 flat screen TV on their website, then went to the store to pick it up...only to find that they had sold it to someone else.

Fuck Best Buy.

[R]

Oh, and they absolutely refused to replace it with the same model. Instead, they wanted her to buy a model that cost $200 more and wasn't as good. Guess where she didn't buy her new TV?

[D?nadan]

Yeah, Best Buy blew in, did great for a while, then got lax here until they got their asses handed to them by HHGregg. Now they've shaped up for the most part. I'm not looking to support a charity when I buy a computer, I expect a better product and a better deal or I go to the other guy.

[Fluffy]

I'm late to this party, but I have to second the Fuck Best Buy sentiment.

Best Buy trains its employees to knowingly sell you nearly valueless extended warranties and grossly overpriced peripherals and wires that don't improve core product performance at all.

And hey, caveat emptor is the libertarian code and all, so it's OK that they do that. But if we're talking about customer service, it means that every time you have a conversation with a Best Buy employee they are trying to con you and steal from you.

[Suthenboy]

Late here too, but thirding the fuck best buy. My co-worker bought an expensive flat screen, brought it home and plugged it in only to discover the thing wouldnt even come on. She took it back to the store and they refused to replace it, instructing her to send it to the manufacturer for repair. She demanded her money back, but they refused that as well. She used a credit card for the purchase, so she was able to get her money back through the CC company. She 'returned' the TV by stopping her car at the door to the store and shoving the box out of her car onto the sidewalk, then driving away.

I have heard several such stories. I refuse to set foot in the place.

[Russ 2000]

I once asked a Best Buy employee for the spec sheet on an item (I think it was a TV) and he told me to look it up on the internet.

[JW]

No Best Buy?

You'd think they would be on the list every year, by default.

[Tman]

Comcast doesn't make the list?

They have their own circle of hell on Dante's list. It's tucked in between Heresy and Violence I believe.

[Fernando]

Your Comcast complaint will be looked at Thursday between 8 and 1 or Friday between 4 and 7.
If you don't answer on the 3rd ring, you will be given a $20 missed appointment surcharge.

[Episiarch]

Any such list that doesn't include Time Warner Cable and every broadband/telecom company in the solar system should be viewed with suspicion

Tim hits on it. Yes, Comcast is a nightmare, as is any company granted a monopoly by the government.

[Tman]

True, I just feel that Comcast is special in their own way and should deserve an individual mention.

[Amakudari]

I've dealt with Time Warner and foreign telecoms. Comcast has been the worst, and noticeably so. I think it's part of this whole thing where there's little middle ground in California. Things are either much better or much worse than everywhere else. Comcast and the DMV are poster children for the latter.

[Ted S.]

Comcast are pricks for trying to screw other TV providers over with the former Versus, while Cablevision are pricks for what the Dolans did for years to teams that don't play in MSG (the most overrated arena on earth).

I wonder how much of the recent dispute with Time Warner had to do with paying off Anucha Browne Sanders

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Cox Cable ain't bad, all things considered.

But then, anything seems good compare to the 7th level of hell that the old Verizon POTS service inhabits.

[Konfounded Kristen]

In almost 12 years with Cox, I have only had one problem with them (it took three service appointments to finally get the "A Team" to my place to finally fix the problem).

I feel bad for people who have to deal with those other asshole cable companies. Cox is awesome.

[Nooge]

I'm fighting with Comcast right now, and I could cheerfully drive to their offices and cheerfully knock out teeth. They are the worst of the worst. I don't know how they're not on the list.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Uverse has been wonderful for me. When I got it at the beginning of law school it was the only one offering free dvr. The service has only improved since then.

[James Anderson Merritt]

I agree about Comcast. I am paying decent money to them every month for digital HD cable with "On Demand," and I am very tired of two things in particular:

1. On Demand isn't available "On Demand." That is, I frequently see inscrutable error codes on my screen when I try to access OD during prime time. When I call customer service for help, the people are either unhelpful or, at worst, they try to cow me into meek acceptance of my fate with technobabble.

2. Programs -- especially HD versions -- sometimes take days or weeks to be posted on the system after original airdate, and then expire and leave the system far too quickly. Comcast has a limited and rotating smorgassbord of On Demand offerings, instead of offering their customers the steadily, continually growing library of material that we might rightly expect, given their fees.

There's also the "ratchet" game I have played with them for several rounds, now. When my monthly rate gets to a certain point, I find something I can delete from my service to bring it back down to a tolerable level. But within a year or two, I find that it has crept back to that unacceptable level once again, and the cost-cutting cycle must start anew. One might chalk that up to the inexorable ravages of inflation, but after a particular incident a few years ago, I'm not so sure.

I was watching C-SPAN one Saturday in the mid-2000s, and they were showing some conference on the future of Broadband and Cable. The Comcast guy either did not know he would be on national television, or he was too stupid or greedy to care, but he kept speaking in terms of their long term plans involving newer and ever better ways to "extract revenue from households." It was bracing, to be able to "see behind the curtain" via this industry representative's brazen and frank talk. The audience thinks Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock is a parody. Well, yes, but apparently only because the real-life executives are self-parodies that Alec Baldwin mimics to high precision.

[SIV]

Reason provides lousy service by printing pro-tax propaganda by that statist fuck Robert Poole.

[Fernando]

If companies were interested in fair wages, safe working environments, etc. they would have continued operation in the US. Companies move to where there are the fewest regulations. Many of these low wage, no benefit countries are also the ones without environmental regulations. For companies it's a win-win situation but for people and the planet it's lose-lose.

[I]

I think we get it now. Thanks.

[Dave Anthony]

You should put all of your 401k in Solyndra. I on the other hand will be betting on Apple.

[Sevo]

Solyndra put "people before profits"!
And they're out of business.
I think the "people" includes Obama and, well, Obama's supporters.

[Paul]

Companies move to where there are the fewest regulations.

Funny that.

[Jeffersonian]

Weren't we just told be shriek that this is a christfag GOP red herring?

[Suki]

But they moved to the Workers Socialist Utopia of Communist China. You know, where business is kept under the watchful boot of Maoists. Are you saying that a government run by The Workers is not as fair to The Workers as the USA?

[Cytotoxic]

Ah a liberal favorite: "fair". Means what you want when you want it! Insinuate total bullshit with zero repercussion from bovine idiots. Accept no substitute (except your own hidden meaning).

[sounds real good]

Fernando, you are smooth.

[Joe M]

All cable companies suck, as a rule, since they have regional monopolies. My personal experience with Amazon has been blissful, I'd like to report. Almost never have any issues, and the few times I have, they've been extremely helpful. Even with third party sellers, I've had good results, as the merchants are desperate to maintain their reputations. I've gotten at least one free video game because it was listed as "new", but was opened and had already been registered at the company's website.

[sloopyinca]

How the fuck did Seattle Police Department not make the list?

Maybe it was because too many people polled in 2010 weren't alive to poll in 2011 due to lead poisoning.

[Episiarch]

SPD doesn't have customers, dude. Just victims.

[I]

I think it's because police departments are not businesses, and because we are not their customers.

Just a guess.

[Paul]

Maybe it was because too many people polled in 2010 weren't alive to poll in 2011 due to lead poisoning.

I'm still alive! for now...

[Hugh Akston]

It's just that sort of criminal activity that gets your skull caved in by the butt of a Maglite.

[COXSWAIN HARDY]

Comcast sucks. I don't care if that's already been mentioned. Every Reason article should mention that Comcast sucks.

[Zombie Jimbo]

And Fried Chicken, all Reason articles should mention Fried Chicken

[el Commentariosa]

and we should win stuff just for reading.

[Hugh Akston]

Reason should stop outsourcing its content creation to developing countries where minimum wage, health and safety, and environmental laws are absent. If Reason really cared about America they would put American writers to work instead of paying pennies a post for factory content written by slaves in Asia.

Clearly Reason cares more about profits and pleasing its stockholders than the working conditions of the people who churn out these mass-market blog posts, to say nothing of the environmental impact of Tim Cavanaugh's toxic, leaden prose.

[Episiarch]

Most people don't know that "Tim Cavanaugh" is just a pen name. His real name is Martino Estevez and he lives in Chihuahua.

"Lucy Steigerwald" is actually Li Pho Huk, and writes from Ho Chi Minh City. And is a dude.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Hehehe! 😀

[WarrenT]

But still a Yinzer, oddly enough.

[Paul]

Tim Cavanaugh's toxic, leaden prose.

There's nothing leaden about it!

[Suki]

Fact Check: TC did get busted using Chinese electrons stripped from lead atoms.

[JW]

Comcast sucks.

I smell a new handle coming on.

[John Thacker]

Netflix's problem was mostly having to finally admit the inevitable. They of course had the farthest to fall, because they had been selling an unsustainable dream.

[Hugh Akston]

I think Netflix could have made a go of it if they had phased in price increases gradually. It's not like there are a ton of alternatives after they killed off Hollywood and Blockbuster.

But now Netflix is stuck in a bad place between charging too much for DVD rentals, and not having the streaming content that people want to pay for.

[Umbriel]

They're also starting to suffer from a drop-off in quality -- i.e., DVDs becoming unwatchably scratched-up over time, and a number of weird problems with streaming (audio/video syncing problems, skipping, movies that just stop). We'd just started to experience those gripes and dropped them entirely not long before the "Qwikster" fiasco.

[Cytotoxic]

I'm glad to pay for even their somewhat limited streaming stuff. I think it's a great value!

[Jeffersonian]

They pulled the trigger far too soon on the streaming-only. The titles available on that service were very limited. I would have happily gone with it had I been able to stream something newer than Molly Ringwald flicks.

[Konfounded Kristen]

I've only been with Netflix for a very short time (maybe a month), and I'm about 1/2 way through my instant queue with no new additions in the last 2 weeks. So yeah, once I'm through my current queue it's sayonara.

[jeff]

tmobile /thread

[el Commentariosa]

*ahem*

[JW]

She's a tad too skinny for me, not that I'd kick her out.

[Hugh Akston]

The only experience I have had that qualifies as bad customer service is the lack of merchandising. Target, Best Buy, Fry's, Macy's etc etc.

These places look like war zones an hour after they open and they wonder why they are losing market share to the internet.

[Paul]

These places look like war zones an hour after they open and they wonder why they are losing market share to the internet.

If those places look like war zones, then Value Village is the Zombie Apocalypse.

[Colonel_Angus]

Meijer is Life After Humans- 150 years after humans. With humans that look like they were in or are about to go to the Star Wars bar.

[Priestess]

TRUE!!

[Whamodyne]

At my Sears (I sell tools) I'm going in tomorrow on my day off for extra hours to clean up the place, dust and wipe down the display models, etc.

Yeah, it's a problem but a good store will keep up.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

On the other end of the spectrum, here are a few businesses that I felt offered superior customer service to me in 2011 (randomly ordered):
1. Forever 21
2. Bev Mo
3. Five Guys Burgers
4. DirecTV
5. Sprouts
6. Santa Monica Seafood Co.
7. Amazon
8. Jet Blue
9. JW Marriott

I have had consistently pleasant interactions with these companies employees especially Sprouts, JW Marriott and Five Guys.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

mmmmmmm Five Guys...... burger sounds good....

[Xenocles]

I bet you both love having Five Guys in your mouth... not that there's anything wrong with that.

[Dave Anthony]

I've got one instance of unexpected pleasant customer service: TSA employees at the Charlottesville, VA airport. They are always friendly and always helpful and on the plus side, they don't have any machines to eye-rape you with cancer rays.

On the downside: every other airport's TSA employees. Especially Washington Dulles (UGH).

[Xenocles]

Dulles isn't so bad. At LAX they station someone to walk next to the line and guide people to stand in the nude scanner line under the guise of trying to even out the lines.

[Timon19]

Akron-Canton and Tucson Intl. are both great, TSA-wise. They're both pretty small, but well kept and maintained, and very convenient.

[Kibby]

I flipping love our airport in Tucson! It's fast, easy & I don't feel like I'm being raped when I have to fly somewhere.

[Konfounded Kristen]

I've had decent experiences with TSA at DCA, especially given my rape scan opt-out. I usually have a nice chats with the young ladies as they're feeling me up. That being said, TSA as an organization is pure evil, even if some of its individual employees are nice.

[Colonel_Angus]

Five Guys is a fad just like Buffalo Wild Wings was. I've had better hamburg steak sandwiches from divier places. I think McDonald's or Burger King is even better than Five Guys.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Maybe true. But I was praising them for their customer service. The two spots I go to regularly (Long Beach and Cerritos) have really great employees, and superb customer service. The only other one I went to was in Indianapolis, and they were spot-on with customer service as well.

[Hugh Akston]

I've never been to Five Guys, but In n' Out has pretty uniformly good customer service, not to mention excellent burgers.

[A Serious Man]

Five Guys Cerritos was routinely good (I had friends from high school that worked there). But In'N'Out is still the best fast food place in the state of California. Never had a bad experience there, drive thru or diner.

[Hugh Akston]

I seriously don't know how they get high school kids to be so helpful and energetic.

[A Serious Man]

They aren't unionized and offer great pay so they attract the best workers.

[Kibby]

I was bummed when they told me I was overqualified for a summer job there. Stupid banking experience.

[Clich? Bandit]

STEAK & SHAKE FTW!!!

[Untermensch]

After they finally decided to accept something other than cash. It was around 2008 when they realized that the 19th century was over.

[Fluffy]

You lie!

BTW, to the board in general: I only had In n'Out once, and did not understand what the big deal was.

[ChrisO]

McDonald's and Burger King aren't even in the same universe as Five Guys. My favorite burger chain by far.

[db]

Hilton hotels are usually tops in service. They really know how to do a good user experience. I've stayed in some awesome ones.

I have to give it to Staybridge Suites (Choice Hotels Group, not Hilton) for a good customer experience as well.

[Xenocles]

The LAX Hilton was great except for the expensive wi-fi that didn't work for half of my stay and the smoke detector that decided to switch into test mode at midnight. Also the fact that I had to park seven levels underground and that it's horribly overpriced. I guess the pool area was okay.

[Doktor Kapitalism]

Consider, though, that that's in an *air port*...

[db]

That is a major complaint of mine with Hilton--that you have to pay extra for wifi/wired internet. If I can get free internet access at pretty much every other hotel chain, why should I accept a $10/ day charge from them?

[SIV]

Staybridge is pretty good. You get the "amenities" of an extended stay with daily housekeeping and everything else that comes with a regular hotel except the ice machine.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Oops! All this love for Five Guys, and I totally forgot to give In-N-Out props for customer service. What a great customer experience, every time. Great company.

[robc]

The Five Guys in southern Indiana just closed. Why they opened north of the river instead of in Louisville proper I cant fathom.

It just seems odd that a Five Guys could fail.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Where is the US Federal Government on this list?

[R]

It occupies the 0th position.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Russell Peters on zero.

[Nooge]

Ah, the serfs have learned not to complain too loudly, lest armed thugs decide they smell burning marijuana.

[Brandon]

Its service couldn't really decline at all, so it's not eligible for this list.

[WarrenT]

My complaint is with High Speed Rail Inc.

It's literally been decades now. Where are my trains? Why is it not possible for me to cross the continent at somewhere between 80-100 MPH (average per trip)?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I encourage you to go to China and enjoy the HSR as only the Chinese bureaucracy could make it.

[WarrenT]

Goddamn chinks, stealing our HSR!

[Pythagoran]

You can go a lot faster than that: they're called planes and somebody should remind HSR-lovers of their existence.

[Nooge]

The manager at the CVS down the road from me is a woman so unpleasantly hostile that I drive five more miles down the road if I need to hit a drugstore. She berates the employees in front of customers, talks to customers as if they should be groveling for the privilege of being in her store, and generally acts as if the world's spikiest pineapple is lodged deeply in her twat. Damn, I hate that store. I thought she was going to kill me when I refused a CVS card (which only required me to provide my address, phone number, e-mail address, DNA sample, etc.).

[JW]

I refused a CVS card

Dude. You need to provide none of that. They handed me an application with card attached. I handed them back a blank application, sans card.

The card still works.

[Nooge]

She wouldn't give me the card until I'd filled out the form, and I was in a hurry and didn't feel like making shit up(which is what I usually do). Nasty woman, like I said.

[Russ 2000]

Rule #1: if they require a loyalty card for sale prices I never go there ever again.

[Tulpa]

One wonders how in the world CVS and Rite Aid and the like stay in business. What precisely is their role in the market at this point? I seriously don't know. They're dallying in the no-mans land between convenience store and grocery store.

[Timon19]

They probably live on prescriptions, though the grocery stores are hitting that market hard, too.

[Fluffy]

I forgive CVS for their bad customer service, because I am not their customer as much as I am their adversary.

Every time I am in a CVS my wife has provided multi-page printed instructions, cards, extrabucks, coupons, etc. and if I follow them precisely (like Indiana Jones trying to get the Holy Grail) I walk out of CVS with a cartload of free stuff.

It has to be very tedious to deal with a parade of guys like me, demanding that you split their items into four transactions, demanding that you take coupons in the correct order, etc. Every third or fourth customer the girls at CVS help is acting like fucking Rain Man because of the CVS blogs. That's got to wear you down. I can understand how they might get snippy.

[ChrisO]

The best thing the nearest CVS to me did was install self-service checkout. Made the experience much more pleasant.

[Warty]

Who else sucks? Should Reason's server squirrels be on the list?

It's not you that sucks, per se.

[Hazel Meade]

The Netflix debacle is easily #1 by a mile.

As a long-time Netflix subscriber, I feel as if the CEO is trying to systematically destroy any value the service has to me as a customer.

1. The whole advantage Netflix has over it's competition is the largest film database of any video rental outfit, anywhere, by an order of magnitude. If you can't get it streaming, you can get it on DVD, end of story. Why split that into a DVD-only database, and a (much smaller) streaming one? What the fuck is wrong with you? Are you a complete fucking moron?

2. The obvious problem of pricing all streaming content the same leads to an adverse selection problem. Studios hold onto the good stuff hoping someone will still rent or buy the DVD. Netflix needs a tiered "premium content" pricing scheme, where you pay extra for top-rated film releases, and reserve the low $9/month streaming for the TV shows and crap.

However, instead of doing this, they are focusing on adding TV shows. Netflix is a great place to go to watch back episodes of Mad Men, but if you want to watch a decent film, you're shit out of luck. On top of this they are losing the Criterion Collection AND Starz. They ought to be focusing on preserving the value of a large film database and keeping premium content.

Instead, Netflix has decided to venture into making it's own TV shows. WTF? No, really WHAT THE FUCK?
WHAT FUCKING MORON IS RUNNING THIS COMPANY?

[WarrenT]

Tony?

[Hazel Meade]

3. Instead of buying out IMDB and turning it's awesome film database into an all-encompassing movies and social media site, they have actually been REMOVING social-media like features from their website, and moving AWAY from making films searchable by things like director and writer.

Their latest revision makes Netflix less like IMDB and more like a bad version of Pandora - a directed content delivery mechanism. Instead of being able to find what you WANT, they just try to funnel cheap crappy content they got from the studios (cause the studios won't give them anything decent) in your direction. It's like Pandora if you removed all the content from every artist who ever got a grammy, and replaced it with crap the studios need to unload to clear their balance sheets.

[Episiarch]

Their website is admittedly terrible at helping you find a movie to watch when you want to watch a movie but don't have anything specific in mind.

As for the premium movie content, the studios are asking a lot more for it than they used to, forcing Netflix's hand. They had to do something, but what they did was stupid.

[nicole]

Hazel, this is so true that it pains me to read your comment. My poor, poor Netflix, what will I do when you become completely horrible?

[Hazel Meade]

Yes, I remember back in the day people would say "Netflix is awesome, you can rent ANYTHING! Any movie ever put on DVD!"
That was it's entire appeal. it was a film buff's dream. You could fill your queue entirely with film noir and watch them sequentially in the order in which they were made.

The people running the company today don't seem to realize the commercial value of that.

[Russ 2000]

Agree 99%.

I can forego the streaming, Amazon's is better anyway. The problem is their DVD selection keeps getting worse. Redbox is eating their lunch on new releases and there are so many DVD's in my list that suddenly become "unavailable" partly because they want to reduce inventory on low-renting items and partly because some stuff is long out of print and they can't replace broken copies.

SOME of Netlfix's problem is due to studios trying to extract more money - in order to do that Netflix would have to change their business model. So they are in a bind between keeping their customers happy and keeping their vendor relationships. Other outfits like Amazon, Hulu, and Redbox are willing to meet the demands of their vendors (seems backasswards, doesn't it?) and this puts Netflix in a bad position trying to maintain a hard line.

[Tulpa]

Actium Maximus was awesome.

[Ted S.]

Don't get me started on IMDb.

I had a problem some time back when they changed they way they showed their "born on such-and-such date" lists so that instead of having the entire list, they would have 50 (I think) on one page and you'd have to click through a bunch of pages to get to people in the middle. Plus there was the bloat of the folks' pictures.

I wanted to ask on their boards how to change back to the old way, but even though I was logged in, IMDb either wanted the credit card number that goes with my Amazon account, or my cell-phone number so they could send me a confirmation text message.

Bullshit.

[ChrisO]

I still just get DVDs from them and haven't had any problems with Netflix. But then, I've used it probably 70% to catch up on TV series. I'd rather get it from Netflix than pay Comcast through the nose for premium channels.

[Dave Anthony]

It's an accounting problem. They have to be able to isolate the streaming revenue so they can bribe the content companies to get on board. That's where the future exists. Sending round plastic things through the mail when everyone has an interwebz connection that is fast enough to stream HD content is insanely out-dated. Unfortunately there is going to be a sad adjustment period while we wait for the studios to hem and haw while their old business model of selling plastic discs dries up. Remember when you couldn't buy digital music legally?

[Hazel Meade]

Yup. That's the period we're in. Trying to prevent the transition from DVD/Blu-ray to streaming.

[Amakudari]

And RIAA still doesn't get it. It took ten years alone to figure out that people download music not just because it's free but also because it's convenient; it's better than going to a store and looking for a CD that may or may not be there, then getting home and having the DRM install a rootkit. A zero-cost content distribution model emerges and they put all of their energy into shutting it down. Stupid.

It will be a long time before film companies change, and maybe a generation before the TV industry is forced to change.

[JW]

Actually, the RIAA finally got it, since you can download tons of DRM-less music. Amazon is always my go-to for music.

It's the MPAA that still has its head shoved firmly and completely into its ass.

"What? You want to take a DVD that you bought and paid for and make a copy to put on your tablet? Should we just start taking all of your possessions now or should we wait for the police to arrive and let them beat the living shit out of you?"

[Amakudari]

After the SOPA/PIPA fiasco, I doubt they got it. If they had their wish they'd have completely dismantled several critical parts of the web and due process. They were forced to accept downloading by massive piracy, but they don't like it and don't want to change their business models.

[JW]

To be sure. But, to be fair, they were hardly alone in that desire to snuff out "pirated" files.

Fuck the MPAA and the NAB. Rent seeking bitches.

[Amakudari]

No doubt.

It's always amazing to me when you hear about management like this. Since we're on the subject of Apple, it's like when Xerox gave away the research they did on graphical user interfaces at the command of management (I hope they sold Apple some nice copiers, though). And if Apple hadn't aped a GUI, Xerox also gave away research on object-oriented programming and the intranet that same day. How people who are that allergic to technology wind up making decisions is beyond me.

[Tulpa]

RIAA has acquiesced to iTunes and Amazon MP3, but they'll never accept P2P. Not only because of the piracy but because it offers a basically free distribution method to artists, rendering the RIAA moot.

"Half the world is middlemen and they don't take kindly to being cut out"

[Hazel Meade]

I don't know if they "got it" so much as anyone who didn't do music downloads went bankrupt.

And Apple saved their ass with the iPod.

Personally, I think it's a temporary holding pattern. People still steal tons of music, it's just that the recording industry has learned to shut up and take what measly income they get from iTunes and like it.

The movie studios will eventually get used to making their money vie some sort of paid streaming service, but their just shooting themselves in the face by trying to shut down Netflix in favor of DVDs.

Seriously, the reality is that if people can't get a movie on Netflix, they will download a DVD-RIP, rather than try to purchase a physical DVD. So the studios are destroying the one content delivery model that offers them a puny income , instead of the zero they will get when everyone stops buying disks.

They should be kissing Netflix's ass, like it belonged to Steve Jobs, but instead they're trying to kill them off.

[JW]

They should be kissing Netflix's ass, like it belonged to Steve Jobs, but instead they're trying to kill them off.

They do that to every new technology that they perceive as a threat to their miserable business model. See: TV, the VCR, etc.

It's like they're staffed by troglodytes who can only gruffly sniff at technology, become angry when it doesn't do its part to bring food to the clan and then brutally club it to pieces in a howling and grunting frenzy.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Nice simile. Extended imagery.

[Tulpa]

when everyone has an interwebz connection that is fast enough to stream HD content

Yeah, libertarians aren't out of touch with the common man at all. WTF?

I must say I'm kind of uncomfortable with streaming everything...very 1984ish. Quite conducive to centralization, don't you think?

[Cytotoxic]

No.

[Ted S.]

I don't have a fast enough connection to stream. At least, not video.

And I've got download limits, being on satellite internet out here in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully they have an overnight period where you can download to your heart's content, and since that runs to 7AM and I'm usually up around 6:30 at the latest, that's enough time to download all the various international broadcasters I want to listen to for the day.

[JW]

What Cytoxic said.

Streaming is fucking amazing. If I want to watch something that isn't "scheduled," or I don't like what is on already (which is 85% of the time), I can fire up Netflix and watch at my leisure.

Everything in life should be the bloody easy. If only the Morlocks at the movie studios could get a brain, it would be even better.

[Hazel Meade]

Well, yeah, except your selection is limited to television shows, made-for-tv, and whatever other shit the studios can't sell or rent on DVD.

If you look on Netflix, you'll frequently notice things like the fact that Babe 2: Pig in the City is available on streaming, but Babe is not. The only reason for that is that the studios won't license it because they think there is still money to be made elsewhere.

[JW]

Oh, it's far from perfect. There are shows and movies that I can't get streaming at all.

So, I go to Amazon the 1 or 2 times a month I want to watch something that isn't streamed on Netflix. I tend towards TV shows right now, because it's only a 42 minute commitment.

[Hazel Meade]

I tend towards TV shows because that's the only quality content you can actually get streaming.

When it comes to film, in fact very few movies are available. I think they have been removing content rather than adding it.
And the disparity is obvious. You'll see things like all the sequels to Planet of the Apes being available for streaming, but not the original Planet of the Apes. This infects even film buff stuff like old film noir. Go do a comparisom between the IMDB top lists in any genre category and the netflix streaming genre lists. You'll find that Netflix has effectively been scoured ofalmost all the top rated content in every genre category. Every once in a while, you'll see something pop up that's an original film when someone is about to release a remake.

[Konfounded Kristen]

I can't even get old episodes of The Tom Green Show streaming. The Tom Fucking Green show, from 15 years ago on Canadian cable access. No streaming. I can't figure out what the game is with that, because there's no way in hell they're selling all that many DVDs.

[Tulpa]

I didn't say it doesn't make things easier.

I said it was creepy and conducive to centralization, and a cession of control to the provider. Many of the intrusions into liberty that we decry daily started out as "making things easier".

[JW]

Easy now, Eeyore. The movies come out of 4 or 5 studios. That's a lot more centralized than the distribution channels. There are fewer than 12 car companies. Is that centralized?

There is massive competition in the streaming industry right now. Not all players will survive, but that's still not centralization by any definition.

[Tulpa]

The movies come out of 4 or 5 studios.

?????????

Indie filmmakers don't count?
This is precisely the mindset the big business villains -- who libertarians frequently ignore or make excuses for -- want us to take.

There is massive competition in the streaming industry right now. Not all players will survive, but that's still not centralization by any definition.

There is always competition when a new business model or technology first emerges. Look at the mobile phone industry (or the auto industry). After a time, the tech matures and the market stops expanding, and the players gobble each other up like a school of piranhas on steroids. If it weren't for last year's DOJ intervention in the ATT-TM merger, there would probably be only two national mobile phone networks now (with Sprint going kaput or selling out to one of the two giants).

The studios can't control Netflix mailing DVDs around. They can control what they stream. As in, "We would really love to let you stream that Tom Cruise blockbuster from last summer, but you keep helping our indie competitors by streaming their stuff which we don't get a cut of. Can we not come to an agreement?"

[JW]

This is precisely the mindset the big business villains -- who libertarians frequently ignore or make excuses for -- want us to take.

Who is defending the studios? We're talking about distribution channels.

Can centralization of distribution be abused? Sure. It already happened in music and that issue was resolved in favor of consumers without any action by the gubment. I never bought any of Apple's crippled music, I bought and ripped used discs, and the RIAA finally got smart when they realized how piracy was a cost of doing business, not to mention a market signal. I now buy all my music on Amazon and I can do whatever the hell I want with it. I haven't seen a used CD in years.

The fact remains that streaming isn't a bad deal for the consumer, as it stands now. And I still buy DVDs for my own collection, which I could easily rip if I weren't so damn cheap.

[Fatty Bolger]

Streaming is a great development for indie producers. Forget the struggle to get your movie into a handful of theaters, or on a retail shelf here & there. Instant access to tens of millions of customers is far better.

[Tulpa]

Once streaming consolidates that's not going to be the case anymore.

[Dave Anthony]

I live in a relatively small city with a shitty DSL connection and I can stream video. Who is your "common man" exactly? He certainly doesn't live in any large US city. They can usually get a 4G connection faster than me.

[Tulpa]

You certainly aren't streaming HD quality on DSL, as the person I was responding to claimed everyone could do. Plus that stuff ain't free; they quote $19.99 for their price but then once they add on all the fees and other required services to get that deal, it's like $40 a month. There are plenty of families that simply can't afford broadband, but have a mailbox and a cheap DVD player.

[Invisible Finger]

Plus there's usually a data limit on DSL now before you either a) get slowed down, or b) incur additional charges.

The best friends the movie studios have right now are the telecoms. we're in some weird transition period where one has to choose between streaming and physical to get the lowest price, and it's getting to the point where the convenience of streaming is considered added value so the prices are sometimes higher than physical, especially movies.

[Paul]

Instead, Netflix has decided to venture into making it's own TV shows. WTF? No, really WHAT THE FUCK?
WHAT FUCKING MORON IS RUNNING THIS COMPANY?

Guys in suits who sit in meetings and talk about synergies.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Vertical integration.

[Cytotoxic]

Instead, Netflix has decided to venture into making it's own TV shows.

WHAT? THE? FUCK?

[el Commentariosa]

Lillyhammer.

They are also planning to bring back Arrested Development.

[Cytotoxic]

Don't know what Lillhammer is. Don't care about that or anything else if they get AD right. All will be forgiven.

[insensitive monster]

My worst: Barnes and Noble. Crappiest online selection, hardly any "look inside" features, very few reviews, crappy customer service on Nook products.

My best: Amazon. Almost anything and everything delivered at a great price, on time, and tax free. Adios brick and mortar (cept food and clothes)

[Hugh Akston]

OMG I forgot Barnes & Noble. The easily-bypassed DRM on their nook books is why I left Amazon for them, but John H. Galt they have the Worst. Website. Ever.

[Amakudari]

Sorry. Asian websites are worse. Rakuten is everything bad about eBay, Amazon, B&N, etc. Busiest, ugliest, stupidest, most disorganized home page out there. Want to buy "petit fasting" supplies (easiest way to lose weight!)? No? Well, if you did, it would be in between the radiation measuring equipment and dolls. There are ads for installing their toolbar, playing their lottery, and buying cut-rate car insurance from them.

[Clich? Bandit]

I can't read that but how many tabs does one really need?

[el Commentariosa]

I spend hundreds of dollars a month on lint rollers. If only there was a product for me.

[Sevo]

Fernando|2.21.12 @ 7:22PM|#
"I'm still pissed at Apple."
I'm guessing Apple doesn't give a fig about brain-dead lefties.

"No western corporation moves operations to Third World countries for the purpose of bettering the lives of the peasantry there. They did it to profit from the low wages and lax standards. All to boost their own profits."
Yes, they do. That's what they're supposed to do. Did you mistake Apple for some government outfit?
There's a difference: Apple actually makes things better for those who work for them as a result of that ol' invisible hand. The government makes things worse by design.

"It therefore seems unlikely that Apple would give a rat's ass about the working conditions of people in their Third World sweat shops."
Only to brain-dead lefties.

[Tulpa]

Normally I'd defend an outsourcing company, but not Apple. Their hype machine needs a little blowback, particularly seeing as how all their products except for the Mac suck ass (and even there Lion is a huge disappointment).

I mean, their CEO got Whiney Houston levels of grief when he died. They need to be humbled.

[Cytotoxic]

"except for the mac"

I think you badly misspelt 'especially'.

Funny it's weird. A lot of Objectivist heavies were laying it on thick for Job's death. Really Yaron Brook?? You let yourself get sucked in to that cult? (sets up the spike)

[Sevo]

Tulpa,
I have too much 'experience' with Jobs to be a fan-boy of Apple. Like Google's hypocrisy about 'do good' or some such, they deserve to be whupped now and then.
But not over putting rice on Chinese plates. Those folks deserve to eat just like you and me.

[Tulpa]

Speak for yourself; I don't deserve to eat for sitting around all day fucking around on political blogs. But I eat anyway, mwahahahahaha

[Josh]

FoxConn hires 12 year olds working 14 hour days, 6 days a week. That doesn't bother you?

[Sevo]

Josh|2.21.12 @ 9:40PM|#
"FoxConn hires 12 year olds working 14 hour days, 6 days a week. That doesn't bother you?"

And before that, those 12 y-os spent 18 hours a day looking at the north end of a south-bound ox. That doesn't bother you?
No, bozo, So long as those folks chose to be hired, it doesn't bother me. Why do you hate people making their own choices? Are you a brain-dead lefty? Do you presume to know what everyone in the world 'should' do?
Is there a limit to you're presumption of omnipotence?

[Josh]

12 year olds should be in school learning.

[Tulpa]

So not only are you against sweatshops, you're against public schools.

[R]

FTW

[Sevo]

Josh|2.21.12 @ 9:46PM|#
"12 year olds should be in school learning."

And unicorns should poop gold nuggets!
Let me introduce you to this place you seemingly have never heard of: China.

[Cytotoxic]

12 year olds are the sovereign domain of their parents.

[mustard]

And if they stick their peckers in their peepholes so be it. Right, fiend of liberty?

[Cytotoxic]

Where the sovereignty of the parent ends is where it violate the right of the childrenz. Not sending your kids to Jail for The Young isn't violating their rights, but rather enhancing them.

[Tulpa]

It's good to see you're against child sexual abuse, Cyto. Now if we can get you to oppose child killing in the name of spreading freedom, we'll really be making progress.

[Cytotoxic]

Now if we could get you to see there isn't an equivalence in war scenarios, we'll be making real progress.

[rsi]

These kids should be hanging out in malls instead of working.

[toxic]

Silly employee at CVS accidentally exposed the film of my snorkel trip to watch manta rays feed. Huge two ton manta rays inches away from me. One of the coolest things I've ever done. Got a couple of exposed photos out of it. They were about to try to charge me for the photos before they realized I was about to flip the fuck out.

This happened three years ago. Didn't even realize I was still pissed about it until now.

[Fluffy]

Film?

What is this 'film' of which you speak?

[Konfounded Kristen]

So you're enough of a photography nerd to still use film, then you go and have CVS develop it instead of a professional?? CVS? Really?

[Comcast Sucks]

I smell a new handle coming on.

If you insist.

[JW]

I must insist.

[rather fart in a jar]

Fartinajar.com was number 18 on the list.

[The Bearded Hobbit]

Re: telecom providers

I live in a very rural mountain area 25 miles from the nearest town. Our area of our state was somehow created separately from the rest of the state's telecom and since I've moved here we've gone thru a series of providers who wouldn't (or couldn't) provide decent service. Companies with names like ConTel, GTE and Valor tried and failed to bring POTS that was worth a crap and nearly impossible to send dialup over.

Finally, about five years ago, our area was purchased by WindStream and we have decent service for the first time ever. Their customer service people speak English (well, Southern) and they've always fixed my problem with minimal wait times.

... Hobbit

[Cletus]

Dear fellow aristocrats,

My house steward recently took a course (on his own time and dime) and is now a certified sommelier. Should I increase his wages?

[db]

I suggest you direct your chief of staff to study the local market for sommeliers. Only once you determine the prevailing wage can you make a decision whether or not to buy up local restaurants and close them to drive down sommelier wages.

*THIS IS WHAT OWS ACTUALLY BELIEVES*

[ChrisO]

No. Increase the whippings a bit and see if he comes around.

[Apple Fanboy]

But.. SIRI

[Apple Fanboy]

Peter Coyote told me apple products do it all.

[James Anderson Merritt]

Sadly -- and I have always liked his work, including narration of a "Know Your Rights" audio program from years gone by -- Peter Coyote wouldn't notice if a gun in his hand turned into a walkie-talkie.

[James Anderson Merritt]

Netflix had, in my opinion, a flawed vision of its future, and a ham-handed execution of that vision. But its customer support, relative to reliably providing video content via streaming and DVDs-by-mail, has been extremely good in my experience. My most important measure is whether I have needed to seek customer service beyond routine use of their website. Hardly ever, as it turns out, and on those occasions, my problems were resolved quickly, competently, and even pleasantly.

Since we libertarians like to mock the postal service, I should also mention that Netflix's partnership with that organization has literally delivered the goods. Unless holidays or Sundays intervene, I can reliably expect that a disc I put in the mail on day D will be received by Netflix on day D+1 and that I will receive the next selection in my queue on D+2. It has been that way for the many years I have subscribed, through hundreds of DVD rental cycles.

Netflix made some wrong business turns, and had a lot of trouble recovering (still ongoing!), but I can't fault the customer service in their core operations. Has my experience been so different from everyone else's? If not, I wonder how they got to be #1 on the list. No doubt, they should be near or at the top of the list of boneheaded business mistakes of all time (right up there with New Coke, for instance). But how could truly lousy customer service not darken my day many memorable times over the hundreds of rental transactions between Netflix and me? It's a puzzlement.

[Fatty Bolger]

People don't like getting hit with 60% price increases out of the blue, especially when the company tries to spin it as a "terrific value." Especially at a time when the quality of the service is perceived as declining. Customer service is about more than just answering emails and timely fulfillment.

[ChrisO]

Since I don't do the streaming thing, my experience with Netflix has been very good, too. Their DVD operations are ridiculously efficient.

[Reason Squirrels]

This is like the worst chat room ever.

[D. Letterman, Esq]

It was so hot at Reason today, the server squirrels were putting sunblock on their nuts.

[sounds real good]

AT&T sent a tech to set up my new internet connection at my previous address. This was after they successfully sent a tech to verify that the cable at my new place was working outside the unit. I spent about 3 hours on the phone being turned over from one dept. to another, trying to get someone to come hook up my internet, and they never managed to figure out what to do about it. They finally said they'd dispatch a tech to my new address the next morning. The next morning, no tech appeared, so I called and there was no record of the appointment. I'm still very baffled by the whole fiasco. And by the way, I didn't move across town, I moved from San Francisco to LA. AT&T SUCKS.

I like Netflix just fine.

[Amakudari]

This is all about the change in customer satisfaction. Netflix started from a pretty high mark, and I'm not sure AT&T could match its fall mathematically.

I had an issue with reception and they didn't give me back my deposit for 3 months. You'd call up and they'd say the check had been issued for the next billing cycle, then when it never arrived they'd say the same, but sorry, you have to wait until next billing cycle. It wasn't that much but I switched to a local provider and was happy with that.

Then a year later, my girlfriend/now-fiancee left the country and they never managed to refund her cancellation fee (contractually, moving to an area where AT&T no longer offers service means a refund) or her deposit until I threatened legal action. I probably spent around 10 hours getting that $600 back.

Every single time you call them, they'd always say they no record of the previous conversation. Whether they're evil or retarded, they're one of the few companies that has made my lifetime boycott list.

[Little James]

I also have it on good authority that they no longer offer Telegraph service.

[sounds real good]

They're the only company on my lifetime boycott list. Most of the time I forget that I've boycotted some company, but I won't forget about them.

[Fluffy]

OK, here's my bad customer service story: Sears.

I bought a dishwasher at Sears.

It didn't work properly after installation.

So I call them for warranty work, and they tell me it will be two weeks before they can come out to fix it.

"Yikes," I think. "That's a long wait. But hey, I bet they service a lot of dishwashers."

Appointment day comes and the guy doesn't show, so I call their 800 number.

It turns out the guy didn't come because he realized he didn't have a part he would need, so there was no point to coming. They had apparently tried to send me an automated message to my cell, but I didn't answer it because it had a blocked caller ID #.

But hey, that's no problem. Right? The guy will get the part and come tomorrow, right?

Nope.

Apparently if your appointment is missed, you go back to the end of the appointment line. No matter what. Even if the appointment is missed because the tech doesn't show up. Next appointment: three weeks out.

Me, to CSA on phone: "So what you're saying is that if the tech had come to my house today, had a psychotic episode and punched me in the face, and then driven his tech van into the river, you'd STILL tell me 'Too bad, next appointment is three more weeks'?"

CSA on phone: "Yes."

Guess what, Sears? I down care what Six Sigma shit you read that told you never to disrupt your service pipeline (and create four angry customers) to deal with one angry customer. You still suck.

[Fatty Bolger]

I wonder how long the wait is for non-warranty work.

[Tulpa]

Considering they make money on it, probably much shorter.

[Tulpa]

"Yikes," I think. "That's a long wait. But hey, I bet they service a lot of dishwashers."

That's crap. They wouldn't accept you waiting two weeks to pay them for the dishwasher, so why should you have to wait two weeks to use it because they fucked up?

I will say this much for Sears -- I've never had to deal with over-oppressive salespeople there. In fact, when I was buying a tablet there last year (trying to get someone local a commission rather than buying it online) I practically had to beg the guy to go get it from the stockroom (after he first denied that they had it at all, only to be proved wrong by my showing him the store inventory on their webpage).

[Kibby]

They definitely don't give a shit.

My Mom wound up buying a pack of underwear that were ripped open & scattered across the floor (they were the only ones left & her husband won't wear other ones) & the sales girl didn't even blink when she was ringing them up. Really, folks?

[Devon Maeeril]

Sounds like a pretty good deal to me dude. WOw.

http://www.Privacy-Wares.tk

[ziggy]

I had to deal with a couple of issues with Verising and I have to say they have horrible customer service...

[Unsatisfied]

And on a side note I'm tired of choosing between Coke or Pepsi!!!

[Unsatisfied]

What I meant to say, was going to a restaurant and said restaurant only having Coke or Pepsi. I will return to sucking at life now...