From those on the list with which I’ve dealt ... no argument from me.
Add Ebay and Cablevision to the mix.
Not that it’s a company, but ever try calling any agency in New York City for assistance?
Had significant dealings with 10 of the 18. Worked for one.
List seems pretty accurate to me.
I see that United Airlines has taken its rightful place on that list. They are the most blatantly arrogant people I have ever dealt with.
Gotta disagree with putting Delta Airlines on this list.
I fly at least twice a week (1 R/T) and am pushing 2 million miles in a seat.
MY experience with Delta is really quite good.
But I *AM* a premium flyer and for me Delata does a really fine job. I also understand the airline industry and thus might just react a little better to some issues than leisure travelers who don’t know how to work the system.
*AND* the new GOES trusted traveler program (no more intrusive than CLEAR was/is) is a godsend. Ya ZIP thru security with your shoes, jacket and belt on, with little scrutiny and a metal detector scan.
Common thread:
1. Dying industry, semi-monopoly: Cable TV and Electric Utilities.
2. Dying airlines who somehow after 40 years, can’t figure out how Southwest Airlines does it. By the way, United is the worst of the lot.
3. Others are a surprise. I thought Facebook would be hip enough to have good customer service.
No argument here. Except for SouthWest, our airlines just generally suck. As do the large banks. I used to REALLY hate Cox Cable but they’re getting better in the customer service area, at least locally, but they still charge too damned much for delivery of 200 largely irrelevant channels. And I have yet to identify a cell phone carrier who is worth amything in the customer service department.
Roger on UAL.
I’m surprised the list doesn’t include the entirety of ATT - I’ve never in my life seen a company as hostile to new business as modern-day ATT. Decades ago, when they were the only game in town, they treated customers like crap, but now that they’ve got competition, they’re even worse.
EPC of St. Louis. Arrogant and borderline criminally incompetent management, press capacitors (as per instruction) down and call them fixed instead of replacing them, and cheat salespeople out of commissions by driving them off before staying the prescribed time to make a payout.
Pretty much the list is banks, airlines, and subscription TV. All tough markets actually because the business is very complicated and a lot of stuff happens the companies they deal with cause problems but these guys are customer facing. ESPN raises their rate to the cable companies constantly, but the consumer doesn’t know that, they only know the cable company raised their rates. Banks have to put up with constantly changing government regulation, including fee caps, but all the customer know is they got new fees. Half the air travel problems are actually caused by the tower, but the customer only knows the logo on the plane they’re stuck sitting in for hours.
The obvious solution is more communication. Cable companies should put their costs in the bill. BofA is at least trying to explain the regulations they put up with. And the plane captain should tell the passengers when the tower lied. People might actually listen.
I’ve had great services from Bank of America.
Best Buy, however, sucks.
I bought a TV from them. Or tried to. A huge Samsung, 3-D, internet-serfing, everything TV. Install, Boston Acoustics Sound Bar, Wall mount, whatnot.
The idiot Salesman forgot to schedule delivery with install.
So they show up at my house looking for the TV, which was at their store, and leave.
Go to to store. They accuse me of theft. Say I have the TV. Threaten to call security.
3 hours later, they admit they have everything, and schedule my free delivery which now costs $29 for each item, because I am not having it installed.
30 minutes later, this is fixed.
Delivery is in about a week. Install is in about two weeks.
Will see later.
Add the morons at Directv to the list. We needed 5.5 hours of tortured conversation to get a new installation in my woodshop. They insisted it was a move whereas the shop stubbornly has been where it is for 25 years. I haven’t dealt with such incompetence in a very long time. sd
ATT Service out of Atlanta has the stupidest people I’ve ever dealt with in customer service. They aren’t the worst with in deals of being cordial and such, they just seem dumb.
The funny thing is that most of Pepco’s hate isn’t even their fault. Power goes out a lot in Montgomery County because of all the old trees that are around the power lines. Pepco has tried for years to trim them, but the “environmentalists” in the area fight against it. The liberals in Montgomery County get what they deserve.
Don’t you just hate threads that are titled “The 16 most...” (or this/that number of something) but don’t provide any clue afterwards?
18. Bank of America
17. Dish Network
16. Cox Communications
15. Pacific Gas & Electric
14. J.P. Morgan Chase
13. A.T.&T. Mobility
12. L.A. Department of Water & Power
11. Long Island Power Authority
10. United Health
9. Facebook
8. American Airlines
7. United Airlines
6. U.S. Air
5. Charter Communications
4. Comcast
3. Time Warner Cable
2. Delta Airlines
1. Pepco (power company, not the soft drink)
Just helpin’ out...
Communications and Insurance companies. Always the worst.
Some insurance companies try, but the nature of the business is that they are tied up to death in legal red tape, so they just can’t please anyone. Media and communication, like Verizon and Time Warner, they just don’t care. They’re a mess.
That’s not a bad list. I would have put Wells Fargo ahead of Chase.
I am surprised there weren’t any insurance companies.
Delta is at the top of my list. To me, DELTA stands for Doesn’t Ever Leave The Airport! They are liars that never tell you the true story about your delay until it is too late to get on another airline, and their old bitter flight attendants are more interested in doing as little work as possible.
Quite a bad picture, huh? I flew them in the 50s, 60s, 70s, right on up through to today. They weren’t always like this. I remember sitting in an airport (Newark, I think) hearing them talk about having to get a part flown in from Atlanta - three effing hours! Just waiting. I heard one of the gate agents tell the others “Atlanta doesn’t want to buy the part from United Airlines here”......I’ve literally dozens of stories like this.
Ditto on Comcast. How I miss our long-gone local Storer Cable.
I’m not crazy about how Facebook is set up - it’s not intuitively obvious all the time what to do, or “user-friendly”. As far as “privacy” - don’t put your info on. Expecting a computer network not to spill out info is like expecting coffee not to be hot.
I know lots complain about Bank of America (I might consider it with these fees that are the latest news), but at least at my local branch things are very good. I don’t like all the fees or charges sometimes but I love how the people help you with services even without getting in line for a teller or official agent.
Pepco is on there but not BG(&)E yet. BG&E was 1 of the greatest companies ever - until Constellation bought them. Visibly changed almost instantly.
Now where is the list of BELOVED companies?
I’d put Nordstrom and Chick-Fil-A on the list - and they aren’t purely “products” companies.
Add Capital One to that list. A few years ago they purchased my home loan from Chevy Chase. I called the 800 number recently to get 2010 tax information. They will not let you even talk to a customer service rep until you enter in mortgage account# [ok], last four digits of your SS# [o.k. I guess], and zip code of property [o.k.]. After getting bounced numerous times, and finding no way to get to a CS person, I listened to the "dial your service rep" menu and entered "0", got bounced again but it connected the second time.
Then started all over with the CS rep. Got nowhere because I didn't have a current statement balance (just the 2010 year-end escrow statement that did not include property taxes paid). When I asked to speak to a supervisor, I was disconnected. I gave up and went and dug out a statement.
I then called using the same tricks as above. Again I was stonewalled until I finally found the problem -- the zip code on the property was for a different city (the mortgage info is not sent to the property address). After that I was able to get the info and correct the zip code corrected. It took a good 30 to 45 minutes and my stubbornness to get it straightened out. But the initial frustration was trying to talk to a real live person instead of a menu-driven computer. If you don't have all the "keys" you can not get to one.