Best and Worst Large Corporation (you are a digit only) Customer Service

[VaqueroTD]

In the age of declining customer service -- airlines, banks, government entities, retailers, utilities, etc. -- so many consolidated companies that you are 1 of 1,000,000 customers ready for them to serve. Which ones provide the best and worst customer service in your experience? You know what I'm talking about... these are those ones that give you an automated message that wait time is 60 minutes and they insist they line you up for a call back. Or better, they insist you use their helpful AI chat engine because customers state they are 80% more satisfied with it. Yeah.. right. Or the companies that you can just tell are struggling to hire, struggling to train, something is obviously broken in their operations.

I'm going to start positive:

• Geico. No joke. Never had a rude customer rep, and most have been above and beyond. Most freaking helpful insurance company I've ever had. Claims quick and easy. I've moved everything I can to them.
• Chick-Fil-A. The only sandwich/burger joint (and maybe even all chain restaurants) that actually acts like they care. Not sure what the secret is, they just know how to do it. Maybe every joint should hire church goers and close on Sundays?
• Wawa. As far as gas stations, truck stops, etc., like Chick-Fil-A, Wawa has some secret strategy that it's rare for me to walk into a dirty, rude gas station. Which there are plenty. Even prefer their food stop over several competing quick food chains.
• Publix. Rare to find a dirty, unfriendly Publix. A little bit like the grocery store version of Chick-Fil-A. One of those places where everyone says hi to you. They're privately owned. I wonder if that's a common denominator sometimes on companies that operate better.

Negative:

• AT&T. Horrible. Gotten worse through the years. Not sure why I haven't switched yet. One of those too that gets worse with the outsourcing to other countries.
• IRS. Nuff said. God help you if you ever need their assistance. Post office isn't very far behind.
• Delta Airlines. Maybe it's better because haven't used them lately, but guaranteed 1-3 hour wait on the phone. There are airlines with much worse flight attendants. United is the one that I remember the most for "I don't care" attendants.
• Truist. I somehow inherited these guys on a loan after some bank mergers. You are lucky to find anyone who know what they're doing, phone or in person.
• Uhaul. Don't know if these guys are unionized, but they sure act like it. Everything is segmented within a segment. Takes forever to do anything simple over the phone.
• Boeing. See current events.

There are others, but those are the first that come to mind. (Or maybe a recent issue still fresh in my mind )

For reference, largest corporations in USA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_companies_in_the_United_States_by_revenue

 

[Runwildboys]

Positive:
Amazon. Easy, fast, convenient, good prices, and free deliveries for Prime members. (A streaming service I'd have anyway.) Any time I've ever had to return something, I had no problems whatsoever, except with a storage tent I bought. It arrived in a badly damaged box, when a huge hole in it. When I opened it and took a parts inventory, compared to the parts list, I was missing several pieces. It took several back and forths with the distributor, in which they tried giving me a $20 discount, then a $30 discount, then $40, then back down to $20, (at which point they actually asked me if I knew anyone who would buy it from me). They didn't want to pay the huge shipping cost to take it back, so they finally just refunded my money and told me to keep it. A couple of days later I found an attachment in my computer (no idea how it got there) of the parts list. As it turned out, the only part that was missing from the box was the correct parts list. Normally, I'd inform the seller of something like this, but they were so sleazy about everything that I said "screw them, free stuff."

None of that was Amazon's fault, BTW.

Negative:
Kroger Specialty Pharmacy. Every time I try to call them, I get the automated phone service, and after making several choices, it hangs up on me. Then, when I go through it again, and finally get through to someone, their system is so crappy I can barely hear them.

 

[Tabascocat]

I can vouch for Geico, they are great.

 

[zrinkill]

The Dallas Cowboys

/thread

 

[VaqueroTD]

The Dallas Cowboys

/thread

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

The Dallas Cowboys

/thread

hahaha nice

 

[Runwildboys]

I can vouch for Geico, they are great.

They must be better now than when they first started getting well known. Maybe that's when they first became available to the general public?

I called them for a quote once, and the woman gave me some outrageous amount. I asked, "Are you serious?" She sounded very proud of herself, when she replied, "Yes sir!"

I said, "That's 3 times what I pay now!". She stammered out some words I don't remember, and I said, "Okay, thanks anyway."

 

[Tabascocat]

They must be better now than when they first started getting well known. Maybe that's when they first became available to the general public?

I called them for a quote once, and the woman gave me some outrageous amount. I asked, "Are you serious?" She sounded very proud of herself, when she replied, "Yes sir!"

I said, "That's 3 times what I pay now!". She stammered out some words I don't remember, and I said, "Okay, thanks anyway."

Try your luck again, they have been solid the last decade or so. We lost a car in hurricane Rita(among other properties) and they mailed us a check within ten days, no questions asked. It was even for 4K more than it was worth.

 

[JohnnyTheFox]

Funny you mention the IRS, used to deliver freight to their local office here in OKC back in the 80s. The employees i dealt with were at times rude, as well as unfriendly and lazy more often than not.

 

[DanteEXT]

In the age of declining customer service -- airlines, banks, government entities, retailers, utilities, etc. -- so many consolidated companies that you are 1 of 1,000,000 customers ready for them to serve. Which ones provide the best and worst customer service in your experience? You know what I'm talking about... these are those ones that give you an automated message that wait time is 60 minutes and they insist they line you up for a call back. Or better, they insist you use their helpful AI chat engine because customers state they are 80% more satisfied with it. Yeah.. right. Or the companies that you can just tell are struggling to hire, struggling to train, something is obviously broken in their operations.

I'm going to start positive:

• Geico. No joke. Never had a rude customer rep, and most have been above and beyond. Most freaking helpful insurance company I've ever had. Claims quick and easy. I've moved everything I can to them.
• Chick-Fil-A. The only sandwich/burger joint (and maybe even all chain restaurants) that actually acts like they care. Not sure what the secret is, they just know how to do it. Maybe every joint should hire church goers and close on Sundays?
• Wawa. As far as gas stations, truck stops, etc., like Chick-Fil-A, Wawa has some secret strategy that it's rare for me to walk into a dirty, rude gas station. Which there are plenty. Even prefer their food stop over several competing quick food chains.
• Publix. Rare to find a dirty, unfriendly Publix. A little bit like the grocery store version of Chick-Fil-A. One of those places where everyone says hi to you. They're privately owned. I wonder if that's a common denominator sometimes on companies that operate better.

Negative:

• AT&T. Horrible. Gotten worse through the years. Not sure why I haven't switched yet. One of those too that gets worse with the outsourcing to other countries.
• IRS. Nuff said. God help you if you ever need their assistance. Post office isn't very far behind.
• Delta Airlines. Maybe it's better because haven't used them lately, but guaranteed 1-3 hour wait on the phone. There are airlines with much worse flight attendants. United is the one that I remember the most for "I don't care" attendants.
• Truist. I somehow inherited these guys on a loan after some bank mergers. You are lucky to find anyone who know what they're doing, phone or in person.
• Uhaul. Don't know if these guys are unionized, but they sure act like it. Everything is segmented within a segment. Takes forever to do anything simple over the phone.
• Boeing. See current events.

There are others, but those are the first that come to mind. (Or maybe a recent issue still fresh in my mind )

For reference, largest corporations in USA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_companies_in_the_United_States_by_revenue

While I don't have much of an opinion on anything other than AT&T. They are .....eh.

Specific to your list, it is interesting that your positive experience company's are all private and the negative, minus the IRS since it's not really a corporation, are public.

 

[Vtwin]

I got hooked up with Xfinity a few months ago. It required burying a line about 300 ft from the pole to the house. Every single step of the process was oversold and under-delivered, requiring multiple contacts with CS. Absolutely terrible service, and I'm a pretty easy going guy. Once it was hooked up, the service has been good, but they managed to cut my phone line while burying their cable.

I had to deal with Hulu cs numerous times while I was still on a DSL connection. They were always very good to deal with. Two thumbs up.

 

[big dog cowboy]

I think 99% of them suck. I'm old enough to remember when businesses cared about people and customer service mattered.

Those days are gone and never ever coming back. In fact,,I expect it to just get worse.

Just last week I was on hold for over 30 minutes with customer service then got disconnected. I actually do feel sorry for the person that answered when I called back.

 

[1942willys]

a few are less putrid than others
Amazon sucks; I signed up for Prime two years ago and cancelled after six months and they keep trying to charge me for it every few months; and customer service says there is nothing they can do about it

 

[VaqueroTD]

a few are less putrid than others
Amazon sucks; I signed up for Prime two years ago and cancelled after six months and they keep trying to charge me for it every few months; and customer service says there is nothing they can do about it

I go on and off on my Prime subscription. What makes me angry with Amazon is not long ago I was ordering something from them and as always, they always offer me a new Prime subscription for a discount at the same time. That is usually when I sign up again, because the savings on shipping makes up for the charge, and there is usually new premium content to watch again. So I was going to do that and clicked yes, but then canceled my shipping order after rethinking about it. I thought it was over and didn’t pay attention. Then I see a bill for Amazon Prime, so even though I didn’t finalize the shipping order, because I said yes to the “Include Amazon Prime with your order?” question before canceling, they went ahead and authorized the charge for Prime. I thought that was a little bit sneaky and it didn’t sit with me right. I am sure that if I raised it, they would cancel and refund me, they’ve always been very good about that. They are like a Walmart service desk, they’ll refund just about anything no questions asked. I went ahead and kept it though because I still need to watch Reacher Season 2. LOL

 

[rags747]

AMZN is one of the absolute best CO’s out there, their customer service is Tops bar none and their delivery times are just amazing.
Publix, everyone *****es about their high prices but the stores are always clean, employees are friendly and BOGO’s are pretty great too. Publix is Employee owned!

 

[VaqueroTD]

AMZN is one of the absolute best CO’s out there, their customer service is Tops bar none and their delivery times are just amazing.
Publix, everyone *****es about their high prices but the stores are always clean, employees are friendly and BOGO’s are pretty great too. Publix is Employee owned!

Yeah, I wasn’t thinking about price when rating them although it’s always great to get good service and a nice price. I generally believe in the saying ‘you get what you pay for.’ Don’t go into a rock-bottom price establishment and get mad when they don’t spend much on customer service. What were you realistically expecting? The ones that die quickly though can’t figure out either one. High prices and bad service together. @Runwildboys pointed out Kroger as a bad customer service place. There’s a company I wouldn’t invest much. High prices and bad customer service. Although last time I remember they were a union company so not surprised.

 

[1942willys]

AMZN is one of the absolute best CO’s out there, their customer service is Tops bar none and their delivery times are just amazing.
Publix, everyone *****es about their high prices but the stores are always clean, employees are friendly and BOGO’s are pretty great too. Publix is Employee owned!

a lot of people have mentioned to me that amazon customer service is feast or famine
I have always had trouble so frankly I find it hard to listen to anyone rhapsodizing about any corporation

 

[Runwildboys]

Try your luck again, they have been solid the last decade or so. We lost a car in hurricane Rita(among other properties) and they mailed us a check within ten days, no questions asked. It was even for 4K more than it was worth.

Nah, I'm satisfied with my current insurance company.

 

[Runwildboys]

a lot of people have mentioned to me that amazon customer service is feast or famine
I have always had trouble so frankly I find it hard to listen to anyone rhapsodizing about any corporation

Amazon itself has always had excellent customer service, in my experience. When you deal with sellers directly, then you might have problems.

 

[VaqueroTD]

Amazon itself has always had excellent customer service, in my experience. When you deal with sellers directly, then you might have problems.

They're definitely hit or miss. And the thing no one mentions is product quality. One year I was busy with work and ordered heavily from Amazon instead of shopping in person, mostly with the third-parties, and I'd say about 1/3 of everything I bought either broke quickly or was bunk quality.