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

[Runwildboys]

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.

I always check the rating, when possible, before buying anything. That may not be infallible, but it's better than not checking it.

 

[The Fonz]

The airlines are not what they used to be .I try not to fly unless i have to

 

[VaqueroTD]

The airlines are not what they used to be .I try not to fly unless i have to

Flying has definitely evolved over the years. From spacious and comfy seats, smoke filled cabins, hot stewardesses, and people dressing up to fly.... to sardine cans, rules about everything, armed guards, rushed mechanics and assemblers, 1-3 hour waits in lines or phone, and all the other modern-day flying joys. Could say it about anything really but a lot more visual and perceivable in the airline world.

 

[darthseinfeld]

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

Can definitely vouch for Geico and ATT

 

[Reverend Conehead]

Having lived in two European countries (Switzerland and Germany), I can say that overall customer service is way, way better here in the US. It doesn't mean it's impossible to get good service in those countries or that there's never bad service here. I'm just saying that overall, good customer service seems to be a higher priority here, and a lot of companies do pretty well with it. Not always, but often.
...
Okay. My list is as follows.
...
The Good
USAA (for insurance and banking)
You have to be ex-military, or have a family member who is to be a USAA customer. If you qualify, I urge you to do business with them. For both my insurance and my banking, they've been top notch. When I call customer service, I don't have to wait on hold long, and then their agents know what they're doing and advocate for you. For example, an agent went all out of her way to help me lower my car insurance rates based on my driving less frequently than I used to, and on an app that tracks how much you use your phone while driving and how abruptly you stop. Got my rates way down. When my car was broken down, getting a tow truck was a snap through my USAA towing feature on my insurance.

Dietze Music
This company might just be in Nebraska. I'm not sure. If so, it's a shame because they're excellent. Everyone who works there is either a musician or knows at least a lot about what musicians want. Excellent.

Motel 6 (Orem, Utah)
For such an inexpensive hotel, these guys did great. Everything was perfectly clean, not just in my room, but in the workout room and the pool area, and their breakfast room. The wifi worked well and was password protected (which is better for security).

Sweetwater
This online music company is so good with customer service my mind is blown. I've bought two guitars from them, and several other pieces of gear. They assigned me a specific rep to help me find exactly the right instrument for me. Then, after I've bought it, I always get a followup call to make sure I like it. I've even gotten followup calls for accessories, like the reverb pedal I bought. There was a tuning pedal that I ended up disappointed in, and getting it swapped for a different one was a snap. They're maybe the best customer service company I've ever dealt with.

The Bad
AT&T. It's not that everyone who works for this company is terrible. They're just so big and bloated that their right hand doesn't know what their left hand is doing. I called about a questionable overcharge, and waited on hold forever and was transferred several times. Finally, I got to an agent with a heavy Indian accent who actually did really try to solve my problem. Sadly, it was one of their American agents who really hacked me off. A few days later, when I realized I was not credited for the disputed charge, I called back and got an agent who spoke perfect US English, but had an attitude problem, and refused to look up any info about my previous call. She was snotty and condescending and simply said the charges were legit. I told her the previous agent had waived them and that she had to do that to keep the promise that her company made. She then accused me of being a liar. I finally said, fine, she can have a choice of two possibilities. 1) I'll pay the charges and then immediately switch to another company and never use AT&T again. 2) She can honor the waved charges that the previous agent had promised, and I'll stay with AT&T another 20 years. I had been with them about 20 years at that point. She chose #1, so I quit AT&T and never went back.

Motel 6 (Anaheim, California)
Yes, the same company is on the good and bad list. It makes a huge difference which location it is. The one in Anaheim stunk like pee and was horribly run down. Gang bangers hung out outside my window, and I heard shots during the night. The cops showed up and arrested a dude who then screamed his head off. He was probably on meth.

Consumer Cellular
It's not that their product is so awful. You just can't get ahold of them. I waited on hold for 48 minutes one time. After that, it was time to switch.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

The airlines are not what they used to be .I try not to fly unless i have to

Same here. I've grown to hate it. If Amtrak had a route from Omaha to D/FW, I would take it, even if it's longer. As it is, Amtrak has a bunch of East-West routes, but few North-South ones. To go Omaha to D/FW, it would have taken me all the way east to Chicago before then going southwest down to Texas. That was a total deal breaker. The other options are Greyhound and driving. Greyhound is pretty awful, so I drive. I would prefer not to. If I could relax in a big comfy seat on a train, I would do so. I wouldn't even have to be a high-speed train like they have in France, China, and Japan. I wish I had a non-flying option, granted I understand that trains just aren't that popular in North America. It might be possible to travel by freight train, but that's dangerous and illegal. Next time I visit Europe, I may seriously consider going by ship. It takes a lot longer, but I really, really hate being cooped up on those planes.

 

[The Fonz]

Same here. I've grown to hate it. If Amtrak had a route from Omaha to D/FW, I would take it, even if it's longer. As it is, Amtrak has a bunch of East-West routes, but few North-South ones. To go Omaha to D/FW, it would have taken me all the way east to Chicago before then going southwest down to Texas. That was a total deal breaker. The other options are Greyhound and driving. Greyhound is pretty awful, so I drive. I would prefer not to. If I could relax in a big comfy seat on a train, I would do so. I wouldn't even have to be a high-speed train like they have in France, China, and Japan. I wish I had a non-flying option, granted I understand that trains just aren't that popular in North America. It might be possible to travel by freight train, but that's dangerous and illegal. Next time I visit Europe, I may seriously consider going by ship. It takes a lot longer, but I really, really hate being cooped up on those plane

Can you travel by ship to Europe or Asia? if there is I will look into it as i am tired of airlines and airports nonsense.

 

[HungryLion]

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.

Xfinity/comcast is the worst.

Years ago I lived in an apartment my senior year of college. After my senior year was over I moved back home with my parents for a year until I moved into a place with one of my friends.

Anyway. I left the apartment and moved back to my parents. They send me my final bill which includes over $100 in charges for the cable box and router. I didn’t want the equipment I wanted to return it.

I took the equipment to the xfinity office near my parents home. They said they couldn’t accept it there but I had to take it to the office near where my apartment and college was.

So I had to drive all the way back there just to drop off the equipment.

Then they still don’t fix the last bill and are trying to charge me for the equipment.

It took over 20+ hours over several phone calls for several days to get if fixed.

I finally told one of the reps on the phone “listen I am trying to pay you. I WANT to pay my last bill and give you money right now. I just want it to be the proper amount.”

It was terrible man. They’re widely known as the worst here in SE PA

 

[Reverend Conehead]

Can you travel by ship to Europe or Asia? if there is I will look into it as i am tired of airlines and airports nonsense.

Yup, it's still possible. You just need to do your homework online. There are three ways to do it:
1. On board the Queen Mary 2. The QM2 is the only ship in the world designed to be an ocean liner in the sense of the old ones of the 19th and 20th centuries. They have regular trips from New York City to Southhampton, England and back for much of the year. However, go on a world tour for several months out of the year (I think about 4), so it's not always available for back and forth between the US and Great Britain. But when it is, this is a great choice.
2. On board a cruise ship for a repositioning cruise. There are a bunch of ships, for example the Celebrity Equinox, that have a season in the Caribbean, and then they do a "repositioning cruise" to get to the Mediterranean for their season there. If you time it right, you can to a one-way trip from America to Europe or vice versa. You won't be able to book a round trip on the same ship, but you could travel the other way on our next option, a cargo ship, or possibly in the Queen Mary 2 if the timing works out. If the timing doesn't work out, you could always travel via ship for one direction and by plane the other. A cruise ship will also likely take longer to cross the Atlantic than the QM2 because it's more likely to stop at islands along the way. That can be fun, but if you wanted to cross more quickly, the QM2 would be the way to go, if it's available.
3. Book passage on a cargo ship. A lot of people don't realize that many cargo ships accept non-working passengers. It's a good way to go, though it does have some disadvantages. Their priority is the cargo, not its small number of passengers. You can book one, but it might not leave on exactly the date planned. Thus you could need to hang out in a hotel for a day or two in a port city. Its accommodations are also not luxurious like the QM2's or a cruise ship's. However, I wouldn't call them awful or uncomfortable either. The Youtuber named "TheTravelingClatt" has done some videos on traveling like this. His cabins looked comfortable and there were workout rooms. The ship's chef looked like he did a really good job. Of course, there won't be loads of entertainment like shows, casinos, water slides, etc., like there would be on a cruise ship. A swimming pool and/or a hot tub is not out of the question, but not a sure thing. A cargo ship is not an efficient or quick way to cross the Atlantic, but it can be a nice experience. Just bring a good book and a collection of music and maybe movies on devices like an MP3 player and a laptop or tablet. If you're interested, check out TheTravelingClatt's videos on Youtube on the topic. It's been a while since he did his cargo ship videos. I think he did them in about 2017 or 2018. Since then he's been doing other topics, so you'll likely need to search back for them. But they're worth viewing. He did an amazing job with them. On one of his cargo ship videos, he even got an overhead shot from his drone as it was turning to sail out of the port. Somehow he landed that drone back on the ship.

 

[The Fonz]

Yup, it's still possible. You just need to do your homework online. There are three ways to do it:
1. On board the Queen Mary 2. The QM2 is the only ship in the world designed to be an ocean liner in the sense of the old ones of the 19th and 20th centuries. They have regular trips from New York City to Southhampton, England and back for much of the year. However, go on a world tour for several months out of the year (I think about 4), so it's not always available for back and forth between the US and Great Britain. But when it is, this is a great choice.
2. On board a cruise ship for a repositioning cruise. There are a bunch of ships, for example the Celebrity Equinox, that have a season in the Caribbean, and then they do a "repositioning cruise" to get to the Mediterranean for their season there. If you time it right, you can to a one-way trip from America to Europe or vice versa. You won't be able to book a round trip on the same ship, but you could travel the other way on our next option, a cargo ship, or possibly in the Queen Mary 2 if the timing works out. If the timing doesn't work out, you could always travel via ship for one direction and by plane the other. A cruise ship will also likely take longer to cross the Atlantic than the QM2 because it's more likely to stop at islands along the way. That can be fun, but if you wanted to cross more quickly, the QM2 would be the way to go, if it's available.
3. Book passage on a cargo ship. A lot of people don't realize that many cargo ships accept non-working passengers. It's a good way to go, though it does have some disadvantages. Their priority is the cargo, not its small number of passengers. You can book one, but it might not leave on exactly the date planned. Thus you could need to hang out in a hotel for a day or two in a port city. Its accommodations are also not luxurious like the QM2's or a cruise ship's. However, I wouldn't call them awful or uncomfortable either. The Youtuber named "TheTravelingClatt" has done some videos on traveling like this. His cabins looked comfortable and there were workout rooms. The ship's chef looked like he did a really good job. Of course, there won't be loads of entertainment like shows, casinos, water slides, etc., like there would be on a cruise ship. A swimming pool and/or a hot tub is not out of the question, but not a sure thing. A cargo ship is not an efficient or quick way to cross the Atlantic, but it can be a nice experience. Just bring a good book and a collection of music and maybe movies on devices like an MP3 player and a laptop or tablet. If you're interested, check out TheTravelingClatt's videos on Youtube on the topic. It's been a while since he did his cargo ship videos. I think he did them in about 2017 or 2018. Since then he's been doing other topics, so you'll likely need to search back for them. But they're worth viewing. He did an amazing job with them. On one of his cargo ship videos, he even got an overhead shot from his drone as it was turning to sail out of the port. Somehow he landed that drone back on the ship.

Thank you bother for this detailed info I surely will check them out.

 

[Creeper]

Amazon is good and bad. If you don't have any problems, they are excellent. If you have a problem, they have no way to contact them and they send you to the individual dealers who often ignore you. Thankfully problems are few.

I have had good experiences with Newegg. I started buying computer components from them years ago. At the time there service was unbelievably good. Not only did they have a good variety of options to buy but their return policy was the best at the time. They got a lot bigger now and they sell a lot more stuff than computer components. Unfortunately their shipping policies are not as good as Amazon and their prices are not as good as they used to be either.

On the bad side I have to start with my electric company. They are awful. I have had a problem for months and all they do is give me the run around. When it rains, water runs through my main electrical feed cable into my breaker box. It has so bad, the bottom of the box is rusting out!. They forced me to an electrician who diagnosed the problem must be inside the meter, which is the responsibility of the electric company. But getting someone out her to look into it has been impossible. This is going on months now.

I am also not a fan of Apple. Their process at their stores to get a question answer is absurd. Have a problem? Make an appointment. I have some comical stories from my experiences with Apple.

Verizon is also pretty bad. Thankfully I have had not problems with my cell phone service, but FIOS has been giving me issues and Verizon is another company that seems to want to fight rather than fix problems. Finding someone reasonable to speak to, someone other than a lacky reading from a help desk script is like a quest to find the meaning of life.

Someone mentioned the IRS. No one is less customer service oriented than the IRS. Calling someone at the IRS to answer a question is a circus routine because no one at the IRS knows anything. They know all the basics, but if you have a question that is a little more complicated you have to go through about 25 employees before you find one who can help you. Is interest on a bridge loan deductible like mortgage interest? Damned if they know! This may not be relevant today, but it was once and I could not get anyone to give me a definitive answer when I needed it.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

Amazon is good and bad. If you don't have any problems, they are excellent. If you have a problem, they have no way to contact them and they send you to the individual dealers who often ignore you. Thankfully problems are few.

I have had good experiences with Newegg. I started buying computer components from them years ago. At the time there service was unbelievably good. Not only did they have a good variety of options to buy but their return policy was the best at the time. They got a lot bigger now and they sell a lot more stuff than computer components. Unfortunately their shipping policies are not as good as Amazon and their prices are not as good as they used to be either.

On the bad side I have to start with my electric company. They are awful. I have had a problem for months and all they do is give me the run around. When it rains, water runs through my main electrical feed cable into my breaker box. It has so bad, the bottom of the box is rusting out!. They forced me to an electrician who diagnosed the problem must be inside the meter, which is the responsibility of the electric company. But getting someone out her to look into it has been impossible. This is going on months now.

I am also not a fan of Apple. Their process at their stores to get a question answer is absurd. Have a problem? Make an appointment. I have some comical stories from my experiences with Apple.

Verizon is also pretty bad. Thankfully I have had not problems with my cell phone service, but FIOS has been giving me issues and Verizon is another company that seems to want to fight rather than fix problems. Finding someone reasonable to speak to, someone other than a lacky reading from a help desk script is like a quest to find the meaning of life.

Someone mentioned the IRS. No one is less customer service oriented than the IRS. Calling someone at the IRS to answer a question is a circus routine because no one at the IRS knows anything. They know all the basics, but if you have a question that is a little more complicated you have to go through about 25 employees before you find one who can help you. Is interest on a bridge loan deductible like mortgage interest? Damned if they know! This may not be relevant today, but it was once and I could not get anyone to give me a definitive answer when I needed it.

I've had great luck with New Egg. I've bought my last two phones from them. I prefer to buy an unlocked phone on my own and then not be bound to a particular service. I think one or two year phone contracts are going out of fashion anyway. A lot of Americans don't like that. In Great Britain, it's actually illegal to lock a phone to one company. I won't do business with any phone company that offers you a supposedly great deal on a phone, only to have it locked to their service only. Nope. Maybe Great Britain is onto something.