In This Economy

Ok, this will come off as some sort of advertisement, but...

Several months ago, I had problems with my Internet connection.  I contacted the provider, spending hours on the telephone with someone overseas.  The end result was nothing got fixed and all I got was a run around.  Of course, I was not the only person to have had this problem with this company, so I yanked my account, finagled getting out of the cancellation fees, and ordered up another provider.  

Voila, Internet service.  In connecting it, I ran into some configuration problems which Comcast determined Apple would be better at helping me (or, really, Comcast hadn't a clue so they passed me to Apple).

On the other end of the phone was a young woman, who was fabulous.  Problem solved.

Today, I had a small issue, but since I was having a bad day, I didn't want to spend the hours it would take for me to figure it out.  I called Apple.  Instantly, problem solved.  I understood the young man, he walked me through it, we laughed, he told me how much time I had left on my warranty, made a cute joke about "planned obsolescence" which I didn't think anyone under the age of 50 knew about, and I was on my way.

Which leads me to this...I wonder why it is we Americans have put up with large corporations that give crap customer service.  The "banks too big to fail" where no human has answered the phone for years, the Internet providers who, being frank, don't care whether they help you or not so you're routed to some other country and frequently disconnected.  I could go on and on.  Our acceptance of cheap products, or professional sports teams that are heavily subsidized with tax breaks and state funded stadiums yet want to charge the public to watch games on TV or an arm and a leg for crappy seats...

Hopefully one result of this depression will be companies that come out of it understanding their success is dependent upon good customer service.  Same thing for our government (don't get me started about the City of Seattle's Public Utility customer service.  Perhaps basic math skills need to be a job requirement?).

In the meantime, thank goodness for Apple.