<p>Prompted by some own recent experiences and fueled by discussion on the “Business Hour” segment today on one of the local all-news radio stations, I thought I’d ask: what are the <em>good</em> customer service companies that you’ve had experience with?</p>
<p>For me,</p>
<p>The Good: GEICO auto insurance, American Express, Nordstroms, Sears repair</p>
<p>The Bad: Verizon Telephone (except for cellular), Sears credit card</p>
<p>The Ugly: Adelphia Cable TV, Washington Mutual, Bank of America</p>
<p>I want to second Cigna as the absolute worst. I was never so glad to get rid of an insurance company!</p>
<p>As far as Good, our local State Farm agent, two Specialist doctors I have (not the Family Practitioner), and believe it or not, my daughters college, Millikin University. </p>
<p>Geico is very good, and I have to admit I have been surprised by this and was not expecting it. I got in an extremely minor wreck (tapped a new black Jag on the back bumper while the lady was in the car - two inch scrape) and when she saw my insurance card (Geico) she laughed in a pretty condescendingly way. You can guess what I thought of her. But they paid her $534 to repaint the entire back bumper. </p>
<p>I can always get through on the phone to them quickly, and they seem to bend over backwards to be thorough while still being very friendly.</p>
<p>Ever since the unemployment rate went down more than a decade ago customer service has taken a hit. Many of these places are just glad to have bodies.</p>
<p>Ahh, CIGNA! The worst, hands down. We had a policy with them for several years. I believe I spent the equivalent of several months of that time on the phone with their claims representatives, trying to find out what additional documentation they would accept from my doctors to get the bills paid. Every doc’s office staff member I’ve ever spoken with despises CIGNA. </p>
<p>Good:
Incredibly, our local tax commissioner’s office. They answer the phone by the second ring; they are courteous and helpful, despite the fact that they are regularly reamed for higher tax bills over which they have no control at all. </p>
<p>Also, UHC. Complete opposite of CIGNA in every respect. IME, at least.</p>
<p>Bad:</p>
<p>The office of one my U.S. Senators: No matter what I write or say when I call, I get the same boilerplate reply. It’s so vague that it’s hard to tell what comment or question of mine is being addressed.</p>
<p>I would give Citibank a “good” along with NJ Manufacturers Insurance</p>
<p>Bad: Harry & David, NJ Dept. of Motor Vehicles, Verizon, Ford Motors, companies that ask you to enter your account number while in queue and then ask you to repeat it when they finally answer the phone</p>
<p>Ugly: I don’t know, the bar has been lowered to such a degree on customer service that I can’t think of anyone that can’t at least be “bad”</p>
<p>Bad & Ugly: Philly Airport in general - rude, allergic-to-work people at customer service desks; USAir (at least in Philly) - would advise against making any flights on USair that route through Philly - what a nightmare.</p>
<p>Very, very good - awesome: the IRS; my local gym, and my air conditioning contractor.</p>
<p>Bad: Verizon. The ceo hasn’t responded to my December 2004 letter.</p>
<p>Ugly: Earthlink, and UPS Stores. The latter provoked me to write a five page letter to the ceo - and then I still had to place seventeen telephone calls over a four month period to get my refund. They actually blamed the delay of a ground shipment package transiting only 200 miles alternatively on FAA, Customs, and Border Security. I placed exactly 37 telephone calls trying to track the package. They finally confessed their internal security delayed the shipment. They still haven’t explained why contents were missing. I will never again in life do business with a UPS Store (different entity from UPS the company, however, the company’s response was horrible).</p>
<p>One of my credit cards went missing a few years ago, I called them up, they took care of it, and I had a new one on my mailbox in like two days.</p>
<p>Bad: Dell</p>
<p>My one friend just finally settled a disagreement with Dell after he got a lawyer and contacted them about their wrong-doings.</p>
<p>texastaximom - I’m with you. AT&T wireless has been a pain in the butt. They add stuff to your cellphone plan w/o telling you, and if you don’t cancel w/i the 30 day period they charge you for it. They still haven’t explained to me how you can cancel something you didn’t know you had or even asked for. I told them that no one else could ever get away with what they do - they did NOT care:) Not even sure that after hours of talking to them that it wasn’t worth cancelling the contract. However, since I had three phones it would have cost a fortune to cancel. Not so sure (after my 2 year contract) I will do business with them again.</p>
<p>Very good: Home Depot! We totally remodeled a new place year-and-a-half-ago. Bought much thru HD (for cost reasons, obviously). The service there, from kitchen planner to telephone answerer, was as though we were dealing with a small specialty boutique. I was most amazed and impressed.</p>
<p>Good: Nordstrom, cricket wireless, the guy who built our house (5 years later he will STILL return our occasional phone call within a day if we have a question about something).</p>
<p>Bad, verging on ugly…
the only thing I can think of which stands out so much in my mind is our experience with Lowe’s. Ugh. Ordered shutters (indoor) for our new home the weekend after the 4th of July. Received said shutters around mid-October after they had been shipped to the store in August and someone in their receiving dept REFUSED them and sent them back (and we had already paid for them :mad: ). So, they had to be sent again.
And one other: CTY through Johns Hopkins. S was going to attend a summer program, sent in the $200 deposit (or however much it was) and later we were told the program was filled up and we’d receive our refund. Silly us, we actually believed that last part :rolleyes:
After NUMEROUS letters, phone calls, etc, it took an official complaint to the MD state atty general’s office to actually get the deposit refunded.
I certainly hope for others’ sakes we were the exception and not the rule in that case :(</p>