Customer Service

The worst comes to mind first--it's not really that bad but I remembered for a while afterwards. At the Oakland restaurant, La Cheval (I think there is one in Berkeley too), there was this waiter that was totally rude, got my order wrong, didn't bring my drink and then disappeared so that I couldn't ask for anything else. Needless to say I stiffed him on the tip.

As for my best one, I think it was with my ISP, who I unfortunately no longer use. I had this intermittent problem with my router where all of a sudden and for unclear reasons it would not let me connect. But it didn't happen all the time. So they walke d me through how I might be able to fix it and when didn't work they sent me a new one without any hassle.

My new ISP, Comcast, is pretty much the same so far though I've heard indirectly of lots of complains--though I've heard negative things, so either I've been lucky so far or rumors are exagerated.

Okay Verizon - hands down, has the best customer service. DirecTV stinks.
Nordstrom has exception customer service. I think when you go into upscale stores like Prada or Tiffany, if you seem uncomfortable, then they will treat you like you don't belong.

But I gotta share this one story w you both. I was in Palo Alto once and I was trying on these shoes in the Cathy Jean store. I know I have bad feet, but when the sales girl came over to check on me and says, what do I think, I responded with "I don't know. I like how they look from the side but not so much from the front" and she says, "oh yeah, I know what you mean, you got that whole bunyon thing going on." My friend was standing behind her and her mouth dropped to the floor. I didn't know what to say except to agree with her, because it's true - they're not horrible but they're noticeable and it's from wearing point shoes when i was younger. Granted she was only like 20 so I discounted what she said, but still, it was pretty rude (and funny at the same time - but definitely falls within the whole bad customer service category.)

Yeah...while I've never worked the phone tree, I have worked retail in several places and the general trend seems to be that there are never quite enough resources put into setting up the employees for success. I've actually quit two jobs for that very reason. The aforementioned companies are ones that not only hire good people, but value pouring resources into these good people.

As far as call centers, if someone has screwed up and I need a refund or something along those lines, I generally work my way up the chain of command until I find the right person. I often play the "I know that this isn't your fault, and I'm sorry that you are the one who has to hear me vent, BUT if you have no control over the situation then I need to speak with someone who can help me." This line has worked wonders at getting me on the phone with managers. It's all about appealing to the person on the other end. If they can't give me good customer service, then I can at least be a good customer...

@StephSF: That's a good attitude to have. I hate it when I hear someone chew out the first person that they get on the line at company. The person on the other end usually is someone who has had nothing to do with the problem and often is working really hard to help people try to resolve their issues only to be thwarted by a company culture that sets them up as the fall guy for problems the company is willing to live with so they can maximize profits

Omg, I abhor BofA. They're name represents $, poor customer service and more $ for everything.

In-store, I think that their customer service is not bad, but their phone support is terrible. Any "emergency line" that requires you to listen to five minutes of menu options before allowing you to report a lost or stolen credit card obviously has something very very wrong with it.