with a hotel … trying to work through a bad contract (negotiated prior to me) with a corporate group who, I believe, is actively acting in bad faith, so that I cannot fulfill the contract.

The way I've felt for at least a couple of decades.

I'm not sure when it happened but buying anything now is an ordeal. It's almost never a pleasant experience. Customer service seems to be designed to deliberately fend off customers.

And insurance, especially health insurance? Nightmare.

The rest of the world thinks we're crazy to put up with this.

I just wish it were easier to refuse to buy anything at all.

If they are going to starve us, we should do the same to them...

Almost every day there is a new ridiculous hassle that would have been rare or unthinkable just a few decades ago.

I feel like I spend too much time fighting just to get what in the past would have been a given. Has anyone else thought about how most everything you buy has only a one year warranty? Of course most new things can make it through the first year. After that you're on your own. I bought a new desktop computer a year ago and after only 2 months it quit. Yes it was still under warranty but what a hassle and time suck sending it in. Was told it needed a new motherboard. What sort of a crappy product is that? So now it quit this week and it’s only two months out of warranty so to fix it is on my dime.

I would say more but I don't have any time. I'm bogged down right now fighting with the insurance company, the car dealership, the phone company, the utility company, and the streaming services.

My old house needed a repair to the main breaker panel, which is ancient.
The power company checked it out and said it was a problem with some type of contact internal to the panel. They said “this one is really old, and hard to find parts — so i suggest you find someone who is old school, because they’ll have parts, and some of the companies are going to tell you you need to replace the whole breaker panel”.

So i looked for ‘old school’, recognized a local company still in business 35 years after my dad was using them. Two people came out the next morning, brought the part, shut the power off including climbing on the roof, fixed it, turned it back on, and charged me a reasonable fee of around $400. I wrote them a check so that they didn’t have to pay credit card fees.

One guy was an old fellow with 40+ years of experience; while the one who climbed on the roof and did the closeup had just a couple of years, a tattooed young woman with an edgy disposition and punk/grunge style. They got along quite smoothly and were professional. Very good experience.

‘Old school’ can mean a lot of things, but the contrast to what the big-deal corporate companies would have done could not have been more clear.

And now they've gotten most of the way there.

They no longer need to worry about competition or government reining them in.

I miss the days when the only way banks & airlines could compete was with service.

have always loathed FDR and the Regulations he did.............They loved the way things were without any regulations......until their whole world crashed and burned...............

Now, the Republicans are going for a #2 GILDED AGE with a whole new set of ROBBER BARRONS....Bezos, Musk, Ellison, Zuckerberg, Koch, Waltons.......

The regulations would have never been implemented if they weren't needed.

"ordinary people get lip service "

What do we call "lip service" when the "lips" are actually AI bots?

I mean, today's companies don't even give us the courtesy of telling us we are screwed to our faces.

Do AI agents get the same satisfaction that a human gets when denying a medical claim?

I've had three horrible experiences with big corps in the last 45 days.

Spectrum offered me a great deal to bring fiber into my valley. They told me that they would do a construction survey and advise me of the installation date. They sent the agreement--it had a free cancellation policy, so I said yes. They proceeded to cancel my current phone/internet service--they called my current provider and cancelled my service--and when I called my current provider, they said that only Spectrum could reinstate my contract. What the hell!? I have to give them my pin number and blood to just pay my bill and yet Frontier let Spectrum cancel my contracted service. You can't make this shit up.

Right after the war started and the fuel prices went up, my garbage service (for my business) implemented a $50 fuel "surcharge."
It is in the contract that they can do that. So, the next month comes and they raise it by $150 more dollars per month. Really? I called around and found a small local company that would do it for less than half of my monthly fee. Well the contract with Republic doesn't end until 7/27, and the cancellation clause said that I had to pay a 6 month cancellation fee. I did the math. I was mad that they didn't even send me an email about the price increase, and so I started trying to cancel. It took daily calls and 10 different contacts and 45 days to get the container removed from my property. Ironically it was their collection department that finally forced through the cancellation. Now, let's see how long they send me collection notices.

The other situation is so stupid. Went to my orthopedist (old...not 47!) and they made me pay the full amount instead of billing Medicare first. New policy with their billing department. I said I had met my deductible. They didn't care. So then I got my Medicare statement and they paid the doctor. So I called the doctor, they said to call their billing department. People with foreign accents told me they would keep my money because I have an appointment in 6 months and that money can be applied to the next appointment. So you think you can keep $280 of mine for 6 months. Hell no. I had to cancel my doctor appointment and call the billing department back and do a "formal" request for my refund. I keep meticulous records....I won't let them forget about my money. I'm changing doctors....he also put a new charge on his bill: "Medical Office Rent." FFS.

It's almost as if they don't need customers any more.

And if people can't earn enough to afford their products? Are the MBAs that stupid?

I am a very patient person but I swear that this week, if I had been a person who was barely hanging in there I would be ready to jump. Most of my calls started out with AI and I was hung up on three times when I had been waiting on hold for 15 minutes.

was legal? I know it’s just more hassle. But still.

I would like to see them disappear. No other country has a system like ours, and that is for a reason, it don't work.

The corporations treat their employees as disposable and this attitude now permeates their relationship with customers.

Rinse and repeat. Fist thing and only thing MBAs learn.
I had an argument with a home insurance company. Told me why it’d be so expensive to insure the house I was moving out. It’d sit vacant forever, might not sell and wasn’t worth what I said it was. Told her houses in that area averaged 32 days on the market. I was asking way under the quoted market price. Said I’ve been in sales for 50 years and had a Realtor license years ago. I had an inspection done and be glad to show it to her. Sales depend on price, condition and location.
Then I told her she was trained to defend, defer, delay and deny.
I paid one month of insurance and had an offer the next day and close a month later.

but only because I leave big tips. It fits with lostnfound's original post. I pay a fee to be treated like that.

But the freebies are long gone. Every fourth drink used to be on the house and those happy hour hors d'oeuvres were magnificent. Any bars not offering those things went out of business.

Management company. Charged me a late fee that was erroneously charged and then charged me a late fee on that while I was disputing it and now another late fee on that one.
I told them it’s elder abuse!

. . . for Christmas my mother gave me a Cuisinart a couple of years after they were first introduced. She questioned my sanity for wanting one - she asked, I answered, and later got her one. The center post jammed while slicing pepperoni. I called the company and spoke to a customer service representative. She gave me instructions for shipping it to them so they could repair it. It was sent back to me, not only repaired, but with a new lid, the old one having been gouged. It is now forty-nine years old and still going strong.

Prior to that, I had a wool Pendleton coat that I wore throughout college and into my early marriage years. The lining had begun to shred. I called Pendleton, spoke to a customer service person, and sent the coat to them for relining, at no cost to me.

Those were the days. Lostnfound, aren't we fortunate to have those days to remember?

A feeling like people mattered.

Squeezed out of you and me.

They are such job creators, especially with AI.

At the time I was saving over $50. a month by making the switch. Gradually the cost rose to the point where I'm paying a lot more than I was with Verizon. But, their ads tell me it's so cheap to use T-Mobile.
I'd like to switch again, but my family likes the service, so I'm stuck with them for the time being.
The cost of cable TV has also gone up a tremendous amount. I get my internet and TV from Optimum; don't really have a choice, and it's over $300. a month. And that's with a fairly basic plan.
So, cellphone, internet, and TV costs me over $550. a month when you put it all together.

To say that sucks is to put it mildly.

The institutions have us consumers cornered.

A lot of it is cynicism, laziness, bad upbringing, and bad education at root, imo.

That means a work force with a fully understandably, bad attitude, working for inept, bloated, non-mission-focused administrators. The administrators do everything they can to turn the work over to automation, especially any work they themselves have to do (above and beyond sit in meetings).

Web sites and phone banks are now expertly designed jails. They sell to you, can get information from and about you, can force you to wait forever, force you to commit to costs and obligations.

"Would you like motor oil or puddle mud on that BLT?"

"Mayo please."

"I'm sorry, I didn't get that. You can say motor oil or puddle mud. To return to the main menu say or press 4."

"Agent... agent... agent!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't get that. Did you know you can access most of our services online. I can text you a link. Just say 'text' and I'll do that."

... That sort of thing should simply be illegal. If a company wastes your time, they should be forced to credit your bank account on a per minute basis.

All the time we waste deleting spam and interrupted by sales phone calls? People are getting paid to waste our time like that. And ultimately the cost of those interruptions gets added to the price of what we buy.

She wanted to keep the same number and
Verizon seemed to stand in the way of letting that happen. She spent days on the phone sitting in Xfinity and Verizon locations being sent from one company to the other being told that Xfinity was waiting for the number to be released. She gave up and went back to Verizon.

as a general rule. If they’re giving you the runaround, you should let them know that you can file a complaint with the FCC, and they can be fined. Even now, they’re federally required to let you keep your number.

You need to go to the new provider first to set up an account and tell them you want to keep your number. Don’t cancel with your old (current) carrier first, or you could risk being without service for a period and also losing your number.

For more information:

• How To Switch Phone Carriers: 9 Easy Steps (tips from consumer finance expert Clark Howard’s team) - https://clark.com/technology/switch-cell-phone-need-to-know/


• Porting: Keeping Your Phone Number When You Change Providers (FCC) - https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/porting-keeping-your-phone-number-when-you-change-providers


• Enabling legislation (Telecommunications Act of 1996) -
  https://workinggroup.numberportability.com/sites/workinggroup/files/2022-09/fcc96286_WzUY2cg.pdf

That was a nightmare. The stupid insurance company commercials that we see 15.000.000.000 times a day make it seem like it's so easy to switch to them but the actual hoops you have to jump through are insane.

and there are major differences between the two.

The closest macro client relationship that citizens can possibly have is with their representative government, not with any business entity or corporation.

A customer or consumer buys or uses a product, usually for short term use or gain while a well represented client's long term interests are taken into account as well. There is a fiduciary responsibility when dealing with clients.

If your interests are only for the short term, global warming climate change simply doesn't register, although that reality will become increasingly difficult to ignore.

This is why one of first strategies of the GOP was to come between the people and their elective government, starting with Reagan's put down joke "I'm from the government and I'm here to help" this coming from the President of the United States all for the sake of corporations and the people with serious money.

Since that day, the American People have ever been considered as customers or consumers, by the corporate media in the vast majority of their coverage. Corporations and extremely wealthy people were the actual clients either via ownership or major commercial purchasing. The American People were largely just somebody to sell something to whether it be a product, candidate or WAY OF THINKING. Meanwhile the corporate media both increasingly conglomerated into ever fewer hands, but also changed from actually gathering critical information and distributing it to the American People to giving their top down controlled opinion via punditry as to what reality was.

A half century of those dynamics gave us *rump and the only way he can possibly consider the American People is as customers to be sold any product except the truth.

Thanks for the thread lostnfound

centers that then buy/sell and trade data through markets controlled by elite clients who are subsidized by this corrupt government.

No average American in the medical world is a patient; they are not the client; they are conduits of client payors to
for-profit payees.

And, yes, nowadays, they don't even try to hide it behind good presentation.

But, we still make them rich, so...

I bought a Chevy Equinox last year, about this time. We felt like our timing was great because they lure you in with Memorial Day sales. I'm also a disabled veteran and so we thought we would get a discount for that. Nope Neither. I complained to high heaven after they quoted us the price with no discounts. They said disabled vets do not qualify. So I have been pretty down on GM since that experience. I asked them about the Memorial Day savings. They had to go back and take some off You gotta watch these guys. Shame on GM for not looking out for veterans. We paid cash for the car and they were pissed off.

Enshittification.

so-called 'tort reforms' that made it more difficult for the average consumer to sue, and a decades long Republican attack upon consumers' rights, and specifically, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Elizabeth Warren's brainchild that, prior to Donald Trump's SABOTAGE of it, helped millions of American consumers.

Just another example of how TSFk and his filthy rich conies have made us 'great again.'

I think it was a year ago and it was against Blue Cross. I filled out the form but couldn't even remember when I worked for a company where I had their insurance. Yesterday I received an email saying that I would be getting my check of $18.56! What a farce.

You have to buy a book or subscription!

and encourage others to do the same.
No personal experience with Chewy.

Their salmon and hamburger is the best, and the gasoline is tier one at discount prices or below

They have these big bags of gourmet coffee roasted in Charleston that I buy frequently. Luckily I will have plenty prior to election day.

especially the last five or so years. BUT... there are exemptions. You asked, I'll tell (gryn)

I was with Farmer's Insurance since I was 18 and out on my own. My family was with them even before I was born. Talk about what should have been an excellent relationship! But when push came to shove after trump's first tariffs on Canadian wood and steel, the price for our house insurance went through the roof. I simply couldn't afford it any longer, nor could I find anyone at the company who even pretended to empathize. So, I went insurance shopping.

I'd always heard bad things about State Farm, and had stayed away from them because of it. But my sister recommended an office here in town that she'd been with since she'd gotten married, decades ago. She said they were friendly and responsive, and she'd never had any issues with them where claims were concerned. She'd been involved in a few wrecks and I knew she'd had house problems, so I trusted her word and made a call.

This office is 100% female. They came in lower in the house insurance for me, tho admittedly not by much. BUT they outright explained the issues and pointed exactly who to blame. I've called them so much I feel like I've made a pest of myself, but they are always friendly and helpful. They've helped me adjust pay schedules to try to match when my check comes in, and have worked with me when the money just wasn't all there. They've never made me feel like a pest, or an old woman who can't handle a lot of the new phone tech (which I am), and I have nothing but good to say about them.

Would it be the same if there were men running the office? Is it because it's female owned and operated? I don't know. But I do know I truly appreciate how this office has helped me and treated me. It's an exquisitely rare thing in today's customer service arena, and I let them know how grateful I am.

That's it. That's the only one I've got on the "Plus" side of customer service. Now, if you want to hear me yell about bad customer service, give me an hour or so to tell you about my dealings with AT&T!!!

And instead... we got some really shitty onboard wifi and - wait for it - backseat credit card offers. They even had the flight attendants go through the aisles with the damn credit card bullshit. We don't want your stupid credit card - we want to be treated like humans instead of walking dollar signs.

Seriously that sums it up so well.

There were always hucksters and aggressive sales people in American society, but it is just so intense and disrespectful now.

Not like ‘get your papers! Read all about it!’ ‘Fresh hot popcorn!’ More like a toxic gas that finds it way in through every unsealed window, every vent in your house and your car, delivered into your home.

And what's truly insane is that the credit card bullshit is EVERYWHERE. I must get at least 20 credit card offers in my inbox during the day.

My favorite thing was once you login to the American Airlines onboard Wifi, it takes you to a screen to sign up for a credit card offer. It says in big letters "ENJOY THIS ONBOARD OFFER!!!". Nobody enjoys signing up for credit cards, dipshits. Yeah you're $6,000 in debt but you get 80,000 points, which barely qualifies you for one leg of a round trip. Fucking nuts.

Had some very hostile conversations over the phone and in person over the years.

1. Offering to pay over the phone some outstanding debts for my daughter for electricity, rent-to-buy domestic appliances.

2. In person paying parking fines for my son who happened to be driving a car registered in my name.

Do some places hire abusive and surly females just to deal with people who are perceived to be difficult customers?
Seems like it!

Personally, I hate the upsells and lock in contracts, the buy now and pay monthly systems, the offer to do the monthly bill paying by auto debit.
I avoid them as much as possible.
Sadly, some can't be avoided.

Love the looks on the faces of car salespeople when you buy new and tell them - after negotiation dealings - you will pay cash.
Missing out on kickback from finance companies? Sorry/not sorry!

For example, those credit card offers that claim 0% interest for a year on balance transfers Sounds good at first but the math is worse than it seems to pay upfront a 4% or more fee and additional interest later on.

The days of respect and equality (or the hope for it) are over.

Last edited Sun May 24, 2026, 10:38 PM - Edit history (1)

They were our trash service, near a fairly small city, but about a mile beyond city limits, so no municipal provider. Over the past 3 to 4 years, prices just went up and up and up - from around $75 to $80 per quarterly billing to more than $160. And it wasn't like we were a major industrial account - just a single home, and we might actually fill our one trash cart once a year for our once-weekly pickup (limited to one cart, of course).l

Finally, enough. Called to cancel in late December, and got another bill in January. So, what was that about? To find out, I'd have to hear repeatedly that my call was very important to them, and they were looking forward to providing excellent customer service.

About an hour later, I reached a human being, who informed me that the $65-odd "bonus dollars" on my January bill was the "Cart Retrieval Fee". That is, walking down the driveway and wheeling the cart back to the truck was a $65 drain on company resources. And I'm still getting voicemails and bills for a service I canceled at the end of last year.

The only consolation has been going online and learning just how much Republic is despised by their past and current local customers.

and Google or submitted directly to the company.

I don't own the store; I just work there, but we go way out of our way to make sure our customers are well taken care of. We have Ace and other vendors, so we carry a wide range of supplies and building materials tailored for our region. We're going up against the big boys, but I hear over and over from customers that they'd rather do business with us. I've been called the best DIY resource in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Small business values your business.

in addition to viable plans for messaging to the public that conveys a plausible strategy for restoring the dignity of trade and increased experiences of being treated like customers ‘not just walking dollar signs’.

Corporate attitudes are no longer provide useful goods and services first and get reasonably compensated second.

The goal now is to maximize profit by any means necessary.

This includes corrupting laws; milking the legal, regulatory, tax, and bankruptcy systems; making service *worse* wherever it saves money (warranty claims, refunds, cancelations, returns, etc.)

Note that the system we have as no longer "capitalism" in a true sense because there's insufficient or ineffective competition in many industries. What we have at best is "economic anarchy" where those in a position to do so get whatever they can get and there's really not much anyone can do about it.

Arguably, it's even worse with the government actively helping the upward wealth extraction.

I like to think if we can just find the right words to describe the situation, then it will lose some of its power. Like the old fairy tale.
Seriously your comments are spot on, in my opinion.

And only the richest can get on the rocket to Musk's Mars colony?

...and I wondered whether it had been just as hard then. For example, in the 1990s, I encountered the realities of health insurance: The hospital might be in-network, but not the laboratory! The bills following a single procedure might just keep coming in, and that was with excellent employer-provided insurance (and yes, that insurance required me to pay premiums that made up a healthy percentage of my wages).

All that said, I am struck by how the tech bros seem to be looming over us all now. I think of the government contracts that go to particular corporations and of the tax cuts that go to the top 1%. Yet some of the wealthiest want even more power and money.

mass murderers, serial abusers, and scammers.

I now work for a corporation. ‘Non-profit’, they say, but it’s a lie. They know it and we know it. Instead of having ‘patients’, we are encouraged to think of them as ‘value units’. We providers had a meeting a couple of weeks ago with the regional manager, who didn’t mention a thing about practicing medicine. He talked about how we need to “leverage”, “optimize”, and “maximize”.

🙄