Customer Service: Who does it best?

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The customer is always right. Sometimes. A new survey reveals which companies do the best and worst at fixing problems.

"You actually have to say, 'You know what, before I make that call to customer service, I better have a half an hour; I better not have this great expectation that at the end it's really going to be resolved, or you're going to be extremely frustrated,'" Jo-Anne Dressendofer said.

You can probably relate if you've ever been caught in the maze of phone prompts.

Consumer Reports experts have conducted surveys over several years. They examined 22 industries and found among the worst are computer tech support, appliance repairers, and telephone and internet companies.

"The most irritating issues are the inability to get a live person on the phone, a rude or condescending customer-service representative, and getting disconnected," Tod Marks, Consumer Reports, SAID.

Generally speaking, women were more annoyed than men, as were people over 45.

"Our analysis found that within every industry, some companies provide much better customer service than others," Marks said.

Consider computer tech support: survey respondents rated both HP and Toshiba as having the worst customer care and Apple as offering the best.
Airline passengers gave the lowest marks to Spirit Air for its cabin service compared with top-rated Virgin America.

Whom you do business with can make a difference when you're trying to get some satisfaction.

Consumer Reports says the best advice for resolving an issue is still to pick up the phone and call the company. Real-time contact is often more efficient than e-mail. If you get an automated menu, try to bypass it by pressing zero or the pound symbol.

All Consumer Reports Material Copyright 2015. Consumers Union of U.S. Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Consumer Reports is a not for profit organization which accepts no advertising. It has no commercial relationship with any advertiser or sponsor on this site. For more information visit consumerreports.org.