There does seem to be a problem in Britain at the moment whereby people have all but given up and just accept crap service and try to convince themselves (and others, as a part thereof) that it's not crap service and they're somehow holy in their forbearance. There's no question that customer service is crap in this country, whether it's phone, email or in person. A large part of it is deliberately obstructive behaviour - how else do you explain a fast, efficient sales service and a crap support service? I don't know why it's so hard to get it right - not like it's difficult.
The best customer service I've experienced was when I wanted an engineer to look at my washing machine. I'd just moved home and the woman told me I couldn't register a service call without first changing my address, but I couldn't change my address because the insurance company's (extended guarantee thing) automated service insisted my name wasn't long enough
