Why are some company's auto customer services so easy to use, and other's are so hard?

Different technology is my guess. Different tech, different budgets, different handling.

I have noticed this trend myself. Some of the voice recognition automated systems are so easy to deal with, almost like a real person and others you just end up screaming “operator” until a real person comes on the phone.

Exactly.

I recently called a customer line about a defective deck umbrella. After a fairly extensive set of questions, the computer places me on hold. It was sure to remind me every twenty seconds to “Please wait. Your call is important to us”.

After a fifteen minute wait on hold, I was shunted to answering machine, which asked I leave a message and my phone number. I do, no one calls me back that day.

I repeated this three days in a row until, finally, a woman calls me back saying, “Yeah, you left us a message?”

“Yes”, I said and proceeded to explain the issue (duplicate parts were packed in the box, making it unbuildable). “There’s nothing we can do for you sir”, she interrupted me.

“But you guys packed the box, yes?”, I said.

She repeated, “There’s nothing we can do for you sir. Just return it to the store.” – and hung up the phone.

———-

So I return it to the store and begin to explain the issue to the girl at the customer service desk (thinking they won’t want to resell a defective item).

She interrupts me halfway through my explanation by leaning in and saying, “Sir? I don’t care.” – and hands me my refund.

Gah!!

OMG, seriously @cookieman?! What store was it so I know not to got there!

When I worked at Rubbermaid, in the customer service department, and we had just learned that the entire customer service department was being transferred to Ohio in 3 months, one co-worker took a call from a customer who was complaining that her shed was leaking.
“Well, put a tarp on it!” my co-worker said! I didn’t think that was the right thing to do but….you know.

@Dutchess_III: It was the Christmas Tree Shop