You've managed to characterize more precisely what we've all experienced, and know instinctively, but find it difficult to articulate precisely. One expects that large organizations, indeed all businesses, will tend to look after their own interests at the expense of everyone elses. No surprise, I do that! And one also expects that sometimes this is not evidence of evil intent or malicious skulduggery, it is just natural to spend more effort and care protecting one's own interests than someone else's. But I think that we have all suspected that in recent times it has gone a little further than that. The natural tendency of an individual businessman to protect his company and his reputation by scrupulous public service, and favoring the customer whenever possible, BECAUSE IT IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS, seems to be going the way of the complimentary free trim between haircuts.

I submit that this extends beyond a mere conflict of interests. I am starting to wonder if it isn't becoming more and more deliberate, and has its origins in corporate culture and class stratification. To put it bluntly, corporate America, or at least its collective aggregate psyche, sees the consumer as a fool and a villain who deserves to be exploited and cannot be trusted, so he needs to be taught a lesson. If he's too stupid or slow to not be able to see through the marketing and the fine print, or doesn't have the communications skills to challenge corporate fiat, then he has no business whining. Some of the remarks in this very thread by apologists for the system certainly lead inescapably to this conclusion.

Not all companies are like this, nor are all company customer relations employees like this, I will be the first to concede that I have had faceless corporations sometimes do a great job at trying to give me satisfaction. But the other is happening more and more often, and the anecdotal information one hears supporting this simply cannot be ignored. Another factor is at play here, too. Quality doesn't just happen, and it is not simply the absence of shabby workmanship. Quality has to be planned, worked on, managed. It requires constant effort and attention and innovation. And companies simply don't do this anymore, it is too expensive. Again, the primary cause is firms no longer owned by individuals who have a reputation and sense of honor to uphold. They are just faceless corporate machines run by interchangeable robot humanoids. And to the customer, it looks deliberate and heartless and criminal. Perhaps if corporate America spent more resources on improving customer relations, instead of spending so much on PR and marketing to give us the impression they are, they wouldn't be suffering the bad press they've been getting.