Having had several amazing instances of very poor customer service lately, I wonder how often companies think about how their customer support represents their organization. Often, after being a customer for some time, the only contact we might have with a company is with their service folks.
The best part about doing customer service training (an offshoot of sales training) has been that when I get treated really poorly by someone I am doing business with - I can honestly look whoever it is that I'm talking with in the eyes and thank them for the exchange and let them know that I will be using this in my next upcoming customer service session - as an example of what not to do. I don't mean it spitefully - it is just great to have fresh instances of poor service to use as an example or two.
It's taken the "edge" off of getting frustrated as a customer - or when trying to do business with a new company, I like to say, "I'm sorry, I'm just trying to be a customer."
Sometimes rules, requirements, and internal company challenges are too much to overcome to do business with a potential organization. If there are internal communication issues or misconnects - it shouldn't involve me as a prospective buyer - just let me buy, and help me to do so!
What instances have you run into where you just stopped doing business with a company or switched vendors because it was too hard to be a customer?