The Better Business Bureau has released its annual tally of consumer complaints for 2008 and one industry stands head-and-shoulders above the rest for stinking it up.
The envelope, please…and it's…the cell phone industry!
How can a competitive industry with four big national players do so lousy? Clark believes the answer is twofold.
First, the stinking two-year contracts that the industry enforces on its customers are the obvious reason for all the complaints. The providers typically call it an "agreement," but it's really a contract. Verizon recently started getting a little bit kinder and gentler by prorating their contracts and that's created some headway in the industry.
Thankfully, there are also a handful of smaller players like Boost Mobile, Cricket and Metro PCS who are all contract-free.
The second reason is more rooted in speculation than fact: You've got to understand that the cell phone industry grew out of regulated monopoly telephone companies. So contempt for customers is practically imprinted on their DNA, according to Clark, as it is in all monopolies.
