Retirement: Online Art Workshops

What is it these days? Do people not know the meaning of the term "customer service"? For the last few days hubby & I have been back and forth with not one but TWO companies that are not providing the services that we paid them for. They don't answer emails the right way-we ask them questions, they evade the answer or accuse us of something that we have no idea what they are talking about. What??? It used to be that the 'customer was always right'. Not in 2006. Not when you don't have to deal with people face to face anymore, that you can email them your problems. I'm just irked to no end today. My husband is a writer. I'm an artist. We both use the web for business. It's wonderful being able to email and express your comments/complaints/problems 24/7 but not when the company turns around and either evades answering your question or won't fix the problem.
Another rant I have: I'm at the point where I am done with recommending ANYTHING on my artgangLA yahoo list, on my website, in my classes, etc... I've had way too many people turn on ME and email me telling me "I sent so and so money 'cause you recommended it and now they're not answering my emails. What can YOU do about it?" So I turn around and forward their email to the person that they are talking about. I still don't get a response from that person EITHER so I then tell whomever emailed me in the first place about it. What can I do when someone offers a zine that I like (and recommended) and then never follows through on it. There are several people out there in the "paper arts" world that not only owe me "stuff" but owe several other people "stuff". I'm out of $ just like everyone else is. I guess I'm too trusting and am too honest. I don't know. I'm just aggravated 'cause it's happened more then once over the last few years. I ALWAYS try to help the smaller businesses out. I really believe that your local art supply store/rubber stamp store has MUCH more to offer then some big ass chain store. SO I plug the hell out of the little guys...I even plug the hell out of the "smaller" independent people that don't even own stores-the ziners, the small online companies, etc... I'm just aggravated to no end today though with the whole online business thing and the complete lack of customer service with a lot of places now a days.
Over the holidays I went to Barnes and Noble. I waited patiently for 10 minutes (or was it 15?) at the service desk. It's finally MY turn. A woman looks me in the face and then says "can I help you?" I go up to the desk. She then proceeds to ignore me and talk to another customer. I asked her (nicely as I know everyone is stressed over the holidays who works in customer service) if she was helping me. She begins to YELL at me for no reason. Um. I used to work for Barnes & Noble. I KNOW this isn't store policy. What the **** is going on nowadays???
Another case in point: There is a local store in West Hollywood where one of the employees seems to have emotional mood swings. One moment he is as sweet as can be, going out of his way to help you. The next minute he is talking down to you, belittling you, asking if you didn't hear his response the first time, telling YOU what to do, etc... Then the next minute he's sweet again. I'm at the point where I'm ready to stop going there. I know it's not just me that feels like this.
This is a huge rant but I just need to know: does customer service exist any more?