It's that time of the year again. I'm not a huge fan of black men handling balls, but I always embrace the Consumerist's Worst Company In America tournament with enthusiastic, open arms.

Here's this years bracket:



Last year EA took the home the Golden Poo with their Mass Effect debacle and notorious nickel and diming tactics. I have a feeling that they will also win it all this year with the latest simcity debacle. Since there's nothing at stake, I use my hate to vote, not my savvy.

I have ATT taking on Carnival Cruise Lines, and Walmart facing off against DirectTV in the Final Four with ATT edging out wally world for the championship.

Pretty sure EA will get it again unless some net-savvy folks took a poo-cruise in the past year.

Either one of the these: Sallie Mae, Carnival, Cablevision [they just upped the internet service to $55 from $50 several months ago], Wells Fargo or Bank of America.

Having Comcast cable ... and no FIOS option to threaten them with in Florida ... has made me appreciate Cablevision all the more. I'd pay 60 bucks to have Optimum instead of moody Xfinity.

Carnival Cruise Lines has a lot of depth this year. Unfortunately, it is from backed up waste systems.

I had Walmart versus Bank Of America in the quarters. That was probably the toughest choice on the bracket. I've never dealt with Time Warner or Cablevision, so I had to go with DirectTV and ATT which are two terrible companys.





Man. Time Warner demolished Cablevision. The voting had like a thirty something precent gap. I had Google going over Facebook(a battle Facebook won with a 77% margin), but to be fair, that one was pretty much a coin-toss.

Time Warner is TERRIBLE. CableVision is the best cable company I know of.

So they are the best smelling turd.

I Use Charter. They were on the list last year, but somehow didn't make it this year. They suck pretty hard, but not near as hard as ATT.


Here's last years bracket. Charter bested Qwest/Century Link, but got railroaded by Paypal. EA took the cheese.

My Final Four would be Facebook, Ticketmaster, DirectTV and Bank of America. BOA would be cutting down the nets.

RE Cablevision: I have been annoyed with them at times, and I fucking HATE the Dolans (mostly lil Jimmy) but they are light years better than DirectTV (the only other cable provider I ever used). My only real complaint now is my internet speeds. I thought I was getting shafted, but my cell phone seems to think that my speed is 18mb/s. I am lucky when I realize 10% of that.

I've been annoyed at them countless times. And, I, too, hate the Dolans.

But, as a roaming PC pirate, I've had the chance to experience the speed and drawbacks of several of the internet carriers.

My buddy next door in Weehanken had FIOS which I thought would be faster. In peak demand it can be faster. But, just a tad.

Since each of us was convinced his was the worse ISP, we would race downloading the same movie. I usually KILLED his FIOS. Which meant I lost. The only times FIOS was faster was by a minute or so in peak. But, FIOS blows the doors off of Time Warner in Queens. Possibly because of demand.

Xfinity, which I have now, blows chunks. But, their slowest speed is UVerse's fastest. So, I'm stuck. But, they have promised faster speeds soon. I'm not holding my breath.

I think I need to have my line from my house to the road replaced. They upgraded the area to fiber optic years ago, but the road to house is still the same old coax.

If I upgrade to the faster service they offer, I'll have them do it. My neighbor had all kinds of problems w/ his internet and had them run a separate line from the street for his net. He has a peppy connection, but it is slowed because he has about 9 computers on his network. His problem was an old router that went bad, nothing to do with the cable company. he must have had them out there 10 times and had a direct line to a supervisor for his complaints.

I've had both cablevision and time warner and just switched to the latter when I moved last month.

They gave me this shitty all-in-one modem/router that always conked out every evening within an hour of getting home from work. So I plugged this crappy old router I had into the back of the thing. Problem solved.

Now he's set to conquer what wasn't conquered properly the last round of helping shinery.

Here's some funny write-ups on a couple first round results. I voted for Microsoft, as I don't dabble in Apple products, and I fucking hate Microsoft. Bracket busted on that one.

Walmart vs. Best Buy was tough, because I hate them both for entirely different reasons. Best buy gets my stinkeye for it's over-zealous staff. Especially the front-door, receipt-checker idiot. You can be the only person at the front check-outs and they'll still stop you and ask for your receipt even though they stared at the entire transaction and know good and damn well that there's nothing extra in the bag. I know they're just doing their job and all, but it's a stupid fucking policy that does more harm to the customer base than the good it does for loss-prevention.

Walmart on the other hand, just fucking kills me. The staff is a completely fucking clueless bunch of unfortunate lower-class americans. Good luck getting assistance on anything. You ask somebody something and they just stutter and stare at the ceiling, than dissapear and never come back. And don't even get me started on their overall customer base. When there's an entire website dedicated to making fun of your customers, you know something has to be up. The South Park episode nailed it. Walmart truly is a haunted house; a terrifying, evil place that lures you in with it's bargains and makes you want to run out of there screaming twenty minutes later.


Worst Company In America Round 1: Apple Vs. Microsoft
March 22, 2013

Let’s end the first week of WCIA play by throwing these two longtime rivals into a locked shipping container until only one of them comes out alive.
In addition to all the regular reasons people give for disliking Apple — the iPhone/iPad’s proprietary cables, those devices’ closed-off, un-upgradable systems, charging too much for a few extra GBs of memory, its App Store being the sole market for apps — some readers took issue with the company’s spat with Google that resulted in popular apps being removed and replaced with inferior offerings; the seemingly endless legal issues involving Samsung… and Amazon, not to mention Apple’s alleged part in the e-book price-fixing scheme — allegations that everyone involved except for Apple has settled.

You could probably make a good argument that Microsoft is no longer Apple’s arch-nemesis, as the Mac vs. Windows argument seems to have shifted to iOS vs. Android, with a few Microsoft stalwarts standing off to the side trying to make the case that Windows-based phones and tablets are viable competitors.

And it’s that faded glory that was most frequently cited by Consumerist readers who nominated Microsoft. They are angry that the company seems over-focused on trying to crack a mobile market already dominated by two better operating systems. The launch of Windows 8 was supposed to be a game-changer, as was the release of the Surface tablet, but the operating system has been begrudgingly accepted by computer users while the Surface has been largely ignored in favor of the iPad, the Kindle Fire, and the Samsung’s Galaxy tabs, probably because half the device’s memory is used up by the operating system.

Meanwhile, the company is being hit with huge fines by the EU for shoving Internet Explorer down customers’ throats, getting rid of the once wildly popular Hotmail e-mail addresses, and though it pays big name celebrities like Gwen Stefani, Jessica Alba and Oprah to shill for its products, they use their iPads to do so.

It’s time to hit ctrl-alt-delete and vote!

VOTING FOR THIS POLL IS NOW CLOSED. CONGRATULATIONS TO APPLE FOR ADVANCING TO THE NEXT ROUND!






Worst Company In America Round 1: Best Buy Vs. Walmart
March 19, 2013

The first-round fisticuffs continue with today’s centerpiece bout that pits two big-box boxers to a fight to the death, all for the bloodthirsty enjoyment of WCIA fans around the world.
In one corner, wearing the blue and yellow trunks and trying to sell you an extended warranty, is the Minnesota Mauler — Best Buy! He’s had a rough go of it this year, losing head trainer and CEO Brian “The Dishes Are” Dunn to scandal. Meanwhile, the guy who got Best Buy into the game in the first place, Richard “Richard” Schulze, failed to woo his former pupil back to his gym.

So Double-B has a new trainer, who promises big that things will be different, but who knows if Hubert “Frenchy” Joly has what it takes to keep his company out of the WCIA octagon in the future, especially when one of his great ideas is to cut the return period by half.

In the other corner, wearing blue and white trunks and taking a smoke break just as you need his assistance, is the Brawler of Bentonville — Walmart!

It may be the nation’s largest retailer, but it never fails to disappoint. Just look at the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index, which had Walmart rated lowest in both the Supermarket and Discount/Dept. Store categories for 2012.

Meanwhile, Walmart seems to hang out with a violent crowd as we’re constantly hearing stories about violence and other bad behavior in and around Walmart stores.

These two pugilists are just raring to get out there in the ring… and then stare at each other blankly until it’s time to go home.

VOTING FOR THIS POLL IS NOW CLOSED. CONGRATULATIONS TO WALMART FOR MOVING ON TO THE NEXT ROUND!

I would have gone with Best Buy.

I've never seen a product sold there I couldn't get for less.

I would have gone with Best Buy just because of all the hoops you have to jump through to get a mail in rebate credited to you. You feel like you are Jack Nicholson in a retail store version of the restaurant scene in Five Easy Pieces.

Even between Best Buys in the same damn city. Price something at the store by the Barclay's Center then hop the train to the one in Soho. And even then Soho will still be more expensive than anywhere else.

Some of that depends on the store lease. There are 2 AutoZones in Trenton, about 2 miles away from each other. There is absolutely no correlation in prices between the 2. I hit them up on pricier parts, because they are in one of those zones that only charges 3.5% tax.

I know that Staples actually changes prices by zip code.

They figured out my way around their higher prices, and I stopped buying stuff from Staples.



On Best Buy, my mom would find something on sale and I would easily beat the price. Most recently she bought a GPS on sale over President's week. Easily found it cheaper at Costco, regular price.

Actually the Best Buy special sale price was the Target everyday price.

They were really unhappy when it came back returned and unopened the next day. They tried everything in their power to find an exception to their rule and at least charge a restocking/box open fee.

Not only was Costco less, but there is no restocking/open box fee. And, you have 90 days for electronics. Not 15 or less. Plus, if she has issues, there is free help.

So, Costco was less price, less hassle for returns AND more service if necessary.

Mostly I buy stuff [disks, accessories, etc.] from TigerDirect. But, sometimes from Amazon.

NEVER from Best Buy.

Last thing I bought from BestBuy was a Brother wireless laser printer, maybe 2 years ago. I fucking hate injets. Only prints in black, so it knocks pages out quick as shit. It was on sale for like $90.

I bought 1 toner cartridge at Staples, because I needed on that day. Then I found a joint out of NYC that sold me 4-90gm refills for $13.

TigerDirect, at least 10 years ago, would have been a strong contender for WCIA if only they had broader market presence. Since they mainly frustrate former subscribers of Computer Shopper TigerDirect can keep a lower profile. But they totally suck.

I don't like ordering from TigerDirect. I prefer Newegg, I've gotten a couple of DOA orders from them, in the past, but they have always exchanged them without question.

I don't doubt your issues with them, but my experience has been nothing but GREAT.

I've had ZERO problems with TigerDirect. I must have 50 harddisks, memory sticks, camera memory and all kinds of other peripherals and accessories since 2007. I've even got a person "dedicated" to me that I can call/email with questions issues.

Most of the time I ordered from their CompUSA.com version of their site. Until I saw that CircuitCity.com had pretty much the same exact site, I had no idea TigerDirect was behind it.

I had only two problems with TD equipment, one DOA and one that died within the return window. They shipped replacements immediately and even they paid for the return UPS. All I had to do was either schedule a UPS pickup or drop-off at a Staples or UPS store.

Most of the time the shipping has been free. And, though that's the 8 day variety of shipping, in most cases it came in 3/4 days.

The last three things I got from Newegg -- MP3 player, camera, card-reader -- all came without original boxes and no instructions. But, I must admit all their stuff is still working well and the instructions were easily found in PDF on-line.

For some reason Newegg makes me jump thru hoops to bill to one zip and ship to variety others, subsequently delays and/or rejects orders. I order on-line for EVERYTHING and do this consistently. I've called them to try to work this out. They blame it on my credit card companies. Something about them having to add the addresses to my account. But, of all the internet sites I've used in the past 6-8 years only Newegg has given me this song and dance.

I've pretty much stopped using credit cards online. Not because I'm worried, but because the CC companies seem to be extra sensitive these days and will block payments for seemingly no reason. I've never had any trouble on newegg using alternate shipping addresses, then again I only use Paypal with them.

I just had a website email me and tell me they are no longer accepting prepaid cards for payment. I think their problem is that they don't get to do the auto rebill if you forget to cancel.

First round and some second round results are in:




My shit is golden, so far. I know EA is going to go forward, so my bracket will bust eventually, but right now, I almost have the quarters nailed down.