Worst Company In America Round 1

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Consumerist has opened voting in round one of its annual Worst Company In America tournament. Today PayPal is facing off with Sallie Mae. Reeeaadddyyyy.....FIGHT!

For PayPal it wasn’t just another year of inexplicably frozen accounts, mysterious lifetime bans, or vanishing payments, it was also the year PayPal decided it sucks so bad it needs to include a mandatory arbitration clause in its terms of service to prevent being sued in court.
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The poll closes in a few minutes (3PM ET).

I haven't had problems with either (have PayPal account, no dealings with Sallie Mae), but I voted for Sallie Mae. Incompetence by design >> incompetence when things go wrong.
 
I've never had a problem that was Paypals fault. I did run into problems with Sallie Mae. Once I called them to set up a large payment to pay off my student loans. Rather than withdrawing one large lump sum, they withdrew once for each loan I had (dozen or more). Of course my bank then hit me with a federal law penalty because I had more than 6 withdraws in one month. I know of that law, but as far as I knew it was one withdraw, not a dozen or whatever it was. Anyways, I contacted Sallie Mae, which resulted in the issue being escalated to management, several times. More than once I was told they would look into it and get back to me, which they never did. They had me fax over paperwork showing the multiple withdraws and penalties, etc. They ended up telling me it was not their fault, even though they admitted there was no way for me to know it was going to withdraw in this fashion. I ended up giving up fighting, as the fee was only $20. I was fighting the good fight for the principle of the matter.
 
And the results:

Which Company Is Worse? (Poll Closed)
Sallie Mae 52.6%
PayPal 47.4%
 
bigdogchris said:
I've never had a problem that was Paypals fault. I did run into problems with Sallie Mae. Once I called them to set up a large payment to pay off my student loans. Rather than withdrawing one large lump sum, they withdrew once for each loan I had (dozen or more). Of course my bank then hit me with a federal law penalty because I had more than 6 withdraws in one month. I know of that law, but as far as I knew it was one withdraw, not a dozen or whatever it was. Anyways, I contacted Sallie Mae, which resulted in the issue being escalated to management, several times. More than once I was told they would look into it and get back to me, which they never did. They had me fax over paperwork showing the multiple withdraws and penalties, etc. They ended up telling me it was not their fault, even though they admitted there was no way for me to know it was going to withdraw in this fashion. I ended up giving up fighting, as the fee was only $20. I was fighting the good fight for the principle of the matter.
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Forgot to add, even my receipt of payment to them showed 1 dollar amount being withdrawn and 1 service number. Absolutely nothing about multiple withdraws.
 
I don't see how any company other than one of the big banks could win. None of those other companies tanked the world economy, took billions in bailout and trillions in interest-free loans, and used it to keep on doing the same old thing without anyone doing any jail time at all. If you want to talk "worst" I think it would go beyond a couple of bad customer service episodes.
 
I hate them both but probably Sallie Mae more. One of their employees committed identity theft against me and went on a shopping spree in Philadelphia (a place I have never been). I spent 11 years fighting off creditors. And do you think anyone did anything about it? Nope. I was told I could hire a private investigator at my expense.

I have gripes with PayPal as well. In any case I will never do business with either company again.
 
When I use Paypal, I immediately close my account after a successful transaction.

Leaving an account unused for more than a month (in 3 separate occasions) resulted in multiple withdrawls from my Bank Account, from sketchy named "Businesses"... in which the verification E-Mails were listed as Unread.

It's unfortunate that PayPal has grown so large, despite being riddle with security issues.
 
I dont really have any gripes with paypal. I use it at least once or twice a week. I just wont use it to sell anything through ebay again though. Buying things online paypal is my #1 choice for payments.
 
cant edit argh. Also Salie Mae handled some of my student loans, they screwed up some stuff and tried to charge me for it. Took them months to fix it. Person on the line was not very nice either.
 
xxEIEIOxx said:
I hate them both but probably Sallie Mae more. One of their employees committed identity theft against me and went on a shopping spree in Philadelphia (a place I have never been). I spent 11 years fighting off creditors. And do you think anyone did anything about it? Nope. I was told I could hire a private investigator at my expense.

I have gripes with PayPal as well. In any case I will never do business with either company again.
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That reminds me of when I worked doing phone tech support for US AOL customers up in Toronto. Apparently Toronto is a commonly used location to outsource tech support to.

Anyways, when I was working there, they told us that any time we handled customer information, we were being held to a high standard and that if we do anything with that information, we wouldn't just be immediately fired, we'd probably be prosecuted. There had been someone who actually did steal a customer's credit card information to pay their cable bill. And it was really obvious, because there's no company any American would recognize called "Rogers".
 
bigdogchris said:
I've never had a problem that was Paypals fault. I did run into problems with Sallie Mae. Once I called them to set up a large payment to pay off my student loans. Rather than withdrawing one large lump sum, they withdrew once for each loan I had (dozen or more). Of course my bank then hit me with a federal law penalty because I had more than 6 withdraws in one month. I know of that law, but as far as I knew it was one withdraw, not a dozen or whatever it was. Anyways, I contacted Sallie Mae, which resulted in the issue being escalated to management, several times. More than once I was told they would look into it and get back to me, which they never did. They had me fax over paperwork showing the multiple withdraws and penalties, etc. They ended up telling me it was not their fault, even though they admitted there was no way for me to know it was going to withdraw in this fashion. I ended up giving up fighting, as the fee was only $20. I was fighting the good fight for the principle of the matter.
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My wife's been dealing with Sallie Mae too. She was fortunate enough, though, to have a customer service agent actually come out and tell her that it was a number of smaller loans, and even offered advice to trim down the monthly payments, such as paying off the smaller loans outright.

The other agents were pretty dumb, though.
 
Mega State Ambulance Chasers on TV:

"Has a loved one died of heart disease and used aspirin in their lives? We can get you ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!! What? Oh. $100 BILLION DOLLARS!!!!"
 
No.

The US Federal Government. Worst run financial institution of all time.
 
Here are the results of the completed matches so far –
FIRST ROUND
Time Warner Cable (79%) vs. Cablevision (21%)
Walmart (58%) vs. Best Buy (42%)
DirecTV (56%) vs. Dish (44%)
Sallie Mae (53%) vs. PayPal (47%)
Facebook vs. Google (CURRENTLY VOTING)
 
MavericK96 said:
Let's see if EA can maintain their title this time... :p
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Sadly, even with their latest debacle, I don't think they are the worst company in America.I do think it's the worst company with people who are savvy online, but if all those who are not were polled, I bet one would get a different turnout. Most all of the big banks will turn up there and I would think Dish would be high up on that list too. That, of course, doesn't excuse EA from their issues lately one iota and I, personally, would argue they don't belong at the top spot.
 
c0re said:
Here are the results of the completed matches so far –
FIRST ROUND
Time Warner Cable (79%) vs. Cablevision (21%)
Walmart (58%) vs. Best Buy (42%)
DirecTV (56%) vs. Dish (44%)
Sallie Mae (53%) vs. PayPal (47%)
Facebook vs. Google (CURRENTLY VOTING)
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really walmart? they have everything and at really good prices, and their return policies are very lax. i guess their labor practices arent good but thats usually not something consumers see. are people really having problems with walmart? i definitely expected best buy to win that one easily. good on them for being not as sucky as they used to be!
 
ekuest said:
really walmart? they have everything and at really good prices, and their return policies are very lax. i guess their labor practices arent good but thats usually not something consumers see. are people really having problems with walmart? i definitely expected best buy to win that one easily. good on them for being not as sucky as they used to be!
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My issue with Wal-Mart is that every time I go there, no matter how small my list is, they always are out of stock on at least one item. For how fancy their automated ordering system is supposed to be, they sure do a lousy job. I know there is a lot of animosity for Best Buy, but I wouldn't know as I haven't shopped there in years. I have a Fry's nearby, why should I go to Best Buy.
 
Qinsp said:
No.

The US Federal Government. Worst run financial institution of all time.
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Not quite. We are getting close.;) When the world officially declares us bankrupt and our currency completely worthless, then we will have earned that title. Right now we are still viable. In the meantime I would put the PIGS nations (Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain) as worse off than the USA. They are pretty pathetic because they are being held afloat by bailouts from countries that nearly collapsed from the economic strain of two world wars in the past 100 years.
 
MavericK96 said:
Let's see if EA can maintain their title this time... :p
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As much as people love to complain about EA, there is no way they should even be in the running. They might be inept and greedy, but they're not evil. They're more like mean.

As other people have stated, I'd have to go with one of the banks. Certain ones listed, which I won't mention, are significantly worse in every regard than EA.
 
Walmart is on the list (and will probably make the top 4) for no other reason than the fact that a significant segment of the population has been indoctrinated (mostly by the various groups trying to unionize their workers) to hate them on general principle. And no, I don't necessarily agree with their business practices and will typically shop elsewhere if suitable alternatives are available (which usually means Target) but a lot of people hate Walmart because they're told to hate Walmart.
 
Vexorg said:
Walmart is on the list (and will probably make the top 4) for no other reason than the fact that a significant segment of the population has been indoctrinated (mostly by the various groups trying to unionize their workers) to hate them on general principle. And no, I don't necessarily agree with their business practices and will typically shop elsewhere if suitable alternatives are available (which usually means Target) but a lot of people hate Walmart because they're told to hate Walmart.
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This is true. They also give a ton of money to the local communities.
 
Vexorg said:
Walmart is on the list (and will probably make the top 4) for no other reason than the fact that a significant segment of the population has been indoctrinated (mostly by the various groups trying to unionize their workers) to hate them on general principle. And no, I don't necessarily agree with their business practices and will typically shop elsewhere if suitable alternatives are available (which usually means Target) but a lot of people hate Walmart because they're told to hate Walmart.
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Spidey329 said:
This is true. They also give a ton of money to the local communities.
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ok that's what i was thinking. i know my gf had never been to walmart because her mom wouldnt let her go there. i asked why her mom hates it so much and i never really got a decent answer. now that i took her once, she really likes it and we probably find ourselves there once a month or so. she wont tell her mom we shop there though. :)
 
Walmart has pretty high employee satisfaction.

A guy worked in shipping for 30 years? And his last paycheck was over $750,000 via profit sharing.
 
PS - I don't shop at Walmart, own stock, or even like them.

But you must hand it to any company that can make low level employees proud to work there.
 
ravx25 said:
Sadly, even with their latest debacle, I don't think they are the worst company in America.I do think it's the worst company with people who are savvy online, but if all those who are not were polled, I bet one would get a different turnout. Most all of the big banks will turn up there and I would think Dish would be high up on that list too. That, of course, doesn't excuse EA from their issues lately one iota and I, personally, would argue they don't belong at the top spot.
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I'm 'savvy online', and I know all about the things EA does to games. At the end of the day though, no matter how much it might feel like EA degrades their game quality to try to sell you addons (DLC and microtransactions), or idiotic DRM that doesn't work (eg Simcity) it's still just videogames. If I lose money to them it's voluntarily, unlike many other companies in America that can cost you money when you do not want them to. Banks/mortgage companies/payment processors, or heck how about Haliburton or Monsanto? They all are worse than EA when you realize you don't need games, but you DO need things like a place to store your money and food (not to mention that you HAVE to pay your taxes which means funding Haliburton's no bid contracts)
 
Vexorg said:
Walmart is on the list (and will probably make the top 4) for no other reason than the fact that a significant segment of the population has been indoctrinated (mostly by the various groups trying to unionize their workers) to hate them on general principle. And no, I don't necessarily agree with their business practices and will typically shop elsewhere if suitable alternatives are available (which usually means Target) but a lot of people hate Walmart because they're told to hate Walmart.
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Why would anyone hate a giant company that rolls into towns, kills off small independent businesses with good-paying jobs, and replaces them with minimum-wage no-benefit positions that have to be supplemented with government aid?
 
Super-D said:
Why would Consumerist readers hate a giant company that rolls into towns, kills off small independent businesses with good-paying jobs, and replaces them with minimum-wage no-benefit positions that have to be supplemented with government aid?
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ftfy

Always low prices! Always! People don't want to pay more than they have to. Real wages are shrinking for the working poor, as they have for 2 decades. I think Walmart's history of poor treatment of employees is terrible, but it's in the same category as many other price sensitive businesses. I don't blame customers for shopping there, especially when they can't afford to support more sustainable businesses. Idealism often ends when the wallet is involved.

Where I live, Walmart is far outnumbered by very busy Target stores. The one Sam's Club was clobbered into closing by Costco within 3 years, despite the Sam's Club having a far better location and giving out tons of passes. Walmart doesn't kill off small independent businesses in this area, but I do accept that it does happen in other areas. I don't disagree with the low wage, no benefits part either.

tldr: someone's experience with Walmart may not be the same as the worst that can happen when a Walmart comes to town, and even if it is, cheap is cheap. ;)
 
Nytegard said:
As much as people love to complain about EA, there is no way they should even be in the running. They might be inept and greedy, but they're not evil. They're more like mean.

As other people have stated, I'd have to go with one of the banks. Certain ones listed, which I won't mention, are significantly worse in every regard than EA.
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Not saying that I agree EA is the worst of the bunch, but it is a fair comparison. These are all companies running a business in one form or another, they are all after profits. It's just a matter of how they go about running their businesses, some ends up pissing off their customers/employees more than the other companies.

You can't put bank in the same comparison with these companies, they are in a whole different level of evil :p
 
Hornet said:
Not saying that I agree EA is the worst of the bunch, but it is a fair comparison. These are all companies running a business in one form or another, they are all after profits. It's just a matter of how they go about running their businesses, some ends up pissing off their customers/employees more than the other companies.

You can't put bank in the same comparison with these companies, they are in a whole different level of evil :p
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Even a company such as Coca Cola is significantly more evil than EA can ever dream to be though. Maybe not from a North American consumerist point of view, but from an evil stand point. When EA has a body count along with other things such as rape (and I'm not just talking about a crazy individual employee), then I might consider them evil.
 
Nytegard said:
Even a company such as Coca Cola is significantly more evil than EA can ever dream to be though. Maybe not from a North American consumerist point of view, but from an evil stand point. When EA has a body count along with other things such as rape (and I'm not just talking about a crazy individual employee), then I might consider them evil.
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Good point. Can we get Haliburton back on this list?
 
So far I've had no issues with Paypal or Sallie Mae.

Now, I don't love Paypal because I've heard too many horror stories and I feel more lucky than anything to not have had an issue.

Sallie Mae was given my student loans. The same day that happened was the same day that I started paying off my students loans as fast as I possibly could, even though I'm still in school. I don't trust Sallie Mae one bit.
 
Super-D said:
Why would anyone hate a giant company that rolls into towns, kills off small independent businesses with good-paying jobs, and replaces them with minimum-wage no-benefit positions that have to be supplemented with government aid?
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You mean those small businesses with high prices, limited selections, and maybe a couple employees?

When Walmart builds a new store, there's a reason people stop going to these small stores and give there business to Walmart. There have been numerous studies that show most households are better off after a Walmart moves into town due to the lower costs. It's mainly the people who own these small business who can't adapt (or the rich people who can afford to shop at them) who end up worse off.
 
They should do this for video game publishers. It would be a contest between all of them except valve.
 
nutzo said:
You mean those small businesses with high prices, limited selections, and maybe a couple employees?

When Walmart builds a new store, there's a reason people stop going to these small stores and give there business to Walmart. There have been numerous studies that show most households are better off after a Walmart moves into town due to the lower costs. It's mainly the people who own these small business who can't adapt (or the rich people who can afford to shop at them) who end up worse off.
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Could Walmart be sustainable though if it only sold "Made in America" again though?

People like low costs, I think this is undeniable. But I don't think we realize the cost of being low cost. I wonder if Walmart helps promote a race to the bottom. Costs get lower, but so do many employees salaries. I don't think we can have it both ways.
 
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