Chase Manhattan Bank (Mortgage, Credit Card, etc):  "The Right Relationship is Everything", means absolutely nothing.  Their customer service is the worst that I have ever encountered.  Their policies are rigid and designed to offer you no assistance or flexibility at all.  Basically, any requests (to remove fees, provide a service of any kind) will be denied without even a second wasted, in the name of "policy".  One of the problems I had was regarding the Mortgage Insurance (PMI).  After paying $300 to have my house re-appraised, hoping to eliminate the PMI monthly fees, it turned out that the value of the appraisal would have to be %18 more than the amount left on the loan, in addition to the %5 I had already used as a down payment.  My understanding was that %20 of the value needed to be present in equity to avoid the PMI.  In fact, they wouldn't even reduce it a single penny, despite the fact that only %3 remained to reach the goal of eliminating it altogether.  To top it off they wouldn't transfer the appraisal to a new company when I tried to refinance 1 month later, causing me to spend additional money on the appraisal again.  In addition, while I'm sketchy on the details, my sister also encountered great difficulty with this company when purchasing her house from a friend of hers.  There are more stories too, but I don't want to take up the whole page.

Dealznet.com:  My friend Nathan ordered a camcorder from them for $98, normally $149.  After placing all of his credit card info into this secure, BizRate approved, Yahoo "6 star" retailer to order his $98 light, the shipping for this 8oz light was $101 on top of the $98, bringing the grand total to $199, which is actually the full retail price.  He then called their 1-888 service line to hopefully resolve the issue, only to get a porn service, wondering what that is going to cost now.  After e-mailing them, they suggested he return the item when he gets it, as they can't possibly cancel the order. Their policy is to refund all of his money, except shipping.  He cancelled his card before it was charged, or anything else that could have been done with it.  He later found that BizRate, which is owned by the Lets Go Digital company, is not certified and has had numerous complaints against them with the BBB (Better Business Bureau).  

Mp3University.com:  While trying to find the best deal for legal music downloads, I stumbled across this website that promised millions of downloads for only $0.97 per month!!  So I decided to give it a try and began the membership process.  Somehow I ended up paying for 1 year at $1.49, then I also purposely enlisted for the movie download option for an additional $9.95.  After processing my credit card number, they sent me a confirmation email and I was able to get into the member's section.  It was then that I realized the only thing they offered was links to other companies' software and instructions on how to use it.  Just to make certain, I sent them an email asking if there was something that I was missing, or if that was it.  The response confirmed my suspicions.  What a bunch of useless crap!!  I requested a full refund, and to their credit they but we'll see what happens with that.

Panda Racing Pro e-bay store (added on 9/24/05):  I purchased a set of Nismo 555cc fuel injectors from them for my 300ZX at what I thought to be a pretty good price.  I called them ahead of time to make sure that these injectors would properly fit the model year of my car.  I knew the car needed fuel injectors (from the dealer's computer diagnostics).  However, I wanted to install a clutch and aftermarket exhaust headers before getting to replacing the injectors.  In hindsight, I should have waited to buy them until I was ready to use them.  It was such a good deal though, that I didn't want to pass it up.  Six months later, when I finally was finished with my previous repairs and figured out where the fuel injectors connect to the electrical harness, I realized that the fuel injectors would not work with the connectors for my car.  They were, lo and behold, for the wrong model year of 300Z.

When I requested a refund, the told me that they could only only exchange the current ones for the correct injectors for my particular vehicle.  That sounds fair enough, but they said that they would need an additional $90 more for shipping them from Japan, after they had sold me the wrong part to begin with!!  I ended up trying to sell them on e-bay myself, thinking that they retailed for way more than I paid for them, so I should be able to sell them for at least as much.  Well, I ended up selling them for $410, losing $240 on the deal.  Not smart on my part (an e-bay learning experience, albeit an expensive one), but also not smart from a customer service standpoint on their end, as I am not a happy customer.

Recommendations

Mel Rapton Honda:  I can say with all honesty that this is the only dealer that I have ever been to that I actually felt good about.  They repaired our stuck power window by simply greasing the tracks, while another auto repair place wanted to replace the whole assembly for hundreds of dollars.  We were also having problems with our brakes, and instead of just replacing every possible malfunctioning part, they tried the less expensive repairs first.  We ended up having to bring it back in to replace the master cylinder, but I was glad they resorted to the more expensive repairs only as a last resort.  They even washed the car for free!  Their great customer service and efforts to save me money left a great impression on me, especially for a dealership.  They are located on Fulton Ave. and their phone number is 916-482-5400.

Rejects

Alafaya Automotive:  First of all, after they rebuilt the transmission in my Buick, it never felt quite right, shifting sloppily and not too long after the repair it felt like it was on the verge of giving up altogether.  Later though, they were unable to provide a simple troubleshooting analysis for my Buick when smoke was coming out of the tail pipes.  They were not only incompetent, but the customer service representative behind the counter was a genuine a-hole.  They are located at 3016 Alafaya Tr., Oviedo (possibly under a different name now).

All Foreign Car Parts and Repair, Inc:  A prime example of a good-ole-boy shop.  The place not only looks like a hole-in-the-wall, but the quality of their repairs matches its appearance.  They replaced the water pump in Amanda's car, choosing not to include, or even suggest the replacement of the seals for the parts that they had to disassemble.  Shortly thereafter, oil began leaking from the front end, from the same seals that they should have replaced to begin with.  I have been told that this is occasionally not necessary, but after completing $300 worth of labor to get to that point of disassembly on a car with over 100k miles, common sense would tell you that it's worth spending another $30 to do the job right while it's apart.  After speaking to the owner about this, he refused to accept any responsibility, instead wanting to charge me the full rate for the parts as well as for taking it all apart again.  I suppose I should have gotten a good idea when I noticed that most of the mechanics don't even drive imports, but instead use old beat-up pick-up trucks and Harleys as their transportation.  They are located at 1400 S. Bumby Ave., Orlando.

Intellistar DSL:  This company offers many services, including web design and hosting, but for home DSL don't waste your time and energy like I did.  The trouble started by me giving them a deposit and trying to save $50 or so by installing the hardware myself.  Although I consider myself quite competent regarding computer usage, I wasted many hours, actually days trying to get their hardware set up on my computer(s).  During the hardware set up process, I had to make 5-7 trips for exchanges of hardware replacements and also a loaner part for troubleshooting.  They refused to absorb any cost of their own for these exchanges, through either delivery or shipping.  Eventually, they sent a guy out to my house in an attempt to complete the installation, for which they intended to charge me by the hour at an exorbitant rate.  After several evenings of no success though (wasting his time and mine), they finally gave up and refrained from charging me because he was not able to complete the task either.  Even with all of this annoying and frustrating effort, all they had to do to remedy the situation is provide me with an external modem, which we knew would work from when they loaned me a router for testing.  Yet they refused to, as this would necessitate an additional cost on their behalf.  While they did eventually refund my money for the deposit, I was forced to make yet another trip to their office to pick up my refund, and still they refused to agree to any sort of compensation (money, hardware, whatever) for my time, gas, tolls, and frustration.  In short they are a bunch of disorganized cheap skates with little regard or understanding of simple customer service matters.  They are located at 1100 Montana St., Orlando (off of 17-92).

Recommendations

Ace-Petno Carpet Cleaning:  Yes, their name is weird, but upon my mother's recommendation, I decided to call them.  To start with, they were very flexible with their scheduling.  While that was no big deal, upon arrival they were very courteous, friendly, and professional.  To top it all off, they did a fantastic job.  The carpets look better than they did even when we first moved in.  Including scotch-guard protectant, the total came to $155, which seems pretty reasonable to me, especially considering the great job they did.  If you need your carpets cleaned, you can reach them at 407-862-3494.

All American Door Co: When one of the springs for the garage door to my house broke, I asked my mom for recommendations for who to call.  She informed me that a repair man that she uses, as well as a friend of hers, recommended this company.  Upon calling them, I was given a quote for the whole job over the phone, which was comparable to a competitor's quote.  He came out the same day that I called, fixed the springs (replacing them both), lubed everything, and adjusted the automatic opener within 45-60 minutes.  He then charged me $15 less than the original quote because I had used him from a recommendation, which I had mentioned over the phone to him.  He stated that he would also provide a price break for anyone else that uses him as a result of my recommendation.  So if you have any problems with your garage door, call them at 407-699-9330, or at 407-696-7779 (cell phone).

The Ford Shoppe:  Located on 17-92, close to Maitland Blvd, this establishment can do no wrong when it comes to working on cars.  They are honest, prompt, and extremely knowledgeable.  Unfortunately, they only work on vehicles that were manufactured by Ford.  Located at 9100 S. Hwy 17-92, Maitland.  407-339-5585

BellSouth DSL:  While I have heard horror stories of this procedure, and after my experience with Intellistar (see above in 'rejects') I figured "How bad could it be?"  To my pleasant surprise, it was quite an easy and hassle-free task.  After a simple phone call, they shipped the hardware (an external Ethernet modem) to my door, which connected with minimal effort.  The software installed with no problem as well and I was up and running in no time, and with blazing speed.  All of the payments are listed with my phone bill and the third month, as well as the modem, was free of charge after refunding the amount to my phone bill in a couple of installments.  I've been using it for many months now with no complaint whatsoever.  407-436-8638

Integrity Mortgage:  Out of the many available choices in this area for mortgage companies, I was drawn to this one for two reasons.  They were advertising a 6.75% interest rate and, as ridiculous as it may be, I liked the name.  My first couple of phone exchanges left me kind of annoyed with their lack of haste though, taking several days to call me back and sounding kind of wishy-washy about the rate that I was hoping for.  I eventually laid it on the line for the representative that I had been communicating with, letting him know that I was getting discouraged and that his inability to demonstrate urgency was frustrating me.  I then told him that the only reason I was still going to use his company is because of the advertised interest rate that I intended to obtain, and that if he thought he could not provide me with it then I would immediately go elsewhere.  While the experience seemed negative at first, they redeemed themselves by delivering my desired outcome with a relatively pain free mortgage experience, and in the end I was pleased to have used them.  Eventually I refinanced with them too, choosing a 5-year ARM at a 4.375% interest rate.  Located at 2901 W. State Rd. 434, Longwood.  407-814-7888

Jewelers of Maitland:  When I was shopping for a jeweler to provide a custom made engagement ring for Amanda, I searched far and wide for a good price at a place that seemed to demonstrate not only competency, but great customer service as well.  I found it all at Jewelers of Maitland.  It's a family owned business of mother and daughter Ellen.  They can provide you with whatever you need and make you feel good about spending the money to get it, which will likely be less than elsewhere anyway.  Located at 500 E. Horatio Ave., Maitland.  407-628-0615

Tom's Auto Repair:  After finding such a great place to take Fords (see The Ford Shoppe above), I was hoping and praying to find a similar place that is trustworthy and does similarly good work for our Honda Accord.  I gave this shop a try at my mom's recommendation and now I'm sold.  Sure they're on the other side of town from where I live, but for a mechanic you can trust and with reasonable fees to boot, it's well worth the commute, in my opinion.  They are located at 130 O'Brien Road in Fern Park, just off of 17-92 (close to The Ford Shoppe actually).  407-831-8484