Worst Company In America "Elite 8": Exxon VS Comcast
Here's your first "Elite 8" match-up: #1 Comcast VS #9 Exxon. Only a few more rounds to go!
Here's what a few of you said about these two companies:
Comcast:
"If Comcast does not win then the entire fun of this whole contest has been wiped out for me."
"Comcast is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad company."
"Comcast deserves not just worst company but most evil. Adding more "high def" just by compressing the channels to a signal that my non-technical sister can see is pixelated? "Shaping" bandwidth without notifying customers of that? Their "unlimited" plan that has limits; their faster plan that just lets you hit the limits sooner? None of that enough for you?
Then let me continue: Comcast in my area is the ONLY choice for internet other than dial-up. So I'm screwed."
"Considering Comcast actually rigged a public hearing with paid schmo's to prevent their opposition from being heard... COMCAST. Hands down."
"Has anyone else here seen the look of sheer terror on the face of a Comcast employee when he is about to setup your internet and sees a Mac? It's amazing."
Exxon:
"Exxon-Mobil should get the lifetime achievement award and be permanently dropped from future consideration. They are truly in a league by themselves. That is all."
This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2008 series. The companies nominated for this honor were chosen by you, the readers. Keep track of all the goings on at consumerist.com/tag/worst-company-in-america.
This is a test using rich text formatting and html links. It's the generic "company" ad that should appear on all posts with the Company category if they don't have an ad attached to a specific company.
Post a comment
Comments:
Exxon is no worse than any other oil company, Comcast however is the ultimate in lousy customer service
Wow, both companies sell products you can live without.
Comcast isn't screwing the whole economy, environment and political system. Assuming the DSL/Dish zombies don't hose the vote, Exxon should advance.
"If Comcast does not win then the entire fun of this whole contest has been wiped out for me."
I can't believe this is actually a reason to pick Comcast. It boils down to "If my choice doesn't win, this contest sucks". Talk about childish.
That being said, I have no choice other than Comcast where I live, and it sucks. Die.
@Hawk07: Yeah, but I've lived several years without cable television and internet in my home. I just used the library a lot. It wasn't difficult. Oil on the other hand, is difficult to get away from. You can get away from it indirectly, biking, eating locally grown food, but shoot, plastics, and anything that has to get shipped to your area uses oil.
Where is the list of who made the Elite 8?
@Hawk07: Living without oil would be extremely difficult and expensive.
Living without Comcast would be cheaper and a lot more satisfying.
Go satellite if you must have premium channels, and DSL or sat. again for internet.
Exxon is definitely worse. I can't think of any ways Comcast has actively devalued the American dollar and engaged in speculating in its own product. Talk about insider trading! The oil companies are engaging in the same type of shit Enron did. They are sitting on thousands of acres of oil fields and not drilling because they want gas to be ridiculously high.
Oooh, tough. Exxon affects more people, but Comcast is a truly horrible company to deal with....
@ltlbbynthn: The US has less than 5% of the world's total oil reserves, so that's causing the worldwide price of crude to double/triple how, again, exactly?
Exxon - for wiping out, when it bought out Mobil, domestic partner benefits Mobil offered it's employees. Exxon - for $4 a gallon gas while they have record profits and their CEO takes home millionsssssssss in "bonus" each year. Exxon - for mucking up the coastline of Alaska. Exxon - for wanting to muck up Alaska even more by lobbying for oil drilling there. Exxon period.
As much as I dislike Comcast, Exxon has a much larger impact on everyone. You can cancel Comcast and not give them one red cent, but even if you walked or biked everywhere Exxon still has an impact on the price of goods you buy and our economy as a whole. Exxon FTW.
As bad as ExxonMobil is, you have choices other than Exxon or Mobil for gas... such as Shell, BP/ARCO, Citgo, Valero, Hess, Marathon, local independent gas stations, etc. There is competition for your gas dollar (even though gas is so frickin' outrageous in price).
On the other hand, for millions, for your cable TV and/or high-speed Internet, it's Comcast or... Comcast. In this case, either DSL isn't available, and/or many apartment complexes have exclusive deals with Comcast that ban residents from putting up a dish or giving them access to other companies such as Verizon FiOS (I know, they've all been voided by the FCC, but they're battling the feds in court to have them reinstated).
Hence, my vote goes to Comcast.
@MFfan310: local gas stations buy their gas from big oil companies. And Exxon Mobile is more than just gas, it's an Oil drilling fiend!
Their the largest Company in the world and their profits are more than most nations.
They could easily buy America tomorrow.. or have they already........
How is a cable company on this list at all anyway. Who cares about cable if you don't like the damn thing then don't use them.. pretty simple.
Exxon Mobile is easily the worst company in the world right next to HMO and Walmart.
Easier for me. I take public transporation. But basically everyone is gonna complain about Exxon and gas. Even when it was 2.50 a gallon here people complained. Not too much you can do. Even got some laws about price gouging stations that get hit with heavy fines if found out.
But comcast? Comcast is just plain ol' incompetent. Their customer service sounds like they hate life, hate their boss, and hate you even more. They lie to you, send out contractors who will screw you over. And the mess up thing about it is that , unlike gas, it's not a neccessity. If people really REALLY wanted they could just go with a HD antenna and rent dvds all day or go without TV period. Comcast know this but they also know that Americans are fat lazy and are hypontized by the humming box.
Comcast...they're my only option for any TV that I want beyond rabbit ears.
At least I don't have to go to an Exxon, Mobil, or Chevron (I believe they're owned by Exxon now) station around here.
Yup, Exxon hands down. Comcast sucks much, but there it's no contest between a company that the worst they can do is gouge you out of money for TV & Internet (Comcast), and a company which is destroying the economy and the planet, and has a record of doing so for the better part of a century.
idiots, you want exxon to make money, i'm willing to bed your retirement accounts invest in exxon
I know this is going to put me in a minority, but... I love Comcast! I've always gotten great service from them, they've always been prompt if there was a technical problem, and the CSRs and techs are always polite and friendly. The hatred towards them mystifies me.
Yes, they're ridiculously expensive, but you just have to know how to game the system. Sign up for a killer promotion. When it runs out in 6-12 months, call and cancel service, then have service set up with another name (not the same last name) on another killer promotion. I've been getting $20 internet at my apartment for a year, and my mom's been getting digital cable, phone, internet, and a DVR box for $110 for over two years.
/Comcastic!
It's always classy to call people idiots. And, no, my retirement account doesn't invest in Exxon.
@Skankingmike: Actually Walmart is the largest company in the world, followed by Exxon, Royal Dutch Shell, and BP.
As much as I am annoyed by the Oil Company Ogilopily, 73% of the price of a gallon of gas comes from the cost of a barrel of oil, and only 27% results from Refining, Transport, taxes, marketing, and the "little corner station"
This was a VERY difficult decision. I can only take solace in the fact that big oil will wither and die on it's own, and even faster if we all embrace renewable energy.
Comcast, on the other hand is used to being the only game in town and they still run thier company like, we owe them our business. They took advantage of economies of scale to mark up everyones service. I must vote for Comcast.
Some people just don't get it - the rising cost of oil is not Exxon's fault.
Voted for Comcast.
Comcast uses exclusive contracts with municipalities to force us into buying a inferior product at exorbitant rates.
Exxon provides a valuable service by fueling the American economy, at market rates. And I have the choice of doing business with them, or any other oil company. I'll remind everyone that the US government makes more off of a gallon of Exxon gas than Exxon does.
@aront: Bullshit. The price of gas keeps going up, and Exxon's profits keep going up. Record profits in 2007, but they have nothing to do with that?
@Hawk07: Our economy is built on oil. We can't live without it (for now).
@MFfan310: When a tanker full of oil leaves Saudia Arabia, the contents of its hold can be bought and sold several times over before it arrives in the US. By the time it reaches the pump, it could be pumped, transported, refined by anyone.
That Valero gas you just pumped could have been shipped in the Exxon Valdez.
Comcast has an annoying effect on my life. Exxon has a poisonous effect on my grandchildren's lives, and their grandchildren's. Two hundred years from now nobody will know what a "Comcast" is.
Exxon FTW.
This match-up doesn't seem fair. Both screw me everyday. How does one choose the lesser of these two evils? I guess Comcast just screws me when I get home. But Exxon's gas evils are so pervasive that it screws me every time I get into my car that's filled with overpriced gas; every time I go to the store to buy overpriced food; every time I pay for overpriced shipping expenses; every time I think about buying an airline ticket that is too expensive so I don't. On and on Exxon's evil goes to mess with my life.
Okay, maybe the choice is not so difficult after all. Comcast and companies like it may be evil, but Exxon is most certainly the Devil who pulls evil's puppet strings.
@wfpearson: "Exxon provides a valuable service by fueling the American economy, at market rates. And I have the choice of doing business with them, or any other oil company."
ORLY? Gasoline is a commodity. Think you can avoid buying Exxon gas by not stopping at Exxon stations? Guess what - you probably have Exxon gas in your car right now. It all comes from the same pipelines.
Exxon wins this because they did indeed screw up the economy, our politics, and the environment, they get filthy rich doing it, and they simply do not give a shit. Not even a wet fart.
What do you all think the war in Iraq is about? Restricting supply. Building a big-ass fence around the whole country and 10% of the world's oil, and restricting supply. Now that oil is $140 a barrel, they're about to go back in there and rape the country like they did before Saddam Hussein took charge and nationalized the oil industry. That's what the war was about, people. You can conserve all you want, take the bus, ride your bike, whatever, but they'll get your goddamned money anyway, only they only have to work 1/4 as hard to do it.
Exxon-Mobil should not only be given the lifetime achievement award and permanently eliminated from further consideration in this contest, their corporate logo should be retired, and no further posting should be done with Exxon-Mobil as the subject. Why? Because nothing they might do can possibly have any shock value. We've already heard it all.
The only thing left that I could think of would be for one of their executives to receive a REALLY huge retirement package, something in the ten-figure range, and run for President with that pile of money. How could you prove that Exxon didn't just violate federal campaign finance regulations? You probably can't, because it isn't against the law to run for President with your own money.
@silencedotcom: Exxon, and the other oil companies, only make about 8 cents per gallon of gas. The US Government makes 18.4 cents/gallon. Who exactly is screwing us? The oil companies do not set the price for a barrel of crude, that price is set by the commadities market. Come on, you are supposed to be smart consumers. Quit your ranting and do some real research as to how our economy really works.
Comcast, FTW!!!
@Sarge1985: SO are you saying that Exxon only makes 8 cents per gallon, end-to-end (from the ground to the pump?) Me thinks not, they may make 8 cents at the pump and then they make another .xx cents refining and then another $XX for the oil pumped out of the ground.
Oh yeah, what about all of the tax breaks the government gives the oil companies?
None the less, the system is fucked-up because it is letting speculation drive the price even when there is adequate supply. I hope this thing crashes like the "Dutch Tulip Bulbs" or the Hunt Brothes cornering the silver market. I predict $2.00/gal within the next 14 months.
Geeze, does Comcast have any Human rights cases filed against it at the Supreme court? [money.cnn.com]
Exxon stocks the White House with people, from Bush/Cheney on down, who initiate unneeded wars under false pretenses that triple the price of crude. Then they shrug and say, "Who knew?"
Then plead poverty as they rake in hundreds of billions/yr in write-offs and incentives and tens of billions/yr in subsidies. Yup: hard-working middle-class Americans being shafted so environmentally-hostile plutocrats' great-great-grandkids can aspire to be the next Paris Hilton. That sounds like something that will make America great.
Inept (Comcast) vs Evil (Exxon)
@Sarge1985: "Exxon, and the other oil companies, only make about 8 cents per gallon of gas. The US Government makes 18.4 cents/gallon"
Keep seeing this Big Oil factoid and it amuses.
So, Exxon finds, drills, extracts, stores and transports the trillion dollars worth of oil per year that it's involved in for free? Free?! Gosh, they need to publicize that more. They will win the Nobel Prize for sure!
That's not counting the wells they own or operate under long-term contracts. Because those I'm certain they hand out for free.
No, I'm not saying they should lose money, but when the largest item in your Petroleum Industry supplied bullet list is "Crude Oil" and Exxon is intimately involved in that segment, you KNOW they're generating a ton of revenue from it. So it's naive or disingenuous to suggest they don't.
Don't be a slave. :D
I DO NOT NEED CABLE OR INTERNET. So I have no reason to hate Comcast. It's a bit of the customer's fault for actually choosing them in the first place.
Exxon, they are evil. Like everybody I depend on them every single day because they fuel everyone. Where do you think our food comes from? Sidewalk pavement? With gas prices going up and their profits going up, they are evil by making us poorer and poorer. A few months ago a bag of rice was $13, now it's $21. And it's mostly because of fuel.
Exxon is screwing the whole economy, environment and political system. I agree.
I know Comcast is bad, but I don't see how it got more votes than Exxon, one of the few companies responsible for the collapsing economy.
Come on people. $75 a month vs $75 a tank. Exxon is the worst company in the world.
@Trai_Dep: Exxon collides with other oil companies to keep pricing at a certain level. And I'm not mentioning all their sleazy practices, starting from employment to environment AND taxes evasion.
If Exxon was in business honestly, the company wouldn't made the top 8.
One company rips you off when you buy their product.
The other company rips you off when you buy their product, and ANYTHING ELSE YOU BUY, even if you never drive a car.
How in the world is Comcast ahead here?
How is Comcast winning? I don't even HAVE Comcast in my area. Meanwhile, I as a car free individual still have seen negative effects of Exxon on myself and the economy. Not cool.
Who the hell is voting for Comcast? Honestly? Exxon Mobil, along with other oil companies, are seeing record profits while we are seeing record highs. Does that not seem fishy to any of you?
I don't have a problem with my Comcast service. And even if I did, I could leave them for another provider in my area. However, I can't stop paying for food, transportation, and everything else. And all the while, the price is going up because of fuel price.
If Comcast wins this round then it proves to me that the collective IQ of America is that of a rock.
I hope exxon gets this one. Mainly for what they tried to pull in court, and for the gas prices.
They should win. If comcast wins I would be shocked. I was stunned when debeers and ticketmaster lost.
Well it's official, internet nerds have no sense of perspective.
Ruining our economy through price fixing and withholding supply, rigging our political system, inhibiting new cleaner/cheaper technologies, promoting/creating wars that kill hundreds of thousands to procure resources, polluting our planet, disseminating lies and falsifying scientific reports to hide your products impact on the planet, and delaying our response to a problem that could also kill millions. That's all okay.
But high prices for high speed porn, and bad customer service?! Well that is just unacceptable!
I'm so glad so few of you will breed.
After dealing with Comcast on the phone this morning and with their online chat. I vote them.
I am not getting all the channels I am paying for so I call them up. The phone guy says since this was an online promotion, I have to settle this online. He verifies I dont have all my channels but cannot help. I sign on and chat with 'Richard'. He tells me a tech has to come out and if it is found to be a problem on my end, I gotta pay. Then he tries to sell me on some warranty plan for a monthly fee. If I get the warranty, then I don't have to pay when techs come out. I decline and then miraculously (30 secs later) he says a tech doesn't need to come out and it can be fixed on their end. I end the session without fixes. I still don't have the channels I am paying for.
No comparison, the one that is screwing us out of cash the most - Exxon.