RIAA Wins Worst Company In America 2007

An anonymous reader writes "After 15 punishing rounds of combat involving 32 of America's most hated companies, 100,000 voters have spoken: More hated than Halliburton, more despised than Walmart, the RIAA has defeated all comers to become the Worst Company in America 2007."

Comments

I Demand a Recount

[Anonymous Coward]

Ok, just in case RIAA demands a recount, I've selected the final 8, and added 2 from the final 16 that were "close calls."

This is a poll:
Worst Company In America - 2007

Verizon
U-Haul
Sony
Exxon
Clear Channel
Halliburton
RIAA
Walmart
Comcast
Best Buy

Re:I Demand a Recount

[ViaD]

Every one in this list do probably not care about reputation anyways...

comcast

[deopmix]

Why wasn't Comcast in the poll. I would have voted them all the way.

Re:comcast

[MetalPhalanx]

When I went to move out of the previous apartment I lived in, I rented a Uhaul truck. We arranged the details two weeks in advance, and they promised it would be set up.

When my parents arrived at the uhaul rental place to pick up our large truck, they had none on the lot, and informed us that the nearest one was roughly 200km away, in the opposite direction from where I needed to go. They offered us a trailer that was 1/3rd the size as the best they could do.

So here I am on moving day, with nowhere to store my stuff, no truck to put it in, and no other options. By a strange fluke of luck I managed to get the landlord of my new apartment let me move in a day early, and we just ferried it over.

I'd say that's why Uhaul is worse. If Best Buy fucks up, you just have to wait a little while longer (I'm sure someone will have a story to prove me wrong, but whatever). But if Uhaul fucks you around on moving day, you're boned.

Re:comcast

[Idbar]

That's their business model: They make you believe you have a reservation, then you have to go around all the rental places trying to find one.

I had the same problem with them.

Re:comcast

[Loconut1389]

that- or they stick you with an 80's heap that guzzles down gas like beer and gets about 4MPG when you're making 3, 100 mile roundtrips (200 miles total per trip). My gas bill was terrible. In their defense, they did refund me most of the rental after showing my gas bills, but it still was not a pleasurable experience.

I got my revenge on moving day a few years later- I was renting a 26 foot monster and despite them promising me an automatic, I got a manual (never drive one). Being studious, I understand the mechanics of a manual and figured a few minutes in the parking lot (or perhaps an hour) and I'd have it down. I didn't know of course that when you start the thing, there's no park and they often leave it in gear to keep it from rolling in the lot- so when I tried to start it up to do a pre-trip (I leaned in from the side), as the engine started cranking, it shot back into the truck behind. It did minimal damage, so they let it go and sent me out of there with an automatic, albeit smaller. Things went well from there, but the bigger truck would have been helpful. Anyway, the point is, they pulled the same trick on me and it caused an accident.

Re:comcast

[an.echte.trilingue]

A couple years ago my credit card got rejected. I was shocked and checked my statement, and found that 3,000 dollars had been charged to a UHAUL in Columbus, GA, where I had been stationed previously. Since I had been moved to Germany a month previously and had never set foot in a UHAUL store anywhere, it was pretty easy to prove that I had not made the charges (don't know how my credit card number got out... I'm guessing at a restaurant). Anyway, MasterCard agreed with me and decided that UHAUL would have to foot the fraud bill since they did not verify the card holder identity or even actually physically see the card.

So, there you have it, bad karma has a way of coming back at you, even if you're a company.

Re:comcast

[Emetophobe]

I'd avoid U-haul if you care about your own health & safety. They had an investigation into U-haul last year in Ontario, turns out a large number of their trucks are in a bad state of disrepair and aren't fit to be driven.

See http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNew s/20051021/wfive_uhaul_051021/20051022?hub=WFive

A few choice quotes:

Last year Dan Donnelle rented a U-Haul truck to move some furniture from Woodbridge to Toronto. The two rear wheels came flying off on Highway 400.

U-Haul's safety inspection failure rate was four times the industry average.

W-FIVE rented four U-Haul trucks. Not a single one passed the provincial safety standard.

And here's another article, http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/200 51212/uhaul_051212/20051212?hub=TorontoHome. This one's about a person that actually died from a U-Haul truck flipping over in Ontario.

"It's bad enough to have the driveshaft drop out onto the road, but if the seatbelt had been working I am pretty sure he would still be alive," Annis said.

Re:has anyone ever had a good shopping experience

[lavid]

Yes, about 7 years ago, maybe more (years, not times). I got an open box printer there for $20, the thing still prints great and takes inkjet refills. This was before you could get printers FAR and such. This was also when you walked uphill both ways to wherever you were going.

No Brainer.

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

RIAA produce nothing & sue consumers. Of course people hate them.

From TFA:

The message is clear. The internet cares deeply about being able to download music illegally.

WTF? I think many, many people who respect others' copyright have problems with RIAA's tactics of suing random (often innocent) people, attempts to scare govt & the public by linking terrorism & piracy, and basically ignoring the fact that they have to change (or at least adjust) business models.

Painting all enemies of RIAA as illegal downloaders is just stupid (or perhaps a troll?)

Bootnote: This is mildly amusing for me, 'cause last thread I commented in I was accused of being a RIAA Shill (presumably that poster believes anyone who criticises Apple is a RIAA shill).

In search of the Golden Poop

[Bushcat]

Wondering (as one does) how much of a market there could possibly be for golden poop, I noted the Japanese writing on the screen and followed the trail to http://www.rakuten.co.jp/bif-shop/448445/156668/: so that award cost somewhere between $18 and $35. I see the little one doubles up as a rubber stamp, too.

Re:How Sad

[downhole]

How sad indeed... Is there anybody on this board that has any idea what Halliburton actually does? Or can at least spell their name right?

Personal experience and a suggestion at the end.

[Nemus]

My school (MTSU) has one of the few Recording Industry Majors in the country; it's actually its own department here. It's a completely BS major (as in the cow product, not Bachelor of Science): in fact, they tell everyone who signs up that only 1% of them are likely to get a job in the recording industry. All of the musicians and sound techs who sign up typically drop out or go to a specialized technical school, so essentially the only people who make it all the business types: i.e. people who typically have no interest in music.

I've met a few of the professors in the dept., all of whom have industry backgrounds, and let me tell you, meeting these guys and the graduates from these departments explains alot. You see, the the RIM college offers three basic majors: one for artists, one for techs, and one for business and pre-law in the recording industry. The most common? You guessed it, business and pre-law. These are the same asshats who, at any other school, would be learning how to ask for TPS reports and iguring out the best way to make partner in the shortest amount of time. Further still, I live in Murfreesboro, 30 min. away from Music Row in Nashville (or as we like to call it, Crackhead Alley), and I used to live in Nashville. When I lived there, I hung out in West End alot, and met alot of people in this business.

So let me say this: some of these people are cool, and I mean no disparagement towards them. But, in my time dealing with alot of these clowns, I have met a higher concentration of assholes than in any other sector (including advertising sales, the Devil's Piggy Bank). Most of these guys could give a flaming crap less about the actual music they produce: the techs normally do, and the artists, of course, but the lawyers and admin. people are so incredibly full of themselves that it's ridiculous. What was always great was hanging out at Cafe Coco, still kind of a hotspot, but mostly Vandy kids now, and seeing one of these jackasses walk in and expect to be treated like the Lords of All. Please understand though, that when I pick on these guys, I'm doing it because, even in a world full of jerks, these guys oftentimes stick out.

So, back to here at MTSU and our RIM dept. Quite literally, contempt of artists, techs, and fans is quite literally indoctrinated into these guys. I've sat in on some lectures, and my God. One of the classes was for artists contracts. I've always known how shady these things are, but to see completely unethical and illegal tricks being taught ina college course absolutely dropped my jaw.

Essentially, what I'm saying is that the reason the RIAA is so friggin bad is because it is expected of them. MTSU got it's RIM dept. up and running before Napster hit, so you have to understand, some of the people involved in the RIAA's modern tactics almost certainly came from this dept., where, as mentioned, these kinds of illegal and unethical behavior are correct answers on practical test questions. Further still, there is a culture on the admin side of the business that expects people, even demands, that they act this way. You want to fix the problem? It's not about fixing the laws, or methods of distribution. These people will just find new ways to screw artists, fans, and techs over. To change the problem, you have to change the education and the culture: nothing else will do. How we do that though, I have no idea.

I agree with that

[Travoltus]

Halliburton has cost lives, harmed our troops, and gave us Dick Cheney.

The RIAA has cost us money, and inflicted DRM on us.

If I had to pick one to destroy off the face of the earth and one to let go unharmed, I'd nail Haliburton. The RIAA can be rendered irrelevant by the movement of technology. Dead US troops can never be gotten back.

Re:has anyone ever had a good shopping experience

[malkir]

I used to work at Best Buy about a year and a half ago, I started out in PCHO (computer/related sales) and moved up to Geek Squad (absolute joke). Best Buy is such a disorganized corporation, I have no idea why people shop there - untill recently they offered rebates that would either take 16+ weeks to send, or not send at all. Time and time again I would have to explain to customers that 'we were not responsible' for any rebates lost, and I'm pretty sure that the higher-ups knew about the shadyness of the companies we were purchasing from and didn't say anything. Most of Best Buy's revenue comes from printers, cartridges, printer cables ($30+ for a USB chord? HA!), and the warranties. We were told to push warranties as much as possible, because they could charge $50-$200 for something and come up with reasons how we could not have to honor them.

On Geek squad, a little old lady brought in her computer to be fixed - her grandson had loaded the thing with spyware, all it would take was a simple reformat (everything she needed was about 10 pictures and a text file), and I had to tell her it would be over $200. I offered to do the reformat myself off the clock, but my manager told me no. I slipped her my number and did the thing for a batch of chocolate chip cookies (worth it!).

Another shitty thing I experienced was people were bringing in their computers that one of my fellow technicians had 'fixed', (ie: ran Panda Active Scan and deleted a couple registry files), but there was still obvious problems with the thing. The customer complained and said that the product had not been fixed and the computer was still acting up, instead of honoring the 2-year warranty that she had paid $150 for, my manager told me just to tell the customer it had water damage to void the warranty and to send her on her way.

I blatantly told my manager he was a hack, to fuck off, and quit that very day.
Best Buy sucks.

Re:They won't - the RIAA won

[jZnat]

Sony is a major member of the RIAA (Sony BMG), and they were hated on pretty badly. The other main publishers, EMI, Universal, and Warner, are also pretty hated in their own respects as well. Perhaps not EMI as much since they don't also publish movies and aren't associated with Hollywood, but the others are hated in their own respects.

Also, the fact that a generally well-liked (at least in the past) electronics company like Sony can be hated and boycotted so much due to a sibling company like Sony BMG just shows that nobody (not even Google) is safe when you associate with the MAFIAA.