What do you know. The best customer service I've received from anyone, anywhere recently was from someone at Verizon yesterday.

This started when I contacted MCI to move my phone service on my moving date in the near future. MCI said this would be done "in the next three weeks." I said I would be moving on a specific date and needed this done on that specific date. They said they could only put this into the system for "sometime in the next three weeks," because "it's not our network," and there are "legalities" involved.

At that point I decided to switch back to the company whose network it is.

The Verizon representative I had was wonderful. She kept all the information straight--different preferences and calling packages for two different phone lines. When she put me on hold, she came back after 2 minutes to assure me that she was still there, but that it took extra time because of the two lines involved, and it would be just a little longer. 2 minutes later she returned and everything was done properly.

Granted, maybe it's because Verizon has such a lousy reputation that this service seemed especially good. That said, I think this particular representative was objectively superior to any other I've called.