Adam, if search around again you will also see many many reports of good / great service.
The thing with " telling " of ones experience at as particular business, gives a heads up to potential users of that business, not necessarily put them off.
example... Andy's thread in 4 x 4 forum.
Definately agree that all business's have an off day or bda situation or things just simply do not pan out as they should and I think 99% of us accept that.
Busines's will get a floggin when they deny any issues, fail to respond and lie. With the advent of the " cyber world " there is only 2 degress of seperation within the population, hence word will spread faster than the speed of light.
The internet can be your friend if in business, comes to terms with, embrace it and utilize it.
I also believe most of us would really prefer to use a local business, providing that business has pricing within the scope of internet and OS business's. Depending on the item, a local business with a higher price will be superior over other areas of retail, due to hands on consumer advocacy and POS warranty and dispute resolution.
I also think that most who have a grievence here, have taken it up with the service or product provider in the first instance and may have not received a satisfactory outcome.
I personally will not shop at certain larger chains due to complete lack of service ( in all areas ) and am prepared to pay a higher price from someone that knows the product / service. There is also the times when I know exactly what I want and will simply hit a few keystrokes and have it delivered to my door.
It is true in all aspects of dissatisfaction, that one usually hears about the 1 bad experience and not about 100's of good ones. There is also " constructive critisism ".
Many business's now use FB as their sounding board and to respond to customer issues... they get the IT era !
cheers LP