What happened to the old saying, "the customer's always right"?  

Michael Douglas used that line in Falling Down when he went to a burger joint after 11:00 and wanted breakfast, but they'd stopped serving only minutes before.  

Fact is, there used to be a time when companies valued their customers.  They went the extra yard to help them and keep their business, now businesses welcome the opportunity to screw customers over.  Everyone has complicated policies.

If you're a week late on an American Express payment, they'll temporarily suspend your buying privileges no matter what the outstanding balance is.

DirecTV, Comcast, and many other companies will offer discounts to new subscribers, but won't take care of their devout customers.  Rates are rarely ever lowered to long-time customers.  Rarely ever will a nice package deal offered to a new customer be offered to a long time subscriber, but why? 

It's because the only thing they care about is making a buck.  Expand customer base to generate more revenue.  

Sprint doesn't have any packages for long-time customers.  They may give you more minutes after your first year, if you sign at least another 1 year lease, but that's nothing different than a new customer will get. 

Quantity has most definitely replaced quality ... that pertains to the products people consume and the service we're subjected to. 

So goes corporate America.