New companies are springing up everywhere. But how can their service be measured? Where would you go to find good or bad service?

How effectively are customer complaints and issues that arise from trading being dealt with? Many companies have departments and call centres. But to many of us, the call centre can be the source of much frustration.

If you've ever sat in one of these queues, only to have some tired, bored individual attempt to wade their way through the ever increasing complexity of products and services offered by some of todays online trading companies, you'll appreciate where I'm coming from. Many companies will farm out the most important interface between customer and supplier to an overseas company. Who records the issues that go unresolved and is anything ever done about them?

What happens? We hang up and the whole thing gets forgotten. You could even be forgiven for asking if some companies actually want to manage and act upon the feedback of their customers'?

If a company wanted to truly grow through satisfying its customers, maybe a good place to start would be to make sure they had an effective response mechanism in place. Just maybe this response mechanism could be communicated at the point of sale? Imagine being able to complain without picking up the phone and the company being visibly accountable if they didn't respond?

As customers, the only thing we get to see is red. Poor service and dissatisfied customers can easily go unchecked. Or can they? Maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The internet may mean higher transaction volumes and lower costs for suppliers. It also means transparency and the opportunity to communicate your experiences very quickly.

I remember a sign in a chip shop years ago that said "If you like what we do tell others. If you don't, please tell us".

This article poses a lot of questions, but they raise issues that are becoming increasingly frustrating for todays consumer. The next time a chief executive signs off a fortune for the 'market research' budget, he or she would do well to consider the power of the internet.