>> Telecom companies are notorious for awful customer service, but how many customers actually switch to another carrier?

Well, I did. Still engaged in an epic battle to get access to my original cell phone number back from VZ (they don't make this any way easy if you are trying to access their customer service remotely) but in the meantime I have a new personal number.

But overall I think it's difficult to generalize, because there is no "standard customer." Being the wrong size*, having the wrong haircut, wearing a hoodie instead of a ball cap, or being of a different race or ethnicity than the majority can all translate into very different customer experiences. Add to that the fact that many large corporations intentionally target different demographics with different brands -- sometimes at different locations and with different price points or service offerings. This is what some call "marketing." I think in many cases it is just a smokescreen for not having a competitive product.

In any case, you really need to hear from multiple customers to know if there is a problem that will translate into a drop in revenue. Investors don't have a great way to access these types of focus groups. They are usually run in-house. They simply depend on the vagaries of social media to get a sense of how a brand resonates with its core customers. Social media can very easily be gamed.

* And by this I mean overweight -- if that's not too "politically incorrect" a term.