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Product/Brand/Company that were bad and got better (1 Viewer)

Chadstroma

Chadstroma

Footballguy
Whatcha got?

My lead off would be Hyundai.

It use to be that they were cheap crap cars that you would make fun of the people who bought them. Now they produce dang good vehicles and back them up with best in class warranties. They have my respect now. 10 years ago, no way would I ever consider buying one. Now, the Sante Fe was strong in the running before we decided on GMC Acadia that better met our needs. Would strongly consider getting a Sonata for a commuter car in the next couple of years.

 
Dan Lambskin said:
Apple
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I remember about 20 years ago I was having a discussion with a friend of mine who was a financial advisor at the time. We were talking one day, and I mentioned something like: "If I had an extra $10000 right now, I'd buy all Apple stock. That brand name is too strong to just go away."

They were trading at about $10 a share at the time. I was broke and just a few years out of college at the time. I kick myself every day. :lol:

 
USPS

This may be a local thing but within about the past year it seems they finally started providing a decent parcel delivery service. More reliable delivery times. Better tracking. No more notes in the box telling me to come pick things up. It used to seem they hated delivering packages and they wanted to dissuade you from using the service. Now I feel they finally embraced it as being their path to remaining relevant in the digital age.

 
Ford

For a while in the late 80's- early 90s, their vehicles looked like they had been designed by someone who had been hit in the head often while growing up. They also had far too many vehicle models that looked remarkably similar, and the quality wasn't great. They've made a lot of improvements and I consider them to easily be the best available American made vehicle.

 
Chadstroma said:
Whatcha got?

My lead off would be Hyundai.

It use to be that they were cheap crap cars that you would make fun of the people who bought them. Now they produce dang good vehicles and back them up with best in class warranties. They have my respect now. 10 years ago, no way would I ever consider buying one. Now, the Sante Fe was strong in the running before we decided on GMC Acadia that better met our needs. Would strongly consider getting a Sonata for a commuter car in the next couple of years.
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This.

We have an Elantra and a Tuscon and both are fantastic.

 
Apple is a good one. Back in 1996 my work computer was a PowerMac 5600 or something. That thing would crash if you looked at it funny.

We got iMacs about 3 years later. Each generation gets better and better. Pretty much bulletproof these days.

 
Chadstroma said:
Whatcha got?

My lead off would be Hyundai.

It use to be that they were cheap crap cars that you would make fun of the people who bought them. Now they produce dang good vehicles and back them up with best in class warranties. They have my respect now. 10 years ago, no way would I ever consider buying one. Now, the Sante Fe was strong in the running before we decided on GMC Acadia that better met our needs. Would strongly consider getting a Sonata for a commuter car in the next couple of years.
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We had one of the first generation Hyundai Excels in the mid-late 80s. It wasn't all that bad of a car, on the inside. The engine was a bit slow, but that could have been what my dad wanted for two teenagers to drive!! As I remember, 25+ years ago, the inside was nicely laid out and overall better than most of the cheap-o cars that kids were getting. Now, that is the last Hyundai that I have owned, so the cars may have taken a dip in the 90s/00s.

 
My son says Domino's. I dunno. But I do know that was some bad pizza back in the day, so only one way to go..

 
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Various government agencies that embraced the internet to let people get things done rather than make them stand in line forever. The DMV comes to mind. Not saying the DMV is "good", but it is better.

 
moleculo said:
Ate at Arbys yesterday for the first time in over a decade. It wasn't bad.
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@nihilist_arbys: Put something special in you this weekend, America: some Arbys, some cocaine, scotch, random schlongs. It doesn't matter. Nothing matters.

 
Vizio. Their TVs used to s### the bed on the regular. Now I would call them a nice mid-tier brand competing with the likes of Philips. Still below Samsung and LG, but above guys like Westinghouse, Magnavox, Element, Polaroid, etc.

 
Hyundai was the first that came to mind, but I'd go with Microsoft.

Before 2001 when the XBOX and Windows XP came out Microsoft was awful. They've had missteps (Vista, 360 over-heating issues, and blew it an opportunity with Zune) but have been on a tear the past 14 years and actually make good products now.

 
Restoration Hardware. Their stuff is soooo much better now than a decade ago. Just looking at their price list proves this.

 
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Tick said:
Judge Smails said:
My son says Domino's. I dunno. But I do know that was some bad pizza back in the day, so only one way to go..
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Dominos was my first thought. They got decent.
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Uggh no. I remember a couple years ago dominos ran ads saying they screwed up and completely started over from scratch. Intrigued i placed an order and the pizza was awful. The crust was drenched in grease and extra extra garlicy. So gross.

 
Bucks said:
USPS

This may be a local thing but within about the past year it seems they finally started providing a decent parcel delivery service. More reliable delivery times. Better tracking. No more notes in the box telling me to come pick things up. It used to seem they hated delivering packages and they wanted to dissuade you from using the service. Now I feel they finally embraced it as being their path to remaining relevant in the digital age.
Click to expand...
Not for me. Customer service still stinks for the most part and dilvery accuracy is questionable.

The most recent example for me:

They stopped delivering our mail for a couple of weeks when we forgot to get it before vacation time and then being away. Then it took another couple of weeks to have the time to get to the post office. My wife goes in and they basically just told her that they sent all the mail back. She asked if they could look etc. The guy had no interest in helping her.

She asked me to go. I went in and had the plan to make the Post Office workers day and then by winning her over for her to help me. I went in at the perfect time with only a couple of people being helped and no line. Both post office workers look like bored zombies. I go in with a big smile, a couple of jokes and a tad bit of charm- then ask for her to take a look to see if our mail was there. She goes back and less than 2 minutes later comes back with all my mail. So, apparently the guy that my wife saw just did not feel like doing any work that day. Not something unusual I have seen with the USPS.

 
ChiefD said:
I remember about 20 years ago I was having a discussion with a friend of mine who was a financial advisor at the time. We were talking one day, and I mentioned something like: "If I had an extra $10000 right now, I'd buy all Apple stock. That brand name is too strong to just go away."

They were trading at about $10 a share at the time. I was broke and just a few years out of college at the time. I kick myself every day. :lol:
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My wishes were investing in land in Costa Rica and desperately wanting to buy houses and real estate around the Logan Circle area of D.C., but I was broke.

This was around 1999. Both ventures would seem to be booming quite nicely these days.

 
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Little Caesars Pizza.

Completely fell off the map in the mid-90's. Think they were down to double digit franchises. Introduce Hot N ready Pizzas for $5. Franchises springing up like weeds. Quality is ok for a $5 pizza, not great but walk in and walk out in 2 minutes with a pizza.

 
Spootch said:
I'll take a Tombstone or DiGiorno frozen pizza that I heat up at home over any of the fast pizza franchises.
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Some of the thin crust pizzas they sell in the grocer's freezer are twice the pizza of Domino's or the Hut, and I say this as a person very open to chains and mass production of food items.

I know it's apples to oranges, but there are some really good white, cheese, and tomato basil options out there that leave the heaviness of Domino's in the dust.

What I'm saying, I guess, is that I love pizza.

eta* Oh, and apparently garlic, too.

 
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Cold Dead Hands said:
Little Caesars Pizza.

Completely fell off the map in the mid-90's. Think they were down to double digit franchises. Introduce Hot N ready Pizzas for $5. Franchises springing up like weeds. Quality is ok for a $5 pizza, not great but walk in and walk out in 2 minutes with a pizza.
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Good god I went through a mountain of this stuff in my teens/early twenties. Hit the sweet spot of being pizza and being a lot and being cheap.

 
James Daulton said:
Cold Dead Hands said:
Little Caesars Pizza.

Completely fell off the map in the mid-90's. Think they were down to double digit franchises. Introduce Hot N ready Pizzas for $5. Franchises springing up like weeds. Quality is ok for a $5 pizza, not great but walk in and walk out in 2 minutes with a pizza.
Click to expand...
Good god I went through a mountain of this stuff in my teens/early twenties. Hit the sweet spot of being pizza and being a lot and being cheap.
Click to expand...
Pizza! Pizza! from Little Caesars in the open top box with the paper wrapper. Like Christmas as a kid. Little Caesars and Popeyes fried chicken were our alternating Sunday meals for my father and I.

 
The Z Machine said:
Restoration Hardware. Their stuff is soooo much better now than a decade ago. Just looking at their price list proves this.
Click to expand...
:goodposting:

$800 for an end table that probably arrived to the delivery team damaged and they glued back together and then painted it? That gives it that authentic, expensive feel.

 
Jack in the Box is the one I thought of right away. That place used to be terribad but is really good now.

 
Cold Dead Hands said:
James Daulton said:
Cold Dead Hands said:
Little Caesars Pizza.

Completely fell off the map in the mid-90's. Think they were down to double digit franchises. Introduce Hot N ready Pizzas for $5. Franchises springing up like weeds. Quality is ok for a $5 pizza, not great but walk in and walk out in 2 minutes with a pizza.
Click to expand...
Good god I went through a mountain of this stuff in my teens/early twenties. Hit the sweet spot of being pizza and being a lot and being cheap.
Click to expand...
Pizza! Pizza! from Little Caesars in the open top box with the paper wrapper. Like Christmas as a kid. Little Caesars and Popeyes fried chicken were our alternating Sunday meals for my father and I.
Click to expand...
Yea, Pizza! Pizza! Was awesome as a kid- you didn't care about taste because you were a kid, you just liked pizza and there was a ton of pizza!

Only a few years ago, I saw a Little Caesars and thought "Wow, they are still around?" And now they seem to really have hit the right niche market for them to grow again.

 
Doesn't exactly fit because it's just a sub-brand of P&G, but I'd say Old Spice has made quite a brand turnaround the last few years.

 
It seems like in general auto makers have gotten better.

Korean companies Ford and Chevy have all been mentioned. I would say the car makers from Japan have gotten better as well.

 
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