• December 17, 2008

Barnes & Noble moved from No. 3 to No. 1 in the latest customer experience ranking from Forrester, with seven of the top 10 spots going to retailers.

Forrester, which polls 5,000 people about 114 firms in 12 industries, says USAA's credit card operations come in second, followed by Borders, Amazon.com, Costco Wholesale, Hampton Inn/Suites, BJ's Wholesale Club and Sam's Club, Kohl's and Marriott Hotels & Resorts.

Consumers rated the companies on usefulness, ease of use, and enjoyability of those experiences, and only 11% of the firms achieved "excellent" ratings, while 38% were "poor" or "very poor." Charter Communications and Medicaid came in last.--Sarah Mahoney