I’m always in the mood for a good chuckle, but the last place I thought I would find one was in an article in MSNBC’s blog The Red Tape Chronicles by Bob Sullivan.

A new survey shows that 75% of high-tech titans say their companies provide “above average” customer care.

OK, I’ll give you a moment to stop laughing. Apparently, these CEOs don’t have to call the standard 1-800 number.

As you might expect, high-tech consumers don’t share this perception. To be precise, nearly 6 in 10 respondents told researchers they were somewhat upset or extremely upset with the way their most recent customer service experience was handled.

Seems high-tech CEOs are badly afflicted with chronic “It’s-not-us-itis.”

… So we say, ‘I understand you think you are great, but let’s do a little survey,’ said Brian Sprague, of consulting firm Accenture, in the article. According to the article, most surveys show a “disconnect between what executives and their customers think about service.

The consequences can be severe. Consumers who feel they’ve been badly treated are incredibly disloyal, the Accenture survey found; 81 percent said they’d purchase from a competitor next time.

Most companies don’t make the customer service cut. But a few companies have found ways to raise the bar in an era when word of mouth and disaster stories spread quickly.

TechSmith, makers of screen-capture utility Snagit, Camtasia Studio, Morae, and Uservue, is one such company. Good friend and TechSmith’s evangelist extraordinaire Betsy Weber was eager to answer my questions about her role.

Continue reading my column on ClickZ…

UPDATE: Seth Godin on the value of hiring an Online Community Organizer, which he calls a “job of the future.”