Jason Fried on apologies:
“I apologize” is renting the problem. “I’m sorry” is owning it.
CampFire had a lot of glitches in December and 37signals did an epic job handling the problem from a customer relations standpoint. If you want to know why they handle problems the way they do — or better — if you are having to deal with customers this is a must read post.
I respect honesty and will forgive mistakes that are clearly explained and owned. What I don’t respect is thinking that I should just deal with the problem. This is a huge reason why I use 37signals products and why this site is hosted on Media Temple.