What Zappos.com did for shoes, Diapers.com is seeking to do for all manner of baby products.

Red Bank, N.J.-based Diapers.com, which just raised $30 million in funding from several venture firms, is known for its over-the-top focus on customer service.

Owned by Quidsi Inc., Diapers.com provides free shipping and delivers overnight to two-thirds of the country if an order is received before 6 p.m.; the rest of the country gets orders within two days. The company also has a no-questions-asked return policy with free shipping on returns.

“We empower our reps to take care of the customer at really any cost,” said Marc Lore, co-founder and chief executive of the company. “If we don’t have something in stock we’ll point to a competitor that does. We do just about anything to insure customers have a good experience with the Web site.”

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According to Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, writing reviews and rating services online is becoming a civic act not unlike traditional forms of public service.

Posting information about products and experiences as everyday as hotel stays (”Generally all my reports are shower-related,” he said) helps other people make more educated purchases, he said during a panel session Tuesday, and can ultimately lead to better customer service when large numbers of people weigh in on social-media forums.

“The only way these sites are going to work is if people start participating in the millions and tens of millions,” Mr. Newmark said. “Participating in these sites is an act of compassion, in some sense patriotism.”

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There are the things that you say. And then there are the things that you do.

Electronics retail giant Best Buy (BBY) has supplied a fine example of the difference.

What They Said:

Here’s an excerpt from a release Best Buy issued yesterday on some recent store openings:

“The company’s Blue Shirt employees are the core of Best Buy. As a people-powered organization, Best Buy invests heavily in discovering and training employees in customer service, product knowledge and financial acumen. As the store employees are closest to the customers, the company relies on them for their innovative ideas and feedback to enhance customers’ shopping experiences. Whether an individual’s passion is to be the best salesperson on the floor, a Geek Squad Agent, home theater installer or the next CEO, Best Buy fuels employees with the knowledge and resources to achieve their personal ambition.”

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AOL was the top Internet service provider when it came to customer service in 2008, according to a Forrester Research report. The rub: AOL’s top rating based on Forrester’s “customer experience index” translates into a “just OK” mark.

As a group, ISPs grade out with a “poor” rating of 59 percent based on Forrester’s customer experience index. That tally makes ISPs 10th place out of the 12 industries the research firm examined.

I sought out the Forrester report after AOL trumpeted its customer standing in a press release. I just had to see how AOL, which is trying to wind down its access business, managed to be the best house in a bad ISP neighborhood.

In fact, AOL’s 71 percent rating was the tops, AT&T (T) and MSN were the only other ISPs that had “okay” ratings. Three ISPs–Charter, Comcast (CMCSA) and Road Runner–and “very poor” ratings.

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While the FCC and certain broadband companies like to insist that there’s real competition in the broadband market, right here in the heart of Silicon Valley, there’s little evidence that this is true. If there were real competition, they might take customer service seriously. In the past few days I’ve had two separate issues with AT&T that suggest that the company treats customer service as not just an after thought, but something to effectively be shunned.

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