The so called Good Will Gesture' versus compensation - which would you prefer?

Recently I had a lawyer quantify the difference between what is termed in business as the 'good will gesture' and compensation.

Apparently the difference is that the'good will gesture' is not an admittance of liability and compensation is.

But isn't that the whole problem - that not enough companies, especially big corporations that should know better, don't have properly structured systems in place for accepting responsibility when their products/services don't meet with customer approval.

I have come across some companies that actually LIST what they will pay out in the event of faults occuring - one I remember, was Thames Water.

The lawyer I'd spoken with, pointed out that water is a necessity and that having a pre-arranged compensation structure in place for when things go awry for that type of business is more appropriate than say British Telecom, which I'm currently having to do battle with.

Is anyone else suffering from the absolute complete incompetence of BT?

The phonomena that I'm now experiencing from this monstrous corporation and others like it, is that if they do deign to pay out their 'good will gestures' to you - there comes a time that if they've paid enough to you because they keep getting it wrong, that you invariably come across a little tin god manager that on looking at your account inteprets the fact you've managed to extract various monies from them over the life of your account, not because they are incompetent, but because you are out to bleed their company dry and are some kind of 'serial compensation hunter'.
The fact that you have been wronged and you're seeking some kind of redress for the time you've had to spend messing about sorting out their idiocy seems to be totally beyond their comprehension - or probably more accurately they are contrary and totally aware of their failings, but because they are a huge conglomerate - they are arrogant and just don't care!

I'd PREFER compensation if it were valid. Good will gestures are often appropriate for minor flaws in a a product or service.

As to the rest, I'm rather unsure.