I have that same problem, emccded. I'd really hate to name names in this instance, because I sort of feel like it'd be pointing fingers at a company that isn't represented here, and therefore can't contribute or defend their choices. I will say that I have experienced the same feeling, though.
My husband is a web programmer (he programs websites, but his passion lies in application work) and I have been a graphic designer for twenty-two years. We were at a tech conference a few weeks back (in Austin, TX, as a matter of fact!) and sitting in the conference I heard a speaker say, "A company's website has three seconds to grab a person's attention," first visually and then with the information that person went to find. That's the attention span we apparently have these days. =P
There are some sites that have graphics that are horribly pixelated (grainy, stretched, don't dither, have degraded color-work, etc. etc.). Many of them don't consider resolutions. Some of them won't work with different types of browsers. There's just a lot of issues. I keep thinking that graphic/web design targeted at these companies might not go in vane. =)