America's Most Hated Companies

Source: Chris Potter / Wikimedia Commons

10. Sprint (NYSE: S)

Sprint customers report the lowest customer satisfaction of any company in the wireless telephone service industry, according to the ACSI. In a separate Zogby survey commissioned by 24/7 Wall St., Sprint had the worst customer service rating out of the more than 100 companies included in the survey. More than half of Sprint customers polled reported a negative customer service experience with the company.

In addition, Sprint’s service lags behind that of some of its primary competitors. According to a study conducted by mobile performance measurement company Rootmetrics, both Verizon and AT&T reported better overall performance across a range of measures including, speed, reliability, calling and texting, than Sprint in the first half of 2016.

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/walmartcorporate/

11. Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT)

Walmart, the world’s largest retailer and private employer, is also one of the most polarizing companies when it comes to public opinion. The retail giant is infamous for undercutting prices and hurting, if not dooming, locally owned businesses. While Walmart touts itself as a job creator in small towns across the country, it pays its employees very little. Based on self-reported earnings listed on Glassdoor, cashiers and sales associates have an average starting wage of less than $10 an hour, which is not enough to maintain a normal standard of living in many parts of the country.

In addition to hurting mom-and-pop operations, Walmart is also disappointing its customers. According to a recent Zogby survey, roughly 40% of Walmart customers polled reported a negative customer service experience.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

12. Charter Communications (NASDAQ: CHTR)

Charter has one of the poorest reputations for customer service of any company in the subscription television service industry. It also scores below average in customer service compared to its competitors in the fixed line telephone industry and internet service industry.

Charter Communications bought Time Warner Cable — a company with an equally poor customer service reputation — and Bright House Networks for a combined $71 billion in May 2016. Now the second largest cable company in the country, Charter, in a rebranding effort, will continue to serve customers under the name Spectrum. Whether or not the Spectrum brand will continue to provide the poor customer service associated with Charter and Time Warner remains to be seen.