It would be almost too easy to create this list for Jamaica: ‘Nineteen Most Hated Companies’.

Stop anyone on the busy streets of Kingston, Mandeville or Montego Bay and they will quickly be able to reel off the names of at least three Jamaican companies they love to hate. If you have the time (and a camera) they will perhaps give you the reasons for their dislike as well. Usually if you dig deep enough you will hear the familiar tale of shoddy delivery and of good company gone bad because of lack of effective communication with their customers.

It is easy for companies to ascend to the top of this unworthy pile and some do so very quickly, wearing the ‘Most Hated’ badge like a title of honour, defending it with every bad customer service trick they have up their sleeve. Raise your hand if you have ever called a company’s customer service line and waited more than fifteen minutes for a human voice to respond to you, after listening to either the cheesiest background music ever or an unapologetic sounding automated voice? How does it make you feel about that company, particularly if it happens to be a monopoly? The word trapped, comes easily to mind.

The Business Insider published a list of the Nineteen Most Hated companies in America as rated by the American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). ACSI rates companies based on thousands of consumer satisfaction survey and among the most hated are: large banks, airlines, power and telecom companies. ACSI scores on a 0-100 scale at the national level and produces indexes for ten economic sectors, 47 industries (including e-commerce and e-business) more than 225 companies and over 200 federal or local government services, In addition to the company-level satisfaction scores, ACSI produces scores for the causes and consequences of customer satisfaction and their relationships. The measured companies, industries and sectors are broadly representative of the United States economy. The similarity between Jamaican companies who would make it to the top of list is striking.

Bank of America comes in at number nineteen on the list of dubious winners of the Most Hated Companies. With a satisfaction rating of 68/100, its customers complain of excessive fees for overdraft and other services and are pursuing lawsuits over illegal charges. Says the Report, “This bank is America’s largest mortgage servicer and is the slowest to respond to clients.” BoA was also the second lowest rated banks. I have always wondered about the slow response rates to customer complaints particularly in an environment where automation should make it easier for customer service to respond more quickly to assist and address customers with issues about their accounts. Coming in at number 18 is Dish Network, with a 67/100 satisfaction rating and with common complaints ranging from incorrect billing to bad customer service. That company paid nearly US$6 million to settle allegations that it practiced misleading consumer marketing and lacked full disclosure when dealing with costs and fees.

Another big bank, JPMorgan Chase came in at number 15 with complaints including “absurdly high overdraft fees” and it was said to have suffered from its rebranding, as the organization was slow and some branches took a long time to present the new brand. The Report stated that the company’s consumer rating has steadily decreased since 2007 as customers perceive it to have become more impersonal with growth. It would seem that the larger companies grow the less they pay attention to staying in touch with the people who contribute to their growth, their clients, who are also their shareholders. And they wonder why their customers drift elsewhere to where they get attention and better service.

Naturally, a communications company has to be among the pack of ‘front-runners’ for bad service. AT&T Mobility was called out for frequently dropped calls and limited coverage. FaceBook also comes in for mention and with a satisfaction rating of 64/100 and the common complaints includes user’s privacy and personal information protection. American Airlines flew in at number eight with baggage fees and service cutbacks on the top of consumer grievances. Delta, was not far off in the ratings with a satisfaction rating of 56/100 and its customer complaints include additional costs for food, beverage and baggage fees. Apparently Delta, raked in more than US$925 million in baggage fees from flyers last year, almost twice as much as other airline carriers. “Since acquiring Northwester airlines in 2008, Delta’s consumer satisfaction score plunged. ACSI says that a big merger in service companies usually has a negative impact on customer service in the short term because of organization issues.

The number one most hated company was Pepco, Potomac Electric which “had among the worst ratings in various power reliability studies”. The Report said that the average Pepco customer experienced 70 per cent more outages than customers of other big city utilities that took part in one 2009 survey and the lights stayed out more than twice as long. The unreliable service resulted in the adoption of the “Pepco Bill” in March 2011, requiring the state’s Public Service Commission to hold electric providers accountable for service quality standards.

Yvonne Grinam-Nicholson, (MBA, ABC) is a Business Communications Consultant with ROCommunications Jamaica, specialising in business communications and financial publications. She can be contacted at: yvonne@rocommunications.com. Visit her website at www.rocommunications.com and post your comments.