That golden business rule “The customer is always right” doesn’t seem to be the motto of these 10 worst companies for customer service. Even so, some of them are actually big and famous companies and among leaders in their industries. Two things can explain this – either customer service satisfaction isn’t that important (hard to believe) or these companies hold some kind of monopoly and people are unable to switch to another company (easier to believe). Whatever the case it is interesting to notice that most of the companies on this list are telecommunication, internet, and TV providers. And, on the other side the road, companies with great customer service are mostly restaurants. I guess people working in restaurants are more aware of the simple fact that their business really depends on the customer satisfaction. But there are other big companies (not restaurants) that get this. Take Apple for example, it has one of the highest indexes (82) when it comes to customer services this year, and it is also among the most money making companies in the world. Naturally, none of those companies on our list below is on the linked list too.
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We figured out which are the worst companies for customer service by using American Customer Satisfaction Index’s Benchmarks By Company table, in which companies are rated by the customer satisfaction index. If the company is rated in various sectors it operates, we averaged indexes in order to get the ultimate rating for the company. We’ve used only the indexes for the current year, to get the newest rating of the companies that can’t boast about being friendly and helpful to their customers. There are 16 companies in total on our list, and only 11 “ranking places”, because some of them share a spot. Eager to find out which are the worst companies for customer service? Let’s start with the list then!
11. Dish Network, and La Department of Water & Power
Customer service index: 67/100
Dish Network is a direct-broadcast satellite service provider that has been rated many times in various pools as one of the companies whose customers are not so happy about its service. This satellite provider is also known to have unhappy employees, which may explain poor customer support.
LA Department of Water & Power is among the biggest municipal utilities in the US. Since its foundation back in 1902, the utility was involved in various controversies out of which one of the biggest was two utility-affiliated nonprofits spending more than $40 million in public money. The company can’t brag with their services either, since in previous years the utility’s customer service index was more or less the same, and only in 2013 it was barely above 70. At least some of the public wrath was due to the California drought, but certainly not all of it.
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10. Frontier Airlines
Customer service index: 66/100
Frontier Airlines is often described as a budget-friendly carrier, but not customer-friendly as it seems. You can read the comments coming from many upset customers here. People mostly argue about the hidden fees the company has (“budget-friendly?), but also about the way they treat the customers.
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9. Century link
Customer service index: 65.5/100
Century link is an IT services company that provides services of IT consulting, Big Data analytics, network and data system management. Its customer service index in the segment of Internet Providing is 63, while in the segment of Fixed-line Telephone is slightly better and of 68. More about their customer extreme dissatisfaction you can find here.
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8. G6 Hospitality ( Motel 6) , Eversource Energy, and Allegiant Air
Customer service index: 65/100
G6 Hospitality owns and operates two chains – one of the low-cost motels (known by the brand Motel 6) and the other of extended stay hotels (known under the name Studio 6) across the US and Canada. Someone may think that by operating in the Hospitality Industry, companies should be aware that their customer service is even more important than maybe in some other industries. Nevertheless, this is not always the case, as it can be seen in many complaints about Motel 6 customer service.
Eversource Energy is an energy company that offers natural gas services and retail electricity through is subsidiaries. This is far from the first year that the company was ranked so low when it comes to customer satisfaction index.
Another airline on our list of the worst companies for customer service is Allegiant Air, owned by Allegiant Travel Co. The company had the same index last year, which means that even though it is not improving its professional services, it is not diminishing them either. If interested, you can read on TripAdvisor a discussion about whether Allegiant is the worst airline ever.
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7. Cox Communication
Customer service index: 63.33/100
A subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, Cox Communication is a provider of digital cable television and offers professional services in home automation and telecommunications, across the US. In a survey that we used it was evaluated in three different sectors: Subscription Television Service (index of 59), Internet Service Providers (index of 63), and Fixed-Line Telephone Service(index of 68). One customer described the company as “one of the biggest crooks in the country with a license to rip off their own customers”.
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6. Time Warner Cable
Customer service index: 63/100
As the name denotes it, Time Warner Cable is a cable telecommunications company, and even though it was merged with Charter Communication on May 18th, it was still ranked separately in this survey. And Charter Communication isn’t too far with its customer services, as it is the next in line on this list. Time Warner Cable had 3 separate ranking for its customer services in these sectors: Fixed-Line Telephone Service (index of 64 ), Internet Service Providers (index of 66) and Subscription Television Service (index of 59).
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5. Charter Communication
Customer service index: 62.66/100
Reading previous entry, you all knew that Charter Communication, another cable telecommunications company, is going to be the 5th worst company for customer services, but did you know that this is not the only new survey regarding customer satisfaction on which Charter Communication scored so shamefully? Or that this is not the first year their name is often mentioned when discussing most hated companies in America? Oh, well you know what they say “once a bad guy, always a bad guy”. Anyway, this is how Charter Communication scored in different sectors: Internet Service Providers – 63, Fixed-line Telephone Service – 65, and Subscription Television Service – 60.
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4. Spirit Airlines, and Windstream
Customer service index: 62/100
Spirit Airlines, often regarded as the “super-low-cost” carrier, definitely provides super worst services to its customers. There is even a Facebook page named “Spirit Airlines Sucks”, that invites people who had an awful experience with the company to join and share their story. Even though cheap service doesn’t necessarily imply bad service, there are too many cases that confirm it, such as the case of Spirit Airlines, which is often discussed in the media as having the worst customer services out of all other airlines. Oh, well, in the end it all comes down to – “you’ll get what you paid for”.
Windstream provides managed services and data network communications to firms in the US. It was evaluated in two sectors: Fixed-Line Telephone Service (index of 65) and Internet Service Providers (index of 59). One customer clearly explained why the company has found its place on this list – “Windstream is a terrible company with high prices for their slow internet service which doesn’t work half of the time. Their customer service is terrible”.
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3. Comcast
Customer service index: 61.66/100
Comcast ranks 3rd on our list of worst companies for customer service. Its lack of consideration for its customers is legendary among Internet users. If you follow the link, you can read some shocking experiences people had with Comcast, including the one about Lisa Brown. When Lisa canceled Comcast’s TV services, the last bill she reserved was addressed to “Asshole Brown”. This makes us wonder how come Comcast wasn’t ranked even higher on this list and what kind of experiences had customers of the companies that take the first and the second spot on this list? Well, we’ll see soon. Let’s just report how Comcast ranked in each sector separately: Internet Service Providers – 59, Fixed-line Telephone Service – 64, and Subscription Television Service – 62.
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And now, let’s see the top two on our list of worst companies for customer service.
2. Sudden link, and Frontier Communication
Customer service index: 61.5/100
We are continuing our list of worst companies for customer service with the following two:
Suddenlink is a cable service provider that was evaluated in two different sectors – Internet Service Providers (index of 61) and Subscription Television Service (index of 62). One customer described their experience with the company like this: “Suddenlink is the absolute worst cable and Internet provider I have ever experienced. Their service is always out, their customer service is abysmal…”
Frontier Communication is yet another communication services company that has a way to many angry, dissatisfied customers. If you don’t believe it, you can visit a website amply called “Frontier Sucks” and read many complaints. We bring you only one today – “ Frontier is the worst….their management should be jailed”. The company was also assessed in two different sectors: Fixed-line Telephone Service (index of 67) and Internet Service Providers (index of 56).
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1. Mediacom
Customer service index: 55.5/100
And, finally, the ultimate worst company for customer service is Mediacom. It is another cable television and communications provider. Surprised? Probably not. It was, as well, evaluated in two sectors: Internet Service Providers (index of 57) and Subscription Television Service (index of 54). We won’t say anything else about the company or its customer services because it would be superfluous with the next complain that perfectly ends this article: “Mediacom does not want skilled technicians, they want sheep who will blindly follow the orders from the less than skilled people running mediacom. unskilled workers are more prone to accept low wages and blindly follow the sheepherder.”
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This wraps it up for our list of worst companies for customer service.
Feel free to share any experiences with these companies in the comments below!