In business, perception is everything: A single bad experience can burn a brand name and ruin a company's reputation.
So it's no surprise that well-known tech companies including Comcast, Facebook, Dish, Sprint, and Charter Communications landed on a list of America's most hated businesses.
Financial news site 24/7 Wall St. this week released a report identifying "12 companies hated by customers, employees, and the general public." Their findings are based on consumer satisfaction surveys and worker reviews.
Comcast topped the list, boasting a "significantly worse" score than the Internet and subscription TV service industry averages, according to 24/7 Wall St. In J.D. Power's rating of major wireline services, the firm received the worst scores in cost to consumer, performance, billing, and reliability.
Clients are understandably perturbed: The Federal Communications Commission in the fall fined Comcast for $2.3 million over allegations the cable company charged customers for services they never authorized.
But it seems service providers can't catch a break: Dish Network came in at No. 8 with one of the lowest employee satisfaction ratings of any major company reviewed on Glassdoor.
"These arbitrary rankings are not indicative of what is happening at DISH," a network spokeswoman said in a statement. "Third-party employee engagement surveys in recent years have found significant increases and results in employee satisfaction, satisfaction with career growth opportunities, and satisfaction with job training and professional development."
Sprint customers also report the lowest customer satisfaction of any wireless telephone enterprise.
"Sprint is in the midst of a multi-year turnaround and in the past 12 months we've made substantial improvement in important metrics including customer and employee satisfaction levels," a company spokeswoman told PCMag. "We know we have more work to do, but with an internal motto of 'Getting Better Every Day,' we will continue enhance our experience for our customers and our employees."
Fresh off its Time Warner Cable acquisition, Charter Communications, meanwhile, has one of the poorest reputations for customer service in the subscription TV industry, 24/7 Wall St. said.
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Surprise entry Facebook landed at No. 6, thanks to recent criticism over its privacy policies and mass user data collection, not to mention the spread of fake news leading up to the US presidential election.
Comcast, Dish, Charter, and Facebook did not immediately respond to PCMag's request for comment.
Editor's Note: This story was updated at 9:20 a.m. ET with comment from Sprint and again at 12:05 p.m. ET with comment from Dish Network.