America’s Most Hated Company Is…

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Americans loathe Time Warner Cable.

According to the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index, Time Warner not only ranked dead last among cable companies, it ranked last among all companies in the index, earning it the dubious distinction of being America’s least favorite company.

Ouch.

Time Warner earned a shameful 51 out of 100 for its pay-TV service, which means just 51 out of every 100 people reported being satisfied with their TWC service.

The cable and pay-TV industry as a whole received its lowest rating in seven years, making it Americans’ least favorite sector. Satisfaction with cable and paid TV even lagged behind Americans’ satisfaction with the U.S. Postal Service, airlines and cellphone carriers.

“There was a time when pay TV could get away with discontented users without being penalized by revenue losses from defecting customers, but those days are over,” said Claes Fornell, ACSI chairman and founder, in a statement. “Today people have more alternatives than ever before. Consumer abandonment of pay TV is shaking up the industry, and lower satisfaction could mean even more cord-cutting by subscribers ahead.”

Time Warner is in talks to sell to Charter Communications. Although some advocates of the mega-merger claim that TWC’s customer service would improve if the two companies merged, that is unlikely to be the case: Charter earned just 57 out of 100 for customers’ broadband satisfaction on the index, and 63 for its pay-TV service.

For more on the merger, check out What Does the Charter-Time Warner Deal Mean for You?

Have you had any experience (positive or negative) with TWC or other cable companies? Share them below, then share this story on Facebook!

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