This Is What Americans Hate Most About Cable Companies

The biggest traditional cable companies -- players includingComcast,Charter Communications, andTime Warner Cable -- are among the most-hated businesses in America.

You would think that would be because the price we pay for cable television has slowly inched up and in many cases is just preposterous. Price, however, is not the thing that Americans hate the most about cable. We're also, as a nation, at least somewhat willing to forgive forced bundling, which requires us to pay for stations we don't want to get the ones we do. We can even overlook the various unexplained fees that are now fixtures on many of our bills.

The one thing we can't forgive is being treated poorly. The American people will overlook a lot, but poor customer service is a sin that's not easily forgiven and drives our hatred of cable companies.

How do we know this?In the most recentAmerican Customer Satisfaction Index report, pay television providers were in general the lowest-rated of all industries covered by ACSI, tied with Internet Service Providers (which, of course, includes many of the same companies). The traditional cable companies, however, rated at the bottom of the category: below phone companies and satellite providers that sell similar pay television bundles.

Source: ACSI

As you can see above, all the traditional providers are at the bottom of the list, with onlyCablevision scoring anywhere near the major phone companies selling pay-TV bundles. The New York Timeswriter Vikas Bajaj explained the reason why phone and satellite companies ranked higher in an article analyzing the ACSI data.

He added that the price of service was not likely to be a major factor in consumer perception of the various companies because all "tend to charge similar prices for popular TV bundles," according to a Federal Communications Commissionreportpublished in 2013.

It's all about customer serviceIn recent months, Comcast, which is currently undergoing a massive effort to change its customer relations culture, was rocked by a number of customer-related scandals. As a result, the company received an enormous amount of negative press, which likely fed public opposition to its failed merger attempt with Time Warner Cable. (Time Warner Cable has also been the subject of a number of very public negative stories about how it deals with subscribers.)

It's not that companies like AT&T andVerizon are excellent with customers -- the ACSI data still ranks them very low compared to businesses in other industries -- it's just that they are not as awful as the big cable companies.

It's the lesser evilPay TV providers give the American public a lot to hate. But big cable companies like Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Charter have compounded their woes by also treating people badly. This may have worked back in the monopoly days, but with most people being able to choose a satellite or phone company alternative -- admittedly a situation of picking the lesser of two evils -- it seems likely they will.

That option may even get easier now that AT&T owns DirecTV. Big cable should consider itself on notice. Treat customers better, or they may move to another provider -- or even drop pay television altogether.

The article This Is What Americans Hate Most About Cable Companies originally appeared on Fool.com.

Daniel Kline has no position in any stocks mentioned. He actually sort of likes his cable company. The Motley Fool recommends Verizon Communications. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.