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. 
 
 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. ||||| Source: Wikimedia Commons 
 
 1. Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) 
 
 The internet service provider and subscription television service industries are not known for superior customer service. In fact, the two industries have the worst average scores in the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Still, Comcast has a significantly worse customer satisfaction score than either industry average. 
 
 The company’s internet services received the fourth worst score out of some 350 companies. In J.D. Power’s rating of major wireline services, only Time Warner Cable — recently subsumed by Charter — received as poor of an overall satisfaction score. In the same survey, Comcast received the worst scores in cost to consumer, performance, billing, and reliability. In 24/7 Wall St.’s annual customer satisfaction poll conducted in partnership with Zogby, nearly 55% of of respondents reported a negative experience with the company, the second worst of any corporation. 
 
 2. Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) 
 
 Bank of America has the worst customer satisfaction score of any bank in the ACSI. In a 24/7 Wall St.’s annual customer satisfaction poll, about 44% of those surveyed said they had a negative experience with both BofA’s banking and credit card operations, among the worst of any company surveyed. In addition to unhappy customers, the company has also has dissatisfied employees. The bank agreed to pay to settle a racial discrimination case involving 700 employees in August 2013 as well as a gender discrimination suit the following month. 
 
 While nearly a decade has passed since the financial crisis, many Americans still resent Bank of America for its role in the crisis. Although the bank has paid tens of billions of dollars to settle suits related to improper mortgage practices and toxic securities, the recent year seems to have brought more of the same. Only a few months after it was reported that CEO Brian Moynihan received a 23% pay raise in 2015, the bank agreed to pay yet another $415 million to settle a suit. This time the settlement was with the Securities and Exchange Commission over the way Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch handled customer money. 
 
 Source: mylan.com 
 
 3. Mylan (NASDAQ: MYL) 
 
 Several pharmaceutical companies gained national notoriety in 2016 for hiking up prices of certain life-saving drugs. Few received more attention than Mylan, which has come under heavy scrutiny after it raised the price of its emergency allergic reaction treatment EpiPen. Prices of the EpiPen, which can be life saving for those with severe allergies, increased by more than 500% — from $114 for two pens in 2007 to over $600 today. 
 
 The company attempted to quell the controversy by introducing a generic alternative of the drug, but the company faces at least one major class-action lawsuits for the perceived price gouging. In October, the company agreed to a $465 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice on the grounds that it had overcharged Medicaid for years by misclassifying the EpiPen. While the EpiPen was most publicized, the company has received criticism for sharply raising the prices of several other drugs as well.
– Believe it or not, Comcast is not the most hated telecommunications company in the country. The American Customer Satisfaction Index, out Tuesday, ranks America's most loved and hated companies offering pay-TV, phone, and internet service, and though Comcast finds itself among the least loved companies, it's not the most despised out there. The five companies that top the list, as well as the five that bring up the rear, with a score out of 100, per 24/7 Wall St.: Loved: Apple (phone): 81 Microsoft/Nokia (phone): 80 Samsung (phone): 80 Vonage (phone): 80 TracFone Wireless (phone): 77 Hated: Mediacom (TV): 56 Frontier Communications (internet): 56 Windstream (internet): 57 Xfinity/Comcast (TV): 58 Mediacom (internet): 58 Click for the full list or see a list of the most hated US companies overall.