As much as we'd love to think that yesterday's victory by Electronic Arts in the Worst Company In America tournament pushed them to do something nice, we have a feeling that it's just a coincidence that the video game publisher has announced it will release some downloadable content — for free! — to appease angry Mass Effect 3 players. More »
Usually when we announce the winner of the annual Worst Company In America tournament, the victor chooses to quietly reflect on their triumph rather than make a public comment. But not this year's champ, Electronic Arts, which has responded to being voted the WCIA winner by hinting that it's not as bad as other companies. More »
Whether it's on a console, a PC, a smartphone or tablet, hundreds of millions of people play video games every day. Yet most mainstream media covers the industry the same way it treats adult dodge ball leagues and cat fashion shows (both noble ventures, but neither of them multi-billion dollar industries). And the only time you hear legislators discuss video games is when some politician decries them as the death knell for all things righteous in the world (hint: they're not). Now, after years of being ignored and relegated to steerage, game-players have voted to send a message to Electronic Arts and the gaming business as a whole: Stop treating your loyal customers like crap. More »
This sort of epitomizes the last 12 months for AT&T. First it attempted to leap-frog to the head of the wireless pack by swallowing T-Mobile whole, only to fail miserably after many months and at a cost of several billion dollars. Then it came tantalizingly close to vying for the coveted Worst Company In America Golden Poo trophy, only to be given the smack-down by a video game company. At least it won't be leaving the tournament empty-handed. More »
Here they stand, surrounded by the carved-up carcasses of their fallen competitors. "Make us proud... Win the poo," the ghosts of the vanquished call out from another realm, demanding that these two remaining contenders for Worst Company In America prove that all this bloodshed was not in vain. More »
As we announced on Friday, for the first time in Worst Company history, readers will have the chance to vote on a third-place finisher from between the two companies eliminated in the Semifinal round. This means that either Walmart or AT&T will end up being honored with the coveted Bronze Poo trophy. More »
Last year, when Bank of America lost by the narrowest of margins to BP in the Final Death Match of the 2011 Worst Company In America tournament, we listened to readers who called for the creation of the first-ever Silver Poo trophy. That honor will remain in place for the 2012 tourney, and will be joined by a Bronze Poo for the company coming in third — or rather, "turd" — place. More »
This is it. Only one bout remains before we get to the Worst Company In America Final Death Match. But will it be the established telecom terror or the rookie greedy game-maker that vies for the Golden Poo? More »
Once again, Bank of America is so close to holding the Golden Poo it can taste it. And only one obstacle remains in BofA's path to another shot at the WCIA crown. Of course, that obstacle also happens to be the world's largest retailer. More »
What began as good, clean fun between 32 bad businesses quickly devolved into something so violent and grotesque that it would make a great PG-13 movie featuring Lenny Kravitz in a small but pivotal role. And now, only four contenders for the Golden Poo remain, each with a worthy claim to the trophy. More »
Just as an NCAA hoops power needs a driven coach to lead the way through March Madness, a corporation seeking the Worst Company in America Golden Poo needs a CEO who manages to rake in ludicrous pay raises. More »
Imagine you're playing a game of Worst Company In America Online, Game of the Year Collectors' Signature Edition 2012 with your pals. You've paid hundreds of dollars for the game and all the downloadable tricked-out corporate logos, bloody finishing moves and deluxe cat photos and you're about to head into the Final Death Match. Then your cable company decides you've gone over your data limit and the game grinds to a halt. And when you finally get it back up, the game's servers have been pulled offline by the publisher. Which company do you end up hating more? More »
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... a young man with big dreams took down the Death Star in his X-wing starfighter. Can history repeat itself today, as Facebook's precocious billionaire takes on the dark lords of the AT&T empire? More »
Which is mightier: bricks and mortar or bits and bytes? That age-old question will finally be resolved on the blood-soaked ultrasuede floor of the Worst Company In America Ellipse of Evil. More »
Two weeks ago, 32 of the nation's worst businesses entered the Worst Company In America Battledome Nonagon, hoping to prove they could out-twit, overcharge and outlast the others to ultimately be named the Worst Company In America 2012. Two dozen companies have since been fed to the shark-eating robot piranhas and only eight remain with a chance to be crowned with the Golden Poo. More »
In spite of Spirit Airlines' hilarious belief that it is the "most consumer-friendly airline," it beat out the much-bigger Delta to make it through the first round of the Consumerist Worst Company In America tournament. But the airline says the people voting for Spirit have obviously not flown the discount carrier. More »
With all other remaining contenders having had their time trying to shoot each other with crossbows or burn each other alive with wildfire in the vast, Worst Company In America Hunger Games arena, Round Two comes to a close with this match-up between two reviled retailers. More »
One of these companies has had a pretty good year, business-wise; the other one... not so much. And yet, here they compete as equals in the Worst Company In America fighting pit. More »
It's the final day of competition in Round Two of Worst Company In America 2012, but there are still an awful lot of awful businesses still waiting to do battle. So let's get to it and do it, shall we? More »
Voting on this round is completely free! You just pay shipping, handling, service charges, print-at-home surcharges, voting tax, a 7% resort fee, and a $25 "because we can" charge. More »
A perennial Golden Poo favorite slips into a red, white and blue unitard and struts into the WCIA Rollerball arena to the strains of Hulk Hogan's "Real American," thinking this is the year they win it all... Well, not if a scrappy underdog from New York City has anything to say about it. More »
Welcome to Day 2 of Sweet 16 bloodshed! Unfortunately, because of exclusivity deals, those of you who haven't paid $350 for the deluxe, HD/3D/Smell-o-Vision package will be blacked out from seeing the televised broadcast of these TV titans. More »
As we sifted through the mountain of nominations for this year's Worst Company In America tournament, we noticed a trend of readers who cited companies' mandatory binding arbitration clauses as a reason for nominating. And while it's businesses like AT&T and Sony that have made all the headlines for effectively banning class action lawsuits, there are a lot of other WCIA contenders who are forcing customers into signing away their rights. More »
The old world clashes with the new this afternoon as the company that used to connect people around the country tries to take down the website that everyone now uses to show off photos of their kids. More »
The opening bout of this year's Sweet 16 should result in some sparks, as the video game company everyone seems to hate (but whose games people keep buying) squares off against the electronics retailer most of us would rather not shop at (but still do when we don't have time to wait for an Amazon order). More »
The floor of the Worst Company In America BattleDome is stained with the blood of the vanquished. But only one company can earn the privilege of placing the WCIA Golden Poo in its trophy case, so the violence must continue. More »
Here we are at the final match of Round One in the Worst Company In America 2012 Tournament. And while you can argue whether or not we've saved the best for last, these two competitors are certainly two of the biggest. More »
Here we have a Round One battle between two opponents with peculiar predicaments. In one corner is a website that continually tries to invade your privacy but to which everyone on the planet seems to belong. And in the other corner is the phone company that claims to offer truly unlimited data plans, but which can't seem to get new customers. More »
Two telecom titans will step into the Worst Company gladiator pit this afternoon. One will walk out victorious while the other will end up stuck with a huge early termination fee. More »
The final day of Round One competition is waiting on the tarmac, ready to take off. Unfortunately, these two airlines would like to charge you for the privilege of voting on which one is worse. More »
Finishing off this week of blood-drenched business battles is a pairing between two of the largest — and two of the least-favorite — cable companies in the country. The fight is scheduled to begin anywhere between 2:00 and 5:00 p.m. More »
Everyone else might be thanking God it's Friday, but not the companies that had to start off their weekend by beating the ever-loving crud out of each other in the Worst Company America Thunderdome. More »
Just judging by appearances, this match-up has the feel of a strapping young heavyweight going up against a past-his-day bruiser who is clinging on to memories of his days as champ. But you never know if that elder fighter might have packed some bird shot and ball bearings in his boxing gloves. More »
At the end of this bout, one of these competitors will have paid the price in blood. And lord help them if they try to dispute that payment with either company's customer service departments. More »
Day 3 of competition in the arena suspended high above above the Worst Company In America Sarlacc Pit brings us a pair of pugilists that already spend most of the year trying to dish out some hurt on each other. More »
Regular readers of Consumerist comments have pointed out that you could set up a Bingo game based on oft-repeated sentiments, phrases, and gripes. Now, longtime commenter and all-around awesome human being catastrophegirl has created a set of Bingo cards just to play along with the Worst Company In America 2012 tournament! More »
For today's afternoon bout, two companies that probably avoid walking down dark alleys for fear of being beaten up by angry consumers get a chance to kick each other in the teeth. More »
If this particular WCIA bout were a video game, we'd charge you $59.99 to play the most basic version, another $20 or so to play the full version, and then we'd still nickel and dime you for extras... But not before your account data is compromised by hackers. More »
Welcome to Day 2 of corporate carnage in the Worst Company In America Octagonal Steel Cage! Starting things off for today is another pair of bloodthirsty bankers out to prove they are just as astoundingly inept as any other business in the bracket. More »
Here's a pair of middleweight marauders that some of you may not be familiar with, but who still managed to engender enough ill will from Consumerist readers to earn a chance to prove their awfulness in the business world bloodbath called the Worst Company In America 2012 Tournament. More »
It hasn't been a banner year for either of these banking bruisers. But has12 months of settlements over fraudulent mortgages, along with all that planning/canceling/reinstating of fees, left these fighters exhausted, or has it hardened them into true WCIA warriors? More »
Go make some popcorn and gather the family by the glow of your data-receiving device of choice — It's Worst Company In America time! And it looks like the first blood to be spilled in the WCIA 2012 Octagon of Shame will come from the veins of one of these two retail titans from Minnesota. More »
Welcome to Consumerist's 7th Annual Worst Company In America tournament, where the businesses you nominated face off for a title that none of them will publicly admit to wanting — but which all of them try their hardest to earn. So it's time to fill in the brackets and start another office pool. That is, unless you work at one of the 32 companies competing in the tournament. More »
It's almost time to tally up the mountain of reader nominations for this year's Worst Company In America tournament. There are only 24 hours left to gather support for those businesses you deem most deserving of the Golden Poo! More »
More than a year and a half after the disastrous collapse of the BP-operated Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, it looks like someone may finally be held accountable for the accident, as federal prosecutors are reportedly preparing to file criminal charges against the oil company and perhaps some individual employees. More »
In its latest effort to spread the love from its Worst Company In America victory, BP has accused another much-loathed business, Halliburton, of destroying internal test results which BP claims demonstrates that the cement used to secure the ill-fated Gulf of Mexico oil well was unstable. More »
More than a year after the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform that killed 11 people, leaked countless gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico and earned BP the title of Worst Company In America, the petroleum giant has received approval from the federal government to begin drilling again in the Gulf. More »
It was our biggest — and closest — Worst Company In America final ever, but in the end it was BP edging out Bank of America by less than 1%. After waiting a couple weeks to see if either company would pick up their award at Consumerist HQ, we packed the poos up and shipped them out. More »
Long before BP was cutting costs — and spilling oodles of oil — into the Gulf of Mexico, it was polluting the soil in Alaska by refusing to properly maintain its pipeline system. And now your Worst Company In America has agreed to pony up $25 million to settle the federal investigation into a massive Alaska spill in Prudhoe Bay. More »
A day after the one-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, which killed 11 offshore rig workers, released millions of barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, and earned BP the title of Worst Company In America, the Golden Poo winners announced that it has reached an agreement to pony up another $1 billion toward Gulf restoration efforts. More »
For six years, Consumerist readers have picked a winner in the Worst Company In America tournament. And in those six years, while one or two companies in the brackets have made mention of the contest — if only to poke fun at the winner — no WCIA champ has come forth to accept the title. But there are some who feel like the winners would benefit by exhibiting some humility and publicly accepting the Golden Poo. More »
On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon, an offshore oil rig leased by BP to drill for oil in the Gulf of Mexico, caught fire following an explosion. The disaster left 11 men dead and spilled millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf. For the cost-cutting efforts that ultimately led to this catastrophe — along with others in Texas and Alaska that have killed more than a dozen more employees, injured hundreds and leaked toxic chemicals into the air and water — thousands of Consumerist voters have selected BP as the Worst Company In America. More »
In the same year that a film about a stammering British king won the Best Picture Oscar, another UK misfit, BP, now stands on the precipice of claiming another precious piece of Americana: The Golden Poo. But that's only if the oily Brits can wrestle the trophy out of the tenacious-but-incompetent grip of this nation's least-favorite native son, Bank of America. More »
Globs of crude oil are washing up on the shores of Kabletown in this battle to determine which craptastic corporation moves to tomorrow's Worst Company In America death match! More »
With only one slot left in this year's WCIA Final Four, it's time for the reigning Golden Poo-holders of Kabletown to defend their title against the forces of the Death Star. More »
Those college kids in the NCAA may be back to hitting the books, but here in the WCIA octagon, competing companies are still hitting busy hitting each other below the belt en route to the title of Worst Company In America! More »
Two rounds of WCIA bloodshed are in the book and the beaten bodies of 24 multi-billion dollar companies are being hauled off to be burned on a pyre. But for those businesses left standing — let's call them the Elite 8 — the parade of pain marches on. More »
Here it is, the final no-holds-barred death match of the WCIA Sweet 16! To finish off this round, we've got two companies that — until very recently — shared a death grip on the U.S. iPhone market. More »
The reigning WCIA champ struts into the blood-stained octagon to defends its title against a bunch of geeks in blue shirts who fancy themselves as contenders to the Worst Company throne. More »
Every airline has a few in-air horror stories in its history, but there are two commercial carriers whose public image is dominated by their catastrophe-related headlines. More »
One year ago today, Consumerist.com became a wholly owned subsidiary of Kabletown. But rather than celebrating the anniversary of this union, we have spent recent weeks locked in negotiations with our Kabletown overlords. Unfortunately, those discussions have proven fruitless. So unless a resolution is reached by midnight ET tonight, readers of Consumerist may be unable to cheer on their favorites in this year's Worst Company In America tournament. More »
In honor of April 1, we present this WCIA faceoff between a pair of fools — One that makes medicines no one can sell and the other that takes your insurance premium but offers you no insurance. More »
We were going to buy tickets to this Sweet 16 battle, but Ticketmaster tried to charge us twice the face value for printing the tickets at home. And then we looked into watching the online stream, except our computer won't work properly since Sony's copy-protection software exposed it to malware. More »
After eight days and 16 first round battles, the WCIA steel cage is littered with the bones of those companies not crappy enough to continue on in the tournament. But the thrill of victory is fleeting for the remaining combatants, all of whom must square off again if they hope of crowning themselves the Worst Company In America! More »
Someone at Time Warner Cable has a great sense of humor — or perhaps none at all — about being in this year's Worst Company In America tournament. A rep for the company wrote to take issue, not about its inclusion, but with our use of an outdated logo. More »
We know that none of the companies in this year's Worst Company In America tournamentwant to be on the list. But reigning Golden Poo holder Comcast has decided that, rather than actually do anything about the problems that make it a perennial favorite, it will just beg its employees to vote — multiple times — for the other guy. More »
Here are two companies that have been rumored to be talking merger. But for now, all those discussions are put to the side in favor of slugging it out in the WCIA steel cage. More »
Here's an interesting battle between a drugstore chain and the drug company whose products line the chain's shelves — or at least they used to before they were all recalled. More »
Let's hope no one gets hurt during this shootout between two health care hellions, because there's a good chance they'll deny themselves coverage. More »
Only one of this afternoon's combatants has been the subject of an Oscar-nominated movie. Apparently, two hours of customers sitting on the phone not being helped by Time Warner Cable customer service isn't as thrilling as the story of a site that lets 500 million users share baby photos with friends and all their personal info with sketchy app developers. More »
Did you get enough basketball this weekend? Good, because now it's back to the more important tournament. And in today's early bout, two international titans of terrible step into the ring to square off! More »
Here's an interesting bout featuring not one, but two crippled combatants. One hobbled by shoddy electronics and the other shackled by leaden copyright protection software. More »
If you're not up on college basketball but happen to be a Worst Company in America bracketologist, it's possible to use your WCIA knowledge to generate a rooting interest in the NCAA Tournament, as well as vice versa. More »
Ladies and gentlemen of business, it's our proud honor to welcome you, your staff, your customers and your CEO to the opening of the 6th annual Worst Company In America tournament! It's a knockdown drag out battle to the death. 32 companies go in, but only one can come out. It's like Highlander, Battle Royale, the Hunger Games, and Survivor all rolled into one delicious, much-less-profitable package. So without further ado, let us turn it over to a silly video of Ben Popken playing basketball. More »
For the sixth year in a row, we asked Consumerist readers to send us their nominations for our Worst Company In America tournament. And this year's response was the greatest by far. More »
We've finally finished sorting through your e-mail nominations for this year's Worst Company In America tournament. Now we're set to reveal the 32 businesses vying for the title. More »
Since announcing that we're now accepting nominations for Worst Company In America, we've received thousands of suggestions encompassing everything from individual etsy sellers to global conglomerates to fictional entities. And if you haven't yet taken the opportunity to put in your two cents (figuratively speaking; we don't charge a fee), you still have a few days left. More »
As you probably guessed from last night's not-so-subtle tease, it's time to start building the brackets for the Worst Company In America tournament. More »
For anyone who thought that mammoth megacorporations behaved anything like adults, they should just check out the Twitter account for Verizon, who saw fit tonight to have a little fun at the expense of Worst Company In America winner Comcast. More »
After two years as a bridesmaid in Consumerist's Worst Company In America tournament, it was finally the cable company's time to walk down the aisle when it was handed the WCIA crown this morning. And now that Comcast has tasted victory, it's not asking for seconds. More »
After four rounds of bloody battle against some of the most publicly reviled businesses in America, Comcast can now run up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and hold its hands high in victory — it has bested everyone else to earn the title of Worst Company In America for 2010. More »
Hide your children and gird your loins, because just like The Highlander, there can be only one. From the depths of the stinking swamps of mergepocalypse, come our two ignoble contenders. First, the dread pirate Comcast, known throughout the land for gobbling up all companies that are foolish enough to sail through its treacherous waters. Second, Ticketmaster, Lord of Tickets, Duke of fees, Master of... tickets. After forming an unholy alliance with LiveNation, Lord Ticketmaster has united the forces of darkness in a quest to force all people of this good land to pay $2.50 for the use of their own printers. More »
Bank of America and Ticketmaster have been within 10 votes of one another for like, 24 hours now, which is just unprecedented in the history of this contest. As of this post, they are exactly tied. So here's what we're going to do. At midnight in the central time zone, we are going to close the poll. More »
Well, well, well, what do we have here? It's our nation's largest cable company and harbinger of mergepocalypse doom, Comcast, VS a certain little company from Florida. More »
Two of last year's WCIA Final Four return to square off as Bank of America, who thumped Time Warner Cable in the Elite 8, goes up against Ticketmaster, fresh off its victory over Anthem BCBS. More »
The golden poo and I are beaming live into a few local news stations this morning pump the Worst Company in America contest. Here's when and where we'll be: More »
After three rounds of voting, 28 of the most despised companies in the U.S. have fallen, beaten and bloodied as they attempted to win the coveted title of Worst Company In America and the elegant golden poo trophy that goes along with it. Now, with just days left in the tournament, only four remain. More »
Here it is folks, the final match-up of the WCIA Elite 8... And it's a doozy. Hailing from sunny Florida is the king of undervalued bling, Cash4Gold! And flying in from the West Coast just to prove they know a thing or two about horrendous customer service and questionable business practices, it's every Internet user's frenemy, PayPal! More »
This one should be very interesting, as perennial WCIA fave Comcast — who has stomped on DirecTV and United Airlines in earlier rounds — faces off against this year's giant killer, Apple. The iCompany has gone all Little Mac on both Microsoft and AT&T, but will they be able to get in the right punches to beat the Philadelphia Kid? More »
Things are really starting to heat up. Bank of America has already breezed through match-ups with Citibank and Walmart, and now only Time Warner Cable with their "metered broadband" stands between the mortgage giant and the Final Four. More »
It's a battle of the squeakers in this year's last Sweet 16 match-up. In its first round duel with Delta, U.S. Airways won by a hairline margin of 75 votes. Meanwhile, in its war with LifeLock, perennial WCIA contender PayPal barely edged out the competition. Now the slates are clean for both companies to prove their lack of merit. More »
It's airlines meets air time in today's Sweet 16 battle. In the far corner, wearing blue trunks and sporting a thick Chicago accent is United Airlines! Let's give it up for exorbitant fees! In the near corner, sporting red trunks and coming straight outta Philadelphia is the Comcastic Kid! Can I get a cheer for inept customer service?! More »
I hit the streets of New York with a video camera, asking taxi drivers, youths, store owners and chicks eating donuts, "What's the worst company in America?" Most people laughed and said, "Worst company?" — and then thought real hard and gave us some answers, answers which may shock you! This video has subtitles so you can watch it at work without anyone knowing. More »
We have a hunch that your feelings on the iPhone are going to be a big factor in how you vote in this battle. On one hand, there's the mobile carrier who has a monopoly on the iPhone. On the other hand, there's the company that is raking in the money through its iPhone app store monopoly. What's a fanboy to do? More »
It's the face-off of exorbitant fees! In the first round, sports/concert ticket monopoly Ticketmaster thumped NBC. Meanwhile, in a battle of banks, Capital One edged out Chase (I have a feeling it's the annoying "What's in your wallet?" ads). More »
Congratulations to Bank of America, Cash4Gold, Anthem BSBC, GM, Apple, Time Warner Cable, Comcast, AT&T and more for making it to Round 2 of the competition! More »
A bailed-out, bankrupt car company VS one dealing with its first major crisis. The two companies have a long history together... in fact up until recently, they operated a plant in California. Both are unpopular right now... but which one is worse? More »
It's time for these two foes to step into the Red Ring of Death. Will Microsoft's trail of dead Xboxes and too-late knockoffs of iPods and iPhones be enough to get them past Apple, the company that charges you $499 for an oversized iPod Touch and then only lets you use software they approve and sell to you? More »
Here we go, folks. It's DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket monopoly, creepy Chris Farley Ads and draconian enforcement of early termination fees VS well, what can you say about Comcast. They've got issues. More »
It's a media merger throw down! Ticketmaster merged with LiveNation because the thought of being able to buy tickets from more than one company apparently causes a breakdown in the fabric of spacetime. NBC is about to merge with Kabletown, wait, that sounds wrong, Xfinity, wait... Comcast, that's it. More »
It's time for two major cable companies to put the gloves on. In one corner, Time Warner Cable, which has drawn the ire of lawmakers and consumers alike for its love of "consumption based billing," an idea so wildly unpopular that they had to put it on hold before people got the pitchforks and torches out. More »
This week, Ethisphere issued its annual list of the World's Most Ethical Companies, and while there are several recognizable names (Starbucks, Gap, Ford, Nike, American Express), two of the 100 companies listed — Best Buy and Hewlett Packard — also got enough nominations from Consumerist readers to make it into the 2010 Worst Company In America tournament. More »
Now that your NCAA bracket is all messed up from Kansas losing, it's time to move on and fill out your (suitable for printing) 2010 Worst Company in America bracket. More »
When we began polling readers about companies they thought should be on this year's Worst Company in America ballot, we started noticing quite a few nominations for a certain company: No, not AIG, last year's Golden Poo recipient. Not perennial bad boys Bank of America, Comcast or Best Buy. Not even Toyota, this year's wild child. What company earned the opprobrium of voters, and still didn't make the cut? Korean gaming company Nexon, that's who. Nexon? Yeah, we were surprised, too. More »
Bank of America and Comcast are leading the nominations and are on top of the bracket, but it's time to fill out the rest with the companies you most want to see compete with the big boys. That's why this year we're letting 10 nominated companies play to get in. Inside you will find a poll with 10 options. You can choose 3 companies you feel deserve to have one of the final spots in the 2010 Worst Company in America Contest. The 5 companies that have the most votes will enter the tournament. The rest will go home. Choose wisely. More »
Last year it was AIG, before that, Bank of America (Countrywide). Who will take home the golden turd this year? Will it finally be Comcast, the Buffalo Bills of the WCIA contest? Or will Bank of America come back strong after being knocked out by AIG? We won't know unless you tell us who you want in the competition. You pick the companies, you pick the winner. More »
Here is some Countrywide executive customer service info. Even though Bank of America acquired Countrywide, some of this contact info is still valid. Former Countrywide customers who experiencing post-integration account difficulties have reported success using it. More »
You know what, it's just not working out. I'm sorry, giant bank, but it's time for both of us to move on. This Valentine's Day, it's time break up with your big bank, and this website will help snip the ties that bind. More »
How many different ways can you screw a man? Vince couldn't make his Bank of America mortgage, because they fired him after 21 years of service in the due diligence department. Even after he did a short sale 5 months ago, Bank of America still hasn't cleared it off their books. Now the illegal debt collection calls start. Is new CEO Brian Moynihan powerless to stop his own company from shaking down its own employees? Let's find out! More »
—>Not content with just one Worst Company in America victory, AIG is going for back-to-back titles by trying to give out $198 million in bonuses in March. More »
—>We tallied the votes and awarded the coveted Golden Poo trophy to AIG, winners of Worst Company in America 2009. However, we're all about empowering the consumer. If there's a company in your life that you feel deserves a Golden Poo of its own, though not on the epic scale of AIG, ThinkGeek has you covered. Order your own tiny golden poo charm for just such an occasion. Carry a pocketful and award them as needed! Attach one to your cell phone for good luck the next time you call the cable company! The possibilities are endless. [ThinkGeek] (Thanks, Adam!)Edit: ThinkGeek is now sold out. For an wide selection of poo bling, look here.More »
—>This is it, folks. The Final Deathmatch is here. To reach the final round AIG defeated #32 Target, #17 Peanut Corporation of America, #9 Walmart, and #5 Ticketmaster.Comcast had an equally impressive showing, waltzing past formidable opponents such as #30 DirecTV, #14 Capital One, #11 GM, and finally, last year's returning champion #2 Bank of America (Countrywide, Merrill Lynch) went down in an upset last night. More »
—>Last year's champion VS a troubled car company that used your bailout money to buy an ad thanking you for your bailout money? Which one makes you punch the wall with rage? More »
—>Now here is a match-up! One company is trying to avoid bankruptcy in a tough recession, the other struggles with customer service. Which one makes your blood boil? More »
—>An internet auction giant, payment processor and ticket broker? Or a troubled car company that used your bailout money to buy an ad thanking you for your bailout money? Which do you hate more? More »
—> Today is the final day to vote for all your favorites in the Worst Company In America contest, round 1. We will update the bracket with the winners tomorrow and begin round 2. More »
—>An internet auction giant, payment processor and ticket broker? Or the parent company of CNBC, retail store card giant, maker of light bulbs and appliances... No, we don't mean the Sheinhardt Wig Company... More »
—>Do pricey, pretty computers have a dark side? Or will you choose a health care company that insures 70 million individuals nationwide? Who will feel your wrath? More »
—> Your nominations are in and the teams have been seeded, all that's left to do is vote! Without further ado, the Official WCIA Committee would like to present... The 2009 Worst Company In America bracket! More »
—>It's that time of year again, folks. Brackets, Brackets, Brackets. Please help us out by emailing your nominations to us a tips@consumerist.com. Put "WCIA" in your subject or your nomination will not count. Please behave yourselves and nominate one company per email address. Nominated companies should provide goods or services to consumers. Thank you, and may God bless the United States of America. More »
—>TechCrunch has published a damning rumor accusing the social music site Last.fm of helping the RIAA find users who downloaded leaked copies of U2's new album. Relying on a tip, TechCrunch claims that the Last.fm, a subsidiary of CBS, handed over a "giant dump of user data to track down people who are scrobbling unreleased tracks." More »
—>Countrywide either doesn't know, or doesn't care that reader Graham has a fixed rate mortgage, because they keep sending him "notices" that his mortgage is about to "adjust." More »
—>Ticketmaster is an evil monopoly that steals cash from defenseless consumers. They are infinitely more evil than their hated 30% surcharge would suggest, and they must be destroyed. More »
—>Who isn't suing Countrywide lately? Phuong Cat Le from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer says that a group of homeowners are now suing Countrywide, alleging that the lender steered them toward high-risk loans without disclosing the inherent risks. More »
—>Someone ring a bell because Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has just sued Countrywide (and, of course, Bank of America) for deceptive lending practices. They're seeking damages of $100,000 for each violation, as well as "up to $5,000 per violation of state consumer protection laws, disgorgement of all ill-gotten gains and an order compelling the company to cease its illegal practices." More »
—>The FBI has announced that a former Countrywide employee and his accomplice were arrested on charges related to "illegal access of computers containing personal information," and "illegal sale of the data." A criminal complaint filed last Friday alleges that one of the men, Rene L. Rebollo Jr., a senior financial analyst for Countrywide Home Loan's subprime mortgage division (who was let go in July), had been harvesting data from Countrywide's computers for the past two years — downloading and storing the information on personal flash drives. More »
—>Duhn duhn da duhn! Envelope please... yes, America has voted and... the Worst Company in America award goes to.... Countrywide Home Loans (now owned by Bank of America)! The final vote was... More »
—>Well, folks. This one is for all the marbles and a beautiful lucky golden shit statue, suitable for display in the corporate headquarters of either Comcast or Countrywide (now Bank of America). More »
—>The box we teased you about contained a glistening golden poo statue. That's right, the award for Worst Company In America is here. That can mean only one thing... On Monday we host our final deathmatch between Comcast and Countrywide Home Loans. It's going to be a brutal bloodbath full of chills and spills. Only one will walk away champion, and then we will mail them their justly deserved prize. Stay tuned to Consumerist.com for all the hot crappy-company-on-crappy-company action. More »
—>Just a reminder folks, this is what it's all about. This is the prize the contestants in the Worst Company In America contest are vying for: a chance to be a proud owner of the Golden Lucky Shit award! Made from genuine plastic and coated with genuine golden plastic, just like many of the companies' products. Protected from the harsh reality of the floor by a plump cushion, just like many of the companies' executives. Fits in perfectly on the desk next to that clankity ball rack thingy. What's it called? Oh, Newton's cradle. Well, buddy, with the Golden Lucky Shit award, the only gravity you'll be pondering is the weight of the title of Worst Company In America on your back! Good luck to our finalists! More »
—>It's down to the final four worst companies in America, folks. The bracket has been updated and the next round will begin on Monday. Congratulations to the four companies that made it this far. You've really achieved something! Who do you think will win it all? More »
ATTENTION: Bank of America is currently in the process of purchasing Countrywide, but the transaction is not yet complete. For the purposes of this contest we ask that you evaluate their track record with consumers separately. Thank you.More »
The bracket has been updated as we prepare for Round 4 of our Worst Company In America contest. See the full-sized graphic, suitable for framing or forming the basis of informal office betting pools, inside... More »
The bracket has been updated as we prepare for Round 3 of our Worst Company In America contest. See the full-sized graphic, suitable for framing or forming the basis of informal office betting pools, inside... More »
—>You have 24 hours from when this post goes up to get your last votes in for the companies battling in the Tier 2 bracket of our Worst Company In America 2008 contest. There are some close fights in here so if you missed a round, your vote could be the one that makes the difference! More »
This is Round 48 in our Worst Company in America contest, Countrywide vs Clear Channel!Here's what readers said in previous rounds about why they hate these two companies... More »
This is Round 47 in our Worst Company in America contest, Countrywide vs Clear Channel!Here's what readers said in previous rounds about why they hate these two companies... More »
This is Round 45 in our Worst Company in America contest, Bank of America vs Monster Cable!Here's what readers said in previous rounds about why they hate these two companies... More »
This is Round 44 in our Worst Company in America contest, US Air vs Microsoft!Here's what readers said in previous rounds about why they hate these two companies... More »
This is Round 43 in our Worst Company in America contest, Time Warner Cable vs American Airlines!Here's what readers said in previous rounds about why they hate these two companies... More »
This is Round 41 in our Worst Company in America contest, Wal-Mart vs Citibank!Here's what readers said in previous rounds about why they hate these two companies... More »
This is Round 40 in our Worst Company in America contest, Capital One vs AT&T!Here's what readers said in previous rounds about why they hate these two companies... More »
—>This is Round 38 in our Worst Company in America contest, TransUnion vs Diebold!Here's what readers said in previous rounds about why they hate these two companies... More »
—>This is Round 37 in our Worst Company in America contest, Best Buy vs CompUSA!Inside, readers comments from previous rounds on why they hate each company... More »
—>After a furious series of battle, the weaklings have been vanquished and the Round 1 champions in our Worst Company in America 2008 contest advance to the second round. See the full-sized graphic, suitable for framing or forming the basis of informal office betting pools, inside... More »
—>This is Round 36 in our Worst Company in America contest, DeBeers vs Verizon!Inside, readers comments from previous rounds on why they hate each company... More »
—>Grab your popcorn, ladies and gentlemen! We have some eye-opening Worst Company in America news for you. Round 1 is finally over and the results are in: #63 Hallmark/Westland Meatpacking Company has upset #2 News Corp.! More »
—>Tier 1 voting is over (we'll get a nice standings chart up soon). Now it's time for things to get more intense, now we'll have some real competition. This is Round 33 in our Worst Company in America contest, Comcast vs The American Arbitration Association.
—>This is Round 32 in our Worst Company in America contest, News Corp vs Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company, marking the end of tier 1 voting (phew!). Vote which sucks more, inside... More »
This is Round 22 in our Worst Company in America contest, American Airlines vs Blockbuster.American Airlines: canceled 3,300 flights last week to make sure some wires were properly wrapped and tied, disrupting travel plans for hundreds of thousands of travelers. Granted, their lives would have been much more disrupted had any of their planes caught fire, but as this repair was on the FAA top list of things to check for, it should have been part of routine maintenance. That aside, American was the most-complained about of the big airlines for the past year, ranking in the tops for complaints about customer service and overall flight problems.Blockbuster: is a crappy video store dittoed across the face of America. The worst thing about them is that they never have any movies that we like and sometimes they edit controversial movies to make them more mainstream-friendly. And based on reports from our readers, some of their in-store personnel seem to have discs stuck up their bum. More »
—>All promotional CDs are forever the property of Universal Music Group and giving or throwing them away are "unauthorized distributions," according to a brief filed by UMG. In a lawsuit filed in federal court, UMG claims that ownership rights to promotional CDs, typically sent to DJs, reviewers, and others in the music business to generate hype for new releases, are expressly retained by the label. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is taking up the fight against this absurd position in UMG v. Augusto. More »
—>This is Round 21 in our Worst Company in America contest, Time Warner Cable vs Radioshack.
Time Warner Cable: Has been known to employ crackheads (figuratively speaking) as their installation technicians, leading to all sorts of hijinx and complaint letters.
—>This is Round 19 in our Worst Company in America contest, Dell vs Home Depot.
Dell: Formerly the king of direct to customer PC sales, Dell now has a well-deserved reputation for abysmal bad customer service ever since they outsourced their Home and Home Office customer service departments (secret trick: always order from Small Business, it's US based and the reps and techs still know what they're doing). Horror stories of botched warranty repairs abound. Just Google "Dell Hell" and you'll know what the company is so reviled. More »
—>This is Round 17 in our Worst Company in America contest, Wal-Mart vs TJMaxx.
Everyone has their own special reason for hating Wal-Mart. Forcing manufacturers to make shoddier versions of their products is pretty bad. Selling sandals that gave patrons feet chemical burns was pretty bad too. What's yours?
TJMaxx's lax wireless security lead to the theft millions upon millions of customer's debit and credit card numbers being stolen, the greatest bank robbery in the history of the freakin' world. More »
—>This is Round 15 in our Worst Company in America contest, Capital One vs Video Professor.
Capital One's amusing credit card commercials aren't so funny after dealing with their appalling customer service staffed by thugs and gutter snipes. More »
This is round 2 in our Worst Company In America contest, Facebook vs The American Arbitration Association. Their major crimes: The American Arbitration Association is the main supplier of kangaroo courts to companies who want to deprive consumers of most of their rights in the event of a legal dispute. Most contracts you sign with companies these days contain a mandatory arbitration clause. Facebook is a social networking site for yupsters that for a while was spying on all your purchases and selling the data to big big advertisers so they could sell you more ads. Which is the greater threat to our way of life? Choose! More »
This is Round 1 in our Worst Company in America contest, Comcast vs Menu Foods. One company kills pets. Another kills file sharing. Which is the greater crime? The wisdom of the internet will decide.
See the master bracket of all the companies here. More »
—>Your votes are in and we have seeded the initial brackets for Worst Company In America 2008. It's bigger, the companies are badder, and the bloodshed and gore is going to better than ever before. Inside, see the full bracket breakdown. Tomorrow, the first battle begins, Comcast vs Menu Foods! More »
Rumor has it that the RIAA is plotting to steal from anyone who has ever illegally downloaded music a single hour of sleep early Sunday morning. Adjust your clocks accordingly. More »
—>Early leaders in Worst Company in America 2008 preliminary voting round: Comcast 21%, Best Buy 8%, Bank of America 5%, Fox News 5%, Walmart 5%, Countrywide 4%, Verizon 3%, AT&T 3%. Somewhere in our heart is a flicker of hope that dark horse Video Professor will pull into the running (currently with 0% of the vote). Voting for who gets to be seeded in the tournament brackets is still open, cast yours today. More »
—>The poll machine is fixed and it's time to vote on which companies will get to compete in Consumerist's Third Annual Worst Company In America contest. This year, you nominated 121 different companies, a new record. The poll is inside (it may take a few seconds to load). You get one vote. The companies receiving the most votes will get seeded in a tournament-style bracket. Then the clash of the customer service midgets begins! Remember that as this contest goes on you can visit consumerist.com/tag/worst-company-in-america to keep track of all the proceedings. More »
It's time to vote on which companies will get to compete in Consumerist's Third Annual Worst Company In America contest. This year, you nominated 121 different companies, a new record. The poll is inside. You get one vote. The companies receiving the most votes will get seeded in our March Madness-style brackets. Then the clash of the customer service midgets commences! Note: because there's 121 companies, the poll may take some time to load. More »
—>It's time for Consumerist's 3rd Annual Worst Company in America Contest! Last year, RIAA won. Before that, Halliburton took the prize. Who will climb to the top of the nadir this year? More »
RIAA website hacked. Over the weekend, some hacker-types took it upon themselves to delete the RIAA's website. [TorrentFreak] More »
In a move that would mark the end of a digital music era, Sony BMG Music Entertainment is finalizing plans to sell songs without the copyright protection software that has long restricted the use of music downloaded from the Internet, BusinessWeek.com has learned. Sony BMG, a joint venture of Sony (SNE) and Bertelsmann, will make at least part of its collection available without so-called digital rights management, or DRM, software some time in the first quarter, according to people familiar with the matter. More »
Atlantic v. Howell is a bit unusual because the defendants, husband and wife Jeffrey and Pamela Howell, are defending themselves against the recording industry's lawsuit without the benefit of a lawyer. They were sued by the RIAA in August 2006 after an investigator from SafeNet discovered evidence of file-sharing over the KaZaA network. More »
The usual gang of RIAA-funded suspects have introduced a bill that would boost US intellectual property laws and the penalties that go along with them, and allow the U.S. government to seize computers, says Ars Technica.More »
—>Ars Technica says that Walmart has given an ultimatum to "some of the largest record labels, including Warner Music Group and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, to provide more of their respective music catalogs in MP3 format (that is, without DRM) next year." More »
—>Ever wonder why the big labels waste money funding trade groups like the RIAA? EMI, the British record company that was recently taken over by a private equity firm does, and a unnamed source tells Reuters that the new investors are thinking of cutting funding to the RIAA and other, similar trade groups. More »
—>Ars Technica is reporting that there is a provision in a massive new education bill that would punish schools that don't police p2p traffic on their networks by cutting federal financial aid. In addition, the bill requires that schools offer an industry approved alternative to file sharing, such as Napster or Rhapsody. More »
—>The RIAA defendant who lost her jury trial, Jammie Thomas, is telling her side of the story on p2pnet. Of particular interest: She claims that Best Buy made the decision to replace her hard drive, under the terms of her extended warranty, 6 months before she was served with the RIAA's subpoena. More »
Trent: I'll admit I had an account there and frequented it quite often. At the end of the day, what made OiNK a great place was that it was like the world's greatest record store. Pretty much anything you could ever imagine, it was there, and it was there in the format you wanted. If OiNK cost anything, I would certainly have paid, but there isn't the equivalent of that in the retail space right now. iTunes kind of feels like Sam Goody to me. More »
First Radiohead, then NIN and now Madonna is said to be dumping her record label, Warner Music. [Bloomberg] More »
—>More silliness from the RIAA, according to Ars Technica. Jennifer Pariser, the head of litigation for Sony BMG, was called to testify in the case of Capitol Records, et al v. Jammie Thomas. More »
Tanya Andersen, RIAA defendant, has been awarded awarded attorney's fees for her nearly two-and-a-half-year fight against a copyright infringement lawsuit. [Ars Technica] More »
—> You might remember Tanya. She was falsely accused by the RIAA of sharing over 1,000 songs. Rather than admit they had the wrong person, the RIAA lawyers just wouldn't quit. More »
—>MediaDefender, a company that "disrupts" p2p on behalf of record labels and movie studios, suffered an embarrassing leak this weekend when 700MB of internal company emails were distributed on the internet. Oops! More »
—>Remember Tanya Anderson? After the RIAA's case against the 42 year-old single mother for downloading gangsta rap was dismissed with prejudice, Tanya turned around and sued the RIAA for fraud, racketeering, and malicious prosecution. Now, her lawyers have filed papers in federal court asking to grant her suit class action status. From Ars Technica: More »
—>Warner Music Group is losing a lot of money, according to Reuters. The company said in a statement:
"This (revenue) decline was driven by a challenging recorded music industry environment as the shift in consumption patterns from physical sales to new forms of digital music continues," the company said in a statement. "Declines in our physical ... revenue were only partially offset by increases in music publishing and digital recorded music revenue."
So, shoppers, why is that? Crappy music? DRM? Is music too expensive? Do you not enjoy music anymore? Are you broke? Are you buying games for the Wii instead of a CD? Are you a bunch of pirates? Avast. More »
—>Willie wasn't sure why U-Haul told him to park his rental truck in a poorly lit, fenced-off gas station lot that was clearly under construction, but he figured he had the right place when he saw several other U-Haul trucks in a closed pen nearby; Willie parked next to the pen, locked his rental, and got the hell out of there; when Willie told U-Haul he returned their truck as per their instructions, "they try to tell us it is our fault and we would be charged for this....for what? For doing exactly what they said. Exactly." Now U-Haul wants $1,700: More »
—>In the case of Capitol v. Foster, the judge has awarded $68,685.23 in attorneys fees to the defendant, Debbie Foster. According to Recording Industry vs The People, this is the first time attorneys fees have been awarded to an RIAA defendant. More »
—>Wired's Listening Post Blog claims that internet radio has been "saved" (for now, anyway) and that SoundExchange executive director Jon Simson "promised — in front of Congress — that SoundExchange will not enforce the new royalty rates. Webcasters will stay online, as new rates are hammered out." More »
In the fall of 2003, the RIAA filed its first copyright-infringement lawsuits against file sharers. They've since sued more than 20,000 music fans. The RIAA maintains that the lawsuits are meant to spread the word that unauthorized downloading can have consequences. "It isn't being done on a punitive basis," says RIAA CEO Mitch Bainwol. But file-sharing isn't going away — there was a 4.4 percent increase in the number of peer-to-peer users in 2006, with about a billion tracks downloaded illegally per month, according to research group BigChampagne. More »
Ignoring all rationality and responding only to the lobbying of the RIAA, an arbitration committee in Washington DC has drastically increased the licensing fees Internet radio sites must pay to stream songs. Pandora's fees will triple, and are retroactive for eighteen months! Left unchanged by Congress, every day will be like today as internet radio sites start shutting down and the music dies. More »
The RIAA has argued that it would suffer irreparable harm unless immediate discovery was allowed, but Judge Garcia didn't find that argument convincing. "While the Court does not dispute that infringement of a copyright results in harm, it requires a Coleridgian 'suspension of disbelief' to accept that the harm is irreparable, especially when monetary damages can cure any alleged violation," wrote the judge. "On the other hand, the harm related to disclosure of confidential information in a student or faculty member's Internet files can be equally harmful." More »
—>Meet NBC/Universal general counsel Rick Cotton. He told a press conference that,
"Our law enforcement resources are seriously misaligned. If you add up all the various kinds of property crimes in this country, everything from theft, to fraud, to burglary, bank-robbing, all of it, it costs the country $16 billion a year. But intellectual property crime runs to hundreds of billions [of dollars] a year."
Cotton is the Chairman of something called the Coalition Against Counterfieting and Piracy and is "spearheading" a new effort by the MPAA and and the RIAA called, "Campaign to Protect America." More »
—>The RIAA's campaign contributions are hard at work this week as members of Congress threaten to cut off federal funding to educational institutions if they don't stop file sharing on their networks. More »
—>According to Recording Industry vs The People, a new RIAA case in Tampa, Florida has some interesting counterclaims by the consumer, including extortion, conspiracy, and deceptive trade practices.
In the case of UMG v. Del Cid, the defendant has filed the following five (5) counterclaims against the RIAA, under Florida, federal, and California law: More »
—>When you voted the RIAA the worst company in America you gave us an assignment. But how can we improve the customer service of a recording industry trade group? It's not an easy task. Couldn't you have voted for Home Depot? U-Haul? Anyway... More »
Four people, likely students, walked into the back of the room, all holding cardboard signs. One sign had a scythe attached and said, "Don't fear the RIAAper." Another guy had no pants on and had a sign that said, "The RIAA sued the pants off me." Another girl had a sign that said, "Download like it's 1999." And the last girl had some spare change in her hand that was to go to "Metallica's retirement fund."
—>RIAA and Halliburton advance to the final round for a fight to the death. Who will emerge "Worst Company in America 2007?" Only one can survive! It will probably be the RIAA! More »
—>We're down to the Final Four gladiators to determine the Worst Company in America. Or at least, which company this year most offends the netizen's liberal sensibilities More »
—>Here are your 16 finalists for the 2007 Worst Company in America contest. We narrowed down this list based on the results of the preliminary voting round, keeping only the "sweet sixteen." More »
—>Our package from Teacher'sDiscovery.com finally arrived. This was a big deal, as it meant we were finally able to give Halliburton the crowning glory it deserves for winning our month-long "Worst Company in America" competition. More »
—>So... we *might* be on NPR's Marketplace in about 30 minutes, (5pm, EST), talking about the Worst Company in America poll. That's about all we know. These crazy radio guys, they're editing up to like the last second the show goes on. Unlike us crazy blogger guys, who can edit weeks and days after. Tune in on the NPR live stream or check your local listings, both found on the website. More »
—>Ian Chillag for NPR Marketplace's interviewed us this week about the "Worst Company in America" poll. The bit may be broadcasting tonight at 5pm EST. We should know more by 2:30pm. More »
A thought: the companies duking it out in the "Worst Company in America" aren't up there because they have bad customer service or because they fail to deliver the best product at the best price. More »
