There's a difference between Bank of America and UPS that won't show up on their balance sheets. Customers hate Bank of America, repelled by excessive fees, impenetrable call centers, and foreclosure horror stories. But they love UPS.

The American Customer Satisfaction Index rates companies based on thousands of surveys. In the latest index, the most-hated companies include large banks, airlines, power and telecom companies.

"These are not terribly competitive industries, as the switching barriers for most of them are quite high," ACSI's David VanAmburg told us. "In other industries, like the food or clothing sector, the competition is huge. They bend over backwards to make customers happy, because they have to."

Please use a JavaScript-enabled device to view this slideshow

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.

Gus Lubin is a senior editor at Business Insider.