DODO has been voted the worst brand of the year by customers angry at the internet provider's slow speeds and service delays.

Ratings on consumer website Product Review have revealed the best and worst brands of 2012 with Nestle voted second worst and washer and-dryer-maker Simpson coming in third.

Product Review marketing manager Samuel Williamson said bad customer service and poor quality products were the most common complaints.

"With Dodo it was things like waiting weeks for internet set-up, slow internet once it finally was set up," Mr Williamson said.

"Also misleading things like getting a free modem, which arrives and you find out you have to pay for delivery."

Dodo CEO Larry Kestelman said he was "absolutely gutted" by the rating but the feedback from Dodo's overall client base was mostly positive.

"It is quite obvious there are some customers that are not satisfied," Mr Kestelman said.

"All I can say is Dodo attracts a lot of first-time users of the internet and we do our best to get customers up and running in a timely matter."

Mr Kestelman said he can't wait for the NBN to be rolled out because it will fix issues with the copper wire network that are beyond the internet provider's control.

"Everything that we do - apart from this [Product Review] website - the feedback about Dodo is like night and day from what it was seven years ago," he said.

media_camera Nestle's NAN H.A. 1 Gold baby formula received a high number of complaints this year. Picture: Nestle

Meanwhile Mr Williamson said Nestle's brand was "tarnished" by a baby formula that hundreds of parents claimed was making their child sick.

Both Simspon and home appliance maker Whirlpool, which ranked fourth worst, were dogged by complaints over quality.

"With things like that if you buy a washing machine it's a big ticket item, and if it doesn't perform as you'd expect you get pretty angry," Mr Williamson said.

The fifth worst rated was Australia Post, which was hit by complaints over lost items and bad customer service.

"It would be things like people calling up and the phones were always busy, or automatic email responses saying they were dealing with a high volume," he said.

An Australia Post spokeswoman said: "With 10 million Australians now shopping online, our parcel business is seeing record volumes of growth and we are working on ways to make it easier for customers to send and receive their parcels.

"Australia Post takes our customer feedback seriously and we encourage customers to contact us directly on 13 13 18."

media_camera Australia Post was taken to task by customers over lost mail and poor service. Picture: Darren England

On the other hand, Mr Williamson said the top-rated products scored highly because they were all well designed, good quality and were easy to use.

Apple was rated first, followed by pram maker Steelcraft, vacuum maker Dyson, and home appliance makers DeLonghi and Breville.

The ratings were calculated by looking at the average star rating on reviews for brands that had received more than 100 responses in 2012.

Originally published as Which brand has been rated worst of the year?