Although consumer ratings don't show up on any balance sheet, sooner or later customer satisfaction will decide the fate of a company.

At one extreme, Apple claims ranks of rabidly devoted customers, as reflected in a high score on the American Customer Satisfaction Index.

At the other extreme, the mere mention of companies like Time Warner and Bank of America inspires anger in many current and former customers -- and these are among the lowest rated companies.

ACSI rates companies based on thousands of consumer satisfaction surveys.

Companies that compete at the retail level tend to have higher ratings. "In industries, like the food or clothing sector, the competition is huge," ACSI's David VanAmburg told us. "They bend over backwards to make customers happy, because they have to."