Where to start?

Once the world's largest bank, Citigroup has been linked to many of the decade's biggest financial scandals, hit with some of the greatest government fines and held responsible for one of the largest corporate financial losses in history: $27.7 billion in 2008 alone.

Is it any wonder the lender is having a little trouble keeping its customers satisfied?

Making its inaugural appearance in our Customer Service Hall of Shame this year, Citigroup (C) received "poor" marks in the MSN Money-Zogby International poll from 28.4% of those familiar with its service. That was enough to squeeze into the "top" 10, edging out Wachovia, Cox Communications and Dish Network (DISH) by less than a percentage point.

Citigroup representatives declined an interview.

The company, formed by the 1998 merger of the insurance giant Travelers Group and Citicorp, the nation's largest bank at the time, has a history of aggressive lending practices and was highly active in the sale of mortgage-backed securities.

In a 2002 settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, Citigroup was forced to pay $215 million to borrowers of its high-interest home loans. In a 2004 settlement with the Federal Reserve, it was ordered to pay $70 million for abusive lending practices to low-income borrowers.

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The target of myriad other investigations into its business practices by regulators around the globe, Citigroup has been called the bank that everyone loves to hate. Now it's the bank that everyone has to own.

Through a conversion of shares issued as part of the Troubled Assets Relief Program, the U.S. government took possession of 36% of the bank's shares. The move followed two previous cash bailouts totaling $45 billion. American taxpayers are now the bank's largest shareholder.

Citigroup did send a written statement to MSN Money, saying the company was "firmly committed to providing an exceptional customer experience" and continuing to help customers with "focused initiatives," including:

• Online articles containing consumer financial tips.

• Debt consolidation, temporary forbearance, workouts, settlements, rate reductions and other programs for eligible customers.

• Telephone advice through the "Help With My Credit" program.

• Homeowner assistance programs.

In the MSN Money-Zogby survey, 31.3% of those familiar with the company's customer service rated it "fair," 31.0% "good" and 9.3% "excellent."

Citigroup's chief, Vikram Pandit, received a CEO compensation package of $38.2 million, one of the highest for a U.S. company. The company showed a 73% loss over its 2007 earnings, with total sales of $106.65 billion in 2008.

Continued: Bank of America adapting to change?

Bank of America (BAC) has had quite a year. It acquired Countrywide Financial, bought Merrill Lynch, lost two-thirds of its stock value along with its chairman and accepted two taxpayer bailouts worth $45 billion.

Meanwhile, many of its customers are wondering, "What are you doing for me?"

Not enough, apparently. For the third year running, Bank of America has earned a spot in MSN Money's Customer Service Hall of Shame. In this year's MSN Money-Zogby International poll, 28.5% of respondents familiar with its customer service called it "poor."

"I'm the customer, in good and long standing, but I view them as the enemy," MSN Money reader "pdxjeff" wrote on a message board after last year's listing. "Once they tack on a fee, it takes an act of Congress to change it, even if they made the mistake. . . . B of A has lost touch with the ordinary middle-class customer."

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Not so, says Bank of America. It maintains it is paying attention to the needs of all its customers. As evidence, it points to programs adopted in the past year that are tailored to today's needs.

"What we hear most often, especially in these challenging times, is that customers want help to save more and to confidently manage their finances," spokesman Jim Pierpoint said. In response, the company is now doing the following for customers who have lost their jobs:

• Waiving monthly maintenance fees for customers who have lost their jobs.

• Reviewing whether overdraft fees can be waived or refunded.

• Working with customers one on one to bring their accounts into balance.

• Encouraging customers to use online services to better manage their accounts and to alert them on possible overcharges.

• Reaching out to customers in online social spaces, such as Twitter, to help them resolve issues.

"That's a direct response to what we're hearing from our customers to help them manage in a difficult time," Pierpoint said. "We do notice a difference with customers."

In the MSN Money-Zogby survey, 23.9% of those familiar with the company's customer service rated it "fair," 35.8% "good" and 11.8% "excellent."

Bank of America is the largest provider of consumer and small-business banking in the country, with 6,100 brick-and-mortar centers and 18,700 ATMs. The company has reported $85.98 billion in revenue for the past 12 months and $4.35 billion in net income.

Continued: Abercrombie & Fitch too cool to help shoppers?

The cool kids at Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) are getting failing grades from the clothing retailer's customers.

Company representatives would not comment for this article, but to some analysts and customers, it appears the company works at being the bad boy of retail. Aloof store clerks -- a primary source of customer complaints -- may well be part of the company's branding strategy.

An MSN Money reader may have explained it best in a post after our 2008 customer-service survey. "Commenting123" relayed a university marketing class discussion about the blasé attitude of Abercrombie & Fitch's young store clerks:

"They are told, 'You are the cool kids. People are shopping here because they want to be like you.' They are encouraged to be aloof and unhelpful for the most part to encourage the idea that they are better than you. And that promotes the idea that maybe if you buy their clothes and fit their image, you can hope to be better than others too."

In this year's MSN Money-Zogby International poll, 31.4% of respondents familiar with the company's customer service rated it "poor."

That's an improvement over 2008, when 38% checked "poor," landing it at No. 4. But it still puts the apparel retailer, known for its racy ads and high prices, well ahead of other stores when it comes to bad service.

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Only one other apparel chain -- T.J. Maxx at No. 51 -- cracked the top half of the 145-company survey, and only two of the 29 other retailers surveyed, including big-box stores, made the top third: Kmart at No. 26 and Wal-Mart at No. 32.

In a 2006 interview with Salon, Abercrombie CEO Mike Jeffries conceded that he used sexual attraction to create an "emotional experience" and hires "good-looking people . . . to market to cool, good-looking people."

"Candidly, we go after the cool kids," Jeffries said. "A lot of people don't belong (in our clothes), and they can't belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely."

The strategy didn't seem to hurt, and profits soared. But in a recession, value apparently trumps exclusivity. As the company refuses to slash prices, it has reported a drop of about 30% in sales at existing stores this year and is laying off workers at its Ohio headquarters.

In the MSN Money-Zogby survey, 26.5% of those familiar with the company's customer service rated it "fair," 32.3% "good" and 9.8% "excellent."

Continued: Qwest is tackling gripes online

Customers have more outlets than ever for their complaints: Blogs, Facebook and Twitter are just a few of the places to broadcast a gripe.

And Qwest Communications International (Q), once again a member of MSN Money's Customer Service Hall of Shame, is trying to meet those complaints where they happen.

Qwest has devised a social-media program to serve customers via the blogosphere. At Talk to Qwest, eight employees are dedicated to responding to Twitter posts and forums that mention Qwest service problems.

In one example, a customer posted to his 1,200 Twitter followers that he was "being a responsible citizen: I'm filing a complaint to the Better Business Bureau about Qwest Communications, calling a BOYCOTT!"

Less than two hours later, after a note from Qwest and some off-Twitter chat, the same Twitterer posted a "Thanks to Steph@TalkToQwest!" note with 140 characters of kudos.

It's obviously not the only way to serve, but "it gets to this tech-savvy group of customers who probably prefer to be helped like this," Qwest spokeswoman Margaret Fogarty said. "Plus, Steph took him from talking a boycott to thanking the Qwest team."

In this year's MSN Money-Zogby International poll, 31.6% of respondents familiar with Qwest's customer service rated it "poor," putting it in the No. 7 spot in the Customer Service Hall of Shame.

That's a slight bump in the right direction (though within the poll's error margin) for the ever-expanding telecommunications provider. Last year Qwest was at No. 5, with 34% calling it poor.

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That poll, and subsequent reader comments, "was information that we took seriously, that we needed to respond to," said Al Roberts, Qwest's senior vice president of sales and service. "It gave us insights into a community that we had not been sampling consistently."

Qwest provides traditional telephone service to 7.5 million homes in the West and Midwest. As more people go cellular only, Qwest now considers its Internet service its anchor business.

Readers posting in MSN Money message boards after last year's survey complained about errors in orders, slow responses to problems, technical disruptions and bill confusion.

As part of its response, Qwest said it recently had:

• Restructured its call routing so that callers reach a center in their region.

• Simplified its automated telephone system to help callers go straight to a representative who can resolve issues.

• Dropped its wireless phone partnership with Sprint Nextel (S) in favor of Verizon Communications (VZ). (Qwest also partners with DirecTV Group (DTV).)

In the MSN Money-Zogby survey, 25% of those familiar with the company's customer service rated it "fair," 33.4% "good" and 9.9% "excellent."

Qwest, which offers single-bill, bundled communications packages, had sales of $13.25 billion and net income of $737 million over the past 12 months.

Continued: HSBC is candid but not well-liked

HSBC (HBC) warns its credit card customers, in boldface type, before they sign: "We have the right to change your APRs, fees and other terms at any time, for any reason . . ."

Apparently that doesn't make cardholders dislike the company any less.

In this year's MSN Money-Zogby International poll, 31.8% of respondents familiar with HSBC's customer service rated it "poor," winning the banking giant a return spot in the Customer Service Hall of Shame.

Company representatives declined to comment.

MSN Money readers sure haven't. They had plenty to say after the company's ranking last year.

"I bought a motorcycle with a loan that I thought was being carried by the dealer. Nightmare began when I discovered it was being handled by HSBC," wrote a reader posting as "Lboan."

Lboan said he paid early but got charged for being late.

"HSBC was kind enough to give me a credit card when no one else would. Now the catch: They have added several 'perks' just for me!" wrote another, "Melbelly70."

Those perks included a jacked-up interest rate and numerous calls to home and work after one payment was one day late.

HSBC, a global banking giant based in London, gave some legitimacy to the practice of subprime lending in the U.S., particularly in the mortgage market, when in 2003 it bought Household International, then the largest subprime mortgage lender in the country.

Now, as more high-risk borrowers default, HSBC is losing billions of dollars in the American market. Parent HSBC Holdings, the largest bank in Europe, has not taken government bailout money but announced that it will stop issuing subprime home loans in the U.S.

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The company will continue to operate its banking and credit card operations here. HSBC issues cards directly and backs the in-store cards of dozens of retailers, including Best Buy (BBY), Costco Wholesale (COST), OfficeMax (OMX), Neiman Marcus and Saks (SKS).

In the past 12 months, HSBC Holdings reported $91.3 billion in revenue and profit of $5.5 billion.

In the MSN Money-Zogby survey, 24.2% of those familiar with the company's customer service rated it "fair," 34.7% "good" and 9.3% "excellent."

Continued: Time Warner Cable's image slow to change

Time Warner Cable's (TWC) image has staying power -- at least when it comes to poor service.

One of four companies to make MSN Money's Customer Service Hall of Shame for the third year in a row, the telecommunications giant inched back up in the ranks this year to No. 5. In this year's MSN Money-Zogby International poll, 32% of respondents familiar with Time Warner Cable's customer service rated it "poor." Last year 31% did so, putting it at No. 9. (The change was within the poll's margin of error, however.)

"We strive to not be on a survey like this," said Alex Dudley, the company's vice president of public relations. "We strive to make every transaction as easy as possible for our customers."

Time Warner Cable is the nation's second-largest cable television operator, providing some combination of television, Internet and telephone service to 14.6 million homes and businesses. It has added subscribers this year, thanks to an industry that's proving to be somewhat immune to the recession.

"For the overwhelming majority of our customers, the service works great, and they enjoy it, and if they do have to call us they don't have a problem," Dudley said.

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In the MSN Money-Zogby survey, 28.6% of those familiar with the company's customer service rated it "fair," 26.6% "good" and 12.8% "excellent."

MSN Money readers, responding on message boards to last year's survey, complained about equipment disruptions and long wait times for repairs or installation.

In general, Dudley said, telecommunications companies face a tough task, which is why they routinely top such surveys. People don't like it when their lifelines to work or play is interrupted.

"There is no silver bullet that we can point to and say that once we do this, everything will be better. This is more about making the incremental steps to allow the customer service representatives to better serve our customers," Dudley said.

He said that means making sure:

• Installation is done properly.

• Maintenance is up to date.

• Customers are given ways to answer basic questions before calling.

• Information about outages gets disseminated quickly.

"We are focused on all of those things, and certainly we appreciate that some customers end up getting frustrated," Dudley said. "When you deal with as many customers as we do, that's inevitable. That doesn't make it acceptable."

Time Warner Cable reported sales of $17.4 billion in the previous year, an increase of 7.8%. It had a net loss of $7.42 billion, due in part to its split from parent Time Warner.

Continued: Capital One blames the economy

To all its credit card customers who experienced unexplained rate increases recently, Capital One (COF) had this to say: The economy made us do it.

"We've had to make account changes in light of the worsening economy to manage risk and allow us to continue lending during the downturn," spokeswoman Pam Girardo explained in an e-mail, adding that the company has strived to be transparent. "We hope our customers will stay with us."

Many might not. Capital One beat out every other major card company for poor service, landing fourth in MSN Money's Customer Service Hall of Shame. In this year's MSN Money-Zogby International poll, 34.7% of people familiar with the company's service called it "poor."

Capital One, known for its "What's in your wallet?" advertising campaign, is hardly alone in raising rates in an effort to compensate for today's high default rates.

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But when customers consider renewing, they may first ask the company, "What's in your service center?"

MSN Money readers who posted comments after Capital One made our list last year described spending months, or even years, trying to get inaccurate charges removed and becoming increasingly frustrated with agents in foreign call centers seemingly unable to help.

"Their customer service is so poor, it's practically non-existent," MSN reader "OldPhoneGal" wrote.

Capital One's Girardo said the company has taken steps to cut down the hassle and speed up service. She said it has:

• Installed a phone system that allows callers to reach a live agent from anywhere in the automated menu by pressing zero.

• Added agents and adopted technology that gives those agents access to the customer's information.

• Adjusted the system to ensure that a closed account does not reopen if a charge is made.

• Made available customer-designed e-mail alerts, longer online statement histories and Web features for delinquent customers.

• Trained agents to be empathetic with customers who are in financial distress.

"We sincerely apologize to the customers we've disappointed," Girardo said. "Improving customer service is a priority at Capital One."

In the MSN Money-Zogby survey, 28.4% of those familiar with the company's customer service rated it "fair," 28.3% "good" and 8.6% "excellent."

Capital One is the fourth-largest card issuer in the country, with 45 million customer accounts. For the past 12 months, it has reported $10.9 billion in sales and a net loss of $731.9 million.

Continued: Sprint Nextel is getting better

It takes time to beat back the stigma of poor service, but Sprint Nextel (S) says it is really, really trying and, yes, making progress.

In this year's MSN Money-Zogby International poll, 40.5% of respondents familiar with the company's customer service rated it "poor."

That figure is little changed from the previous two years -- 40% in 2007 and 39% in 2008 -- and the difference is well within the poll's margin of error. But the wireless company at least no longer leads the field by a gaping 10 percentage points, as it did in 2007.

It was late that year that Sprint brought on a new chief service officer, along with a new CEO, to revamp service.

"I start off every one of (CEO) Dan Hesse's weekly operations reviews," said Bob Johnson, that chief service officer. "Dan Hesse is really prioritizing the customer-service experience."

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Sprint once drew fire for urging agents to hustle through calls and push new contracts. Now an agent is offered rewards based on two measurements: the agent's ability to resolve a customer's issue, regardless of how long it takes, and the customer's overall satisfaction.

The results are trickling in. The company said:

• The average number of times a customer calls a service representative has dropped from eight times a year, twice the industry norm, to 4.5. (This has allowed the company to shut down 17 vendor call centers.)

• Of the 200,000 customers the company surveys each month, those who reported being "very satisfied" with their most recent service experience rose from 46.5% to 64.8% over the previous year. The number who said they were "very dissatisfied" dropped from 15.9% to 8.7%, Sprint said.

"We are confident that we are doing the right things regarding customer service, and we have been doing that for a year and a half now," said Johnson, who is on a three-year plan. "The biggest challenge we face is that perception lags reality. So that's why I've got to keep this sustained cadence of improvement."

In the MSN Money-Zogby survey, 27.2% of those familiar with the company's customer service rated it "fair," 22.2% "good" and 10.2% "excellent."

Sprint, which provides wireless service to 49 million customers, had sales of $35.6 billion during the past 12 months and a net loss of $2.8 billion that Johnson attributed to layoffs and service cuts.

Continued: Comcast getting back to basics

Comcast (CMCSA) is still making money, even in the recession, and still making its customers unhappy.

For the second straight year, the telecommunications giant came in at No. 2 in the Customer Service Hall of Shame, edging out third-place Sprint Nextel (S) by less than a percentage point in the MSN Money-Zogby International poll. Of the people familiar with Comcast's customer service, 41.3% called it "poor." Last year, 42% said it was poor.

"I'm not happy about it," said Rick Germano, Comcast's senior vice president of customer operations. "We're definitely committed to improving the customer experience."

Comcast provides some combination of Internet, telephone or cable service to 50.6 million American homes.

After five years of marked growth, the company attributed much of its customer dissatisfaction last year to growing pains. It pointed to plans to boost its call-center staff 30%, invest in training and upgrade diagnostic equipment.

Germano said the company has done all that and more.

"The other piece of this is customers are real people, (and) they have long memories," he said. "As much as they love our products, they want us to earn their trust."

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Speaking with customers over the past year, Germano said he was reminded of just how often the frustration can be traced back to technical problems. As a result, Comcast has been striving to correct underlying physical issues and to improve technicians' ability to resolve issues quickly. The moves are paying off, Germano said. Comcast has, he said:

• Reduced the number of calls from customers reporting a problem by 10%.

• Decreased the need for a repeat visit from a technician by 25%.

"We are definitely seeing improvement," Germano said. "It's going to take a while for customers to actually believe it."

In the MSN Money-Zogby survey, 28.1% of those who had experience with Comcast's customer service rated it "fair," 20.7% "good" and 9.8% "excellent."

Enter, too, social media. Comcast has agents using Twitter, as well nearly a dozen workers who spend their days scanning the blogosphere for reports of problems. "If they see a post, they'll say, 'I'm from Comcast. Can I help?'" spokeswoman Jenni Moyer said.

Despite the recession, business is good for the cable and Internet industry. Comcast reported $34.7 billion in sales in the past year and profit of $2.59 billion, a growth of 10% and 5.5%, respectively, from the year before.

Continued: Is AOL getting the message?

Through its many business incarnations, AOL has held on to this constant: a reputation for poor customer service.

The online provider landed in the No. 1 spot in MSN Money's Customer Service Hall of Shame for the second year in a row (AOL wasn't in the first survey, in 2007). In this year's MSN Money-Zogby International poll, 44.8% of those familiar with AOL's customer service called it "poor."

That was a mere 2-percentage-point drop over last year, indicating that customers are still being treated badly or don't easily forget.

"We value our customers extremely highly, and we work day in and day out to improve customer satisfaction," said Todd Waletzki, the company's senior vice president of access.

In the early days of the Internet, AOL reigned, supplying dial-up service to 30 million customers. As high-speed cable became king, the company repositioned itself. It now offers ad-supported content and services, including AIM, MapQuest, Moviefone and a growing suite of news and entertainment sites.

Meanwhile, AOL continues to serve a steadily dwindling number of dial-up customers: 6.3 million as of March, a drop of 2.4 million from a year earlier.

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Many readers responding on MSN Money's message boards to last year's Hall of Shame recalled the trouble they'd had unsubscribing from AOL's Internet service. Others complained about spam, unwanted automatic software uploads and curt or hard-to-understand customer-care representatives.

AOL's Waletzki wouldn't speak to those issues but said he could respond to internal company surveys, which include dates and details of calls. He said those internal surveys reveal that customers are becoming more satisfied with AOL's overall and technical support.

"Our paying customers, in general, are staying with us longer," Waletzki said. "Those who choose to leave a paying relationship continue to use AOL services."

Two-thirds of customer-service transactions now take place online, Waletzki said. As a result, AOL has consolidated its call centers and expanded its technical training. Customers can unsubscribe online and are still told about AOL's free offerings.

Waletzki also pointed to a March survey from Forrester Research, an independent company, in which AOL was rated the top Internet service provider for overall customer experience.

In the MSN Money-Zogby survey, 25.3% of those who had experience with AOL's customer service rated it "fair," 21.1% "good" and 8.8% "excellent."

AOL, a subsidiary of Time Warner (TWX), reported revenue of $4.2 billion in 2008 and losses of $1.1 billion. Time Warner, which has lost billions in shareholder revenue since the two companies merged in 2001, is spinning off AOL this year.

Now read about the 10 best companies that treat you right