Proxyrack - September 28, 2023
Most Criticized Brands
Owning a global business is a dream many entrepreneurs share. And the idea of your company being so big that people access it through a residential proxy is hard to comprehend for small business owners. However, as many industry-leading businesses and brands have learned, the bigger your business, the more criticism you will receive.
Whether it’s your products, customer service, or policies, customers will complain if they find part of your business unsatisfactory. And the rise of sites like TripAdvisor, Yelp, and Trustpilot has given customers a platform to do this.
That’s why we wanted to reveal the most criticized brands. We’ve used Trustpilot to look into reviews and ratings and BuzzSumo to find the article sentiment to reveal the world’s most criticized tech brands.
DoorDash is the most criticized brand, with a score of 9.61/10
To reveal the most criticized brands, we’ve looked at the Trustpilot ratings and reviews for some of the world’s biggest brands. We’ve combined this with article sentiment using Buzzsumo to create an overall criticism score.
1. DoorDash - 9.61 criticism score
Taking the top spot as the most criticized brand is DoorDash, with a score of 9.61 out of 10. DoorDash delivers food and groceries from a wide range of restaurants and stores, and they are one of the biggest online food ordering companies in the United States. One of the biggest criticisms the delivery platform received was regarding its tipping policy, which meant the gratuity would go to DoorDash rather than the dasher. However, after national criticism, this was changed in 2019.
2. Airbnb - 8.56 criticism score
Airbnb takes second place with a criticism score of 8.56 out of 10. Airbnb is a platform for short and long-term stays, where customers can rent accommodation or sublet their apartments. Airbnb has been criticized for its terms of service, which is more than 55,000 words long. It’s also received criticism for its effect on the housing market, with landlords keeping their properties off the rental market to instead list on Airbnb.
3. Dell Technologies - 8.44 criticism score
Our top three is completed by Dell Technologies, with a criticism score of 8.44 out of 10. Dell Technologies manufactures various electrical products, including computers, monitors, and televisions. They also create servers, computer software, and security. Dell had one of the lowest ratings on Trustpilot, with customers using this platform to criticize their products and customer service.
Electronic Arts is the worst-rated tech brand, with a rating of 1.1 out of 5
Customer service and poor-quality products are among the many reasons a consumer may not think very highly of a brand. To find out the brands that aren’t thought of very highly by their customers, we turned to Trustpilot and took each company’s rating out of five to reveal the worst-rated brands.
1. Electronic Arts - 1.1 Trustpilot rating
Electronic Arts is one of the biggest video game companies in the world, whose portfolio includes the likes of Battlefield, FIFA (soon to be EA FC), Madden, NBA 2k, and Need for Speed. Electronic arts have received criticism for several reasons, and in fact, have a Wikipedia page dedicated to this, which includes criticism of its treatment of employees, game quality, exclusivity, and sports licensing. All contribute to why this company takes the top spot, with a rating of 1.1 out of five.
Hate, awful, and terrible were found in 15% of Salesforce’s reviews, more than any other company.
When criticizing a company, customers use the words hate, awful, and terrible, amongst other words. We’ve looked into Trustpilot reviews to find the percentage that contained these three words. Here’s what we found.
1. Salesforce - 14.63% of reviews contained the words hate, awful, and terrible
Taking the top spot is Salesforce, with almost 15% of reviews containing the words hate, awful, and terrible. Salesforce is a cloud-based software company specializing in customer relationship management, e-commerce, and marketing automation. On Trustpilot, the San Francisco-headquartered company has received criticism for its user difficulties.
2. Samsung - 14.54% of reviews contained the words hate, awful, and terrible
With 14.5% of reviews containing hate, awful, and terrible, Samsung takes second place. Samsung manufactures electronic devices, with smartwatches, earphones, and mobile phones among the various products. Amidst the negative reviews were criticisms of Samsung’s repair policies, product quality, and longevity.
3. Panasonic - 13.68% of reviews contained the words hate, awful, and terrible
Panasonic completes our top three, with 13.68% of reviews containing the words hate, awful, and terrible. Panasonic produces several electronic and household appliances, including televisions, microwaves, and hair dryers. Panasonic doesn’t have the highest total reviews, but the negative reviews on Trustpilot mainly consist of criticisms regarding their customer service.
18% of reactions to articles about DoorDash are angry, the highest percentage of any other company
It’s not just customers who can express their dislike towards a brand or company. To find out the general sentiment of a brand, we used Buzzsumo to find out the percentage of angry reactions articles about the company received.
1. DoorDash - 18% angry article reactions
DoorDash takes the top spot again, with one in every five reactions being angry to an article about the company. In 2023, DoorDash was accused of inflating prices and fees for iPhone users compared to Android users. User testing has claimed to confirm this. However, these allegations have been rejected by DoorDash.
2. TurboTax - 16% angry article reactions
In second place is TurboTax, which receives angry reactions to articles about them 16% of the time. TurboTax is a tax preparation software company that assists you with taxes. In 2022, the Federal Trade Commission sued the company for false advertising, which could explain the article sentiment it has received.
3. Uber - 15% angry article reactions
Completing our top three is Uber, with 15% of all article reactions being angry. Uber is a delivery service providing taxis, food deliveries, and freight transport. In 2022, over 124,000 documents from 2012-2017 were leaked, detailing plans to lobby politicians in the United States and France. In 2017, Uber also received criticism for its privacy policy, which tracked the customer’s locations even after a ride had ended.
Methodology
We started with a seeding list of 100 companies using a list from Brand Directory.
We then used Trustpilot to find the overall rating for each company and the total number of reviews.
We then removed any companies that didn’t show up on Trustpilot and any companies with less than 100 reviews.
Using Trustpilot, we then analyzed reviews to find the number of reviews that contained the following words: hate, awful, and terrible.
We then used this to determine the percentage of reviews containing the words hate, awful, and terrible. When calculating the percentage, we assumed one negative keyword per review.
We also used BuzzSumo to find the percentage of angry article reactions.
We then put this data into a weighted table, normalizing each factor with a score out of 10. We then took an average of these scores to create our overall criticism score.
