Consumers think banks and hospitals do a good job by them. Tobacco companies, HMOs, oil and health insurance companies don’t. That’s the bottom line from a new Harris Interactive poll that asks
Americans how well they think different industries are serving their consumers. The results are substantially different from last year. For the previous five years, computer software and hardware
companies received the highest ratings from the public. In this year's survey, they have slipped to fifth and sixth place respectively, behind banks, hospitals, car manufacturers and airlines. Banks
now head the list of thirteen industries in that they earn the highest percentage (74%) for doing a good job of serving their consumers. Hospitals moved up to second on the list at 73%, virtually
unchanged from their 71% rating last year. Car manufacturers are now in third position with 64%, a small and statistically insignificant drop from 67% last year. The biggest changes are the decline
for computer software and hardware companies (20% and 19%, respectively). The only other significant decline is a 5% drop, from 60% to 55% for the life insurance industry.
