American Monetary Association247WallStreet.com recently released a list of the 15 most hated companies in America for 2010. The ratings were based on factors like employee opinions, negative press, consumer watchdog coverage, shareholder returns and even a mysterious algorithm that combed more than 12,000 websites in search of a certain negative words. This is the boring stuff because, other than a cursory glance, we don’t really care how they arrived at the entries on the list. Let’s get to the good stuff, which is, exactly what companies does America hate?

In no particular order:

1. American Airlines – This airline managed to combine terrible customer service with an abysmal departure record. Toss in the fact that only 36% of American employees like the CEO and you’ve got a hate gold mine.

2. Nokia – The world’s largest cellular telephone company is apparently peddling crap, at least that’s the verdict of America. The worst rating from JD Power and third most negative mentions on Twitter. Way to go Nokia!

3. Toyota – Due to the apparent inclusion of a seek and destroy module, this formerly well thought of car maker had to recall almost 9 million cars.

4. Best Buy – With a brick and mortar store ranked third worst and online store ranked worst, it’s little surprise that this electronics box store is taking a beating on Wall Street. Shares were down more than 10% last year.

5. Charter Communications – Holder of the lowest score in the 2010 American Consumer Satisfaction Index, Charter has long surpassed low expectations with rotten customer service and suspect billing practices. Since filing for bankruptcy in 2009, investors hate them too.

6. Citigroup – Let’s see, Citigroup was known in 2010 for using the recession as an excuse to fire women, taking massive bailout money, and now low consumer satisfaction scores, even when compared to other banks. Maybe this year they can start killing kittens and puppies as well.

7. AT&T – Received unanimous “poor” ratings in all service categories except texting by Consumer Reports, the only company in its industry to hold that distinction. Oh yeah, and their 3G service sucks.

8. Bank of America – High fees, bailout money and mortgage robo-signers were only a few of the reasons B of A has generated so much hate so quickly. They’re also the worst bank in a recent Zogby customer satisfaction poll.

9. Dell – Dell loves to sell defective computers. What more needs to be said?

We thought our constitution at AMA was quite strong but the this list is starting to make us feel ill in the stomach. Here are the last six companies quickly: Dish Network, Johnson & Johnson, McDonalds, United Airlines, British Petroleum, DirecTV. There, now you know whom to hate.

The American Monetary Association Team

AmericanMonetaryAssociation.org

Flickr / Keo 101