Worst Company of 2009: Telefonica Movistar

March 16th, 2010

Telefonica Movistar has been voted the worst company of 2009 by consumers. 34% of participants in a survey by Facua Consumers in Action voted for the multinational telecommunications company, primarily for their “high fees, abuse and mistreatment of customer complaints.”

In second place, with 23% of the vote, was the airline of President of the CEOE (the Spanish Confederation of Employers’ Organizations), Gerardo Díaz Ferrán’s Air Comet. The dubious honour of runner-up was related to the financial breakdown of the airline that caused the closure of the company last Christmas. Air Comet’s woes meant that thousands of passengers were stranded after the airline lost its license to fly due to their inability to cope with mounting debts.

The survey, which was conducted on the consumer organisation’s website between the 23rd of February and the 15th of March this year, resulted in nearly 15,000 people choosing from amongst the five companies nominated for the ‘honour’ of being the worst company of the year – Telefonica Movistar, Air Comet , Orange, Vodafone and Ryanair were all up for the golden turkey.

These companies had been selected by Facua from over a hundred companies proposed by consumers “for having carried out irresponsible actions and unfair or deceptive methods for their own gain, at the expense of infringing on consumer rights.” Consumers voted to decide which company had the worst business practice and also what was the worst advertising campaign of the year.

Telesales and spam via mobile or fixed line phones, with 26% of the votes, was considered the most hated business practice by voters in the last twelve months, as “companies who engage in it, repeatedly called at the most inopportune moments to try and sell services” while “ignoring the requests of consumers to not call again.” A close second place, with 25% of the vote, was the practice of charging for services that dealt with user enquiries or complaints.

In the advertising section, the winner’s campaign went with the tagline “If you’re legal, you are legal”, and was won by the Ministry of Culture with 45% of the vote. The ad campaign attempted to equate illegal access to cultural works, for example via P2P networks, to be like running over a newborn child, scratching a parked car or kicking over bins. The ads voted in second were those of Actimel, who garnered 22% of the vote.

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