According to trend data from Harris Interactive, ratings of pharmaceutical companies’ customer service have been on a decline since 1997. The percentage of Americans who say that pharmaceutical companies do a “good job” of serving their consumers has steadily decreased from a high of 79% in 1997 to a low of 44% in 2004. In 2004, for the first time in the 7-year period, more people said drug companies generally do a “bad job” (48%) than a “good job” (44%) of serving consumers.

Compared with other industries, the share of people who say pharmaceutical companies do a “good job” serving customers (44%) is higher than for oil companies (32%), HMOs (30%), and tobacco companies (30%), but lower than the share who say life insurance companies (55%), hospitals (70%), airlines (74%) and supermarkets (87%) are doing a “good job” serving consumers.