Six in ten customers have ditched a company because of bad telephone customer service.

New research from voice services company, Natterbox, found that internet providers were the most unpopular, with one in five respondents saying they had cancelled their services because of a frustrating phone experience. Mobile phone companies came in second place (20 per cent). Telephone companies (15 per cent), energy suppliers (13 per cent) and banks (10 per cent) had also seen their customers go elsewhere. In total, 62 per cent of UK consumers had cancelled some kind of service because of a poor telephone experience.

The survey also revealed that despite the boom in social media customer service, telephone contact was still the favourite method for UK consumers. Sixty four per cent of respondents said they preferred to communicate with a company by phone, compared with 28 per cent choosing email. By contrast, just four per cent said they preferred to use Twitter to contact customer service departments.

Neil Hammerton, CEO at Natterbox, comments: “Almost everyone is on social networks these days but the telephone is still king when it comes to customer service. There’s nothing like being able to speak to another human being to get a problem resolved. But with this reliance on call centres comes pressure to deliver the goods quickly and professionally. Busy consumers don’t have the time or patience to tolerate shoddy service and it only takes one bad experience to lose their custom for good."

“As businesses increasingly move their operations online and away from the high street, the telephone contact centre is often their only personal interaction with the customer, so it’s vital to get it right. There is pressure to control costs but technology exists now that can streamline the caller experience, automatically putting them through to the right person, first time. Nowadays there should be no excuse to leave frustrated customers hanging on the telephone,” he concludes.

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