97% customers hate call centres

ANI
[ WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 08, 2004 01:50:13 PM ]
LONDON:

Customer care centres don't seem to fit the satisfactory framework anymore. According to a survey, 97 per cent people cringe at the thought of having to dial a call centre number. People find call centres very annoying for one reason or the other, reported the Mirror. Being left on hold too long, was the most common complaint but complicated automated options also riled more than a third of users.

The survey, conducted by the Citizens' Advice Bureaux, revealed that a whopping 90 per cent of all call centre customers had complaints, while 40 per cent were completely dissatisfied. While being put on hold was named as the most annoying aspect of call centres by more 50 per cent of the 2,253 people taking part in the survey, more than 30 per cent said that the long lists of options weretoo complex. A fifth said they hated the lack of human contact, and 17 per cent were disgusted on being passed from one department to another.

The experience was even worse if the caller happened to be bad at speaking in English, had limited phone access or if they were not rich enough to afford the long calls, which most call centres require. Utility companies were the worst offenders followed by financial institutions. Government offices, banks and insurance firms were also listed as companies with bad customer care services.