The Independent Electrical Retailer dropped through the door thsi morning with an interesting little article on consumer service in the UK. Apparently a new survey out shows that 80% of UK consumers “are prepared to change service providers after just one negative experience”
The survey, instituted by AMDOCS and international provider of billing and CRM products reveals that more than 80% of consumers have had recently had a a bad customer service experience and that the retail sector in particular is single out.
Some customers would prefer to “visit their in-laws or drive round the M25 than deal with UK customer services”
Neil Philpott, Director of AMDOCS states that, “For instance 75% of those surveyed insist that they have had to argue their case. This is unconscionable. Whatever happened to the ethos that the customer is always right?”
The interesting bit for those of us, in the whitegoods repair sector is that 90% of customers cited long waiting times as their greatest single customer service annoyance. Maybe Hotpoint and others should try to obtain a copy of this report!
80% of UK customers say that they will spread the work to friends and family about poor customer service.
As ever, the independents who offer valuable and trustworthy advice to their customers will always come out on top as we have to keep our customers to survive.