Being put on hold for an indefinite amount of time is the most frustrating customer service experience you can have, say the respondents of a recent survey on behalf of RightNow Technologies.
The study of 2,020 British people found that 26% cited being put on hold as the most annoying customer service experience, closely followed by being forced to call premium rate numbers, which 25% of people in this study chose as their customer service pet hate. 15% said that having to make multiple calls to resolve a problem was the issue they found most annoying, while 10% stated that having to repeat themselves over and over was their worst customer service experience.
The over 55s especially reported dissatisfaction at these customer service practices, with 32% hating being put on hold and 27% feeling particularly annoyed at having to call premium rate numbers.
Conversely, people in the 25-34 age bracket seemed less aggrieved by these experiences, with only 20% and 21% respectively indicating this was the case.
The results indicate that older people are perhaps less patient with cold calling and being put on hold. It would seem that companies keen to improve their customer service should ignore older customers at their peril.
