Rersearch showing what we all know!!
The Observer, Consumer Affairs
Since the Covid lockdowns, many companies have scaled down customer service, extending deadlines for complaint resolution and reducing staff. Some have removed helplines, leaving customers reliant on ineffectual chatbots.
As a result, traders are taking record amounts of time to resolve issues, and taking record hits to their profits and reputation.
Poor customer service is costing UK businesses £11.4bn a month in lost productivity, according to new research, with employees averaging one day a week dealing with problems.
A “customer satisfaction index”, published last week by the UK Institute of Customer Service (ICS), found satisfaction was falling year-on-year, with nearly 17% of consumers reporting issues with a trader.
All of this applies to Big Airways and others. It does not apply, in my view, to the famous LCC as they have never pretended to give customer service!
Today, I spent 75 minutes on the phone to the Council (having spent two hours gathering the data) to correct something that - had they send me a letter or an email seven months ago - would never have got to waste so much time. They said, "We sent you two letters - the fact that you did not receive them is not our fault" I pointed out that the original Council Tax bill had arrived so why not the other two letters that they said they posted? No answer. When I asked why they had not emailed me? "We are not legally obliged to send you emails." So, if their computer can send automatic letters - why not automatic emails? Such a waste of everyone's time and money.
All companies know that good customer service wins all the time. I remember arguing this in 1989 when I worked in the City. My boss wanted to use a cheaper supplier of fax machines (that was what we needed!) and I pointed out that, part of the purchase price was ensuring that they would turn up rapidly when there was a problem.