Record rise in customer service complaints

Everybody knows that excellent customer service is a must but there are numerous high-profile companies that are struggling to provide it. According to a recent report customer service complaints are now at the highest they have ever been in the UK.

Staffing and supply chain problems

Currently, complaint handling is costing £9bn a month in lost time due to the staffing crisis and supply issues. Let’s take a deeper look into this.

The supply issues and staffing shortages have resulted in a rise of customer problems by 16%. This in turn has caused these record level of customer service complaints and is costing businesses of Britain billions of pounds just to handle the escalating issue.

Worst figures on record

Firms in the UK are struggling to cope with the supply issues which are happening globally. The Institute of Customer Service have found that more consumers have been experiencing issues with services, the highest number at any point since the customer satisfaction index started in 2008.

Across all sectors

It has also been said that in the survey that polled 10,000 consumers across 13 different sectors of the industry, which happens bi-annually, the rise has been due to staffing shortages and the supply issues which are happening globally for businesses. The company, UK Power Networks, who specialise in providing infrastructure, are the best rated company in situ with complaint handling. This being after compensation and communication pay-outs after the storm that took place earlier in the year. Their customers rated the company highly for being very open and trustworthy, and also having very competent and helpful staff and of course an easy-to-use website, which is a must in today’s business world!

High Street names

Other companies whose scores have also improved include: John Lewis, Timpson, and Tesco Mobile, whose scores improved by 8.9, 1.9, and also 2.2 points up. Marks & Spencer and Suzuki shared the fifth place ranking with their scores improving by 1.9 and 3.8 points. Another company out of the 50 who have failed to provide satisfactory customer service is Specsavers. Specsavers have dropped the hardest out of the companies named. They have dropped down by 38 places naming them as 47th after being placed ninth in July 2021. Although they have dropped significantly in recent times, they have stated that they strive to provide “excellent customer service”.

Not so amazing Amazon

The mammoth that is Amazon lost 0.3 points and due to that dropped down 19 places taking them from third all the way to 22nd place. Amazon said they are proud that they are “recognized as customer service leaders,” and “we welcome feedback from customers and actively listen to ideas about how we can improve our products and services continuously.”

In recent days there has been a trend of improvement concerning complaint handling. The ICS have also said that there was a need for a shift away from “service recovery” to help identify and fix the root that is causing the problems. Once that is solved then resolving the issues will come in due time.

Worth paying for

Furthermore, more than a third of customers stated that they would actually pay more to have the guarantee of excellent service provided to them. But then on the other hand 58% of people said that low pricing would influence their decisions more so than excellent service due to the on-going cost of living crisis.

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