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UK Based is Best for Call Centres says Survey

We’ve all had a bad experience of contacting a call centre, but a YouGov survey released yesterday reveals just how bad the call centre experience really is. The survey, commissioned by Callmedia, the UK’s leading developer of contact centre software reveals that only four per cent of people in the UK have had a favourable experience when dealing with a customer call centre, with 44 per cent complaining that their biggest gripe is contacting a call centre based overseas.

The survey also revealed how we hate hanging on waiting for someone to answer our call, or our query not being resolved by the first person we speak to. The survey clearly shows that companies need to take steps to improve the call centre experience for their customers and think twice about outsourcing the service overseas.

Commenting on this survey, Rufus Grig, managing director, Callmedia said: “This research clearly indicates what customers do and don’t like. Companies need to make quality customer service a priority and take steps to provide good, consistent and timely service in a bid to increase loyalty and reduce churn. The surprising find from this research is quite the strength of feeling felt by UK consumers against the outsourcing of contact centres overseas.”

The survey has also revealed a number of other interesting facts such as: when a consumer wants to complain about a product or a service, 42 per cent of respondents prefer to use the phone to ensure that their point is heard. However, 78 per cent of respondents prefer to buy products online rather than by telephone, email or post.

Respondents’ second biggest gripe is being passed from department to department until someone who can answer the specific query is found. Rufus Grig also commented, “Many of the common complaints voiced by consumers in this survey can be solved with the application of relevant technology and with a business commitment to providing good customer service which, in return, delivers customer loyalty.”