Consumers angered by poor service

British consumers are angered by shoddy customer service and unrelenting sales pitches, a report has revealed.

The report by the National Consumer Council suggested that businesses were over-promising and under-delivering, treated customers in a "clinical and patronising way" and were "incapable" of getting the basics rights.

Businesses were too focused on "making a profit at the expense of the longer-term relationship," the report claimed.

Report author and NCC Deputy Chief Executive Phillip Cullum said: "Our research over the past year and a half reveals an extraordinary picture of companies self-harming. We're seeing more and more 'service rage' with infuriated customers punishing companies for hopeless performance.

"The scale of company ineptitude must amount to many billions of pounds of lost profits. This isn't just bad news for companies, it damages our economy."

According to the NCC, every year 800,000 people make complaints to trading standards departments, while more than three-quarters encounter problems with products that they purchased.

The most common complaints made by consumers tended to relate to several of the same sectors: financial services, telecoms, utilities, electrical retailers and garages.

Complaints include 'robotic' call centres, absurdly complex systems, hard-sell marketing, missed appointments and poor after-sales service.

The NCC has urged British business to 'get smart'.

Mr Cullum said: "At heart, people think that too many companies have no idea what it feels like to be a customer and simply lack common sense. But NCC's work shows how businesses can profit if they are willing to think differently, take the risk of standing out from the crowd and put the consumer at the heart of their business. Consumers can do their bit by not settling for second best."

(KMcA)