June 2012
Featured in this insight: Financial services, IT & telecommunications
Consumer complaints not being heeded by companies finds online poll: An online poll of 1,000 UK consumers and 1,000 French consumers on behalf of call centre software provider Eptica has discovered a rise is complaints against service providers on social media platforms, however they appear to be falling on deaf ears.
More than a quarter of consumers (26%) that were polled said they complain more now that they can use social media to communicate with companies, however 83% of them report being unhappy with the response they received and 17.5% say they did even get a reply.
In the UK, consumers are most likely to use social media to complain about retailers (21%) and banks (19%). A total of 33% of Northern Ireland residents criticise telecoms companies, 18% of the Welsh public gripe about local government and 15% of Scots find fault with gas companies.
Dee Roche, Eptica Global Marketing Director, commented: "Customers are embracing social media for customer service but the vast majority of companies are deaf to what they are saying. Not answering basic questions is essentially slamming the shop door in the face of potential customers. Social media provides a megaphone through which complaints aired by unhappy customers can quickly escalate. Companies need to put in place a proper strategy for social customer service, before consumers vote with their feet."
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