Channel 4 Program Reveals State Of UK's Customer Service
Channel 4's documentary 'Richard Wilson On Hold' highlighted the growing automated society and the frustrations this trend is causing

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND, January 19, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The program was called Richard Wilson On Hold and followed actor Richard Wilson investigating the impact of common automated services in today's society, including supermarket self serve checkouts, paying for parking on your mobile and possibly the most frustrating, automated customer service help lines.

The poll used in the program suggested that more than half of Britons found 'Utility' (55%) and 'Telecomm' (51%) companies and their automated phone systems the most annoying of all of them.

Energy companies came out worst on the program, revealed as the ones which put customers on hold the most. In the study which was based on setting up a call centre, findings suggested that E.on had the longest call waiting time - a staggering 58 minutes and 17 seconds kept waiting on hold. Southern Electric also came out as one of the worst in the study, as they kept one person waiting for half an hour and with an overall average waiting time of 6 minutes 4 seconds.

Of those in the study, the shortest call was seen when contacting Sky. The caller only had to wait 25 seconds for their call to be answered by a Sky advisor. This represents much better customer service where a caller is seen to very quickly and their enquiry dealt with swiftly, unfortunately it is not always the case with other large companies.

The program highlighted the growing concern that businesses are jeopardising their customer relations with poor customer service as a way to save money, without realising the severe consequences on customer satisfaction.

The growth in technology is also to blame according to the program, as some companies adopt a "DIY" approach where the systems could fail, cutting off callers or redirecting them incorrectly.

This left many customers frustrated and caused many to take their business elsewhere, something which many companies cannot afford to see happen in these difficult financial times.

The program can be caught on catch up services and on the internet over the next week.

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