One in four

The survey, which questioned 1,000 members of the public, found that many businesses – including healthcare businesses (e.g. pharmacists, dentists, etc.) – are losing the art of conversation, offering poor service to customers over the phone.

While we are happy to use online shopping when it suits our needs, most of us (70 per cent) want to be able to speak to someone directly when it comes to making a complaint or trying to resolve a problem. 

We also prefer to use the phone when it comes to getting detailed information about a product before making a purchase (53 per cent) or aftersales support such as arranging a delivery date (59 per cent). 

However, many organisations are failing to provide the service we want. More than one in four (26 per cent) of consumers felt healthcare businesses, such as dentists and pharmacists, delivered poor customer service over the phone.

Local Authorities fared worst in the study with 47 per cent of the public saying that they offered poor telephone service in these situations, followed by trade businesses (32 per cent) and financial services (29 per cent).