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Consumer Reports just released the Top 10 gripes of Americans having customer service issues and complaints.

They surveyed almost 1,000 consumers nationwide to find the customer-service problems that infuriate people most. Respondents rated 12 practices on a scale of 0 (not annoying at all) to 10 (tremendously annoying). Differences in scores of 0.4 or less are not significant. The inability to speak with a real person on the phone was especially irritating to women and respondents 50 and older. Women were also more likely to be annoyed by unapologetic employees, the need to wade through automated phone-menu prompts to get help, and an inability to find a salesperson in a store. Men were more likely to be annoyed by customer-service sales pitches for unrelated goods and services. The youngest consumers in our survey, those 18 to 34, had the lowest tolerance for repair people who didn’t show up on time. Thirty-five percent were tremendously annoyed by that situation, at least 10 percent more than for any other age group.

Here is the list:

For further information, see the full articles at Consumer Reports Magazine:

www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2011/july/shopping/customer-service/americas-top-gripes/index.htm

Customer service speaker and author Teresa Allen presents customer service keynotes and customer service training across the US and abroad. Subscribe to this customer service blog for more timely information on customer service study data and customer service innovations. Add you comments by clicking on the comment link below. Teresa can be reached at 800-797-1580 or through her website: www.AllenSpeaks.com Email her at tallen@AllenSpeaks.com