Complaints: French prefer the phone

FRENCH people prefer the telephone to the internet when they want to complain to customer service – but they refuse to wait longer than three minutes for a response.

However, using the phone leaves customers unhappier than when they started.

One in three say they do not get their complaint answered satisfactorily, 29% are unhappy at the delays in answering and 21% dislike the poor language skills of the call centre staff.

People said they wanted a response in under a minute and only 49% said they would wait two or three minutes.

Web users fare better, with those using social networks getting a quicker and more satisfying response; with 81% saying they get their problem resolved on first contact compared to 42% for phone callers.

Using social media such as Facebook and Twitter could get a response in under an hour while survey respondents said if they complained by email they expected a reply in under two days.

A survey by BVA for Viséo Conseil found that 57% of people had been in touch with customer services and 84% of them had done it by telephone. In addition, 53% tried the company’s internet site and 48% used email.

• Some airlines and big companies are known for hiding their contact telephone numbers: which services have you found it hard - or impossible - to get a number for? Reply to news[at]connexionfrance.com>

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