Call Centre Queuers Prefer Comedy

December 17th, 2008

Call centres are a huge frustration, but despite long waits, being cut off and high call charges, new research by 100% online insurance company swiftcover.com has found that callers would rather listen to comedy, news and heavy metal whilst on hold - proving Brits need something to laugh at while their patience is being tested.

In the research 878 consumers were polled nationwide and the top choices of hold music people want to listen to are:

Comedy 23 per cent
News 18 per cent
Heavy Metal 16 per cent
Current Pop 15 per cent
80s cheese 10 per cent
Classical 9 per cent
Motown 8 per cent

More traditional kinds of hold music like Classical and Motown are wanted less by callers proving that call centres are not listening to what there users really want.

The research also found that call centres continue to be one of the largest annoyances to British consumers, with 91 per cent of British consumers irritated by having to hang on the telephone to get through to an operator. Nearly half (43 per cent) of those surveyed are regularly put on hold for half an hour. In addition, four out of five (81 per cent) of callers have been cut off after waiting for ten minutes or more.

The easy solution to this is (where possible) to go on line. Why are us Brits so intent on getting into queues? I read an article the other day on The BBC website that said that some people in London are sometimes being forced to wait 28 minutes to get served at a Post Office.

The New Year will bring even more queues as the sales start and people will be looking to snap up a bargain. Hopefully things won’t be as bad as they have been in America. The Guardian reports that some people have died or been hurt due to stampedes as some stores have started their sales. No bargain can be worth that much.

You can now buy nearly everything online, from car insurance to clothes - so jump the queues and get online for your bargains.

Entry Filed under: call centres