Top brands deliver inconsistent call centre experiences, survey finds

A new survey has shed light on the varying quality of customer service experienced by individuals contacting call centres, revealing significant inconsistencies even among leading brands.

Manchester-based contact software specialists MaxContact surveyed 1,000 individuals who had interacted with a call centre within the past 18 months to identify which brands provided the best and worst experiences.

According to the survey, Amazon emerged as the top brand for customer experience, receiving 85 mentions. EE followed in second place with 45 mentions, and Sky secured third with 35. The top ten brands for best customer experience are listed below:

However, the survey also highlighted a perplexing trend: some companies praised for their excellent service also appeared on the list for providing the worst experiences.

For instance, Amazon, despite its overwhelmingly positive mentions, also received 12 mentions for having the “worst” customer experience. Similarly, Virgin, while receiving 20 mentions for top service, also accumulated a high number of complaints (39).

Ben Booth, CEO of MaxContact, explained this inconsistency:

“We’re seeing so much inconsistency in customer experience because brands value its impact on their business differently. Some see customer service as something to minimise, streamline, and automate, spending as little time and money on it as possible. That’s when you end up with undertrained agents, under pressure to hit targets, and unable to deliver meaningful help.”

Booth emphasized that brands that invest in training agents to “build human connection” tend to foster trust and customer loyalty. He warned that this unpredictability in service quality can erode customer confidence and damage a company’s reputation, stressing the need for brands to invest in “human, helpful support” as a competitive advantage.

Max Contact