Complaints over poor service rise

The British willingness to grin and bear it is beginning to wear thin on the high street as millions of consumers complain about poor service and shoddy goods.

In the past year, 94 per cent of Britons have complained to a company, 80 per cent have stormed out of shops because sales staff are unhelpful and 31 per cent haggled for better prices, according to a new survey.

It has found that Britons are no longer willing to put up with poor customer relations. More than 30 per cent of respondents said they had sent back a meal in a restaurant-because it was not up to scratch, and about 25 per cent said they had been angered by poor service, faulty goods, being called at home or sent direct mail.

Gavin Mensah-Coker, trends planner for communications group Publicis, which commissioned the poll, said the research showed a surprising shift in consumer expectations. "A large number of people now travel abroad to places like America and experience really good service. After that, they want the same service at home and will not accept anything less. But for businesses, changing their culture towards customers takes a longer time so they are now having to try to catch up with what customers demand."

The NOP survey of 1,000 people found men under the age of 35 leading the consumer charge. Many are going to great lengths to complain, writing letters to company chief executives and calling up consumer watchdogs.

Most complaints were made against companies rather than public services. As people begin to believe that complaints about the health service or transport fall on deaf ears, they are turning to the one area where they do have control - the High Street.

Spending in recent months has reached record levels but shoppers are also demonstrating that they are determined to get what they pay for. The research shows they are aware that by taking their business elsewhere and telling others to do the same, they can damage a company's profitability.

But complaints may not just be increasing because of poor service.

About 38 per cent of respondents said they had witnessed shoppers becoming aggressive. Mr Mensah-Coker said much of this is because consumers are more stressed out and have less time to spend shopping.

"There are a lot of people in a bad mood who will complain these days," he said. "That is a totally new development.

"People are stressed and have less time - which is hard on companies because they have to now get staff to assess the type of mood someone is in when they enter a store and be able to react accordingly.''