Press 1 for support, 2 for frustration

Key research insights:

• Some 75% of consumers rank long waiting times as a major customer service frustration, with 52% believing companies intentionally complicate the process.

• Only 11% of consumers say all of their customer service inquiries are resolved, while 13% report that their problems are rarely or never addressed effectively.

• Frustrated by a lack of resolution, 51% of consumers say they have taken their complaints further, with 19% visiting a company’s physical location, 17% threatening legal action, and 13% filing a government complaint.

• After wasting time on inefficient and ineffective support processes, 71% of consumers believe businesses should financially reimburse customers for poor customer service interactions. 

Customer service is the backbone of any successful business – after all, a happy customer is a loyal customer. Yet many companies are falling short of expectations. Rather than support and resolutions, dealing with support can feel like more hassle than it’s worth – long wait times, a lack of care, and no guarantee of a resolution.

Gradient Labs conducted a customer support survey to evaluate consumer sentiment towards customer service processes, the issues they commonly face, and how they deal with them – with the results showing that customer satisfaction is far from guaranteed. 

Please hold: Common customer service experiences

Despite all the new-age customer service touchpoints available, most consumers still prefer to do it the old-fashioned way. Promising immediate support, 78% prefer to pick up the phone rather than wait for a reply to their email, tweet, or message.

But even a phone call doesn’t guarantee a quick resolution. Too often, a simple query or concern can turn into hours spent on hold and days of back and forth with no answer or resolution in sight. Just 11% of consumers say their issues are always resolved by customer support agents, while 13% insist their problems are rarely or never adequately addressed.

Seeking help can be frustrating, but few experiences are as exasperating as reaching out to customer support only to be told to “Google it” – a scenario encountered by 10% of consumers – as if you hadn’t already tried before wasting your time on hold.

Having endured a painful amount of hold music, 52% of consumers believe that companies deliberately complicate their customer service processes, engineering pain points to reduce call volume, avoid giving refunds, and ultimately retain more revenue.

Which sector provides the best customer service? Banks, financial services, and retail

However, not every industry misses the mark in customer service. When it comes to delivering the best customer service, banks and financial services stand out, with 52% of consumers ranking the sector highly. There’s no denying digital banking support often exceeds expectations – providing prompt assistance with payments, swift statement processing, and a proactive approach to fraud detection. 

Customer dissatisfaction: Top customer service pet peeves

If there’s one issue that stands out, it’s long wait times – often made worse by an endless loop of elevator music – which 75% of consumers rank as a frequent frustration. Being transferred between agents (60%) and receiving scripted responses (53%) make matters worse, while rude agents (45%) and chatbots (43%) that fail to provide the help consumers need further contribute to consumer dissatisfaction.

“We’re currently experiencing a high volume of calls. Please hold” – words that no consumer wants to hear. Facing a long wait for help and support, 19% of consumers admit they have fallen asleep while waiting for an answer from customer support.

Often, poor customer support isn’t just frustrating and time-consuming; it’s financially costly. Some 22% of consumers say they have lost significant amounts of money due to support staff providing incorrect information.

And even if you get your money back or a replacement for your defective purchase, at what cost? Some 25% of consumers say they have had to take time off work to deal with slow support services or bureaucratic processes.

The art of complaining: Dealing with poor customer service

When their concerns and complaints are met with indifference and disregard, 18% of consumers admit to having made up a sob story, attempting to pull on the heartstrings of customer service agents – and, for the most part, it works.

However, customers often don’t get the resolution they desire. After enduring prolonged hold times, being passed between agents, and receiving unhelpful advice, 37% of consumers have given in to the frustration and abandoned a company due to their poor customer service.

But while many will put down the phone, they won’t remain silent. Feeling dismissed, 65% call out the companies that fail to provide adequate support. Some 48% vent their frustrations to friends and family members, 25% share their thoughts on review websites, and 14% shame unsupportive brands on social media.

A one-star review or a critical tweet will often catch their attention – but what happens when a brand doesn't seem to care? Some 51% of consumers admit to taking their complaints to the extreme in the past, visiting a company’s physical location (19%), threatening legal action (17%), and filing a government complaint (13%) to pressure unresponsive companies to address their concerns.

But even when long-standing issues are resolved, often an apology isn’t enough to make consumers happy. If a company fails to provide adequate and timely customer support? Consumers demand financial support instead – with 71% insisting businesses should reimburse them for time wasted on poor customer service interactions.

These customer support statistics should serve as a wake-up call for businesses. Consumers are dissatisfied and demanding faster resolutions and better responses. Companies that fail to improve – such as by implementing AI in customer support to direct users to the right resources and automate resolutions – risk not only causing consumers frustration but also losing them to their competitors.

Methodology: The data in this report derives from a survey conducted in April 2025 by gradient-labs.ai. In total, 1,500 US adults aged over 18 were surveyed, and all respondents took the full survey. The study included all genders, ethnicities, and age groups.