Most customers (67 per cent) want to speak a real person when they have a serious or urgent issue, says a new survey.  Yet companies are ignoring this preference in the push towards web self-service.

The survey, commissioned by Jacada, was carried out by YouGov among a sample size of 2,138 adults and weighted to be representative of all UK adults.

The majority (76pc) of respondents had contacted customer service because of problems they believed could have been avoidable, such as billing errors, technical issues and problems with deliveries or missed service calls.  About a third had to make contact again.

Jacada cautions companies against taking customers for granted and adds that about two out of five respondents reported feeling that customer service had deteriorated since the recession took hold.