Top Call-Center Peeves: Poor Language Skills, Robotic Voices

Poor communications skills and the inability to deviate from the script are the most common frustrations consumers have with call-center agents, according to a survey conducted by UK-based Aurix, which provides tools for searching speech within audio data.

The online survey of more than 100 consumers found that than a mere 2% of respondents were happy with recent call-center interactions.

When asked to select from a list of common complaints about customer service agents, more than three-fourths of respondents said that they had been frustrated by agents who had poor language skills or an off-putting tone, and more than half (52%) expressed displeasure with agents who sounded like robots or were unwilling or unable to deviate from their script.

Other peeves included rudeness and unpleasantness, insensitivity, and unsubtle cross-selling or up-selling attempts by agents when consumers had called to make unrelated inquiries.

Despite this widespread frustration with call-center representatives, a separate survey by ATG (Art Technology Group, Inc). recently found that a live voice is still the most preferred form of customer service, at least among online Americans.

About the survey: The Aurix survey was conducted with 105 consumers online, using survey tool SurveyMonkey.