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A university study concludes that many businesses purposefully make customer service complainers deal with unnecessary obstacles to avoid providing them with refunds, replacements, repairs or other compensation.
The study found many businesses employ a tiered organizational structure that imposes a “hassle cost” for customers who attempt to escalate their complaints.
“If you have a complaint, often the first person you speak with at a company’s customer service operation is limited in how they can help you,” Yi Zhu, an associate marketing professor at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota and study co-author, said in a statement. “However, to get to the next level — such as a manager — you have to jump through additional hoops to get your complaints addressed. That hassle cost can include both time and frustration.”
The study’s findings suggest:
- The more the hassle, the less likely a customer would be to escalate a less severe claim and the more likely to mitigate illegitimate claims;
- Additional hassles may help companies better control costs tied to customer complaints, such as reimbursements or repairs.
- Research Brief: Customer service is frustrating by design – University of Minnesota
- Why Customer Service Frustrates Consumers: Using a Tiered Organizational Structure to Exploit Hassle Costs – Carlson School of Management
- Your call is important to us': Not really, University of Minnesota study shows – Minneapolis Star Tribune