The companies with the worst customer service call centre menus

Companies with the most frustrating call centre menus revealed in new Brick Wall Index.

TalkTalk has been dubbed the worst for customer service based on its call centre menu, according to new research.

Eckoh, a global provider of customer service solutions has created the aptly named Brick Wall Index revealing the firms that have caused the highest levels of annoyance and frustration to callers trying to navigate their call centre options and speak to somebody.

The findings are based on independent analysis from PleasePress1.com, a website that lists thousands of call centre menu shortcuts. Read: Pleasepress1.com: new website provides call centre shortcuts.

Search terms entered into the PleasePress1 site were analysed to determine the rankings, as Eckoh reckons these show the frustration felt by customers towards certain firms when navigating through their phone menus or at the inability to contact a representative satisfactorily through their website.

Some of the worst offenders according to the research are mobile service providers, insurance companies, travel sites and airlines.

Tony Porter, Head of Global Communications, Eckoh said: “Judging from this analysis, it would appear that some mobile companies rarely answer the phone and some airlines make it hard for callers to reach their destination.

“It is essential that companies invest in their customer service systems as poor service is a major source of frustration for UK consumers. Customer inertia is a thing of the past.”

Eckoh reckons technology can help improve the customer experience.

Natural language voice recognition systems mean that customers are able to speak their query to a machine and be redirected immediately to a trained operator much quicker than the time taken to navigate a menu.

Tony Porter added: “Getting through to someone who can help you or provide an automated alternative is critical, and it is vital that companies invest in systems that allow them to respond quickly to customer enquiries, whether that is online or by phone.”

Eckoh slammed outdated systems like the one used by electrical retailer Currys, which has a phone menu with 107 options - enough to compete with the complexity of an average Chinese takeaway menu.

Tony Porter added: “The weakness of old-style call centre menus is that they are very difficult to adapt to the array of issues that customers want advice on.  As new problems emerge, they just get bigger and more cumbersome. 

“A recent Eckoh implementation reduced an organisation’s customer service lines from an eye-watering thirty, to one. This saved customers a huge amount of time and saved the organisation half a million pounds per annum at the same time.”

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