‘National Customer Rage Survey’ points to troubling trend among US consumers

NEXSTAR) – The results of a small nationwide survey suggest that consumers are becoming increasingly infuriated by the perceived level of assistance from customer service departments, and some of us aren’t above seeking “revenge.”

The 2022 edition of the National Customer Rage Survey, conducted by Customer Care Measurement & Consulting, shows evidence that more Americans are not only having problems with various products and services, but also that our “rage” toward the companies providing these goods or services is growing.

We’re also becoming more belligerent with customer service reps, and about 1 in 10 of us are interested in seeking “revenge” in the form of badgering, belittling, or threatening an employee, according to some of the responses to the survey.

“I don’t want to sound too ‘Pollyanna,’ but it’s kind of horrifying,” Scott M. Broetzmann, the President and CEO of Customer Care Measurement & Consulting, told Nexstar of the report’s recent findings.

Of the 1,000 respondents polled, 74% claimed to have had an issue with a product or service in 2022, up from 66% in 2020 (during the last edition of the survey). Of those, 63% said they felt some sort of “customer rage” during attempts to resolve the issue — which is the same “rage” percentage observed in the 2020 edition, albeit one that now represents a larger number of infuriated consumers.

We’re also yelling at and/or raising our voices during 43% of our interactions with customer service, the survey suggests.

Perhaps even more troubling, 17% of consumers surveyed admitted to behaving “uncivilly” toward a company — and not because of an issue with its products or services, but due to a perceived difference of values or beliefs, such as religion, politics, gender issues or vaccination and mask mandates.

Seventeen percent might even be a conservative estimate. As noted in the full “rage” report, many consumers can’t seem to agree on what counts as “uncivil” behavior. Half of the respondents felt that yelling, arguing, and “social media assassination” were uncivil ways to deal with consumer issues, but the other half thought those was totally fine, or appropriate depending on the specific scenario. And, a quarter of the people surveyed didn’t think that “threats, humiliation, foul language, and lying” were uncivil at all.

There appeared to be a rise in consumers lashing out in public, too, especially during the earlier stages of the pandemic — a troubling trend that Broetzmann worries may continue.

“What constitutes reasonable behavior in the public square is being redefined. And it’s kind of scary,” he said.

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