22% of Americans would rather spend a night in jail than contact customer service, survey finds

(Gray News) – People really, really hate contacting customer support – so much so that they would rather spend a night in jail or shave their head.

A new survey conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Twilio Flex asked 2,000 Americans what they would rather do than contact customer service.

The poll found that 30% of people would rather do their taxes, 28% would rather go to the dentist, 25% would rather go to the DMV, 24% would rather shave their head, and 22% would rather spend a night in jail.

People are willing to go to those extremes to avoid contacting customer support because, on average, it takes three attempts and more than 1.5 hours on hold in order to solve just one issue with a customer service representative, the survey found.

And once you’re able to get a hold of someone, the issue is resolved less than half the time, with an average success rate of only 46%.

When asked about specific reasons they hate contacting customer service, the top pain points, in order, included:

1. Having to repeat details of the issue to a new representative after being transferred or being disconnected
2. Having to contact a company multiple times to get an issue resolved
3. Only having one option in which to reach a customer support representative (ex. needing to call or email; not having a live chat or SMS option)
4. Not being able to reach a live person quickly
5. Spending time on hold while listening to bad music
6. Poor connection resulting in getting disconnected or having a hard time hearing the representative
7. Not being able to resolve an issue online
8. Navigating the button options (“press two for xx”)
9. Limited times in which they can call for help

When asked what would help solve their frustrations, the top answers, in order, included:

1. The representative having access to relevant information to their issue, so they don’t have to repeat themselves when transferred
2. Being able to solve their issue without speaking on the phone to a live person (through text, online live chat, self-service online, etc.)
3. Having multiple ways to contact customer support (phone call, text, email, online live chat)
4. Clear directions on how to get connected to a live person quickly
5. Being able to solve their issue online

The survey found that because of these frustrations, the average person waits 16 days to contact customer support about an issue.

Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. TMX contributed to this report.