Almost 32 hours for banks to respond

© Luis Molinero Martinez– 123RF.com

Hellopeter found customers were willing to change and share their reviews if they received a satisfactory response from banks.

Banks on average scored 1.47 out of five, but ratings increased to 3.88. Banks responded to 87.8% of reviews on Hellopeter.

"When a customer receives poor service from an institution that handles their finances, it becomes essential for such institutes to empathise with customers, who trust that the institution has their best interests at heart," the report said.

Hellopeter found consumers were 60% to 70% more likely to improve their review scores if banks responded within five hours. This dropped to 1% if complaints went unanswered in 24 hours.

"When no response is received, customers start to believe that their bank cannot be trusted to resolve problems.

"When banks send generic scripted responses, on the other hand, consumer responses are far more negative.

"If consumers are made to feel unimportant and not deserving of a genuine response, the result is a lack of trust, and, ultimately, a lack of loyalty."

The report found customers were tolerant if their complaints were resolved with transparency.

Common complaints included admin, debit orders, account closures, fraud and communication.

Complaints often sprouted from call centres unable to resolve problems.

Source: Herald