Indian consumers spent 15 bn hours for service complaints in 2024: Report

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Despite AI agents and chatbots increasingly becoming a part and parcel of customer service, they have yet to significantly reduce customer service wait times, with a report revealing that Indian consumers spent over 15 billion hours last year waiting to lodge customer service complaints.

The ServiceNow Customer Experience report analysed the widening gap between rising customer expectations and the reality of service delivery. It surveyed 5,000 Indian consumers and 204 Indian customer service agents.

As many as 80 per cent of Indian consumers now rely on AI chatbots for essential services like checking complaint statuses and product recommendations. Yet, these same consumers collectively spend an astounding 15 billion hours on hold each year, according to the report.

"While some headway has been made-- the average Indian spent 3.2 hours less time waiting for an issue to be resolved than the previous year--there is still a considerable gap between customer expectations and service delivery.

"This gap underscores the disconnect caused by siloed systems and limited visibility into the customer journey and adds to customer disappointment," the report pointed out.

The report found that 39 per cent of consumers are kept on hold, 36 per cent are repeatedly transferred, and 34 per cent believe companies deliberately complicate the complaint process.

Customer patience is wearing thin, with 89 per cent of Indian consumers willing to switch brands due to inefficient service. Moreover, 84 per cent of consumers indicated they would leave a negative review online or on social media after a poor service experience.

Enterprises stand at the threshold of a new era, where AI-human collaboration drives unprecedented efficiency. Agentic AI is set to be a force multiplier, accelerating productivity, cost savings, and customer retention.

"Businesses willing to transform to fill the customer service gap and meet rising demands for speed, personalisation, and efficiency have a critical choice to make-- embrace AI-driven efficiency or risk losing customer loyalty," Sumeet Mathur, Senior Vice President & Managing Director, of ServiceNow India, said.