Customer service crisis: 90% of Indians spend over 4 hours resolving issues in Telecom, e-comm, finance sectors

Telecommunications, retail and E-commerce and financial services are the top three sectors receiving the most consumer complaints. According to a report by ServiceNow Customer Experience Report 2025, at least 90% of Indians have spent time trying to resolve issues or complaints with organizations in these sectors.

On average, individuals spent over 4 hours resolving issues in each sector: 4.3 hours in Telecom, 4.1 hours in Retail, and 4.2 hours in Financial Services.

Indian customers are quick to take action when faced with slow or poor service, with 89% willing to switch to a competitor and 84% leaving negative reviews online or on social media.

When it comes to trust in customer service formats, 25% of Indians reported decreased trust in physical letters or paper formats.

A third of Indians stated that their issues were resolved within 2-3 days on average. Over 2 in 5 Indians believe that quick issue resolution and company transparency are significant aspects of good customer service.

Additionally, 37% of surveyed individuals consider getting through to someone quickly and tracking progress as crucial factors of good customer service.

However, 39% of Indians find waiting on hold or being in a queue the most frustrating issue when interacting with customer service staff. Moreover, transferring issues to multiple departments is another frustrating aspect of poor customer service.

With the advancement of AI chatbots in India, 85% of individuals use them to check the status of their issues, including refunds. Customers also use AI chatbots to seek product recommendations on e-commerce platforms (84%) and for food and dining recommendations (over 80%).

Indians believe that the most important things a customer service chatbot can do are resolve issues efficiently (50%) and have a fast response time (49%).

However, 40% of Indians think that trusting generative AI in customer service would improve if they were asked for approval of data collection, clearly labeled when used, and allowed to adjust its personality and features.

Notably, 77% of Indians have expressed concerns about privacy when interacting with AI in customer service over the past 12 months.

Around a third of Indians believe that increased government regulation (36%) and independent organization/ombudsmen (32%) reviewing issues would make them trust generative AI in customer service more.

The study surveyed 5,000 Indians.