It has never been easier to buy a product in America, yet, according to new data, it has arguably never been harder to get help when something goes wrong.
American consumers are reporting record-breaking levels of frustration with goods and services, according to a Friday report from The Wall Street Journal. Citing data from the National Customer Rage Survey conducted in February, the report reveals that 77% of U.S. customers faced a product or service problem within the past year.
This figure represents a new historical high for the metric. For context, 74% of consumers reported similar issues in 2023, and 66% did so during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. When a version of this study was first conducted in 1976, only 32% of respondents reported experiencing such failures.
The friction appears to lie not just in the errors themselves, but in the resolution process. Of those surveyed this year, 68% said their recent attempts to complain to companies required “high or very high” amounts of effort—an uptick from 65% in 2023.
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Scott Broetzmann, president and CEO of Customer Care Measurement & Consulting, which conducts the survey alongside Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business, described a marketplace where logistics have outpaced support.
“I can order dental floss and it’ll be at my doorstep in 30 minutes, but when it comes to problem-handling, it’s still an effortful, frustrating, emotionally stressful [experience],” Broetzmann told the WSJ.
A Systemic Decline
The Rage Survey is not an outlier. Multiple data points suggest a broad deterioration in the relationship between brands and buyers.
In June, Forrester Research found that customer experience ratings among Americans and Canadians dropped for the fourth consecutive year, hitting a record low score of 68.3 out of 100. The study painted a bleak picture of corporate responsiveness: only 7% of the 469 brands studied managed to raise their average score significantly from 2024, while a quarter of them saw their scores decline.
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Pete Jacques, a principal analyst at Forrester, used a stark metaphor to describe the eroding trust.
“Like the proverbial frog that doesn’t feel the water becoming increasingly hotter, many North American brands are inching into more treacherous positions with their customers’ loyalty,” Jacques noted in the report.
These findings were echoed by a survey from Broadridge Financial Solutions, released in November, which found that 71% of North American consumers believe businesses need to optimize their customer experience—another record high.
Spending Continues Despite Frustration
Despite the widespread dissatisfaction with service and lingering concerns over the economy, consumer volume remains robust. A survey by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics published on Nov. 20 projects that a record 186.9 million customers will shop online and in-store between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday.
This surge in activity comes as the public continues to weigh economic conditions under the leadership of President Donald Trump. While affordability remains a top concern for voters, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent offered an optimistic outlook on Nov. 23. Speaking to Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press,” Bessent stated that he expects U.S. shoppers to begin seeing lower prices on some items within weeks.
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