![Waiting for Service Appointments Costs Americans Billions a Year](http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/tsminteractive.com/files/2011/11/checkingthetime-300x225.jpg?w=980&q=75)
Waiting for Service Appointments Costs Americans Billions a Year
According to a new study, waiting at home for deliveries or scheduled repairs to cable, phones, internet service or utilities costs Americans a staggering $37.7 billion a year in lost income.
The ‘Cost of Waiting’ study from TOA Technologies, a maker of software that helps businesses better track service people and narrow the waiting time of customers, found Americans sat around for 4.3 hours on average — more than twice as long as those people had been promised. The delays cost each of those customers about $250, or two full working days, every year.
Consumer frustration with those missed or late appointments is further enhanced by the downturn in the economy. “There’s a much more acute sense of every dollar lost — especially in middle and lower-income people,” said Yuval Brisker, co-founder and CEO of TOA Technologies.
“It’s clear from this year’s survey that customer service needs to be a top priority for businesses in the current climate,” he added. “Not only because it can negatively affect a company’s performance but because poor service around wait times has financial penalties for a company’s own customers.”
[CNBC via The Street]
More From KSEN AM 1150
![Survey Shows 650,000 Bank Customers Switched to Credit Unions](http://townsquare.media/site/126/files/2011/11/tellerwindow.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Gabrielle Giffords Vows to Return to Congress in New Memoir](http://townsquare.media/site/126/files/2011/11/kellygiffords.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler Selected To Be A Celebrity Cabbage Patch Kid](http://townsquare.media/site/126/files/2011/11/Tyler.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Oklahoma Cleans Up After Weekend Earthquakes [VIDEO]](http://townsquare.media/site/126/files/2011/11/seismograph.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Americans Have Fewer Close Friends Compared to 25 Years Ago](http://townsquare.media/site/126/files/2011/11/friends.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Chickenfoot Successfully Complete ‘Road Test’ With High Octane Chicago Performance](http://townsquare.media/site/126/files/2011/11/CF.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Weekend Box Office: ‘Puss In Boots’ Claws Its Way to Another First Place Finish](http://townsquare.media/site/126/files/2011/11/pussinboots-300x225.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Genetically Modified Rice Can Be Used in Lieu of Human Blood](http://townsquare.media/site/126/files/2011/11/ricepaddyharvest.jpg?w=980&q=75)