Insurance companies, and other financial services companies which sell mainly via intermediaries, have been identified as the worst at customer service by an IBM and Swallow Information Systems survey.
IBM's Professor Merlin Stone, who led the survey, said: "Those companies which have traditionally sold through intermediaries have, until now, paid less attention to relationships with their customers and the process of complaint handling because they have not had direct contact with their end users.
"Direct insurers, credit card companies and simple banks have all performed better because they are more customer-focused."
However, the survey also concluded that the new FSA regulations would force all companies to become compliant and install better systems to manage customer complaints - so service should improve.
In fact, 92% of the companies surveyed said they knew they had to improve to get in line with these FSA regulations.
