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BBC's Brassed Off Britain reveals customer service frustrations

Buying a brand new car and booking a well earned holiday should be the pleasurable rewards of our hard work in this prosperous age. But a brand new BBC 1 series reveals that they are, in fact, among the ten most frustrating experiences for consumers in Britain.

Brassed Off Britain, presented by Rogue Traders and Scambusters presenter, Matt Allwright, has identified the ten service industries that drive us mad. And disgruntled consumers across the country will get the opportunity to vote for the one that brasses them off most of all over the course of the ten part series.

Also included in the shortlist are the very things that should make life easier for us but often prove to be more of a headache than a help. The top ten have been worked out from nominations sent in by the public - from Watchdog viewers, Radio Times readers, BBC radio listeners and BBC Online users.

Consumers told the programme they don't like their banks - why does it take so long to transfer money between accounts? And they say mobile phone companies aren't providing a good enough level of customer service. And, as Britain experiences its biggest ever housing boom, estate agents continue to be on everyone's hate list - and trying to find reliable tradesmen for home improvements is still proving to be tricky.

The full top ten, in no particular order, is as follows:

• Estate Agents
• Banks
• Junk Mail
• Deliveries
• New Cars
• Holidays
• Railways
• Home Improvements
• Mobile Phone Companies
• Call Centres

Brassed Off Britain will investigate exactly why these industries wind us up - and look at ways of making things better. And there's undercover filming capturing examples of customer service at its worst.

Brassed Off Britain will air twice weekly from 4 May on Tuesdays and Thursdays and culminates in a live final on 3 June in which the industry voted the worst culprit will be revealed and its representatives called to account and challenged on how they intend to put things right.

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