Customer Rage Is All the Rage

Customer anger and the number of online customer confrontations with businesses are on the rise, and as a result of poor complaint handling, businesses are putting billion in revenue at risk, according to a study by Customer Care Measurement & Consulting (CCMC) and Arizona State University’s W. P. Carey School of Business.

In their latest National Customer Rage Survey, both organizations found that 77 percent of U.S. consumers have experienced a product or service problem in the past 12 months, a rate that has more than doubled since 1976. As a result, businesses risk losing more than $596 billion in future revenue due to ineffective complaint handling and escalating customer dissatisfaction.

The 2025 survey also found that 15 percent of Americans have acted uncivilly toward businesses in the past year, and 55 percent believe customer incivility is increasing, with many attributing it to the moral decay of society and declining respect in daily interactions.

The study also found the following:

• Product and service problems continue to be disappointing, costly, and distressing. Fifty-nine percent of customers reported that their problems wasted time (an average of one full day), 45 percent cited a financial loss (an average of $1,008), and 32 percent underwent emotional stress as a direct result of their experience.
• The level of customer rage remains high, with 64 percent of customers who experienced problems feeling rage about it and 50 percent raising their voices to express displeasure, a record high.
• Customers are becoming increasingly aggressive and vocal. Although revenge-seeking has dipped slightly since 2023, it has more than tripled since 2020, with 7 percent of customers admitting to seeking revenge for their hassles.
• Complaining has gone digital. Digital channels, such as email, chat, and social media, have firmly overtaken the telephone as the primary way customers voice complaints (45 percent vs. 33 percent by phone). At the same time, one in four complainants posted about their most serious problems on social media, yet 43 percent said companies never responded.
• Fifteen percent of Americans admitted to personally behaving uncivilly toward businesses in the past year, a slight decline from 17 percent in 2023.
• More than half (55 percent) of Americans believe customer incivility is on the rise, with 28 percent citing the moral decay of society as the primary cause, more than double any other explanation.
• The boundaries of acceptable protest against companies’ values are blurring. While many Americans still view overt hostility as crossing the line, attitudes about what counts as civil or uncivil behavior are sharply divided. Nearly one in five believe that making verbal or physical threats, mocking employees, or using profanity can be civil or situationally acceptable when disagreeing with companies’ stances on issues like politics, religion, or diversity.

“Even after more than two decades of researching customer rage, I remain astonished that, when sorting out ordinary product and service problems, simple kindness and empathy are still in short supply,” says Scott Broetzmann, president and CEO of Customer Care Measurement & Consulting. “The frequency and visibility of customers and companies misbehaving have become disturbingly routine and, at times, genuinely unsettling.

“Perhaps even more concerning today is how customer hostility continues to evolve,” Broetzmann continues. “We’re witnessing new forms of conflict that go beyond dissatisfaction—clashes over values, identity, and trust that are reshaping how people interact with businesses in everyday life.”

The report points out, though, that companies still have an opportunity to address these issues. It suggests that they do the following:

• Lead with humanity. Acknowledge the customer’s frustration with a sincere apology and timely resolution, gestures that cost little but carry lasting impact.
• Treat digital complaints as real complaints. Monitor and respond to messages across chat, email, and social media with the same urgency as calls to a service center.
• Close the social media gap. Nearly half of all social posts about serious problems receive no corporate response, presenting a missed opportunity to turn public criticism into good will.
• Address deeper tensions. Recognize that anger and incivility often reflect broader value clashes, not just product failures, and train teams to de-escalate with understanding and respect.

“Defusing customer rage still isn’t rocket science,” says Thomas Hollmann, executive director of the Center for Services Leadership at ASU’s W. P. Carey School of Business. “Even as technology and social media transform how people voice their frustrations, the human need to feel heard and respected hasn’t changed. A genuine apology, a clear explanation, and a little empathy go a long way. When companies treat customers with dignity, even online, they can turn moments of conflict into lasting loyalty.”