It's probably happened to you - you have a problem with your bank account, your cable or your computer. So you call up the company on their toll free number, wade through endless voice mail menus, push dozens of numbers and finally get a human voice on the other end of the line. But after going through all that, do you still hang up feeling you got something accomplished? According to new research, an increasing number of consumers say the answer is no.

A new survey about customer satisfaction indicates most of us don't feel we're getting our problems resolved and that could be costing companies the one thing they can't afford to lose - the loyalty of their clients. The CFI Group's Call Centre Satisfaction Index says nearly a fifth of people who call a business for help put the phone down with their issue unresolved. And 43 percent of those vow to switch companies because of it, while another 25 percent are said to be thinking about it.

So who fares the worst in this call for action? It may not surprise you to learn it's personal computer help lines. Customers were asked to rate their experience of overall satisfaction and resolution of their problems on a scale of 100. The PC people only managed a 64. Part of the problem stems from the tendency for many of these companies to farm out their work overseas, meaning a person calling from Toronto may wind up talking to a tech in Bombay, India.

Complaints include: hard to understand technicians, poor communications skills and inability to actually fix what you were calling about in the first place. "Offshore customer service reps are less adept at solving customer problems," explains study author Sheri Teodoru. "When communication skills are poor, customers' issues remain unsolved in the majority of cases." The figures show when both sides don't understand each other, the problems are left hanging 88 percent of the time.

But it's not all bad news. Catalogue companies and banks get high marks from consumers. But cell phone,  cable, satellite and insurance firms should consider the findings a wake-up 'call'.

"Too many companies treat call centres as cost centres rather than seeing them as an opportunity to solidify the customer relationship, resulting in increased loyalty and retention," Teodoru outlines. "Any company that isn't putting resources into making sure that the call centre is delivering customer satisfaction rather than frustration is taking a huge risk with its customer asset."

Because in a world which is always dialing for dollars, it's not good when customers express their hang-ups.

Call Centre Customer Satisfaction On A Scale Of 100

Catalogue Call Centres: 80

Banking Call Centres: 77

Cell Phone Service Call Centres: 69

Cable and Satellite Television Call Centres: 68

Insurance Call Centres: 68

Personal Computer Call Centres: 64

(To see the results of all the surveys, click the links for each category.)

Photo Credit: Getty Images/AFP/Abdelhak Senna