To coincide with National Customer Service Week, new data suggests that more than 15 million UK adults rank being stuck on hold with a telephone operator as their top annoyance of 2015.

Commissioned independently by Lithium Technologies, a survey of 2,000 UK consumers revealed that 29.1 per cent respondents considered being stuck on telephone-hold their biggest annoyance of 2015, above poor customer service (25.8 per cent), having no internet (20.1 per cent) and being stuck in traffic (19.8 per cent), among other annoyances.

The same survey found that 18.8 per cent of UK adults would rather give up sexual relations for a week than be on hold to a call centre for an extended time-period; a further 16.5 per cent of respondents admitted they'd rather see an ex-partner, while 13.6 per cent said they'd prefer to be stuck in traffic.

The survey results highlight the significant amount of time that consumers across the UK are spending on the phone to call centres, and the growing need for a new way to engage customers.

Respondents spoke to call centres, on average, 3.87 times between June and September 2015, with an average call-length of 11.82 minutes. Taking UK life expectancy figures into account, these findings suggest that the average UK adult will spend more than 246 hours in a lifetime on the phone to call centres - equal to more than 10 days or a month of recommended nightly sleep for adults.

The findings come amid fresh evidence that customer service expectations are continuing to rise in the UK.

A recent survey of 250 UK customer care managers, conducted on behalf of Lithium Technologies, showed that 82.4 per cent of customer care managers believe customers have become more demanding over the past three years.

A further half of respondents considered customers to be much more demanding than three years ago.

"These statistics paint an alarming picture for UK brands that rely heavily on call centres for customer relationship management," said Katy Keim, chief marketing officer of Lithium Technologies.

"Today's call centres are simply not equipped to deliver positive customer experiences, potentially doing brands more harm than good. With customer expectations on the increase, UK businesses that rely solely on traditional customer service methods will likely fall behind their competitors. The brands that will succeed in the future are those willing to embrace a digital-first approach to customer service."