20m Business Days Waiting For Workmen

Consumers spend nearly 20 million working days a year waiting for workmen to turn up, according to new research.

A survey by independent advisors Which? magazine found homeowners spend on average three days a year waiting for a booked workman or a package to arrive.

Gas and electricity suppliers are the worst culprits for not keeping appointment times as on average they are four and a half hours late to turn up for a job – closely followed by builders.

Some 110 million hours are wasted waiting for deliveries to turn up – computers, electrical goods and furniture are the slowest to arrive with some taking up to six hours.

With an increase in e-commerce many delivery companies who only operate 8am to 5pm (even though office hours are 9am to 4pm) are failing to meet consumer needs.

Half of all deliveries had a time slot of five or more hours and only six per cent promised an exact time.

"It's high time retailers and the UK's workmen raised their game to meet the needs of consumers in the 21st century," said Neil Fowler, editor of Which? magazine.

"We'd like to see firms offering narrower delivery or appointment time slots - if the supermarkets can do it, we see no reason why other retailers can't do the same."