Absolutely.
It may be better for the bank, it may be cheaper and actually quicker. It might even be quicker for me, but it’s a terrible experience often enough that for me, as a customer, it’s not my first port of call to phone. It’s all that stuff and more, sometimes complete with being passed from pillar to post around different departments where there is a wait to speak to each and every one!
I do think that part of this preference though might be my understanding of general industry practises, etc. I would know exactly what to type in a chat box to explain my problem. If you get a generic customer query, requiring lots of follow-up messages to get to the nub of the issue, I can see why the back and forth could add delay and make the whole thing far less efficient than if the same happened on the phone.