SU 10: Service Recovery

Question 1

Define service failure

Answer 1

It implies the inability of service organization to meet customer expectations

Question 2

What are the causes of service failures

Answer 2

> malfunctioning - a ride in a theme park such as Gold Reef City not operating for technical reasons

> incorrectness - it takes consultant who miscalculates a customers tax liability

> unavailability - an attorney who does not keep an appointment

> lateness - an ambulance arrives too late

> slowness - a vehicle supposed to be ready for pickup after repairs is not ready on time

> uncaring, impolite, unresponsive, unknowledgeable stuff

Question 3

How can typical customer complaint behavior be described (pg 392)

Answer 3

• the customer enters a service encounter with predetermined expectations (E)
• during and after the service encounter the customer compares actual performance (P) with those expectations
• if the performance is at least equal to what was expected (P=E), or exceeds expectation (P>E) then the customer is likely to be satisfied with the encounter
• if however the performance of the service provider falls short of the customers expectations (P<E) the result is customer dissatisfaction

Question 4

When a customer is satisfied with the encounter what three positive outcomes will it lead to

Answer 4

1. It will enhance the customers attitude towards the service provider
2. It will enhance retention and loyalty towards the provider
3. It would lead to positive word of mouth communication

Question 5

When a customer is dissatisfied with the encounter what three outcomes will it lead to

Answer 5

1. Exit is an active effort by the customer determining the relationship with the seller
2. Efforts to maintain the relationship (complaints to friends or third parties) are termed ‘voice’ this behavior can be seen as constructive because it affords the organization the opportunity to correct the wrong
3. Loyalty, despite poor service delivery the customer merely accepts dissatisfaction in the hope that things will improve in the future

Alternatively the service provider will acknowledge the service failure and decide on the following

1. What should be done to recover
2. Who should execute the recovery
3. How quickly should it be done

Question 6

What are reasons that customers do not complain

Answer 6

> they believe it is not worth the time and effort

> they believe it will not make a difference - they do not believe that anything will be done about the problem

> they believe that no one is interested

> they do not know how to complain - there are no procedures or facilities

> they fear victimization and/or embarrassment

Question 7

What are the 14 dimensions of service recovery (pg 395)

Answer 7

time; level of atonement; apology; communication style; fair fix; empathy; accepted responsibility; kept promises/reliability; feedback; empowerment; access/approachability tangibles; staff attitude and explanations

Question 8

A complaining customer will evaluate the fairness of the complaint handling process from which three perspectives

Answer 8

> distributive justice, can be described as the customers evaluation of whether they got adequate compensation for the emotional distress they had to go through, this can include both monetary and non-monetary forms of redress such as refunds discounts apologies and in assortment of freebies

> procedural justice, it is a fair procedure that is easy to access flexible convenient timely accurate consistent and gives the customers freedom to communicate views on the recovery decision process. for example, employees do not complete a service in time, the service organization can hire more people so that the service process goes quicker next time

> interactional justice, refers to the manner in which the complaining customer was treated and may be based on consideration such as the manner of communication and the treatment of customers with politeness, courtesy, respect and empathy.