Good Face-to-Face Encounter - Assignment Example

Case A good face to face encounter service encounter 10 January of service provider Dishoom Restaurant What circumstances led tothe encounter? I had my cousin coming from New Zealand to London. After a long traveling, I knew she would be hungry and a dining experience would delight her, so I had made reservation at Dishoom restaurant because I personally liked its service very much. What happened during the encounter? After taking our orders for drinks, the waiter promptly came back with them and quietly waited beside the table anticipating our decision for the menu. I told him what we would like to have, and he left. After having a gossip with my cousin for five minutes, I went to the toilet room for getting refreshed. When I came back, the food was ready. It was fresh and tender. We loved the meat. The waiter kept asking us for more water and bread as we ate, and kept bringing them accordingly. After we were done, I was taken by a shock to see the ring on my finger was gone! I was taken aback. The waiter noticed it and proposed me to check it in my purse. The waiter and I both went to the toilet, and it was he who found the ring before me. He happily told me that he had found the ring placed near the soap. I must have forgotten to pick it up after I took it off to wash my hands. When he brought the bill, I was surprised to find an offer from the manager to have my favorite pasta packed to take away with me for free. When I inquired about it, the waiter told me that it was a sign of empathy and goodwill by the restaurant for the tough time I had had from the moment I realized I had lost my wallet to the moment it was handed over to me by the waiter. I was delighted to find the restaurant staff so considerate and empathetic. I have recommended visits to this restaurant to many of my friends and family members ever since. How would I rate the satisfaction/dissatisfaction with the encounter? On a scale of 1 to 5, with one being ‘not satisfied at all’ and 5 being ‘extremely satisfied’, I shall give this restaurant service a 5. Why I gave this score? I was thoroughly impressed by the service my cousin and I were provided right from the moment of making the reservation all the way till we left the restaurant. The staff was caring and polite; the order was delivered on time; the food was delicious; and the staff was honest, considerate, and empathetic. I was pleasantly surprised by the honesty of the waiter and generosity of the manager. Explanation and analysis of the encounter There was no ‘knowledge gap’ in the service because I had been to this restaurant many times before and was never disappointed with the service. The people, physical evidence, and processes (3P’s) maintained by the restaurant provided me with an immaculate experience. As soon as we entered the restaurant, we were greeted by the staff with smiles. One of them asked my name politely. When I told him my name, he was able to recall my reservation details and immediately led me to my chosen place. The waiter was nicely dressed and well-mannered. Before having us seated there, he asked us if we were content with that arrangement or if we would like to be seated somewhere else. We chose to sit there as that place presented a nice view of the snowfall outside the main entrance. It hardly took the waiter two minutes to provide us with water and menu. The waiter’s interaction was a perfect example of ‘interaction marketing’ (Brown 1991) which is one of the three categories comprised as ‘relational marketing’ by the theorists Brodie, Munro, and Coviello (Rospigliosi and Greener 2014). The sense of ‘empathy’ and individual recognition was quite obvious from the way I was entertained in the restaurant. There was no ‘policy gap’ in the service between management perception and specification of service quality. In addition, I was impressed by the coordination between the waiters and the manager, so the restaurant gets full marks in the ‘responsiveness’ area of the RATER model (Winer 2007). I did not find any ‘delivery gap’ in the service because the waiter had no difficulty managing my problems and questions. The manager did not even show up once and yet he had his impression lifted up in my eyes because of the favor he had offered as a compensation for a mistake, that was primarily my own, so he satisfies me on the scale of ‘empathy’, ‘assurance’, and ‘tangibles’ areas of the RATER model. The food was served quickly and it tasted delicious, so I found the service quite ‘responsive’. The promised service exceeded my expectations from it, so the ‘communication gap’ was closed. The waiter could have just taken the ring and not tell me about it if he wanted to, but he had been honest. He closed the ‘customer gap’ by understanding my needs and trying to meet my expectations by actively getting involved in the search with me. How likely am I to return to this restaurant and why? On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 represents ‘not likely’ and 5 represents ‘extremely likely’, I would give this restaurant a 5. I would return to this restaurant because it has everything that is likeable about a dining experience. Maintaining an existing customer’s loyalty is a critical objective of marketing (Mullins 2010). Case 2: A bad face to face encounter Date of service encounter 24 October 2014 Name of service provider ……………………. What circumstances led to the encounter? I had to buy a blouse. I went to the shop so that I could try some before buying the best. What happened during the encounter? I loved the blouse on display on the dummy. I asked the customer services’ agent to show me that. She said that the blouse had gone out of stock. I asked her to let me try the one on the dummy. She said she could not as it was not allowed to take clothes off the dummies for the customers. Meanwhile, I saw another customer services’ agent letting a child wear a hat that was on another dummy. When I inquired about that, the customer services’ agent said she would have to report it to the manager, and she disappeared into the manager’s room. Five minutes later, the manager personally came out, apologized to me, and himself went down the staircase to bring me that blouse. How would I rate the satisfaction/dissatisfaction with the encounter? On a scale of 1 to 5, with one being ‘not satisfied at all’ and 5 being ‘extremely satisfied’, I shall give this restaurant service a 3 Why I gave this score? While the customer services’ agent had been bad, the manager had been nice. Explanation and analysis of the encounter It was poor service quality as the service provided by the customer services’ agent, in no way, matched my expectations (Shen 2007). The customer services’ agent created ‘customer gap’ by not meeting my expectation regarding the blouse request. There was ‘knowledge gap’ as I expected the customer services’ agent to do me the favor but she declined my request, going against even the policies of her own company, probably because of lack of information. Despite the bad experience, I must say that the manager closed the ‘policy gap’ by personally apologizing to me and letting me try the blouse on display. There was certainly weakness in employee performance; the manager should make sure that the customer services’ agents are aware of the company’s policies in order to close the ‘delivery gap’. It was only a matter of luck that the ‘communication gap’ was closed. Had I not seen the other customer services’ agent letting the child try the hat on display on the dummy, I would have taken the impression that the company does not do enough to please the customers, unlike what it claims to do. GAPS model implies that “service quality is an outcome of difference between consumer expectations and performance on important consumer concerns which they call service quality dimensions” (Verma 2012) which can be merged into the five RATER dimensions. The customer services’ agent was careless, unresponsive, unreliable, and failed to provide me with assurance and tangible services claimed by the company, so she falls flat on the ground when inspected in light of the RATER model. This customer services’ agent failed in all 3P’s of marketing. As a person, she was horrible! She should not have taken the responsibility of dealing with the customers without learning the company’s policies. In terms of processes, the customer services’ agent not only did me a disservice, but she also went to the manager to complain about the other customer services’ agent who was doing his work right. How likely am I to return to this shop and why? On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 represents ‘not likely’ and 5 represents ‘extremely likely’, I would give this shop a 3. Case 3: A good online encounter Date of service encounter 4 August 2014 Name of service provider The Hummingbird Bakery What circumstances led to the encounter? Last August, when I was in London, I went for a little cupcake tour online. I went on different websites that provided reviews for the bakeries in London and this particular bakery had especially acquired many positive reviews, so I decided to give this bakery a try. What happened during the encounter? I decided to place the order for four cupcakes of different flavors; I chose Pink Champagne, Pumpkin Chai, Carrot Cake, and Black Bottom. I asked the customer services’ representative to tell me about their Vanilla cupcake because it looked very beautiful over the website. As expected, she praised it and asked me if I would like to have a pair of that ordered too. I told her that I would run out of cash if I did so, and respectfully declined the offer. How would I rate the satisfaction/dissatisfaction with the encounter? On a scale of 1 to 5, with one being ‘not satisfied at all’ and 5 being ‘extremely satisfied’, I shall give this restaurant service a 5. Why I gave this score? I was thoroughly satisfied by the customer service as well as the services offered by this website. Explanation and analysis of the encounter Certain dimensions of the SERQVQUAL model apply on this encounter (Lovelock and Wirtz 2011). Firstly, I found the customer care team to be really punctual. To test its punctuality, I called the bakery four times, once at 9:30am, then at 10:05am, the third time at 6:58pm, and the fourth time at 7:10 pm at four different days to check how true is what the website states i.e. customer care time remains available 10am to 7pm all days of week. I found the information to be accurate because my first and last call was not responded to whereas the middle two calls were responded to. So I was extremely satisfied in the ‘reliability’ area of the RATER model (Ennew and Waite 2007) and the ‘processes’ dimension of the 3P’s of marketing. The customer services’ representative was able to update me on the status of my order within 2 minutes, and she was very polite throughout, so the bakery gets full marks from me in the ‘assurance’ and ‘responsiveness’ area of the RATER model as well as in the ‘people’ dimension of the 3P’s of marketing. Also, the fact that I kept checking the status of my order helped close the ‘knowledge gap’ between my service expectations and perception of the company’s representative. I also did not notice any ‘policy gap’ or ‘delivery gap’ since the cupcakes arrived even a bit earlier than the mentioned time. The cupcakes had best texture, they were just rightly moist and optimally sweet, and I could tell that they were all freshly baked. Accordingly, the bakery gets full marks in the ‘tangibles’ area of the RATER model as well. The best part of the whole experience was that when the cupcakes arrived, there was a pair of Vanilla cupcakes in the box as well that I had not included in the order. And they were wrapped with red ribbons around the cupcake-cases, as a “thank you” note. It made my day! The company closed the ‘customer gap’ by understanding my needs and doing even more than my expectations. It would be a great injustice if I didn’t give the bakery full marks in the ‘empathy’ area of the RATER model either and accordingly, the bakery completely satisfied me in the ‘physical appearance’ dimension of the 3P’s of marketing. The ‘communication gap’ was closed because the service I was given exceeded the service I had expected. How likely am I to return to this bakery and why? On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 represents ‘not likely’ and 5 represents ‘extremely likely’, I would give this restaurant a 5. This online shopping experience was memorable! Case 4: A bad online encounter Date of service encounter 4 November 2014 Name of service provider Ebay What circumstances led to the encounter? Knowing that it has a large variety of accessories and is quite well-known, I decided to do some shopping from Ebay. I had a chat with one of the company’s representatives. She was very polite and sweet-talked me into buying from the website, assuring me of the authenticity of its products. She claimed that all products sold by the website are original and provide customers with 100% satisfaction. I browsed through the pictures of purses but couldn’t ignore this gorgeous Gucci bag. This was the picture of an original Gucci bag, so I placed an order for it. What happened during the encounter? I purchased this bag for US$700 that I paid of straight using my credit card. The original price of the bag is almost I made a fool of myself having trusted the website for a cheap deal. Firstly, the representative had assured me that it would not take the bag any longer than a week to arrive at my place, whereas the bag took almost a month to arrive. Meanwhile, I called the representative several times at the mentioned contact number at the website. Only 3 out of 10 times was I successful in actually talking with the representative. I almost dodged a heart-attack when I found that the bag I finally received after the wait of a month was not only a replica of the original Gucci bag but was also more like a toy bag carrying the brand logo of Gucci. How would I rate the satisfaction/dissatisfaction with the encounter? On a scale of 1 to 5, with one being ‘not satisfied at all’ and 5 being ‘extremely satisfied’, I shall give this restaurant service a 1. Why I gave this score? I was thoroughly disappointed by the customer service as well as the services offered by this website. Explanation and analysis of the encounter Before ordering any accessory from an online shop, it is recommendable for the customer to carry out research so that it can be checked whether the website is a scam or provides real service. In my case, I did not do this research and hence fell prey to them. “The service quality management process involves matching evolving customer expectations” (Panda 2009) in which this website failed completely. The representative should have been truthful and told me that the website sells replicas of the original products of well-known brands. Even the dumbest person could tell it was a replica as it looked so cheap and carrying it around would be nothing less than an insult to my taste. The ‘customer gap’ is very obvious from my expectations from the website and my perceptions of what it sent to me in the name of a bag. There are many people who are fine with replicas and would pay for one, but that sure isn’t me, so I give the website 0 marks in the ‘assurance’ and ‘tangibles’ areas of the RATER model (Seligman 2012). The over-promising in advertising did not match the actual delivery of service, which created a ‘communication gap’. The fact that the bag took a month to arrive while it was not supposed to be delayed by even a day after one week from the placement of order makes me again give it a 0 in the ‘reliability’ area of the RATER model. I could easily see a ‘delivery gap’ between the specification of service quality and the actual delivery of service. I tried to call them several times after that and was only once entertained with a response. This time, Kate disappointed me telling that the bag was not refundable, so the website gets yet another 0 in the ‘empathy’ area of the RATER model. The customer services’ agent kept changing names; first it was Susan who had convinced me to buy the bag. When I called out of curiosity as two weeks had passed since the placement of order, Martha picked up the phone. Two days later, after three unsuccessful attempts, my call was received by Beth, and then another week later, after another five unsuccessful attempts, Michelle received my call. I could tell from her voice and accent that it was the same person talking to me over and over again with different names. Such a poor response does not deserve any more than a 0 in the ‘responsiveness’ area of the RATER model. The website totally disappointed me in all 3P’s of marketing. The respondent’s refusal of my request to return the bag made the ‘policy gap’. The respondent insisted that the bag I had received was the original Gucci bag, thus displaying a clear ‘knowledge gap’. How likely am I to return to this website and why? On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 represents ‘not likely’ and 5 represents ‘extremely likely’, I would give this restaurant a 1. This online shopping experience was a nightmare! References: Brown, SW 1991, Service Quality: Multidisciplinary and Multinational Perspectives, Lexington Books. Ennew, C, and Waite, N 2007, Financial Services Marketing, Routledge. Lovelock, C, and Wirtz, J 2011, Service Marketing: People, Technology, 3/e, Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. Mullins 2010, Marketing Management: A Strategic Decision-Making Approach, McGraw-Hill Irwin. Panda, TK 2009, Marketing Management: Text and Cases Indian Context, Excel Books India. Rospigliosi, A, and Greener, S 2014, Proceedings of the European Conference on Social Media: ECSM 2014, Academic Conferences Limited. Seligman, J 2012, Customer Experience in Modern Marketing, Lulu.com. Shen, C 2007, A Study of Service Quality and Members Satisfaction in Three Fitness Clubs in Taipei City, ProQuest. Verma, HV 2012, Services Marketing: Text and Cases, 2/e, Pearson Education India. Winer 2007, Marketing Management, Pearson Education India. Read More