Case Study for Total Quality Management - Essay Example

Ever since 9/11 this industry has seen radical changes and movements towards downsizing and cost cutting. A company in this industry that was able to maintain a high level of customer service is Orbitz Corporation. This paper provides two answers to discussion questions of the case study Customer Service Processes at Orbitz. Mr. Patton was very satisfied with the level of service that he received. Corporations that provide good customer service are able to achieve higher levels of customer retention (Achievemax, 2009).

There were various aspects of the experience Mr. Patton encountered which made him happy. First of all when he approached the company about the double billing problem the company was apologetic. After a short verification process which took a few minutes the firm admitted they were wrong. This is somewhat unusual because companies love to blame the customer. I once had a problem at an ATM that stole my money. I went to the bank and they claimed it was not their fault because they were the owners of the ATM and the protocol was for an investigation to occur.

I was not satisfied with this response at all since all they had to do was contact the other bank that owned the ATM to check the video camera in order to verify that cash was not disbursed. Mr. Hatton was surprised that the company admitted the wrong doing so fast. Another dimension of the customer service at Orbitz that impressed Mr. Hatton was the short waiting time on the phone and the efficiency of their voicemail system. Inefficient voicemail system that keep routing the customer through way too many options typically anger customers to the point that at times the customer prefers to hang up than to continue the ordeal (Crestcapital, 2006).

Another aspect of the customer service that impressed Mr. Hatton was that the company apologized for the mistake on various occasions. At the end of the process Orbitz send Mr. Hatton a letter apologizing with a