Question

Service Encounter Discussion

1. Choose an example of an ideal service encounter that you have experienced recently and discuss:

• What was the source of satisfaction?
• Why was the encounter so special? What did the employee do?
• What were your expectations?
• What could the company do to ensure that this kind of encounter is the "rule" rather than the "exception" (if you think it should ensure this)?

2. Choose an example of a very bad service encounter that you have experienced recently and discuss:

• What was the source of dissatisfaction? Can you categorize the encounter according to the four common themes?
• What did the employee do to make this such a bad encounter? What were your expectations?
• What should the employee have done?
• Using the GAPS model of service quality, can you identify likely gap(s) that may have caused this service failure?

Answer 1

The following are just two service encounters, there could be many other such examples. You can formulate your answer with the help of following points.

Answer 1

I recently went to a beauty parlour to get some basic grooming services and it was an ideal service encounter.

In these times of Covid-19, I was really scared of going to the parlour and the safety measures that they would take or not take. But they kept very high standards of hygiene, they sanitized everything before using, they sanitized me as well as soon as I entered their parlour, maintained proper distance, allowed people only through appointments so as to maintain proper social distancing. Even after they did untake all these safety measures which increased their costs significantly, they still charged the same price for their services as they charged before this Covid situation. So they ensured safety and did not even raise their prices because of the increased costs when on the other hand there are many who are trying to exploit the consumers in these difficult times.

So, the source of satisfaction was their safety standards that they maintained and the unchanged price that they charged. Also, the employees listened completely and attentively to exactly how I wanted my service to be curated and provided that personalized service as per my wish.

The encounter was special because they made sure the customer felt safe in taking their service and that too without paying additional price. The employee listened to what I wanted attentively and provided me the service exactly as per my wish. Also the employee was very friendly and comforting which left me completely happy after availing their service.

My expectations were exactly what I received from their service. I was expecting that they would maintain high safety standards which is in the best interests of both the service provider and the customer. Also, I expected to meet nice, friendly employees especially in a service industry like beauty parlour which provides highly personalized services.

To ensure that this encounter is a "rule" rather than an "exception", the company needs to hire employees after due diligence, they should provide them proper on-the-job training so that they learn the best practices of the firm. The employees should be made aware of the fact that if the service is not provided in the best possible manner, it might invite a penalty for them. The company needs to understand customer expectations and then curate their services accordingly. Also, they should advertise what they actually provide so that customers do not have unrealistic expectations while thinking of availing their services.

Answer 2:

I recently ordered a cake for my parents anniversary from an online food delivery app which picks food from the ordered store and then delivers it at your home and charges a delivery fee for the same.

The source of dissatisfaction was that, firstly they delivered a cake which looked completely different from the picture shown on the app. Secondly, I had specifically mentioned in my order to write happy anniversary on the cake but they did not write anything on it and instead provided a happy birthday tag along with the cake which was of no use to me. Also, I tried contacting the employee of the store whose number was provided on the app, but he neither spoke to me in a decent manner not provided any redressal to the issue. The encounter was completely dissatisfying, where cutomers needs were not completely understood, nor was the delivery appropriate, nor the customer care service.

The employee who delivered the cake, delivered the wrong cake, that too without meeting all the specifications mentioned in the order. The employee at the store did no efforts to rectify the mistake done by the employee delivering the order. My expectations were of getting the correct cake delivered that I ordered along with the specifications satisfied that I mentioned in my order.

The employee should have correctly checked whether he was delivering the correct product or not as has been ordered and whether the products meets all the asked specifications or not and if not, he should have tried to meet those specifications first and then delivered the product. The employee at the store should have talked to me decently, should have accepted the mistake and should have at least offered to rectify the mistake.

The Gap Model of Service Quality (GAPS) model is a framework that helps the service provider to know the quality of service provided and the level of customer satisfaction. There are five major satisfaction gaps that must be minimized in order to satisfy the customer. These gaps are:

1: gap between customer expectations and understanding of customer needs by organization

2: gap between understanding of customer needs and service delivery policy of the firm

3: gap between service delivery policies and service delivery

4: gap between service delivery and external communications

5: gap between customer expectations and customer perception

The gaps that may have caused the failure in this service delivery are:

1- Knowledge gap- gap between customer expectations and understanding of customer needs by organization as I expected some product with certain specifications but they might not have that exact same product available and hence they delivered a similar looking product. Along with that they failed to listen to customer complaints.

2- delivery gap- gap between service delivery policies and service delivery as their policy is to deliver the product in exact same form as ordered but they actually delivered a different product.

3- External communications gap- There was a gap between what was advertised on the app and the actual product that was delivered to me. It might be because they communicated about a different product to me while in reality they offered a different product.

You can choose some other service that you availed and thinking upon the lines provided in the above answer, you can formulate your answer.