Deck 13: Complaint Handling and Service Recovery

Question 1

All EXCEPT which of the following are reasons that service guarantees are powerful tools for both promoting and achieving service quality?

A)Guarantees reduce consumer complaining, increasing customer satisfaction and information from customers.
B)Guarantees force firms to focus on what their customers want and expect in each element of the service.
C)Guarantees set clear standards, telling customers and employees alike what the company stands for.
D)Guarantees building "market muscle" by reducing the risk of the purchase decision and developing long-term loyalty.
E)Guarantees force service organizations understand why they fail and encourage them to identify and overcome potential fail points.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

All of the following are jaycustomers EXCEPT ___________.

A)The Cheat
B)The Rule Breaker
C)The Belligerent
D)The Deadbeat
E)The Hooligan

Answer 2

E

Question 3

On average, what percentage of customers complains when they are unhappy with service?

A)0 percent
B)5-10 percent
C)15-25 percent
D)30-50 percent
E)60-75 percent

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The ____________ refers to the sometimes-observed effect that customers who experience a service failure and then have it resolved to their full satisfaction are more likely to make future purchases than are customers who have no problem in the first place.

A)referent renewal paradox
B)referent contribution paradox
C)referent acquisition paradox
D)service recovery paradox
E)service renewal paradox

Question 5

Which of the following is NOT one of the options customers take when they are dissatisfied with a service encounter?

A)Take legal action.
B)Vent their anger on the service equipment.
C)Do nothing.
D)Complain to the service firm.
E)Give negative word of mouth.

Question 6

Complaining behavior can be influenced by role perceptions and social norms.

Question 7

People in lower socioeconomic levels are more likely to complain than those in higher levels.

Question 8

Which of the following is NOT one of the reasons why customers complain that is listed in the book?

A)Better understand the failure
B)Vent their anger
C)Help improve the service
D)Obtain restitution or compensation
E)For altruistic reasons

Question 9

A jaycustomer is defined in the book as one who acts in a thoughtless or abusive way, causing problems for the firm, its employees, and other customers.

Question 10

Compensation should be based on the positioning of the firm, the severity of the failure, and who the specific affected customer is.

Question 11

Which of the following is NOT one of the criteria that service guarantees should be designed to meet?

A)Easy to understand and communicate
B)Meaningful to the customer
C)Conditional
D)Easy to invoke
E)Credible

Question 12

Which of the following is NOT one of the guidelines provided for the Front Line on how to handle customer complaints?

A)Consider compensation
B)Keep the customer informed of progress
C)Explain the problem from the service firm's point of view
D)Acknowledge the customer's feelings
E)Act fast

Question 13

Procedural justice concerns the compensation that a customer receives as a result of the losses and inconveniences incurred because of a service failure.

Question 14

Proper service recovery can be accomplished by making it easy for customers to give feedback, enabling effective service recovery, and establishing appropriate compensation levels.

Question 15

Service recovery is an umbrella term for systematic efforts by a firm to correct a problem following a service failure and retain a customer's goodwill.

Question 16

____________ involves the employees of the firm who provide the service recovery and their behavior toward the customer.

A)Procedural justice
B)Legal justice
C)Interactional justice
D)Relational justice
E)Outcome justice

Question 17

Effective service recovery procedures should be ____________, ____________, ____________, and ____________.

A)proactive, engaged, universal, empowered
B)planned, engaged, universal, trained
C)proactive, planned, trained, empowered
D)trained, engaged, flexible, spontaneous
E)trained, engaged, universal, empowered

Question 18

Service guarantees are always appropriate.

Question 19

Interactional justice involves the employees of the firm who provide the service recovery and their behavior toward the customer.

Question 20

Service recovery efforts should be fairly rigid to makes sure the same recovery is achieved each time.

Question 21

How function does a service guarantee serve for firms?

Question 22

Which of the following services best represents how little complaining consumers actually do?

A)TARP
B)Land's End
C)Hampton Inn
D)FedEx
E)A public bus company

Question 23

What is procedural justice?

Question 24

What is the true impact of a customer defection?

Question 25

Conditional guarantees are more effective.

Question 26

How many failures can a service firm commit before the recovery paradox is wiped out?

A)One failure
B)Two failures
C)Three failures
D)Four failures
E)Five failures

Question 27

L. Bean's 100 percent satisfaction guarantee is a good example of a service guarantee that goes wrong and hurts a firm's financial performance.

Question 28

Who are airline customers most likely to complain about an unsatisfactory meal?

Question 29

Which of the following is NOT one of the elements of effective service recovery?

A)Do the job right the first time.
B)Seek alternative recompense strategies.
C)Identify service complaints.
D)Resolve complaints effectively.
E)Learn from the recovery experience.

Question 30

Explain what is meant by "the service recovery paradox."

Question 31

Explain a situation where a service firm should not implement a service guarantee.

Question 32

Hampton Inn has developed a way to identify guests who appear to be cheating and give them a lot of personalized attention and follow-up from the company.

Question 33

Discuss the four common service recovery mistakes made by organizations.

Question 34

Recent research shows that the amount of a guarantee payout has no effect on consumer cheating. Which of the following is one of the important managerial implications of this?

A)Guarantees can be restricted to new customers because of the propensity for repeat customers to cheat.
B)Guarantees can be kept low to prevent rewarding cheaters.
C)Managers can reap the marketing rewards of higher guarantees without increased payouts due to consumer cheating.
D)Managers cannot expect to recover the difference in guarantees for different types of consumers.
E)Guarantee levels can be used to dissuade consumer cheating.

Question 35

When Marriott Long Wharf Hotel faces the situation of overbooking, all of the following are steps to recover the situation EXCEPT ____________.

A)upgrade the guest to a suite
B)helping the guest get a room in another hotel
C)giving the guest money to pay for the cab fare
D)giving the guest complimentary continental breakfast
E)call the guest later at the other hotel to make sure he is alright

Question 36

What are the three main response options for customers who experience service failures?

Question 37

Customers who complain are more likely to be white-collar workers than blue-collar workers.

Question 38

The story about the desk clerk at the Marriott Long Wharf Hotel in Boston is a good example of what aspect of effective service recovery?

Question 39

Explain what is meant by a "combined guarantee."

Question 40

The Cheat is the kind of jaycustomer who delays payments.

Question 41

Describe the three complaint barriers for dissatisfied consumers and explain how a firm can reduce these barriers.

Question 42

Give an example of a single attribute-specific guarantee.

Question 43

Give an example of a full-satisfaction guarantee.

Question 44

Describe a service guarantee offered in the chapter that instills confidence and one that does not.

Question 45

Discuss the perceived advantages of Hampton Inn's 100 percent satisfaction guarantee.