The top ten excuses for bad service (and how to avoid needing them)
The top ten excuses for bad service (and how to avoid needing them)
Dickson D., Ford R.C., Laval B.Organizational Dynamics, (USA), 2005, Vol. 34 No. 2, Start page: 168, No. of Pages: 17
Purpose – To present the “top ten” reasons managers give for not providing excellent customer service and to demonstrate how to avoid the need to resort to these excuses. Design/methodology/approach – In relation to specific complaints (for example, “why do I have to wait so long for service?”), identifies the top ten excuses (“to get service as good as ours, sometimes you have to wait”) managers give in reply to customer complaints. Responds to each of the excuses with examples of how benchmark organizations handle similar issues (in the situation of long waits for service,the best organizations thoroughly study their customer demand patterns to develop forecasts of when and how many people are expected at what times). Continues in this vein for each of the ten excuses (the number one excuse being,“customer complaint: we expected something different from your company and we are really disappointed. Excuse: you must be misinformed, as we’ve been successful for a long time and obviously know exactly what our customers want and need”), and concludes with a warning that companies which rely on these excuses will become more and more uncompetitive over time. Originality/value– Offers valuable advice on how service organizations can learn from their benchmark competitors how to provide excellent customer service so they need never resort to an excuse again.Style: ViewpointISSN: 0090-2616Reference: 34AT184
Keywords: Customer information, Customer satisfaction, Customer service management
