Trade Tales: Decoding Customers' Stories: Volume 14

This chapter is the introduction to the 26 trade-tale case studies in the present volume. Face-to-face, telephone, and written interactions between salespersons and customers and service-providers and customers occur frequently in everyday life. Successful communications and outcomes are likely to occur for the majority of these encounters. However, most ­customers, salespersons, and service-providers are likely to be able to identify personal examples of miscommunications and bad outcomes. Most of the trade-tale cases in this volume include in-depth cases of miscommunications and bad outcomes. Chapter 1 is a call for achieving “requisite variety” and in-depth examination of such cases. All the cases in this volume present deep dives into describing and understanding details in the inter­action processes and alternative versus actual outcomes of each case study. The numerous and varied case studies along with the deep interpretations of the processes and outcomes provide useful steps for achieving the objective of requisite variety. Chapter 1 provides details of the topics and ­coverage of requisite variety.

A vegan purchased some vegetarian dishes at a restaurant to take home. When the family started eating the food, the daughter discovered clams in the soup. She called the restaurant but was treated rudely. When she went back to the restaurant, she received no apology from the staff at the restaurant. Because she complained, she was suspected of trying to cheat by adding clams in order to get a discount. Eventually, she was offered a discount by the manager, but she refused it.

Customer’s lawsuits for alleged harm done from experiences with products and services are frequently attacked as frivolous by some elected government officials and company executives. “Tort reform” legislature is an attempt to weaken consumers’ abilities to successfully receive redress in the legal system for alleged harms experienced from products and services. Critics of “tort reform” refer to new legal restrictions against lawsuits as “tort deform.” The movie documentary, Hot Coffee, presents three detailed case studies relating to tort reform (deform). Take 2:28 minutes to watch the trailer of the movie at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBKRjxeQnT4. Doing so is a useful preparation for interpreting the following case reported in this chapter. A mother drove her daughter to Wonder’s Best Burger for an apple pie and a hot chocolate. After the mother got the food, she returned to her car and gave it to her daughter. The kid was excited, so she immediately opened the hot chocolate. Unfortunately, a tragedy occurred as the hot chocolate scalded her. The mother, holding her daughter, rushed into Wonder’s Best Burger and argued with an employee about her kid being scalded.

Angela is a UK tourist doing masters in tourism management (MTM). She has selected a small–medium-size hotel in Kefalonia, Greece, for her summer holidays. It is a 4-star hotel. The interior design of the hotel is very impressive and the services are promoted as of high quality, especially for targeted VIP guests. However, the circumstances today are very difficult to manage a small hotel with view rooms for customer groups seeking premium services. The economic and social crises have affected the Greek economy and are negative impact factors for small and middle-size enterprises (SME). Our guest Angela was not satisfied with the first lodging that she had selected until a new event happened.

A customer of Xtrip (name disguised) booked an airline ticket online but was told that the ticket was invalid while boarding from a foreign airport. The solution provided by the customer service representative did not work, and the customer was nearly arrested by the local police as a suspected fraud. On his return, the customer demanded a written apology from Xtrip to restore his reputation. What should the company do?

Wang Hui booked an electronic ticket on Eyesjuant (name disguised) from Guangzhou to Beijing for a flight departing at 2 pm. However, when he arrived at the airport, he could not check in and was informed that there was no booking information for him on the file. He called the customer service representative of Eyesjuant. The representative told him that his booking had been sent to the airlines again and he would be able to check in at this point. When he returned to the counter, there was still no booking information. With only one hour before the plane was scheduled to take off, he again made the phone call asking Eyesjuant for help to solve this problem. What should the Eyesjuant’s service representative do?

George is the new president of a secondary hospital in Greece. As an intensive economic crisis has been occurring for many years, he has to make difficult decisions regarding how he can effectively reorganize the hospital. George is asked to investigate the current health environment and choose what changes he considers best.

Thousands of young people traveled to London to attend their favorite “High Ten” world famous pop girl band performing in the O2 Arena. Ten minutes before show time the organizers informed the fans that the concert was canceled due to Alyssa’s, one of the four-piece band singers, sudden illness. The disappointed fans were instructed to leave the venue and wait for a news release on the following day.

There was a mistake relating to a roaming network service package that my sister bought from one of the telephone networks in Thailand. She paid 2,000 Baht (the Baht is the currency of Thailand) for this package. She and her friends were going on a self-“guided” and organized tour to Japan and wanted to use the internet as an integral part of travelling. She or her friends did not speak Japanese. Unfortunately, the internet did not work using that roaming package. Not having roaming facility greatly affected the travelling quality of my sister’s vacation trip to Japan. It also completely messed up her itinerary. My sister used hotel Wi-Fi to contact me and asked that I call the telephone service and solve the problem.

Our supplier sends us wrong screws for the production of goods that our client needs. Due to the deadline we had agreed with our client, there was no time for us to find a new supplier. So we in Thailand requested the supplier, in question, in China to rectify their mistake by sending us the correct screws that we urgently need. At first they declined, but after I proved that it was their mistake, they grudgingly complied with my request.

A customer makes an appointment to see her local general practitioner (medical doctor, GP) regarding the likelihood of a hereditary illness. As part of this process, the customer is required to return the following day for a blood test, and on the third occasion for a scan. After not hearing back from anyone regarding the results of the blood test, the customer is spoken to rudely by a nurse when she attempts to find out the results days later.The customer is then advised by the practice carrying out the scan that the full cost will be covered from her health insurance policy, only to find out after the scan takes place that it is not. How should the practice have handle this situation in terms of the information provided to the customer? And, how will the experience with the practice staff affect the relationship the customer has with her local health provider?

A direct service representative persuades a family to switch service providers for their mobile phones to reduce costs and simplify the payment process. One family member later finds out that her phone is not compatible with the StayConnected (name disguised) network, rendering it almost useless until the problem is resolved.

A university student tries to find a dentist for emergency removal of an impacted wisdom tooth. Only one dentist in the student’s home town of Hamilton is able to squeeze the patient in. Scheduled surgery is postponed by 2 days due to overbooking by the dentist, leaving the patient in a state of suffering and increased anxiety. Surgery goes according to the plan on the rescheduled date; however, the cost of treatment far exceeds what was expected. The student is unable to pay the costs and is poorly treated by staff due to this. What should the dentist/owner do to effectively manage this complex situation?

Jamie hires a carpet cleaner from the supermarket, but the vacuum doesn’t work, so he returns it. However, he and his flatmates are now unable to clean their carpet, which means they fail their final flat inspection and subsequently lose a part of their bond. He receives a refund for the product rental, but is still out of pocket with regard to the flat bond, and is also a bit disillusioned by the poor service he received in-store.

Art Rey, a middle-aged general manager (GM) of a FastFood King franchise in a little town far, far away is something of a local legend. His store is renowned in the neighbourhood for its cleanliness, attention to detail and for providing friendly service – often by Art himself, who works tirelessly to ensure a ‘first class’ customer experience. Art has been awarded dozens of recognitions by FastFood King Corporation over three decades of employment, having started with the company as a fry cook when he was quite young. Art progressed through the ranks at the store level, holding many positions before reaching his present post of GM. He is now looking forward to imparting his years of hard-earned knowledge to younger employees and eventually to retirement. In this case study, Art is evaluating the on-the-job performance of a new manager.

A group of Japanese tourists arrive at a 4-star hotel, situated in the city center of Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. Upon arrival, the Danish-born Japanese tour guide is the first to enter the hotel, while leaving his group of tourists in the bus. He then spends about 15 minutes with the front desk agent, checking details of the stay. Finally, after he is satisfied, he assists the tourists with checking in to their rooms. Afterwards, the guide overhears the front desk agent discussing and venting about the “annoying and time-consuming” process with a coworker in Danish. What should the hotel management do?

Two hotel guests repeatedly took food from various breakfast buffets every morning before starting the daily tour. Not only is this considered a violation of etiquette, it also violated the hotel restaurant policy. Following complaints from other tour group members, and a polite but firm request from a hotel restaurant manager to address the unacceptable behavior, the tour guide was faced with a dilemma. As the offenders were, after all, his customers, the guide risked offending his clients by asking them to respect hotel policy. If he did nothing, the tour guide risked the appearance of ignoring the other clients who adhered to proper etiquette and felt embarrassed by association. He also risked damage to his reputation as a tour guide, as well as damage to the professional relationship between his employer and the hotel if he did not act.

Customer goes online in order to cancel Wowiesatisfy (name disguised) membership after receiving an email from them on February 1st. Upon receiving a cancelation confirmation that her account has been deactivated, she again receives an email from them on February 2nd letting her know that her monthly boutique is ready and that she has 24 hours to either skip the month, or she’ll be charged her monthly membership fee of $39.95. The customer calls Wowiesatisfy customer service in order to resolve the problem and they assure her that her membership has been canceled. On February 5th, the customer’s bank account shows a charge of $39.95 to Wowiesatisfy. What should the company do?

A customer orders two bowls of soup at a Neighborhood chain restaurant and after paying is informed that the store is out of one of the soups. The customer refuses a different variety of soup and insists she needs the original soup choice. The soup will be available again in one hour. What should the Neighborhood chain restaurant do?

Rules are not always followed. If rules are broken, there may be a valid reason. Staff charged with maintaining order must be encouraged to identify the reason for the violation and provide creative solutions. An example of such a situation occurred when a German high-speed train passenger prebooked a seat for his return trip on a southbound train from Hannover to Stuttgart. After claiming his seat, he walks away to buy a cup of coffee for the long trip. Upon returning, he finds a young father with a baby occupying his seat. Although sympathetic to the young father’s needs, the tired passenger paid for the seat for the five-hour trip and he would like what is his. After the young father refuses to move, the passenger calls the conductor for assistance. How should the conductor respond?

A family of three pays a premium to upgrade to Concierge Class cabins for a cruise vacation. After setting sail, they decide to add a shore excursion (sight-seeing option) to their vacation package. Upon making their way to the Concierge Desk, they are told that excursions are an “add-on” service provided by a third party company. The family felt that the butler service provided for Concierge Class passengers had overlooked sharing this information. The misunderstanding results in dissatisfaction with the premium Concierge services as well as the whole vacation experience. What should the cruise line company do?

A British Airways flight crew arrives after a long flight from London to Chicago to find their hotel rooms are not ready for check-in. The front-desk agents tell them that the hotel is overbooked. The flight crew is asked to wait in the hotel lobby for more than one and a half hours while housekeepers prepare their rooms. Upon returning to London, the pilot complains to British Airways. What should the hotel have done differently to avoid complaints?

A group of tourism and hospitality students from a Danish university were on a study trip to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. During a company site visit, their program was disrupted by an unexpected extra speaker following an unplanned social event. The Danish group leader decided to stay with the original program even if it meant declining the hospitality of their hosts.

When a senior field journalist attempts to cover super typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, body guards were assigned to protect end-up obstructing. Disagreements between the news team and security team followed. The teams had different opinions regarding how situations should be handled. The clients were not satisfied with the services provided by the security, while the security felt the clients failed to understand safety considerations. What should the security company have done to ensure safety while supporting the news team’s objectives?

An existing customer goes to his bank to apply for a debit card. The bank required that the customer provide additional supportive documents and complete a pending procedure. However, after two visits, the employee failed to inform the customer of the additional procedure that should be completed. With multiple visits to the bank to complete the application, the customer filed a complaint. What should the bank do?

A customer ordered NoName trainers from NoName shoe.co.nz. The shoes did not arrive even after three weeks; therefore, the customer sent an email inquiring why the shipping status was still “pending.” The ­customer received no reply from the supplier. Five weeks later the customer sent an additional email, demanding a full refund after discovering alarming reviews on the internet, which suggested the site was a scam. The refund was in the ­customer’s account within the next few days. What should the firm have done to create customer loyalty without jeopardizing profits or recovering costs?