JAIPURIA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

An Assignment of Service Gaps Analysis and

Suggestions on provided Service Failure Situation
in Service Marketing

Submitted
Submittedtoto: Submitted by:
Prof. Sahil Jasrotia Dev Gopal Karan
Nisha Soni
Purvi Jain
Rochak Sharma

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Service Failure Situation:
Situation 6
We had divided the whole situation into 4 points and then we had taken each point to
analyze the gap in the situation. The points covered and the group members details are
mentioned below.
Dev Gopal Karan – 4th Point (Analysis and Suggestion)
Nisha Soni – 3rd Point (Analysis and Suggestion)
Purvi Jain – 1st Point (Analysis and Suggestion)
Rochak Sharma – 2nd Point (Analysis and Suggestion)

1. Their interior decoration service provider overcharged a client by a significant

amount, and then took several extra direct debit payments without notification or
authorization.

Analysis

From the above statement, we can identify that there is a communication gap
because the customer was not aware of the several extra direct debit payments as
well as he was overcharged by some amount without any prior notification. This
distinction is between service delivery and what is communicated to customers
externally via advertising, price, and other kinds of communication.

Suggestions

 The first suggestion is centered on integrated services marketing communication,

which guarantees that everything and everyone communicating about the service
does so in a manner consistent with what customers want and what is delivered. In
this case, the interior decoration service provider should be informed about the
reason why are they overcharging and should seek permission before debiting the
payment.
 Another critical method for bridging the communication divide is to successfully
manage customer expectations throughout the service experience. The company
should provide a valid reason for overcharging to gain customer trust. For these
interior decorators are required to upfront communicate the variation in the prices.

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 Another technique for narrowing the communication gap is to establish internal
communication channels that ensure the consumer receives consistent messaging
before the sale and throughout the service delivery process. Here, in this case,
service staff should be trained enough to communicate with the customer whenever
it is required. Also, they should seek permission from customers before debiting the
amount.
 Another issue in the provider communication gap concerns service pricing. In the
given situation customer should have proper knowledge about the amount that the
company is overcharging from the customer, what are the benefits he will receive by
overpaying? Along with that, the service provider needs to give intimation about
such changes in the prices also ask the customer whether they are ready to pay the
extra price or not.

2. When the customer complained, the front-line customer service staff denied
everything. Even when presented with evidence in the form of bills, bank
statements, etc. The company’s customer service agents refused to acknowledge
the problem.

Analysis

This line shows the customer gap as we can see that customer was not expecting this
that after showing all the proofs, he will not be handled in the way he was expecting.
The customer was having all the proofs regarding his complaint and still he has been
denied by the customer service staff.

Suggestions

 The service staff should first check out all the proofs regarding his complaint and
should tell him that they will analyze the problem and get back to him.
 The customer service staff should deliver the support the customer.
 The customer service staff should experience the customer journey like what he was
feeling not being handled by them in a proper way.
 They should ensure that the service delivery matches the promises.

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3. Only after persistence did, customer finally get their complaint elevated to
somebody more equipped to deal with it. In total, from the first complaint to
resolution, they waited almost six weeks.

Analysis

From this line we can identify the service performance gap because after registering
the first complaint the customer waited for almost 6 weeks to get the resolution. The
company should not keep the customer wait so long and should resolve the
complain as soon as possible.

Suggestions

 Here the management should train the front-line employees on how to handle
queries and customer complaint. Proper training and development programs should
be given to the employees so that the complaint get resolved at the earliest.

 There should a proper rules and defined time period to solve the customer
complaint.

 There should be proper internal communication between the frontline employees

and the management along with their other department to avoid
miscommunication.

 The customer should be communicated about the progress of their complaint so that
they can track and know an approximate time that when their complaint will be
resolved.

4. The customer felt ignored, undervalued, and at times, lied to by a major company.
Clearly, this was not acceptable for them, and so they switched provider.

Analysis

From this sentence it is a customer gap because the customer had not expected that
his complaint will not be taken so easily, and he will have to provide proof for the
same. Apart from that the complaint was solved after six weeks that was not
expected from the customer side. He was also overcharged, and some extra amount
was deducted without prior notification and authorization which created bad
impression of the service provider and that results to switching to new provider.

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 Suggestions

 If there is extra charged occurred or billed, before deducting the money from the
customer he should be communicated clearly about that. The service provider
should be transparent in providing the service.

 The service provider should have investigated the matter before directly denying
taking the complaint. Instead, they could say the customer that they will check and
get back to him at the earliest.

 As the complaint took 6 weeks to resolve, the customer should be communicated

earlier that this complaint can take this much time to resolve and, they could tell the
customer about the progress of the resolution.

 As the customer felt undervalued and ignored, to restore the customer’s

expectation, they could compensate the customer with voucher or discount
coupons.