Group 6 –

Ken Koshy Jacob – b2536

Krishna S – b2537
Mathew Febin Charles – b2539
Karina Joseph – b2535
KS Dennis – b2533
 Summary
• HomeTown is a unique one-stop destination for complete home-making solutions, the first of its kind
retail format in India. It provides consumers all that goes into building a house and everything to make it
a ‘Home’, all under one roof.
• Home Town maintain a USP as “ab ghar banana kitnaa aasaan”(now making home is so simple)
• Mrs. Raj Dogra wanted to revamp her home-- keen to have a new kitchen with smart designs as were
displayed at Home Town.
• Visited Home Town & Mr. Vipin, who was in charge of designing the kitchen --finalized the design
specification of the kitchen for Rs.1,11,000 with a delivery due date after a month .
• Mr. Vipin made false promises that modules would be fabricated at the company’s world class facility at
Nagpur. He handed over the blueprint of the modular kitchen and adiagrams suggesting changes in the
kitchen space.
• Customer got the preliminary work done & Mr.Vipin sent technical staff for inspection after repeated
requests from the customer & approved the space ready for installation.
 CONTD.
• Customer’s dream of having a modern and trendy kitchen was shattered and was to change her specifications as
the required material would be available only after 3 months.
• She was assured that the products would be delivered within 10 days & the promise to compensate for the delay
was not attended.
• On June 14, Vipin sent an SMS that the kitchen was getting air-lifted on June 20. When nothing was heard till
June 21, customer made enquiries as no proper information about the same was given.
• When carpenter came to install the same, it was discovered that the material was short supplied and the kitchen
was not ready for installation as the plumbing work was not in order, even though it had been approved by the
technical team of Home Town.
• Look of the kitchen was spoiled as tiles broken , water pipes were taken outside the walls. A team of carpenters
were deputed from Mumbai to handle the installation. Plumbing problem was unattended.
• The replacement for the shutter was provided several days after the promised date .Customer was waiting for
someone to re-fix the shutters and rectify the defects that still existed.
• The management of Home Town tried to identify its mistakes and learn from them so that they are able to
provide effective service delivery and eventually are able to meet customer expectations.
 CASE ANALYSIS
PROBLEMS

 Failed to meet deadline

 Product stock not available, customer's product specifications had to be reviewed
 Mr Vipin's unprofessional attitude
 Plumbing problem, even after completion of the work
 Customer has had to deal with the inconvenience of not having a kitchen for several months
 Lack of responsiveness at receiving complaints 
CONTD.
 Provider Gap 1 -
• Listening Gap - not knowing customers expect 
• Lack of effective management-to-Ms Dogra interaction
• Focus on transactions and not Home Town relations and service
• Few incentives to listen to Mrs. Dogra 's complaints
• No proper mechanisms for recovery when things go wrong

 Provider Gap 2 –
• Service Design & Standards Gap-does not have the right standards of service and design
• The lack of customer driven standards of service
• Home Town's absence of normal process for setting service quality targets
• Lack of tangible development, in line with the expectations of Mrs. Dogra
• Service standards do not match quality of service
CONTD.
 Provider Gap 3 –
• Service Performance Gap - failure to meet service standards
• Delivery did not occur as agreement 
• Product stock unavailable which leads to modification of the original design chosen
• Capacity demand totally inadequate 

 Provider Gap 4 –
• Communication Gap - failure to deliver on promises
• Unfulfilled Mrs. Dogra 's promise of everything under one roof
• The plumbing work took too long to complete
• Communication deficiency & delay coordination – unprofessional behaviour
 PRACTICAL APPLICATION
• Reliable: No sense of reliability was passed on to the customer since, there was no accuracy and they failed to preform promised
service dependably.

• Assurance: The people concerned was giving false assurance at the very beginning which resulted in damaging the reputation.
They lacked the ability to inspire and build trust among their employees. In the case, Home Town lacked “musts”, which is the
basic function of service.

• Adaptability: Adaptability was not up to standards, Mrs Dogra’ need of kitchen to be delivered on time was not met they them.
The service was not delivered smoothly.

• Response: The home Town employees provided false information to their customers and delayed their service and gave the
customers false assurance.

• Spontaneity: Avoiding clients’ needs and requests.

• Coping: The employees didn’t give importance to respond towards the problem customers, the emails of the problem customers
were not addressed by the employees.

• Recovery: Service recovery was terrible. The employees didn’t give importance for responding towards customer complaints.
 CONTD
• Also, there was no upward communication. Communication with Mr Vipin and Vinod towards Mrs Dogra was not at all
addressed with stipulated time period.

• Home town employees lacked to fulfil customer needs and expectations.

• They didn’t meet the enquires of their customers on time and failed to keep follow up with the customers. Also, the didn’t keep
their promises and was non empathetic towards their customers.

• Physical evidence and service space: The technician has wrongly said that the space was ready for installation, this created a
major problem while installation, which in turn ruined the kitchen space. Since, plumbing was another issue, water supply also
created problem.

• Home Town employees didn’t give importance on making a good customer relationship. They never focused on the issues faced
by Mrs. Dogra. These all contributed towards poor maintenance of customer relationship and being responsive towards the
customers.

• Customer satisfaction plays an important role for the success of a business. Employees need to measure customer loyalty,
identify unhappy customers, reduce churn and increase revenue of the business.
 Q1. How do you see customer expectations on the service delivery, so that the firm
can proactively manage it ?

 Lack of teamwork:
Lack of teamwork was very evident in the case as there was no coordination between the technician and Mr.
Vipin, the logistics team and Mr. Vipin.
 Problems with service intermediaries:
The coordination between logistics and management was not synchronized as Mr. Vipin said that the kitchen
was being air-lifted, after which the customer was informed that there would be further delay because roads
were blocked due to heavy rains. The technical staff who was sent for inspection, wrongly approved the
space ready for installation which created a lot of inconvenience later. Mr. Vipin was not aware of
unavailability of stock that was required by the customer.
 Ineffective Management of customer expectations:
Throughout the case, none of the expectations of the customer was handled properly. Even when the
customer was patient in following up with the service provider, she was not assisted in the right manner and
none of her expectations were met as promised in the beginning. Mrs. Dogra was never informed about the
delay that was expected. She was asked to change the selection of shutter due to unavailability of stock.
Q2. How do you manage the service delivery, ensuring adequate services
and desirable services?

• If Home Town would have responded to the mails sent by Mrs. Dogra in a proper and timely
manner, it at least gives a sense of relief to the customer that the service provider is working on the
issues mentioned.

• Also it needs to provide proper communication when the products will reach, what are the
difficulties faced in logistics and what are the revised timelines so that there is more transparency
between service provider and customer.
Q3. Suggest the actions that could have been taken by the firm, to effectively
manage the service delivery failures?

• Keep regular touch in order to show that the firm cares for the customer.

• Provide some products free of cost.

• Note down the concerns faced by the customer in order to work on it efficiently and to make sure
it is not repeated.

• Less emphasis on earnings & more on deliverables

• Keep the customer aware of delivery delays too.

 4) What were the gaps in service delivery that could have been managed by
effective and proactive customer interactions?
 The customer gap: the gap between customer expectation and customer perceptions

• Mrs. Durga aspired to a trendy kitchen that was seen in Home Town, but was not served good unfortunately. The kitchen management team,
including Mr Vipin and Mr Joseph, was unsuccessful. The problems faced by Mrs Durga have not been properly addressed and the high
authorities have never been told. A good understanding of the target audience will be the basis for providing a quality service for a particular
product. The best way to close the gap may be to consider consumer needs and to recognize customer preferences.

 The Knowledge gap: the gap between customer expectation and manager perception

• Home Town’s major deal was to close the deal rather than building a better customer relationship. Not only could they meet the deadline they
were promised, they also were non empathetic towards the entire situations. Timely interaction and recognition of errors and acceptance of their
fault would have helped them in convincing their customer rather that leaving them unserved and finding irrational excuses.

 The Service design and standards gap

• The customer-driven expectations were missing, the Home Town requirements were not compatible with the customer's expectations. We can
also see that the whole process was unregular and that they could not fulfill their expectations, even though they received a second chance, they
couldn't reach the client. If a company enters into a contract with consumers, it will first guarantee service and business, but in this case Home
Town neither provided the service nor it was cooperative. 
 CONTD.
 The service performance gap

Here we can see that the employees of the Mr. Vipin team and the logistics department were not properly informed as Mr.

Vipin said that the materials were lift and were soon to reach but she had not been served even after days. Moreover, when

the customer asked, the delivery was delayed as the roads were blocked so there has been a misunderstanding between

them. The client was so upset that the workers were so rude and wanted to ignore the customer's demands.

 The communication gap

There was a lack of coordination in the trial. The customer was not aware of her wishes, the late deliveries were not told,

her inquiries had to wait a long time and clarifications that should have been made by telephone calls must be visited by her

office, all of which lacked dedication and irresponsibility due to her employees. We can see that the consumer was so

patient and expected a good service and that it was a business that we did not take responsibility for and did not meet their

expectations.
 Q5. Any other suggestions from the team to improve services and better
customer services and satisfaction?

• The biggest issue in the case was the customer's inability to resolve concerns in anyway. It would have been better to notify customer

complaints and find solutions if they had customer relations officials.

• Occasionally, customer expectations and reviews should be noted. Feedback will always help to improve service process. The company

will not only concentrate on the selling of its products, but should also be able to provide quality facilities for its customers.  

• The correct tracking information should be given to customers, either by an SMS or calling and reminding customers of the fact it is

given at this time.

• Give priority to customers who have experienced service failures and pay attention to service recovery and delivery.

• Benchmarking services would be good to encourage workers to set high standards of incentives

• Better training for employees particularly to provide services to the customer, to fulfill their duties and to recognize their mistakes

• As communication is an essential part of a service, all departments should ensure a proper and timely flow of communication

• Always remember not to give promises that cannot be fulfilled

THANK YOU