The key elements of the issue are improper treatment of Colonial Traditions Inc with the Townsends. The problem was new window shutters. They were made by order, but four of six were of the wrong size. When Mr. Townsend applied to Colonial traditions Inc, he didn’t meet any proper reaction to his complaints. He waited for his shutters to be re-made for several weeks. Also, he was upset by Mr. Rigby’s, the representative of Colonial Traditions Inc, behavior as he didn’t pay proper attention to Mr. Townsend’s order, contract and complaints.
Legal obligations of Colonial Traditions Inc were in keeping to what they promised. One of their promises was the fact that they make their shutter according to customer’s measurements and they do not have any standard sizes. This lie to customer may have turned into court case. Besides, the delay of making of the order due to some external factors of the manager is terrible. When dealing with clients no excuses should be made about personal reasons. The order must be taken at the scheduled time.
Each firm has certain responsibilities to its customers. The first is providing service on the proper level. Service level is one the attractive features of the company. If service is bad, no quality goods can save the firm. Another point is providing all their promises that were stated in contracts. This means that firm should carefully keep all promises, measurements, dates of delivery etc that were stated in documents, as if something will be lacking, that will be a court case.
Concerning ethical responsibilities, I believe that Colonial traditions Inc do have them to the Townsends. For example, when John Strickland, the manager had some troubles with work and with his family, Fred Townsend accepted his excuses and did not mind his absence, missing calls and rescheduled meetings. Besides, he even did not mind, that his shutters were delivered after eight weeks, except four to six that were mentioned in the contract. So, if Fred Townsend made advances to Colonial Traditions Inc, why should not they ignore it?
The way that Colonial Traditions Inc holds its business is terrible. They are certainly lacking professional and responsible people working for them. The impression that this company makes is that the only good manager there is Alice Borden, who knows everything about shutters they sell, who can make pre-quotations and who can attract client. If Colonial Traditions Inc would fire all its non-professional members and hire new more professional and responsible, it is sure to gain more popularity. Besides, high prices of the shutters made by this company should be followed by good service.
Concerning handling of the Townsends’ complaint, I thing that Alice Borden should explain to Phil Rigby, her supervisor, that he must take with great attentions all the complaints of such kind. It means that he must react immediately without making the clients upset or making them wait. It’s unacceptable that customers’ complaints were ignored as it was in the case of the Townsends. To my mind, Alice Borden must be changed in position with her supervisor, as she is the only member of personnel who is able to provide good customer service and who can solve all the problems immediately.