Consumer Dissatisfaction: Reasons and Solutions Essay

I often notice the great disparity between my expectations and the service actually provided in troubleshooting instances and in the service provider’s sensitivity to the needs of the client.

My internet subscription is a good example of the former. There are times when the browser is too slow that I cannot do any decent work. When I complain to the service provider, the customer service representative would do some sort of diagnosis, but almost always, I would get an answer that he or she cannot find anything wrong in their system. I would then be advised to wait for a few hours, and observe my system. At other times, I would get a long downtime, and they could do nothing about it.

There are also times when I cannot get into my messengers (yahoo and MSN) even if I am online. It could be very frustrating, especially because I use these services to talk to family and friends. What is more frustrating is that, when I place a call to the service provider, it would take a long time before someone would pick up my call. The recorded message in their answering machines giving instructions as to what you should do can also be very frustrating, especially because I prefer talking to people who can answer my queries and understand my frustrations to talk to machines.

Sensitivity to the needs of the client is another thing I often look for in services but find lacking. This can be illustrated by a recent tour I had with a friend where we were housed in a hostel as part of the tour package. The hostel was a three-story building near the port. The building was not at all fancy, but I did not mind. It’s their service I did not like. There was not much selection in their buffet, and the food was far from satisfying.

It’s a good thing we only had to eat dinner at the hostel, otherwise, my friend and I would have starved for proper food for three days. Moreover, the light in my bedroom was not working. When I informed the crew about it, they sent someone to my room, who took off the ceiling lamp but never came back. When I followed upon him, I was told by the receptionist that they could not replace the ceiling lamp until the following morning as it was already night, and there were no longer electrical stores open within the area.

When I think about that incident now, I realize I could have — and should have — demanded more from them. First, they could have informed me immediately about the unavailability of the lamp replacement as soon as they found out about it, and not waited for me to follow up on it three hours after the broken lamp was taken from my room. Second, I think they could have at least offered me the chance to transfer to another room so that I would not have been inconvenienced.

There are possible reasons I can think of for the cases mentioned above. In the troubleshooting aspect, the possible reasons I can think of include:

• lack technical knowledge by the troubleshooter,
• external factors beyond the control of the service provider,
• problems in the service provider’s system that the troubleshooter cannot detect or does not wish to admit, d) some changes in the service provider’s settings that may be affecting their system without them knowing it.

In the second example (hostel), reasons I can think of for their less than satisfying service are the following:

1. the staff is not well trained;
2. the staff are bored with their work;
3. the staff is not well compensated;
4. the management lacks quality control measures, and
5. the hostel is mismanaged.

Service improvement can only take place if and when the service provider realizes and/or acknowledge that there is still much to be desired from their service. With this realization, determination to improve from the management level down to the employees should come next.

In the case of the hostel, the management can design strategies to motivate their employees to improve. First, they must conduct a feedback survey from the clients. According to NBRI, surveys help provide tools to improve organizational performance and profitability. Next, they can conduct regular inspections and quality control measures. Shin Shin Co. Ltd., an outsourcing ACM company, does have a quality control measures statement (Shin Shin, n.d.).

The hostel management may do the same, and then list each aspect of the hostel operation and regularly conduct an inspection to ensure that everything is in order. Third, the management can create motivation schemes, such as putting up a Crew of the Month award for the crew that gets the most positive feedbacks from the client. The Edward Lowe Foundation lists this strategy as an effective way to keep employees motivated. Fourth, the management may give their employees regular relevant training. Workplace Satisfaction, Inc. says that training is a good employee motivation tool. But more than that, good training likewise helps the employee improve in conducting his job, thus satisfying the company’s clients.

In the case of the internet service provider, training and motivation will help improve the service. Acquiring better and newer technology to be manned by highly technical people as well as employing customer service representatives that actually know how their products work will tremendously help their service, thus making their clients, like me, deeply satisfied with their service.

References:

Edward Lowe Foundation. n.d. Motivating your Employees. Web.

NBRI. n.d. Customer Satisfaction Surveys. Web.

Shin Shin Co. Ltd. n.d. Environmental and Quality Control Measures. Web.

Workplace Satisfaction, Inc. n.d. From Good to Indispensable. Web.