Chapter 8 Get Customer Feedback 139 consider this Case The Disgusting Restaurant
ID: 420746 • Letter: C
Question
Chapter 8 Get Customer Feedback 139 consider this Case The Disgusting Restaurant cross the country, Paul and his friend Randy nd at restaurants with familiar brand eofen st of this is that the menu and often the bt Travelin your visits will be pleasant ones. Because we want to make sure that your experience One uality are likely to be consistent and familiar. service llv. however, they were disappointed. A your contact, we wEreninal message Paul properly investigated, we need to verify the address of the restaurant you visited. From your contact, we were unable to determine this. [Note that in the original message Paul identified the restaurant as located at Exit 177 off Interstate 80 in a particular town and state.] [The companyl is a franchised organization and as such, wed like to forward your comments to the franchise owner of the restaurant you visited so he or she can take Occastos sto at one such restaurant was extremely shough the menu was the same, the res nt was disgustingly dirty. Paul was so upset, and he any's Web site to register a complaint. After inputting a lot of required personal information e address, email, phone number, time, date and loca of the visit, etc.), Paul described his concern and ever took the time to assure the company that he was a fan-he visited their stores. Part of his message said, I am a fan of [the company's restaurants I eat there regularly and love my local store in his home town]. Its clean and well run So I was SHOCKED at how utterly filthy the appropriate action. Please call [company's] national customer satisfaction toll-free line at 1-800-555-6227 to give us the address of the restaurant you visited. We will then ollow up on your comments Again, thank you for taking the time to contact company]. We hope we have the opportunity to serve you in the future. town and state] store was. Honestly-I have never been in a dirtier restaurant. Ever. Dis- gusting. They are really hurting your brand and that disappoints me. BY FAR, MOST (of your restaurants] are super-This one really really needs some management attention. Company's) Customer Response Center Probes Paul immediately got this email response . How easy does this company make it to get feed Thank you for visiting [company's] website. Below is your email which has been submit- ted to [our] Customer Response Center. While replies to this e-mail cannot be received, should you need to contact us again, please feel free to contact us through [company web site.com]. Thank you. back from customers? What could they do iffer- ently if they are genuinely interested in hearing from customers? 2. What is the effect of their requirement that Paul call them with an exact address (considering that there is only one restaurant located at that Interstate highway off amp)? What message does that requirement send? A few days later, Paul got another email that 3. How do you react to the company's excuse that this is a franchised restaurant and (by implication) that they have no responsibility for cleanliness standards? Hello Paul: Thank you for taking the time to contact 4. If you were in a leadership position with this uray to tare ecen operiene at one large organization, what would you do to improve the ways they handle such feedback? Be specific. Hrst, I hope you ll accept our apology for this risatisfactory visit. It's always our hope thatExplanation / Answer
[The assignment questions are not legibleeven after zooming the uploaded image. Hence answering the questions posed in the main reading]
Answer 1:The feedback mechanism used by the company is offline mode vide website and further communications are carried out vide emails. This shows that theey lack a sense of urgency and majority of the complaints may remain unattended for the want of more clarity/data to trigger actions.Having a feedback system just for the sake of having it does not serve any purpose.
First of all they can introduce a feedback mechanism whci is far more interactive. Example could be a virtual assistant/chatbot embedded in the website feedback section or it can be a live agent.Secondly basis the nature of feedback , escalation should be dne appropriately. Instead of sending emails someone from the customer care team should have called up and sought the necessary details or the should have clarified the issue .
Answer 2: First of all the requirement stated by the company shows that they have a very lackadaisicla approach and are least bothered about taking any corrective measures.Their sole motive is to hang up the issue and shrug off their responsibilities.Paul is highly unlikely to visit the restaurant in future and it is the company whcih should thoroghly investigate the issue by sending someone physically tot he outlet.Paul had complained immediately after vising the restaurant as he was a loyal customer and it was a natural reaction. However after passing off of so many days Paul might not be even interested in pursuing the issue further as he would gain nothing from it.
Answer 3: Irrespective of whether a company owns,operates, leases , runs a franchisee, it does not matter to the customer. What matters to the customer is consistent services and high quality standards across all the outlets bearingthe logo ofthe commpany. The customers prefer the outlets not because of their franchisors but because of the brand value associated with the store. The company is equally responsible for maintaing consitency of services and quality across its franchisee stores as well.
Answer 4: First of all , I would have implemented more proactive and interactive feedback mechanisms. Appropriate feedback categorization basis their nature and priority ,individual and group responsibilites , turnaround time, escalation matrices would have beed assigned to bring the complaints raised to a logical resolution. Technology adoption like chatbots, analytics would have helped. Follow ups with customers lodging complaints should be in person over phone rather than sending standard automated messages over email.
Franchise agreements would have been reviewed and amended immediately so as to include clauses for penalization of franchisees /contract termination if they are found violating any commany standards, norms ,code of conduct. Periodic inspections would have been carried out for all owned, operated, leased and franchisee outlets to monitor their compliance and for proactive corrective actions.