How can a service firm deal with the beahivior of jay customers?
The Thief
•No intention of paying-sets out to steal or pay less
•Services lend themselves to clever schemes to avoid payment
ØFor example: bypassing electricity meters, circumventing TV
cables, riding free on public transportation
•Firms must take preventive actions against thieves, but not
alienate honest customers by degrading their service experience
ØMake allowances for honest but absent-minded customers
The Rulebreaker
•Many services need to establish rules to guide customers safely
through the service encounter
•Government agencies may impose regulations that service
suppliers must enforce
•Some rules protect other customers from dangerous behavior
ØFor example: Vail and Beaver Creek, Colorado-ski patrollers
issue warnings to reckless skiers by attaching orange stickers on
their lift tickets
•Ensure company rules are necessary, not bureaucratic
The Belligerent
•
•Expresses resentment, abuses service employees verbally or even
physically
•Confrontations between customers and service employees can
easily escalate
•Firms should ensure employees have skills to deal with
difficult situations
ØIn a public environment, priority is to remove person from
other customers
ØMay be better to make a public stand on behalf of employees
than conceal for fear of bad publicity
•Family Feuders and Vandals
•Family Feuders: People who get into arguments with other
customers-often members of their own family
•The Vandal:
ØService vandalism includes pouring soft drinks into bank cash
machines; slashing bus seats, breaking hotel furniture
ØBored and drunk young people are a common source of
vandalism
ØUnhappy customers who feel mistreated by service providers take
revenge
ØPrevention is the best cure
The Deadbeat
•Customers who fail to pay (as distinct from "thieves" who never
intended to pay in the first place)
ØPreventive action is better than cure-for example: insisting on
prepayment; asking for credit card number when order is taken
ØCustomers may have good reasons for not paying
-If the client's problems are only temporary ones, consider
long-term value of maintaining the relationship