McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2013 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Chapter
Service Recovery
7
 The Impact of Service Failure and Recovery
 How Customers Respond to Service Failures
 Service Recovery Strategies: Fixing the Customer
 Service Recovery Strategies: Fixing the Problem
 Service Guarantees
 Switching versus Staying Following Service Recovery
7-2
Objectives for Chapter 7:
Service Recovery
 Illustrate the importance of recovery from service failures in keeping
customers and building loyalty.
 Discuss the nature of consumer complaints and why people do and do
not complain.
 Provide evidence of what customers expect and the kind of responses
they want when they do complain.
 Present strategies for effective service recovery, including ways to “fix
the customer” after a service failure and to “fix the problem.”
 Discuss service guarantees—what they are, the benefits of guarantees,
and when to use them—as a particular type of service recovery
strategy.
7-3
Reliability is Critical in Service but…
 In all service contexts, service failure is inevitable.
 Service failure occurs when service performance that
falls below a customer’s expectations in such a way
that leads to customer dissatisfaction.
 Service recovery refers to the actions taken by a firm in
response to service failure.
7-4
Figure 7.1: Complaining Customers:
The Tip of the Iceberg
Source: Data from TARP Worldwide Inc., 2007
7-5
Unhappy Customers’ Repurchase Intentions
7-6
Exhibit 7.1: The Internet Spreads the Story
of Poor Service Recovery
7-7
The Service Recovery Paradox
 Is a customer who has experienced a service
failure and exemplary service recovery more
likely to be more satisfied – impressed even –
with the service provider?
 Should a firm “screw up” just a little so that it
can “fix the problem” superbly?
7-8
The Service Recovery Paradox
 “A good recovery can turn angry, frustrated customers
into loyal ones. ..can, in fact, create more goodwill than
if things had gone smoothly in the first place.” (Hart et
al. 1990)
 HOWEVER:
 Only a small percent of customers complain
 Service recovery must be SUPERLATIVE
 Only with responsiveness, redress, and empathy/courtesy
 Only with tangible rewards
 Even though service recovery can improve satisfaction, it has
not been found to increase purchase intentions or
perceptions of the brand
 Service recovery is expensive
7-9
The Service Recovery Paradox
 The service recovery paradox is more likely to occur
when:
 The failure is not considered by the customer to be severe
 The customer has not experienced prior failures with the firm
 The cause of the failure is viewed as unstable by The
customer
 The customer perceives that the company had little control
over the cause of the failure
 Conditions must be just right in order for the recovery
paradox to be present!
7-10
Customer Complaint Actions Following Service
Failure
7-11
Types of Complainers
 Passives: least likely to take any action, say anything to
the provider, spread negative WOM, or complain to a
third party; doubtful of the effectiveness of
complaining
 Voicers: actively complain to the provider, but not
likely to spread negative WOM; believe in the positive
consequences of complaining - the service provider’s
best friends!
7-12
Types of Complainers
 Irates: more likely to engage in negative WOM to
friends and relatives and to switch providers; average
in complaints to provider; unlikely to complain to third
parties; more angry, less likely to give provider a
second chance
 Activists: above average propensity to complain on all
levels; more likely to complain to a third party; feel
most alienated from the marketplace compared to
other groups; in extreme cases can become “terrorists”
7-13
Service Recovery Strategies
7-14
Fixing the Customer
 When customers take the time to complain,
they generally have high expectations.
 They expect the company to respond quickly and to
be accountable.
 They expect to be compensated for their grief and
for the hassle of being inconvenienced.
 They expect to be treated nicely in the process!
7-15
Respond Quickly
7-16
Provide Appropriate Communication
7-17
Treat Customers Fairly
 Outcome fairness
 Outcome (compensation) should match the customer’s level of
dissatisfaction; equality with what other customers receive; choices
 Procedural fairness
 Fairness in terms of policies, rules, timeliness of the complaint
process; clarity, speed, no hassles; also choices: “What can we do to
compensate you…?”
 Interactional fairness
 Politeness, care, and honesty on the part of the company and its
employees; rude behavior on the part of employees may be due to
lack of training and empowerment
7-18
Fixing the Problem
 After “fixing the customer” the company should
address the actual problem that created the poor
service delivery in the first place.
 If the problem is likely to recur for other customers,
then the service delivery process may need to be fixed,
too.
 Strategies for fixing the problem include encouraging
and tracking complaints, learning from recovery
experiences and from lost customers, and making the
service fail-safe.
7-19
Service Guarantees
 Guarantee = an assurance of the fulfillment of a condition
(Webster’s Dictionary)
 In a business context, a guarantee is a pledge or assurance that a
product offered by a firm will perform as promised and, if not,
then some form of reparation will be undertaken by the firm
 For tangible products, a guarantee is often done in the form of a
warranty
 Services are often not guaranteed
 Cannot return the service
 Service experience is intangible (so what do you guarantee?)
7-20
Characteristics of an Effective
Service Guarantee
 Unconditional
 The guarantee should make its promise unconditionally – no strings
attached
 Meaningful
 The firm should guarantee elements of the service that are important to
the customer
 The payout should cover fully the customer’s dissatisfaction
 Easy to Understand
 Customers need to understand what to expect
 Employees need to understand what to do
 Easy to Invoke
 The firm should eliminate hoops or red tape in the way of accessing or
collecting on the guarantee
7-21
Benefits of Service Guarantees
 A good guarantee forces the company to focus on its customers.
 An effective guarantee sets clear standards for the organization.
 A good guarantee generates immediate and relevant feedback
from customers.
 When the guarantee is invoked there is an instant opportunity
to recover.
 Information generated through the guarantee can be tracked
and integrated into continuous improvement efforts.
 A service guarantee reduces customers’ sense of risk and builds
confidence in the organization.
7-22
When to Use (or Not Use) a Guarantee
 Reasons companies might NOT want to offer a
service guarantee:
 Existing service quality is poor
 A guarantee does not fit the company’s image
 Service quality is truly uncontrollable
 Potential exists for customer abuse of the guarantee
 Costs of the guarantee outweigh the benefits
 Customers perceive little risk in the service
7-23
Causes Behind Service Switching
7-24