SERVICE

ENCOUNTER JOURNAL

LVARO MASS CABALLERO

Table of Contents
1. Executive Summary ............................. 3 2. Terms of reference ... 3 3. Methods and procedures .. 3 4. Introduction 4 5.1. Summary of the encounters .. 4 A) Nido Student Living .. 4 B) The Carphone Warehouse .. 4 C) HSBC Bank .. 4 D) Spar Supermarkets . 5 E) Transport for London .. 5 F) Garfunkels .. 5 G) Ryanair ... 5 H) Argos .. 5 5.2. Main issues identified .. 6 5.2.1. Self- Services Technologies (SSTs) . 6 5.2.2. Service Quality . 8 5.2.3. Front-line staff . 10 5.2.4. 3 Ps . 11 6. Conclusion . 12 7. Recommendations .. 13 8. Bibliography ... 15 9. Appendices 16 5. Findings . 4

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 1. Executive Summary This analytical and reflective report is the result of some experiences with a series of service encounters that I have had while I was living in London. There are eight examples of services encounters that show the reality, which anybody could encounter when acquiring a service. Encounters such as Nido Living Student, The Carphone Warehouse, HSBC Bank, Spar Supermarkets, Transport for London, Garfunkels, Ryanair and Argos are studied, analysed and contrasted with each other to give an objective point of view. 2. Terms of Reference This report is written by lvaro Mass, student of European Business School of London, using personal research of each service encounter, with secondary resources as books related to Service Marketing and diagrams that have been adapted to the encounters. Each issue identified has its own diagram with additional comments by the author of this report based on the theory and books consulted. The main resource used for theory in the findings has been the book: Service Marketing: Integrating Customer Focus Across the Firm, but I have consulted other books focus on the subject as: Marketing Management and Strategy 4th edition, and Service Management and Marketing (A customer relationship management approach, 3rd edition). 3. Methods and Procedures This report has been completed mainly with personal research based on personal cases where it was possible to analyse the employees providing the service. After this I was able to analyse these service encounters through the theory and books, which had a relation with the subject. I then identified the main and common issues to elaborate objective analysis based on these encounters. I have used diagrams focused on each issue, to see in a simple way the procedure of the service and what would be the best way to lend a good service. For full list of references, see the bibliography. 3

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 4. Introduction The service sector is the fastest growing and most dominant part of the economies of the UK and many develop countries. A good service is identified by its quality that has influence in the level customer expects. This way is very important to develop a services marketing strategy, and there are four central components of a services marketing strategy that we can never forget; first, the target market segment has to be defined and analysed; second, a clear differential advantage and service positioning concept has to be developed; third, an operating strategy has to be created that is internally consistent with the marketing strategy and which achieves high value-cost leverage. Finally, the marketing mix has to be specified and implemented. If any service has these elements, the customer experience will be high quality. 5.1. Summary of the encounters A) NIDO STUDENT LIVING Nido is a student accommodation where students can live for a whole year, in a single studio room, twin-shared (communal kitchen), twin-studios (kitchen in room) or accessible studios. It is a great residence but at times need to improve their technological systems to give a good service. B) THE CARPHONE WAREHOUSE The Carphone Warehouse is a mobile phone retailer where you can find a lot of mobile companies. There are a lot of employees that can advise you about which company is best for you. When I bought my pay as you go, the treatment and service was brilliant, but when I went to reclaim for my 3G services the treatment was awful, until another employee came to help me and solved my problem. C) HSBC Bank The HSBC Bank is one of the most important banks in the world, which has sites in Brazil, Mexico, France, United Kingdom, Hong Kong and United States. When I arrived London, I asked to open a new bank account in this bank; the trust and the responsiveness of this firm made me open my bank account in HSBC. 4

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 D) SPAR SUPERMARKETS Spar Supermarkets is an important chain of supermarkets in Europe and in the United Kingdom. That is the reason why it has to have a good service and the products must be of good quality and standards. But that is not always the case, because one day I bought two products but they were considerably out of date. I took the products back and they reimbursed me the money but I believe that it is not an appropriate image or service that a supermarket of this level must have. E) TRANSPORT FOR LONDON The transport in London has a good net of communications by bus, underground, train, and a good reclaim service. In my case, I acquired a student Oyster card, and when I went to pay for this service through the Internet, the operation got cancelled and I could not obtain my student oyster, but in the balance of my bank account it had charged the amount. After this I did an online reclaim and I received an answer, a few days later the amount was refunded to my bank account. F) GARFUNKELS Garfunkels is a very famous restaurant in London, because it has a lot of branches around the city. Last month I was eating in one of the branches in Oxford Street, and there was nobody. The food took longer than I expected and the service was not good, but the food was nice. G) RYANAIR Ryanair is an Irish airline company. It is a very successful low-cost airline business that has been growing during the last years and nowadays is considered as the main low cost airline. When I flew to London, Ryanair lost my luggage and I had to put a reclaim. I received my luggage 5 days later but in the meanwhile Ryanair gave me an emergency kit with the basic things and a monetary compensation for all the days I had stayed without my belongings. H) ARGOS Argos is a store focuses on household stuff based in the United Kingdom and Ireland it is the largest general-good services in the United Kingdom. When I arrived in London, I had to buy a lot of furniture for my room and this store gave me the possibility to order things online and in two days I received all the products in my accommodation. 5

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 5.2. MAIN ISSUES IDENTIFIED After the summary of each encounter is possible to analyse several common issues that let it to focus on the problem of the service and look for any solution based in the theory that can improve its quality and customers perception. 5.2.1 Self-Service Technologies (SSTs) SSTs are services produced entirely by the customer without any direct involvement or interaction with the firms employees. They represent the ultimate form of customer participation along a continuum from services that are produced entirely by the firm to those that are produced entirely by the customer. At the end of the process, the customer does everything; in between are various forms and levels of customer participation. In three of my encounters this issue has been the most important, because it was the only way to obtain the service. The encounters were: Nido Student Living, Transport for London and Argos. In Nido Student Living the service was bad and the reclaim awful. This service persisted a long time, and I was directly affected, because I could not do anything, just enter and exit the residence, but to put the washing machine or to eat in the common area it was impossible. All these things work with a card that you have to top up on-line. It was the residences problem because they did not update the new cards and it was impossible to do anything. They did not realise until four days later, and then they sent an e-mail explained there was a problem. The worst part was they could not identify what went wrong so there was no way of finding a solution. However, in the other encounters, Transport for London and Argos, my customer experience was good: In Transport of London, the problem was an error in the student oyster process and they charged the amount in my bank account, but when I reclaimed the error, it solved in two days. And in Argos, the service quality was really good and I had my order in two days only. This way it is important that organisations provide back-up systems and support for their SSTs. That may be a free-phone number or an employee available to support customers on self-service, as is the case in Transport of London and Argos.

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 There are many factors that contribute to or detract form customer adoption rates and customer satisfaction: Quality of the products The firms ability to keep the SST updated and to continuously improve the SST (most important in the encounters before mentioned) Services offered by the organizations and firms Cost of the product Presentation of the services Design of the services The SSTs ability for service recovery (even if caused by the customer) The way the firm manages and prevents SST failures Alternate choices for the same service The communication is necessary to letting the customer know that the SST service exists. Once they know it is exists, then the firm has to concentrate on attracting the customer to try their SST. There are enough issues that can affect the customers perception directly and value received using the self-services technologies. It is important to obtain a customer satisfaction with this service, and for that it is necessary to have any factors: 1. Listen to the customer: It is not quality only conformance with the company policy; it is necessary to focus on in the customers specifications. 2. Reliability: If there is an unreliable service, we do not considerate as a service, because the customers do not use it. 3. Basic Service: It is necessary to give the customers the fundamentals and performance. 4. Service Design: This factor has to include: employees, equipment and the physical environment. 5. Employee Research: They are the main important resource for improvements. 6. Servant Leadership: Have to inspire and to improve their servers to become the best service. 7

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 5.2.2 Service Quality All services are focused on the customer, and which is the best way to satisfy their needs. This way the main factor is the customer gap and the relation between a perceived service and expected service has to be positive. It is necessary to obtain the customer satisfaction and customer loyalty (satisfaction and loyalty are linked, but they are not the same), and for that all the service and the relation with the customer have to be very good. There are a lot of interactions between the service provider and the customer, including various series of moments of truth. The customer is also influenced by how he receives the service and how he experiences the simultaneous production and consumption process. The encounter with HSBC Bank is very important because the customers are able to save their money without any worries. Trust is very important. But there are five factors that are necessary to consider in an encounter of this type, and that I analysed carefully before open my bank account: a) Reliability: This bank has a lot of branches around the world and the employee that explain the whole procedure show me that this bank provides services as promised, and this justified the high level of dependability that it has. b) Assurance: The knowledge and courtesy of the employee, made me to take my early decision. I realised that this bank and their employees inspired me trust and confidence, and I though that it was a good place to save my money. c) Tangibles: A big bank, with a lot of customers that trust on it. The bank has a lot of facilities and good equipment. d) Empathy: The individualized attention was the aspect that I liked a lot: he advised me as how it was his money, and this is important for my money. e) Responsiveness: In this case I preferred more willingness than provide prompt service, because this way I could think after his advises about my movements of money.

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 For all this, it is important to have a good link between the experience quality and the expected quality, because the result is the final image that a customer will have about this service: Expected Quality Marketing Communication Sales Image Word of Mouth Public Relations Customer needs and values Image Experienced Quality FINAL IMAGE IIMA

Technical Quality WHAT Functional quality: HOW

1. Total Perceived quality (Grnroos, 2007) chapter 4 pg. 67

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 5.2.3. Front-line staff When a customer judges a service one of the main aspects that he takes into account is the service offered by the employee; this factor is known as front- line staff. The service employees create satisfied customers and build customer relationships. The front-line service providers are enormously important to the success of the organisations they represent. They are responsible for understanding customer needs and for interpreting customer requirements in real time. In this case, my experience with three encounters reflects two very good different views about this factor: In Grafunkels restaurant, I did my order and half and hour later, the food was served. Then the service was very bad, but the front-line of employees did that I changed my perception, because they quickly present to me a dessert and they apologized. However, in Spar and the Carphone Warehouse the service was bad, but the employees did not do anything to resolve the problem; In the supermarket when I carried the product out of date, they changed it but with no apologises and, in the Carphone Warehouse, the attitude for the employees were the same. Because of this, the front-line staff is very important for the service and the brand. The employees represent the organisation and can directly influence customer satisfaction. This way is very important that the manager and supervisors encourage and motivate their employees to work as a team. The customer-focused organisational chart will be: CUSTOMERS Front-line Staff Front-line Staff Supervisor Supervisor

MANAGER ff

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 5.2.4. 3Ps (people, physical evidence and process) People: how these people are dressed, their personal appearance, and their attitudes and behaviours all influence the customers perceptions of the service. In this encounter, the crew of Ryanair were very well dressed but their attitudes were awful. This caused my disappointment. Physical Evidence: includes all the tangible representations of the service such as brochures, report formats, signage and equipment. Physical evidence provides an excellent opportunity for the firm to send consistent and strong messages. This factor could have helped to give another perception of this firm, but my reclaim was not taken into account immediately and the emergency kit is not suitable for everyone to use. Process: it is the actual procedure, mechanism and flow the activities by which the service is delivered. It was very slow and inefficient because I caught my luggage five days later, and meanwhile I had to buy a lot of clothes To improve a service and customers experience it is good and necessary that the 3ps are used very well and they are coordinate between them. If this is not the case, the customer will be unsatisfied. PEOPLE PHYSICAL PROCESS EVIDENCE 11

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 6. Conclusion When customers hiring a service, they expect to receive a good service, because if not, they will not hire this service again. Because of this, there are many issues that always have to be considered in a service and the employees have to take these into account. I believe that one of the most important aspects is to create a relationship with the customers, so they will become more loyal and willing to hire these services in the future. The service recovery is another essential theme because if the customers have any problems, the employees have to be able to resolve it. The new technologies help the customers through buying process quickly, but I think that another factor that is impossible to forget is the front-line of the staff. The staff is the image of the company and they have direct contact with the customer. They are the responsible for communicating the brand values. The staffs dress code also helps reinforce the brands personality and transmit a clear message to the customers. Another aspect we must look at are the opening and closing hours of the establishment. It is important for every business to learn to adapt to each countries culture even in things like could be the places timetables, this will maximise the business profit and efficiency. In this way, the enterprises will look for more engagement with the customer and spend more money improving the relationship and adaptability with them in the whole service. 12

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 a) Provide Supportive Technology and equipment: If a service need technology it is important that it has a very good technological net and a secondary equipment for when the main one does not work so the service can solve the customers problem. b) To be able to anticipate: a service company has to have all methods to can react in the presence of any error or failure.

7. Reccomendations

The transport in London is a high point to promote and foment the tourism towards the city. It has to be in a good working conditions. Because of this, I reccomend a personalization of the process and when you are going to London, that you already have an Oyster card, and then this would not be a problem. They have to avoid the delays in advertising screems and the customers will arrive on time. In Argos all technological issues work very well, the problem is the location of the stores, because there are not any in the centre of London. I reccommend an expansion in number of stores in the centre of the city, and to provide a more attractive the service to the customer. I would redesign the webpage , and I would create banners to promote the offers in other websites and customers will increases the visit to Argos website.

It was the best service encounter, but I have to recommend any aspect, it would be an expansion in numbers of branches, and redesign an image campaign focusing on improving the brand image and the brand values that this bank transmits. 13

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 a) Put Management on the Front Line: the manager does not only have an appreciation for the emotional labour requirements of their employees, but they are also in a better position to serve as role models. And it is a way to foment that their employees are devoted every time. b) Give employees a break: especially if the employee has frequent a long durations of face-to-face contact with customers. c) Promote Teamwork: employees who feel supported and feel that they have a team backing them up will be better able to maintain their enthusiasm and provide quality service. d) Retain the best people: creating good teamwork is very important to foment a good atmosphere in the work, and this way, it leads to having a good relationship and loyalty between customer and employees. e) Provide needed support systems: It is important to have another support system that can detect a failure in the services chain. In this way, the customers perception will be minor. f) Hire the right people: Is necessary before starting a job to have an interview and spend time in a training of the employees to teach them what are the best techniques and the customers needs. In this restaurant the food was reality great but the service was not so good. Then, I recommend to create a more efficient plan for the company in their production and to improve the spontaneity. They have to improve their adaptability and efficient in the service because the employees were very well training and the front line of staff are very good.

It is necessary that employees, motivation and the teamwork be focused on customers. They have to be very polite with the customers and help them in any moment. The spontaneity is another important issue because the employees have to be attentive with the customers very quickly.

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 8. Bibliography

ZEITHAML, V.A; BITNER, M.J; GREMLER, D.D (2008) Service Marketing: Integrating Customer focus Across the firm, 5th Edition. GRNROOS, C. (2007) Service Management and Marketing A customer relationships management approach, 3rd Edition. DOYLE, P. (2006) Marketing Management and Strategy, 4th Edition. BITNER, M.J (2001) Self-Service Technologies: What Do Customer's Expect? Marketing Management, Vol. 10 Issue 1, pp. 10-11. BERRY, L; PARASURAMAN, A. (1994) Improving service quality in America: Lessons Learned, Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 8 Issue 2, pp. 32-52.
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 9. Appendices MKT6B2 - Services Marketing SERVICE ENCOUNTER JOURNAL Name of Service Provider (organisation, department etc.) NIDO Residence Type of Service (profit/not-for-profit; description, e.g. bank, training department etc.) Accommodation Date: 09.09.2012 Time: 18.20

How did the encounter take place? (e.g. in person, phone, e-mail) In Person What specific circumstances led up to this encounter? (e.g. purpose, location, expectations) We have to pay all things with the Nido card after we charge this card online. Then I charged this card but the service was temporary wrong and I could not to put the washing machine in a few days, and to pay in the caf neither. Exactly what did you and/or the firm/employee say or do? (include physical surroundings if appropriate) Before two days trying to use the card, it does not work and I have to go to the reception and they check it if my card has enough cash. The card was charged and then they did not know what is happened, and then they say to me that we have to wait because it was a system problem. Then I was waiting for two days, until I received a e-mail of the residence Life Programme Manager that they have discovered an issue with the Nido Card System that caused all of the cards to expire a few days ago. How would you rate your level of satisfaction with this encounter? (Circle a number corresponding to your feelings) Terrible 1 X 3 4 Delighted 5

What exactly made you feel that way? Because I was for a hole week without any washing machine to able to clean my clothes, and in the residence said to me that it was an error, or that I have to wait a few days to use it after the charge.

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 What could you and/or the firm/employee have done to increase the level of satisfaction? What improvements need to be made to this service system? I believe that in these cases the residence has to establish a minimum services, because it is a very problem when the technologies are used for all things. It is necessary if there is an error can pay with cash, because this way, all things will have been more quickly and there was not any problem, because we can use all services of the residence. Which Service Marketing Tools or techniques could usefully be applied here? Self- service technologies (SSTs) How likely is it that you will go back to this service provider/ that the customer/client will go back to you as the service provider? Extremely unlikely 1 Any other comments When any company use the technology for all things it is necessary to provide another complimentary services to solve quickly any problem as this. You have to assure your customers the best service and even more when it is a large residence with a lot of students. 17 X 3 4 Extremely likely 5

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 MKT6B2 - Services Marketing SERVICE ENCOUNTER JOURNAL Name of Service Provider (organisation, department etc.) The Carphone Warehouse Type of Service (profit/not-for-profit; description, e.g. bank, training department etc.) Mobile phone retailer, accessories. Date 11.09.2012 Time 19.00

How did the encounter take place? (e.g. in person, phone, e-mail) In person (I was walking by Oxford street and then I saw the store) What specific circumstances led up to this encounter? (e.g. purpose, location, expectations) I need a sim card (pay as to go) to obtain the English number in UK. Exactly what did you and/or the firm/employee say or do? (include physical surroundings if appropriate) The first time that I went to this store the employee advised me about what will be the best mobile phone company, but later when I returned to the same store because my 3G services did not work, the same employee did not give me any solution. Another employee had to come and to solve the problem. How would you rate your level of satisfaction with this encounter? (Circle a number corresponding to your feelings) Terrible 1 X 3 4 Delighted 5

What exactly made you feel that way? I did not understand the situation, because the attitude was very different before and after the service and the employee was the same. What could you and/or the firm/employee have done to increase the level of satisfaction? What improvements need to be made to this service system? I think that the employee has to be with the customers very kindly and has to adapt to their needs. It is the only way to improve the service, because the front-staff line is essential to transmit the brand values and that the customers perception is going to be good.

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 Which Service Marketing Tools or techniques could usefully be applied here? I think that it is necessary to focus on the sell in the customer. How likely is it that you will go back to this service provider/ that the customer/client will go back to you as the service provider? Extremely unlikely 1 X 3 4 Extremely likely 5

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 MKT6B2 - Services Marketing SERVICE ENCOUNTER JOURNAL Name of Service Provider (organisation, department etc.) HSBC Bank Type of Service (profit/not-for-profit; description, e.g. bank, training department etc.) Bank Date 13.09.2012 Time 10.00

How did the encounter take place? (e.g. in person, phone, e-mail) In person (I was walking by Regents Street and then I saw the bank) What specific circumstances led up to this encounter? (e.g. purpose, location, expectations) I need a new bank account to do all payments in UK Exactly what did you and/or the firm/employee say or do? (include physical surroundings if appropriate) The attention was very satisfactory because the employee help me in all moment and he advices me about what is the best way to create a new bank account. The service was personalised and the image and brands values transmit by the employee was incredible. How would you rate your level of satisfaction with this encounter? (Circle a number corresponding to your feelings) Terrible 1 2 3 4 Delighted X

What exactly made you feel that way? I was very comfortable with the service offered, and the employee transmits me a lot of trust. What could you and/or the firm/employee have done to increase the level of satisfaction? What improvements need to be made to this service system? It is a very good bank, I think that they have to do any advertising campaign to maintenance the brand image and values.

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 Which Service Marketing Tools or techniques could usefully be applied here? The marketing tools that are developing in this bank are very adequate with the service and brand values transmitted. How likely is it that you will go back to this service provider/ that the customer/client will go back to you as the service provider? Extremely unlikely 1 2 3 4 Extremely likely X

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 MKT6B2 - Services Marketing SERVICE ENCOUNTER JOURNAL Name of Service Provider (organisation, department etc.) Spar Supermarket Type of Service (profit/not-for-profit; description, e.g. bank, training department etc.) Supermarket (medium) Date 14.09.2012 Time 16.00

How did the encounter take place? (e.g. in person, phone, e-mail) In person (close to my house place) What specific circumstances led up to this encounter? (e.g. purpose, location, expectations) I needed to buy some food for dinner and I bought a product out of date but I did not realise. Exactly what did you and/or the firm/employee say or do? (include physical surroundings if appropriate) When I went to the supermarket the employee did not believe that I had bought a product out of date in their store, and when I showed the ticket he looked with a lot of detail. He did not agree at first on giving the money back. How would you rate your level of satisfaction with this encounter? (Circle a number corresponding to your feelings) Terrible 1 X 3 4 Delighted 5

What exactly made you feel that way? I was really deceived with the service and did not expect a supermarket did not have enough quality control

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 What could you and/or the firm/employee have done to increase the level of satisfaction? What improvements need to be made to this service system? I think that they have to have more control with the food and respect the dates, because they can cause a lot of illnesses. Which Service Marketing Tools or techniques could usefully be applied here? A good control of quality to promote the food better, and to create a good frontline of staff How likely is it that you will go back to this service provider/ that the customer/client will go back to you as the service provider? Extremely unlikely X 23 2 3 4 Extremely likely 5

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 MKT6B2 - Services Marketing SERVICE ENCOUNTER JOURNAL Name of Service Provider (organisation, department etc.) Transport for London Type of Service (profit/not-for-profit; description, e.g. bank, training department etc.) Transport of the London city Date 18.09.2012 Time 18.00

How did the encounter take place? (e.g. in person, phone, e-mail) One friend told me about the Student Oyster card and the benefits of having it. What specific circumstances led up to this encounter? (e.g. purpose, location, expectations) I need to catch the bus or underground all days to go to the university, and with a normal oyster, I spent a lot of money only in transport. I did not the student oyster card, but it is cheaper than a normal one and you can run into area 1 and 2. Exactly what did you and/or the firm/employee say or do? (include physical surroundings if appropriate) When I registered in the transport for London website, I filled a questionnaire with my personal details and when it produced the payment, the website rejected the operation but in my bank account balance the payment has already done. Then I sent an e-mail trough webmail and I put a reclaim. The answer by the person responsible was very quickly and in a few days later the amount was refunded to my bank account. How would you rate your level of satisfaction with this encounter? (Circle a number corresponding to your feelings) Terrible 1 2 3 X Delighted 5

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 What exactly made you feel that way? I felt confused because the payment was done and the website rejected the operation. Then I looked for as soon as possible one contact to ask and to pretend to solve this problem. What could you and/or the firm/employee have done to increase the level of satisfaction? What improvements need to be made to this service system? In this case the problem was the technologies and no the employee. I will improve the system, because most of cases as this can cause a lot of distrust in the customer. Which Service Marketing Tools or techniques could usefully be applied here? I think that is important to improve the self-service technologies (SSts) How likely is it that you will go back to this service provider/ that the customer/client will go back to you as the service provider? Extremely unlikely 1 2 X 4 Extremely likely 5

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 MKT6B2 - Services Marketing SERVICE ENCOUNTER JOURNAL Name of Service Provider (organisation, department etc.) Garfunkels Type of Service (profit/not-for-profit; description, e.g. bank, training department etc.) Restaurant Date 20.09.2012 Time 15.00

How did the encounter take place? (e.g. in person, phone, e-mail) I was walking and suddenly y saw this restaurant What specific circumstances led up to this encounter? (e.g. purpose, location, expectations) Garfunkels is a restaurant where you can eat a lot of kind of food and the price is good (in relation quality-price). It has a lot of menus that you can eat at any time. Exactly what did you and/or the firm/employee say or do? (include physical surroundings if appropriate) The waiter ordered me quickly, but later the time form the order to my food was served in my table was very long and he apologised me. The problems were not the food or the employee, it was inside the kitchen of the restaurant because perhaps, this dish was not in the menu or it was not cooked. How would you rate your level of satisfaction with this encounter? (Circle a number corresponding to your feelings) Terrible 1 2 X 4 Delighted 5

What exactly made you feel that way? I am hungry and the food was not cooked or served in my table, and the waiter said to me, the food was coming in a few minutes

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 What could you and/or the firm/employee have done to increase the level of satisfaction? What improvements need to be made to this service system? I believe that in the restaurants have to be a good connection between kitchen services and waiters, because in the kitchen we could not see how is the service quality, because we only see the waiter service. Which Service Marketing Tools or techniques could usefully be applied here? Service Quality. I think that it is important that this type or services have a good adaptability and spontaneous. How likely is it that you will go back to this service provider/ that the customer/client will go back to you as the service provider? Extremely unlikely 1 2 X 4 Extremely likely 5

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 MKT6B2 - Services Marketing SERVICE ENCOUNTER JOURNAL Name of Service Provider (organisation, department etc.) Ryanair Type of Service (profit/not-for-profit; description, e.g. bank, training department etc.) Airline Company Date 02.09.2012 Time 09.00

How did the encounter take place? (e.g. in person, phone, e-mail) In person What specific circumstances led up to this encounter? (e.g. purpose, location, expectations) I flew to London to start the university in the 2nd September. When I arrived to the London Airport, I could not find my luggage because the company has lost it. Then I have to put a reclaim, but I did not receive my luggage until five days later Exactly what did you and/or the firm/employee say or do? (include physical surroundings if appropriate) When I put the reclaim in the airport, the employee gave me an emergency kit with the basic things and a few days later, a monetary compensation for all the days that I had stayed without my belongings. But the deal it was so bad, because the employee seemed like I was the responsible of my lost luggage. How would you rate your level of satisfaction with this encounter? (Circle a number corresponding to your feelings) Terrible 1 2 X 4 Delighted 5

What exactly made you feel that way? I was angry because I did not have any clothes and I began the classes the next day.

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 What could you and/or the firm/employee have done to increase the level of satisfaction? What improvements need to be made to this service system? I believe that in this company, the deal of the employees with the customers is very bad, over that when you are going to boarding with your hand luggage. The front-line staff is the most important thing for a customer, but this way it is necessary the employees adapt to the customers needs. Which Service Marketing Tools or techniques could usefully be applied here? Focus on the employees in the customers needs and to show what is the most important thing in quality service: Reliability, Assurance, Tangibles, Empathy and Responsiveness. How likely is it that you will go back to this service provider/ that the customer/client will go back to you as the service provider? Extremely unlikely 1 29 X 3 4 Extremely likely 5

Mkt6B2 Journal

 MKT6B2 - Services Marketing SERVICE ENCOUNTER JOURNAL Name of Service Provider (organisation, department etc.) Argos Type of Service (profit/not-for-profit; description, e.g. bank, training department etc.) Store (household stuff) Date 08.09.2012 Time 17.00

How did the encounter take place? (e.g. in person, phone, e-mail) In person (I checked the location in the website) What specific circumstances led up to this encounter? (e.g. purpose, location, expectations) I did not have in my accommodation any furniture but I need one. Then I was looking for in the websites and I found this store to buy it. I could see the whole catalogue online and then I chose one that I bought in the same moment. Exactly what did you and/or the firm/employee say or do? (include physical surroundings if appropriate) All process was online, but I called to the store to check that it was only two days until the furniture was in my residence. The employee said to me that I would have the furniture only in two days sure. How would you rate your level of satisfaction with this encounter? (Circle a number corresponding to your feelings) Terrible 1 2 3 4 Delighted X

What exactly made you feel that way? I liked the quick service and that I could see the stock and all products online

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Mkt6B2 Journal

 What could you and/or the firm/employee have done to increase the level of satisfaction? What improvements need to be made to this service system? In this case we can see the good link between service quality and customers perception. And how the company adapt its technological resources to customers needs. Which Service Marketing Tools or techniques could usefully be applied here? It is a good example about the correct application of Self-service technologies How likely is it that you will go back to this service provider/ that the customer/client will go back to you as the service provider? Extremely unlikely 1 2 3 4 Extremely likely X

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Mkt6B2 Journal