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

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•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