Service Encounter Journal pt

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University of Alabama *

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Apr 3, 2024

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Service Encounter Journal Form Your name: Kayleigh Bicknell Journal Entry Number: 1 Name of Firm: Walmart Type of Service: Face-to-face Encounter Date of Encounter: 6.29.22 Time of Encounter : 3:00 p.m. What specific circumstances led to this encounter (be brief)? In looking for a nightstand this summer, I found what I thought to be a perfect nightstand on Walmart’s website. I ordered it through Walmart’s app on my phone, and it was ready to be picked up the next day. What did the firm/employee do or say (be brief)? After going home and building the nightstand, I realized that it was too short and needed to be returned. Fortunately, the app had a link that was supposed to make returns easy and pain-free. I followed all the instructions that the app gave me regarding the online return and was told to simply bring the nightstand to customer service and have the bar code I was given scanned by the employee. To my surprise, the employee said that because I started the return policy online there was nothing she could do to help me and not only could I not leave my nightstand there but she could not initiate a refund. How would you rate your level of satisfaction with this encounter? (Scale of 1-5 where 1 is extremely dissatisfied and 5 is extremely satisfied) This encounter was not at all what I was expecting and was not enjoyable, therefore, this would receive a score of 1. What exactly made you feel this way? I cannot help but give this experience a 1 as I understood that this employee was not completely at fault, however, she could have tried to do a little more to help me. It seemed that because I was not being stern and demanding to see the manager, that she was only willing to do the bare minimum. When I kindly asked if I could speak with the manager, she told me that was not an option as there was nothing that he could do to help me. Assess the underlying service concepts that are at play in this encounter: You might include issues such as your expectations, their sources, how you evaluated the service quality, etc. (If appropriate, use the GAPS Model in your analysis, the Services Marketing Triangle, the expanded services marketing mix, anything else we discussed in class so far… MAKE SURE TO CITE YOUR WORK AND USE YOUR TEXTBOOK!) One of the underlying service concepts in this example was GAP 2: Service Design. The Walmart app in this case was not meeting my customer expectations in that I did not get what it told me I would be receiving. In the text, it reads, “Those people responsible for setting standards, typically management, sometimes believe that customer expectations are unreasonable or unrealistic.” (Page 20) In this case, however, my expectations were not unreasonable or unrealistic, but I simply expected to receive what the app told me I would. What could the employee/firm have done to make you more satisfied with the encounter? With the issue in general?
Something that the employee/firm could have done to make this issue overall go away would be to simply fix the glitch in the app. I followed the directions that the return policy on the app gave me, but they did not align with the actual store’s policy. This could be fixed very easily by management going into the app and tweaking it so that they both align with each other. How likely is it that you will go back to this firm? (Scale of 1-5 where 1 if very unlikely and 5 is very likely). Walmart has a large variety of items, therefore, I will rate this a 5 overall. I enjoy going to Walmart and getting whatever it might be that I need. When it comes to furniture, however, I will most likely not be going back to Walmart due to the fact that I know how complicated their return policy can be (getting furniture at Walmart a rating of 1).
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