Questions
Warning: Entering or editing data in this journal entry after 2359 hours on 09 August will result in the deduction of marks.
Write a short experiential piece on customer support. It should be your personal (real) experience. Do not try and write an imaginary case. Future assignments will be based on this piece so please write it as honestly as possible from the view of a customer. [Please read Assignment 3 to understand what this setting is all about. It can be a bad experience with a mobile phone service provider, an over-the-counter service in a fast food outlet, supermarket, theme park or just about any place, business or organisation.]
Important Note: Attempting to contact any emergency service to obtain data for this assignment is not permitted and will automatically attract a zero mark for this assignment. Doing so is also an offence under the Commonwealth Criminal Code Act and is punishable under Australian law.
Answer the following questions by writing in the Journal section of Interact2: (hints and tips to write this assignment is available under Assignment tab of Interact2)
Q1 - Name/type of Organisation
You are NOT to use any real name of person/s or the organisation/s involved. Kindly use pseudonyms for personal names. For organisations, use ABC Phone Company, XYZ Supermarket, CDE Government Agency, etc.
Provide a short background (one-liner) to this organisation.
Q2 - Communication Method
State the communication method involved. If multiple methods, state all of them and the stages involved.
Q3 - Describe the Problem or Enquiry
Write for the reader. Be as detailed as possible about your experience.
Q4 - Resolution or Proposal for Resolution
Now write from the view of the other side as what could have been done to resolve the case. Outline steps or processes that you may deem necessary for this to happen. If the case was resolved, explain how it was resolved.
Answers
1. The main type of the organization has been identified with Ecommerce Company. The name of the ecommerce company is ABC Ecommerce.
2. The main forms of the communication method involved are oral and written communication. The first stage is written communication with the customer support team at ABC Ecommerce. In case the query has been not been resolved the second stage has been further recognized with oral communication with the seller (Cliffsnotes.com 2017). s
3. The ABC ecommerce is seen to deal with variety of consumer products. Some of the main categories of the items included in the product line include consumer electronics, media items, health and personal-care items, industrial & scientific supplies and the various types of the other items such as sporting goods, jewelry, watches, musical instruments, garden items and automotives. In particular the company has to deal with a large variety of the products mainly managed by the seller of the items. The various types of the items are often divided into sub categories for providing a more attractive deal to customer and in several cases there has been problem identified with delivery of the appropriate subcategory of the product. As the ABC ecommerce is seen to include a wide variety of the hair care items, on one such incident I decided to order one such item (Hong et al. 2014). I was recommended to use Virgin Castor Oil by my hair expert in the saloon and I was finding it difficult to avail this in my locality. Henceforth, I decided to order this product from ABC ecommerce after going through the various types of the positive feedbacks given by the users of the product. The selected product was added to the cart after the selection of cash on delivery payment method and I was able to receive the item in the appropriate time specified in the website of the company. As per the company terms and conditions any purchased made within the first 14 days can be claimed for replacement. The seller of the items was further seen to be clear with the terms that on any items which is wrongly delivered can be claimed for the replacement option directly through the customer support portal of ABC Ecommerce. It has been further seen that before I was able to select the appropriate seller, the company was seen to be having a good rating based on the previous deliveries (Zurich 2017).
The main issue was seen after un-boxing of the package. I found that the actual product received was Virgin Coconut Oil, instead of Virgin Castor Oil. I was able to understand that there was clearly some miscommunication going on part of sellers of the items and there was some confusion with the exact sub category of the product. The confusion has been further seen to persist as the price of both the product were same and even with the cash on delivery I was unable to trace the issue. The mismatch in the product has been further able to depict that the various types of the confusion associated to the product was as a result of the product packaging by the seller in the warehouse. This particular incident was forwarded for an immediate action by the customer support team at ABC ecommerce for the resolution of the issue.
4. The resolution of the problem has been undertaken by the customer support team at ABC Ecommerce Company. It has been further identified that the resolution of the problem has been seen with written communication first followed by oral communication. This incident of the wrong product delivery by was forwarded for an immediate action by the customer support team at ABC ecommerce. This was possible by the online chat support service of the company. The online chat support is responsible for handling of all the queries associated to the after sales services and the center of the customer support management. After receiving of the wrong product I was able to contact with the customer support team through customer support portal. Immediately I was replied by a Customer Services Executive of the company. As soon as I was able to file the complaint for the inappropriate product delivery, the customer service executive checked through the file record for the contact name and the number of the seller and forwarded me with the same. The entire communication process till now has been seen in form of written communication. After contacting with the seller, he was confirmed with the actual order which was placed for Virgin Castor oil and not Virgin Coconut Oil. I was explained in the telephonic conversation that the main problem occurred with wrongly input of the order in the system while preparation of the receipt. The seller not apologized me for this issue but also ensured me that such an incident would not take place in the future. In addition to this, based on the oral communication process I was ensured that the replaced product will be given the utmost priority in terms process and delivery. In this way I was not only able to resolve my issue with an effective customer management service and get the product replaced with what was ordered initially (Jahanshani et al. 2014).
Reference List
Cliffsnotes.com. (2017). Methods of Communication . [online] Available at: https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/principles-of-management/communication-and-interpersonal-skills/methods-of-communication [Accessed 8 Aug. 2017].
Hong, P., Ga (Mark) Yang, M. and D. Dobrzykowski, D., 2014. Strategic customer service orientation, lean manufacturing practices and performance outcomes: An empirical study. Journal of Service Management, 25(5), pp.699-723.
Jahanshani, A.A., Hajizadeh, G.M.A., Mirdhamadi, S.A., Nawaser, K. and Khaksar, S.M.S., 2014. Study the effects of customer service and product quality on customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Zurich, L.B., 2017. Service Operations and Management.
