Service quality management

John and Judy Bailey have been making renovations in their house for a while. After the renovation of several rooms, the next step was to renovate kitchen. The couple had precise requirements for the design of their future kitchen. After visiting several showrooms and meeting different specialists, they finally found Graeme who seemed to be the perfect person. Graeme had a large skills portfolio, a remarkable workshop, and several reference letters from past customers. His computer-aided design facility helped to draw the best design for the kitchen, and John and Judy agreed to conclude a deal. This entrepreneur will handle the whole project.

What are the main examples of product quality problems and service quality problems in the case study?

Throughout this report, we can see several product and service quality problems. Numerous events have affected the proper conduct of the site, and it became a nightmare for Judy and John. Nevertheless, at the beginning, Graeme was very professional, but at the end there was a poor level of service quality. The baileys agreed on the following contract terms:
-Full assurance that the contract price includes everything ;
-Extra costs for the plumber and electrician ;
-Graeme will furnish an Italian hob top and bench oven;
-Scaling of payment ;
-Beginning of the job in one month ;

The contract was more expensive than the baileys expected, but the presumed quality of the work was the main reason. Premium price will be charged, the couple had specific requirements and expectations about how the work will take place in the kitchen. Furthermore, the builder said that it will be a small job, which will be completed in two days, but it was not the case.

[...] There was also a lot of time wasted because Graeme didn’t answer the phone; this could also be avoided in the future for the good of his business How important is the service quality in this king of project? What recommendations would you make to improve service quality in future project of this kind? The service quality is a “series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction before, during and after a purchase”. In other words, customer service is a process, a set of intangible actions designed to take care of a customer needs. [...]

[...] Moreover, the Baileys noticed additional elements which show the bad quality of the work done: - The extractor fan door was not found, while the supervisor said it was done. - Some of the small plastic domes were the wrong colors. - The “electric wall socket had been fitted too causing the malfunction of certain elements of the kitchen. - The Baileys have not seen Graeme since the beginning of the work, and it was not always easy to contact him by phone. [...]

[...] Service quality impressions can be influenced by a whole package of attributes. In this case what does the package consist of? In this case the Baileys had made a market study in visiting several showrooms in order to choose the best one. Their criteria are mainly focus on the kitchen’s design, the build and the installation service. By comparing these different showrooms they decided to deal with Graeme. The principle of one showroom is to detail all products in order to seduce future possible customers. [...]