Week 6 – Chapter 11 Review & Applications: 1.1, 2.1, 3.1

1.1) www.bls.gov/bdm/home.html

2.1) This question makes me wish I had been in class this night so that I could ask questions about service intangibles. The main one that I see in banking is the attitude and demeanor of the tellers or phone representatives. Sometimes people just rub you the wrong way and it is impossible to define. A perceived good experience would improve customer’s view of the bank and a perceived bad experience would detract from the opinion of the bank.
3.1) I love this question!!!!! I recently went to a Subway sandwich shop for dinner. The only positive thing I can say about the experience is that the store appeared to be clean and that it looked just like all other subways. The rest of my experience was a nightmare. I expected the purchase of a sandwich to take relatively little time – its fast food, and when I entered, I was the only customer in line and there were two workers behind the counter. As I ordered my sandwich, I noticed a sign that offered a reduced price on a bowl of soup with the purchase of a 6 inch sub or a value meal; I ordered the soup. One employee proceeded to slowly make my sandwich. After I paid I realized that I had not been given the reduced price on my soup. It was just over a dollar difference but I would not had ordered the soup if it had not been offered at a discount, so I ask for a refund. The kid working proceeded to “flip out” and start screaming at the other kid that the soup was only for a value meal. I pointed to the sign and told him “No, the other kid is right. The sign clearly states a 6 inch sub OR a value meal”. That’s when the swearing started – I was completely shocked. Never in a million years would I have guessed that a kid at Subway would think it appropriate to say “sh*t, fu*k, and mother f*ck” in front of a customer. At that point I told the kid that I no longer wanted the soup and just to give me my money back. This started a whole new run of cursing because neither of the kids knew how to make a refund on the cash register. While one struggled to work the cash register, the other one continued to argue with me about the soup and “threatened” to call his manager. I of course laughed out loud and told him he should call his manager as I intended to as soon as I left the shop. He calls his manager who promptly tells him that I am right and to give me my money back for the discounted soup. The manager hung up on him which left us with the same problem of making a refund. Finally, I figured it out for him and received my refund. The actual sandwich and soup were good but the service quality missed on all 5 fronts.