Handling customer frustrations

Introduction

Customers are important stakeholders in an organization. Therefore, they should do everything in their power to ensure they do not frustrate them. All organizations have customer care department. This department should receive customers and welcome them in the premise. The first impression to a customer is essential because it enables a customer to build confidence and speak freely. The next thing is listening keenly to the client and understanding what he or she needs. The main point in serving a client is delivering according to what is needed. Therefore, it is vital to be a good listener and ask for clarification is it is necessary (Jacka & Keller, 39).

If a customer becomes frustrated, the organization should look into the matter. In some instances, mistakes done to customers are not intentional. If this happens, the organization should deeply apologize to the customer and compensate him or her for any inconvenience caused. Customers understand mistakes are bound to happen, but organizations should make such cases rare. Frustrating customers discourages them from seeking commodities or services from that organization (Bachman, 30). The customer care department should ensure the customer has been served well and he or she walks away when satisfied.

Definition and circumstances

Customer frustration happens when a customer is unsatisfied with services or commodities he or she purchases (Jacka & Keller, 56). Some of the circumstances leading to frustration are poor services from the attendant. For instance, the attendant does not deliver all the commodities requested by the client. Other circumstances are insolence towards the clients. Some attendants are impatient or quick-tempered, and they are rude to the customers. Customers could be frustrated by delays or cancellation of their deliveries, especially if they were urgently needed, and the organization did not call to inform the client in advance.

JetBlue

JetBlue could avoid these undesirable events in the future. They should identify what led to the problem and solve its cause. Other related problems should be identified and mitigated before they incur any losses. This incident did not only ruin the company reputation but also led to enormous losses. The company lost up to thirty million in those six days. The employees’ morale was damaged, especially after they received insults and maltreatment from the angry passengers (Bachman, 50).

It was appropriate for this company to take the actions they did after frustrating their clients. It was a gesture of showing clients they were apologetic about the situation. The suggestion of remedies showed that the company had attended to the problem and formulated solutions. The commitments indicated the company was ready to restore quality services to the clients. After the incident, the company knew it faced a threat of losing clients (Bachman, 54). Stating commitments and remedies was part of the strategy the company had decided to implement to avoid massive loss of clients.

An observation has been made in airlines that there is a rise of negative changes. Because of the rising costs of operations, airlines have reduced the number of flights and unsatisfactory services. On the other hand, customers are impatient with airlines, which have frequent delays and other inconveniences. Airlines have a responsibility of sorting out their problems and delivering satisfactorily to the customers. Airlines need passengers for them to continue with their operations. Their principal focus should be directed to the customers. This drove JetBlue to address the public as means of redeeming customer loyalty. (Bachman, 79).

References

Jacka, J M, and Keller, Paulette J.Business Process Mapping: Improving Customer Satisfaction. New York: Wiley, 2002. Print

Justin, Bachman. JetBlue’s Fiasco Could Improve Flying. Business Week Online. Bloomberg Business Week. Web. February 21, 2007. Web. July 26, 2012.