Exam 3: Customer Expectations of Service

Before going out to dinner with her husband at Formia Ristorante,a contemporary Italian restaurant in New Jersey,Jennifer read a review of Formia in the local newspaper.The review indicated Formia is an unpretentious and unassuming,but exceptionally fine,contemporary Italian restaurant.Five servers who are under the owner's watchful eye attentively care for the 14 roomy tables in the single large dining room.What the servers may lack in experience is more than compensated for by tempered enthusiasm and sincere desire to ensure guests are comfortable.The review of Formia that Jennifer read is a(n):

As a service dimension increases in importance,a customer's zone of tolerance _____ and his or her desired and adequate service levels _____.

Oakley Millwork is a supplier of products used in the construction industry.It has a published policy that if a customer places an order from its catalog and the product is not available for immediate delivery,the customer gets the item free.Oakley Millwork's policy is an example of a(n):

Johanna wants to learn self-defense and has signed up for a class at her local YMCA.She chose this particular class because her sister took it last year and told her it was a great class.While Johanna has never had a need to defend herself,everyone tells her it is a good idea to learn how.Johanna's service expectation for the class was shaped by:

Steve,a baseball fan who regularly goes to games right after work,is thirsty and hungry by the time he gets to the ballpark.He hopes and desires that the food and drink vendors will visit his section of the stands frequently.Another fan,Bart,who regularly has dinner elsewhere before he attends games,has a lower level of desired service from the food and drink vendors at the ballpark.In this example,Steve and Bart have different ____________ that shape their desired level of service.

The fluctuation in a customer's zone of tolerance is more a function of changes in the _____________,which moves readily up and down because of situational circumstances than of the _______________,which tends to move upward incrementally because of accumulated experiences.

A customer's perceived service alternatives are a source of desired expectations.

It is very difficult to surprise or delight customers by consistently delivering reliable service.

_____ service represents the minimum tolerable expectation,the bottom level of performance acceptable to the customer.

When a customer chooses between a restaurant in a pricy suburb of Atlanta and a restaurant in a small farming community 45 miles away,there is a(n)_____ made by the locations that the customer will be more likely to find exotic cuisine and better trained servers at the downtown Atlanta restaurant.

Jack and Luke used the same mechanic to fix their cars.Both were unhappy with recent repairs.Luke who complained because his car was improperly repaired will have a ______ level of adequate service and a _____ zone of tolerance than Jack who did not complain about how poorly his car was running after the mechanic put in new spark plugs and did other maintenance.

Derived service expectations occur when customer expectations are driven by another person or a group of people.

States or conditions essential to the physical or psychological well-being of a customer that are pivotal factors that shape what customers desire in a service are known as __________.

Customer _____ are beliefs about service delivery that function as standards against which performance is judged.

Leonard has been commuting to New York City on the Long Island Railroad for 10 years.Every morning he takes the 7:00 a.m.train that is scheduled to arrive in New York at 8:15 a.m.from Huntington,a suburb of New York.Although Leonard would like the train to arrive in New York on time,he knows from his experience as a commuter that it is more likely the train will be 5 minutes late.Leonard's expectation that his train will be 5 minutes late reflects his _________ level of service for the Long Island Railroad.

Jamie desires a haircut that will look just as attractive when she awakens in the morning as it does when she is going out on a date.With the desired haircut,all she has to do to fix her hair is to shake her head.A haircut is adequate when it doesn't have any stray long hairs and it hides her cowlick.Jamie's recent haircut was in her _________ because while it didn't look great all the time,a quick brushing was all that was needed to fix it.

Kelly dined in a family-style restaurant in Mobile,Alabama,shortly after a hurricane had brushed the coastal area.The server apologized because there were no iced drinks available.The water supply had been contaminated by the storm's high tides.The water system was fine now,but after repairing other minor damages,the workers had not yet had a chance to clean the ice machine.Kelly,a long-time resident of Mobile,understood that _____ meant she would need to modify her service expectations.

The factors that influence adequate service expectations are _____ in nature and fluctuate _____ than the factors that influence desired service expectations.

If customers believe they have multiple service providers to choose from,or if they can provide the service for themselves,their levels of _____________ are higher than those of customers who believe it is not possible to get better service elsewhere.

Instead of cooking dinner themselves,Jenna and her roommate Sheryl decided to order pizza and have it delivered to their apartment.Although Jenna and Sheryl usually order pizza from Pizza Hut,they had recently received coupons in the mail from two other neighborhood pizza restaurants,JoJi's Gourmet Pizza and Angelo's Pizzeria,for discounts on the purchase of two medium pizzas.JoJi's Gourmet Pizza and Angelo's Pizzeria are providing the roommates with: