Test Bank ― Chapter 13 Page 1
Essentials of Services Marketing, 2nd Edition
Jochen Wirtz, Patrica Chew and Christopher Lovelock
Chapter 13
Complaint Handling and Service Recovery
GENERAL CONTENT
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of the following is NOT one of the options customers take when they are
dissatisfied with a service encounter?
a. Take legal action.
b. Vent their anger on the service equipment.
c. Do nothing.
d. Complain to the service firm.
e. Give negative word of mouth.
2. Which of the following is NOT one of the reasons why customers complain that is
listed in the book?
a. Better understand the failure
b. Vent their anger
c. Help improve the service
d. Obtain restitution or compensation
e. For altruistic reasons
3. On average, what percentage of customers complains when they are unhappy with
service?
a. 0 percent
b. 5–10 percent
c. 15–25 percent
d. 30–50 percent
e. 60–75 percent
4. ____________ involves the employees of the firm who provide the service recovery
and their behavior toward the customer.
a. Procedural justice
b. Legal justice
c. Interactional justice
d. Relational justice
e. Outcome justice
Essentials of Services Marketing, 2nd Edition
Jochen Wirtz, Patrica Chew and Christopher Lovelock
5. The ____________ refers to the sometimes-observed effect that customers who
experience a service failure and then have it resolved to their full satisfaction are more
likely to make future purchases than are customers who have no problem in the first
place.
a. referent renewal paradox
b. referent contribution paradox
c. referent acquisition paradox
d. service recovery paradox
6. Which of the following is NOT one of the guidelines provided for the Front Line on
how to handle customer complaints?
a. Consider compensation
b. Keep the customer informed of progress
c. Explain the problem from the service firm’s point of view
d. Acknowledge the customer’s feelings
e. Act fast
7. Effective service recovery procedures should be ____________, ____________,
____________, and ____________.
a. proactive, engaged, universal, empowered
b. planned, engaged, universal, trained
c. proactive, planned, trained, empowered
d. trained, engaged, flexible, spontaneous
8. All EXCEPT which of the following are reasons that service guarantees are powerful
tools for both promoting and achieving service quality?
a. Guarantees reduce consumer complaining, increasing customer satisfaction and
information from customers.
b. Guarantees force firms to focus on what their customers want and expect in each
element of the service.
c. Guarantees set clear standards, telling customers and employees alike what the
company stands for.
d. Guarantees building “market muscle” by reducing the risk of the purchase
decision and developing long-term loyalty.
e. Guarantees force service organizations understand why they fail and encourage
them to identify and overcome potential fail points.
Essentials of Services Marketing, 2nd Edition
Jochen Wirtz, Patrica Chew and Christopher Lovelock
9. Which of the following is NOT one of the criteria that service guarantees should be
designed to meet?
a. Easy to understand and communicate
b. Meaningful to the customer
c. Conditional
d. Easy to invoke
e. Credible
10. All of the following are jaycustomers EXCEPT ___________.
a. The Cheat
b. The Rule Breaker
c. The Belligerent
d. The Deadbeat
e. The Hooligan
True/False
11. Complaining behavior can be influenced by role perceptions and social norms.
12. People in lower socioeconomic levels are more likely to complain than those in
higher levels.
14. Interactional justice involves the employees of the firm who provide the service
recovery and their behavior toward the customer.
15. Service recovery is an umbrella term for systematic efforts by a firm to correct a
problem following a service failure and retain a customer’s goodwill.
16. Proper service recovery can be accomplished by making it easy for customers to give
feedback, enabling effective service recovery, and establishing appropriate
compensation levels.
17. Service recovery efforts should be fairly rigid to makes sure the same recovery is
achieved each time.
18. Compensation should be based on the positioning of the firm, the severity of the
failure, and who the specific affected customer is.
19. Service guarantees are always appropriate.
20. A jaycustomer is defined in the book as one who acts in a thoughtless or abusive
way, causing problems for the firm, its employees, and other customers.
Short Answer
21. What are the three main response options for customers who experience service
failures?
22. What is procedural justice?
23. What is the true impact of a customer defection?
24. Explain what is meant by “the service recovery paradox.”
Essentials of Services Marketing, 2nd Edition
Jochen Wirtz, Patrica Chew and Christopher Lovelock
25. Explain a situation where a service firm should not implement a service guarantee.
Essay
26. Discuss the four common service recovery mistakes made by organizations.
27. Explain what is meant by a “combined guarantee.”
APPLICATION CONTENT
Multiple Choice Questions
28. Which of the following services best represents how little complaining consumers
actually do?
Test Bank ― Chapter 13 Page 6
Essentials of Services Marketing, 2nd Edition
Jochen Wirtz, Patrica Chew and Christopher Lovelock
a. TARP
b. Land’s End
c. Hampton Inn
d. FedEx
e. A public bus company
29. How many failures can a service firm commit before the recovery paradox is wiped
out?
a. One failure
b. Two failures
c. Three failures
d. Four failures
30. Which of the following is NOT one of the elements of effective service recovery?
a. Do the job right the first time.
b. Seek alternative recompense strategies.
c. Identify service complaints.
d. Resolve complaints effectively.
e. Learn from the recovery experience.
31. When Marriott Long Wharf Hotel faces the situation of overbooking, all of the
following are steps to recover the situation EXCEPT ____________.
a. upgrade the guest to a suite
b. helping the guest get a room in another hotel
c. giving the guest money to pay for the cab fare
d. giving the guest complimentary continental breakfast
e. call the guest later at the other hotel to make sure he is alright
32. Recent research shows that the amount of a guarantee payout has no effect on
consumer cheating. Which of the following is one of the important managerial
implications of this?
a. Guarantees can be restricted to new customers because of the propensity for
repeat customers to cheat.
b. Guarantees can be kept low to prevent rewarding cheaters.
c. Managers can reap the marketing rewards of higher guarantees without increased
payouts due to consumer cheating.
d. Managers cannot expect to recover the difference in guarantees for different types
of consumers.
e. Guarantee levels can be used to dissuade consumer cheating.
Test Bank ― Chapter 13 Page 7
True/False
33. Customers who complain are more likely to be white-collar workers than blue-collar
workers.
34. L. L. Bean’s 100 percent satisfaction guarantee is a good example of a service
guarantee that goes wrong and hurts a firm’s financial performance.
35. Conditional guarantees are more effective.
36. The Cheat is the kind of jaycustomer who delays payments.
37. Hampton Inn has developed a way to identify guests who appear to be cheating and
give them a lot of personalized attention and follow-up from the company.
Short Answer
38. Who are airline customers most likely to complain about an unsatisfactory meal?
39. The story about the desk clerk at the Marriott Long Wharf Hotel in Boston is a good
example of what aspect of effective service recovery?
40. How function does a service guarantee serve for firms?
41. Give an example of a single attribute-specific guarantee.
Essentials of Services Marketing, 2nd Edition
Jochen Wirtz, Patrica Chew and Christopher Lovelock
42. Give an example of a full-satisfaction guarantee.
Essay
43. Describe the three complaint barriers for dissatisfied consumers and explain how a
firm can reduce these barriers.
44. Describe a service guarantee offered in the chapter that instills confidence and one
that does not.
Essentials of Services Marketing, 2nd Edition
Jochen Wirtz, Patrica Chew and Christopher Lovelock
45. Discuss the perceived advantages of Hampton Inn’s 100 percent satisfaction
guarantee.