This document summarizes a case study about customer complaints received by Bell Canada, a telecommunications company. Four customers complained about issues like overcharging, missed calls, harassment, and noise during calls. The analysis identifies two ways to segment the telecommunications market: by price orientation/usage and by usage rate. The analysis also finds marketing opportunities in effective service recovery from complaints to increase loyalty, identify problems, and learn. It recommends properly addressing complaints and rewarding complainers.

1. Course: Services Marketing
Program: MBA
Prepared For:
Mr. Tabarak Hossain
Course Instructor
Faculty of Business and Economics
Daffodil International University
Prepared By:
K a z i M d . M o n ir u l I s la m
ID : 091-14 -902
Md.Mahsin Ali
ID: 091-14-913
Date of Submission: 25 August, 2009
DAFFODIL INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
Dhanmondi, Dhaka

2. Introduction:
Customer feedback and service recovery is one of the most important aspects in services
marketing. Identifying the customer complaining behavior is the first task here for the
marketer. Customers complain when the services fails to satisfy his or her need as per
demand. Effective service recovery can increase the customer’s loyalty. Thus the
effective service recovery procedures should be proactive, planned, trained and also
empowered to satisfy complaining customers. Here, the service guarantees can plays a
vital role which is the promise that if the service delivery fails to meet the predefined
standard, the customer will be compensated by replacement, refund, or credit. But the
major concern here is to get the customers feedback properly than take proper steps to
recover service, learn new aspects, identifying opportunistic behaviors, developing new
value added services with fewer risks to be failed.
Background of the case:
Bell Canada is a telephone service provider company is complained by four individuals
as some of their services failed from some aspects in Toronto, Ontario. Winston Chen
claimed that he has been overcharged and so request for an adjustment. Marie Portillo’s
complain is that she missed some important calls because the caller received a busy
signal whereas the phone was free actually. Eleanor Vanderbilt has been disturbed by
someone a several weeks and so she requests to stop this harassment. Richard Robbins
complaints about a noise during call which can be arise from some kinds of technical
mechanism. Whatever the problems are the feedbacks from the customers about the
service failure and the service recovery procedures are the main concerning matter in this
case.

3. Analysis:
To analyze the case we have to find out the answer of 2 questions. These are as follows.
Q1. Based trickily on the information in the case, how many possibilities do you see to
segment the telecommunications market?
Ans: By analyzing the information’s provided in this case, two segmentation bases can be
identified. These are – Sequential segmentation and segmentation based on usage rate.
Sequential segmentation scheme classifies business buyers into 3 categories.
• Price-oriented customers: They want value, and at the same time a convenient
pricing. Example: Winston Chen grumbles always about his telephone bill.
• Solution-oriented customers: They want value through benefits and advice.
Example: Marie Portillo missed some calls as the callers received a busy signal,
and she wishes to get a proper solution.
• Strategic-value customers: They want value through the supplier’s participation in
their own business. Example: Mrs. Vanderbilt’s requirement is that the telephone
company will take a proper action by stopping her harassment from the unknown.
By applying usage rate also, we can segment the market for this telecommunication
market.
• Heavy users: Winston Chen is, in the top 2% of all household phone bills in
Ontario.
• Medium Users: Marie Portillo’s usage rate is in the point at which 50% of all bills
are higher and 50% are lower.
• Light Users: Mrs. Vanderbilt’s bills in the bottom 10% of all households bills.

4. Q2. As a marketing manager, do you see any marketing opportunities for the telephone
company in these complaints?
Ans: “Thanks Heavens for Complainers” was the provocative title of an article where a
successful manager exclaiming “Thanks goodness. I have got a dissatisfied customer on
the phone! The ones I worry about are the once I never here from”. Customers who do
complain give a firm the chance to correct problems, restore relationship and introduce
improved services”.
The opportunities those can be obtained from the complains can be as follows.
• Effective and customized services can increase customer’s loyalty.
• Identify service problems and learning from recovery experience can reduce the
risk of service failures.
• Some of the opportunistic behavior can be identified.
• Valuable and less valuable customers can be identified.
Findings:
• Beside standardized services customized services are essential in the service
industry like mobile phone service.
• Sometime service failure brings the opportunity to deliver personalized services.
• Segmentation based on usage rate can be used in identifying valuable and less
valuable customers.
• Sequential segmentation can identify customer’s personal needs.
Recommendations:
• The realty of the complaints should be monitored properly to ensure whether there
is any opportunistic behavior or really service failed.
• Complainers should be rewarded because they play the vital role in service
recovery process.