study case

Background Information

Samuel and Son Miller recently received a copy of the letter below from Peter Williams. The contents of the summary mentioned in the letter are pre- sented on the following pages.

PETER WILLIAMS

123 Oak Lane

Arlington, ST 55546

Dear Owner:

My wife and I recently used your business services. It was a very unsatisfactory experience, and I want you to know why we will never use S&S Plumbing again. Furthermore, we will also go out of our way to counsel friends and acquaintances to avoid using your services.

I prepared the enclosed summary of what happened during that service visit so that I would have a record of my experiences. I offer it to you for your information. No reply is, of course, necessary and would be in characterwith the quality of service received to date.

A very unhappy customer,

After recently refinishing our main bathroom and installing a new toilet, we found three remaining problems: the new toilet wobbled, the shower cut-off knob dripped, and a water stain appeared on the basement ceiling tiles, under- neath the bathroom. Because we had a coupon ad from your business, I calledyour office around 9:00 a.m. The woman with whom I talked was very nice, and I was pleased to learn that a plumber could come that afternoon. She called me back later that afternoon to confirm that the plumbers would arrive sometime soon.

Within half an hour or so, the doorbell rang. I opened the door to find two men waiting. I said hello and invited them into the house. The taller, younger of the two said, "S&S Plumbing." The second, older man followed him in, but made no eye contact or any other acknowledgement. Both men stood in the foyer, waiting impatiently, communicating an attitude of "Dont mess with me. Just hurry up and move it." They did not introduce themselves further or make any conversation. After no more than 30 seconds of being exposed to them, I was uneasy.

I asked: "Did they tell you what we need?"

The younger man grunted some sort of noncommittal response. There was still no comment oracknowledgement from the other man.

I continued: "Well, let me show you the projects we have in mind." I led them into the bathroom around the comer. As I started to explain what we wanted, the older, silent man walked over to the box containing the shower fix- ture replacement kit we had purchased. Without any comment, he opened the box and begantaking it apart. He had still not looked at or said anything to me.

I was becoming more and more irked.

Without saying a word, the younger partner walked out of the bathroom and began to search for the access box to the shower pipes. He looked in the closet, which was loaded with coats. He started walking backtowards the bathroom.

When he finally did speak to me, his voice was just barely audible, and at first I thought he was talking to his associate. His tone was domineering and abrasive. Because at first I didnt know he was talking to me, I didnt hear ex- actly what he was saying, but it was something to the effect that I had to move those coats. Itcame across as an insulting command.

I wheeled around and said pointedly, "Are you talking to me?" By now, I was mad and was deciding whether to throw' these bozos out of the house. We all froze.

I think that the younger man may have realized that a problem was develop- ing, and his demeanor softened slightly. I waited, then decided to go ahead. I led the younger man downstairs to see the water damage on the ceiling tiles and told him I would be removing the ceiling tiles and replacing them while he and his partnerworked upstairs.

They removed their tools and supplies from their truck, then began working. During the next half hour or so, I could hear them talking toor rather arguing witheach other. The younger man seemed to be making argumentative, belit- tling remarks to the other man, who seemed to be doing his work. The quarrel seemed to revolve around how to remove the plaster standing around the pipeswhether they should just go ahead and"knock the crap" out of the plaster, ignoring any other consequences, or should take a more gentle approach. It occurred to me that the reason they may have been so rude was because they simply didnt like each other. Whatever the reason, it was extremely unpleasant to have to listen to them work together.

After about 20 or 30 minutes, the older man came downstairs and, for the first time, talked to me. He said there was a problem. I followed him upstairs and found the younger man sitting cross-legged in front of the access box, gen- tly chiseling away the plaster caked around the pipes. The older man explained that they had to remove the plaster in order to install the new fixture. However, there was a "50-50 chance" that the tiles in the shower stall might be knocked loose in the process. He wanted to know whether I would authorize them topro- ceed.

I asked him how difficult it would be to reset the loose tiles. He said it could be tough going and costly. I was not encouraged and wondered whether I wanted these guys doing this work. On the other had, I knew the fixture had to be replaced, the plumbers were here, and the plaster was definitely caked around the pipes. So Itold him to go ahead with the work

The older man started to walk away. I asked whether it would make sense to put a towel in the tub to catch any falling tile. He said that if they fell, they would probably break, but then he shrugged his shoulders and added, "Why not?" Otherwise, he was completely indifferent to the tile problem. It was as if he were saying tome: "Tile is someone elses problem, like yours. Its not mine. If we break em, we break em."

After putting a towel in the tub, I left the bathroom, expecting them to break three or four tiles and leave me with holes in the shower. I returned to my work downstairs, dejected and angry. They continued workingtogether and arguing. I concluded that the fate of my bathroom tiles was in the hands of men who could care less. They were more interested in doing the job fast than in protect- ing my property. I thought of what it would be like to be in the hands of a doc- tor who was more concerned about making a 3:00 p.m. tee-off date at the golf course than about attending fully to my needs.

During this time, I would occasionally go upstairs to see how things were going. On one visit, I found, much to my surprise and relief, that there were no missing tiles in the tub. It would have been nice if the plumbers had let me know.

I returned to my work downstairs. The two men upstairs seemed to be work- ing together more smoothly,and I began to sense that they were finishing up. At one point, the older man came down to look at the ceiling/bathroom drainage problem, but did not look at it again.

Finally, the younger man called to me from upstairs. He had a dust pan in hand. The closet had been returned to a normal state, the tools and equipment were gone, and the older man was in the truck. The younger man, much more personable now, indicated they were finished. He seemed like he was ready to go, so I asked him whether I should pay him or send a check to S&S. He replied that the other guy was in the truck, writing up the bill. I followed him outside, thanking him for the work and apologizing for our old and difficult plumbing. He laughed it off, saying that it was not my fault.

I went back inside and looked in the bathroom. There was still a lot of crum- bled plaster lying in the tub. The nozzle flange around the showerhead was hanging loose, and I could see small cracks in two pieces of tile near the han- dles. The towel I had placed in the tub was still sitting there, soggy and dirty. I waited in thekitchen.

The older man returned with the bill. He led me to the bathroom and ex- plained that they had reseated the toilet in order to stop the leak into the base- ment. He told me to caulk around the base of the toilet as a way to anchor it to the floor. He also told me to caulk around each of the collars around the faucet, handles, and showerhead. He also suggested using caulk on the cracks in the tile.

I pointed out to him the loose collar around the showerhead. He jiggled the head, showing me for the firsttime that the head itself was still somewhat loose. He advised filling the hole with caulk and then trying to sit the collar to the wall.

We chatted while I wrote the check. He handed me a copy of the invoice, and after a few morepleasantries, he left.

After my wife returned, we noticed that the pipes throughout the house sounded funny. (Obviously, during the course of the installation, it was neces- sary for them to cut off the main water supply.) We thinkand hopethat this problem is just a temporary one due to air in the pipes. However, the plumbers left without either advising us about this or, even worse, making sure there was no problem.

Heres the outcome. The new shower fixture was installed, but at the cost of two new small cracks in shower tiles. This scenario was explained to me in ad- vance. However, to complete the installation, it is now my job to buy caulk and put some around the collars and the toilet. The collar around the showerhead hung loose, and the showerhead itself was loose. The tub was left dirty, al- though the closet was cleaned. The toilet now has a new seal, but it is not clear whether that will fix the leak onto the basement ceiling. I had a very unpleasant and stressful time working with these two guys.

CASE QUESTIONS

What should the owner of the company do upon re- ceiving this letter?

Prepare a service quality training plan for plumbers.

What kind of management practices should be insti- tuted to create and maintain service quality?