Daimler Chrysler Customer Service Review

Daimler Chrysler Customer Service Review How Effective Customer Services  Are Provided at DaimlerChrysler Customer Service We have all heard, demanded, used and complained about customer service at some point in our lives as consumers. And depending upon what the issue was, the term ‘customer service’ differed based upon whatever it was we received, did not received, or thought we should have received. The preceding is exactly the point. Customer service seemingly differs depending upon the industry as well as the segment within the particular company that the public deals with. And while the corporations we deal with are huge organizations, our conception of customer service comes down to those individuals within the company with whom we come in contact, as well as those we do not. Blacharski (2006, p. 17) in his book â€Å"Superior Customer Service: How to Keep Customers Racing Back to Your Business – Time Tested Examples from Leading Companies â€Å" tells us that â€Å"Customer service is not just the responsibility of the service center or call center †¦Ã¢â‚¬ , it represents â€Å"†¦ a comprehensive, integrated strategy that involves every single area of the company†. In today’s highly competitive environment, customers have the information as well as option to pick and choose from any number of competing products which aside from elements of style, manufacturing processes and some features, are basically highly similar. Lilien’s (1974, pp. 279-285) examination of why consumers buy as contained in his work â€Å"An Application of a Modified Linear Learning Model of Buyer Behavior† found that consumer learn on a continual basis of the quality as well as characteristics of the brands they purchased, as well as those of friends and associates. And therein lies the point, a brand represents a certain image it conveys, and we expect that image to deliver in real terms when and after we purchase. Mention a brand, is if the company has successfully cultivated its image, that brand will conjure up certain thoughts and a stance regarding the company in our minds. Mention Microsoft, Coca-Cola, IBM, BMW or DaimlerChrysler and you probably form some sort of opinion or image just from hearing the names, either from personal experience, those of associates, friends or the company’s advertising and or market reputation . The preceding companies are recognized as the top most respected companies according to surveys and studies by the Financial Times PriceWaterhouse Coopers in 2005 (FinFacts Ireland, 2005). The foregoing is integral to what is termed branding, as well as customer service, as these images or expectations are what we are lead to believe we are buying, in addition to the actual product, the company behind it! The foregoing leads us to an examination of how effective customer service is provided, utilizing DaimlerChrysler as the example, compared against the next best or best company in this area in the automotive industry. We will look at what makes these companies revered, and why, and how they stack up against the industry as well as each other. In order to equate customer service as it applies to the automotive industry, we will need a standard of measurement as well as some baseline areas from which to make an assessment. To do so, we will utilize the ranking and rating system employed by JD Power and Associates (2006a) who are recognized as the foremost independent authority in this area. According to the JD Power and Associates ‘2006 Customer Service Index (CSI) Study’ in the United States conducted among â€Å"†¦ 79,580 owners and lessees of 2003 to 2005 model year †¦Ã¢â‚¬  (JD Power and Associates, 2006b) automobiles. Lexus, a Toyota Motor Corporation (Wikipedia, 2006) ranked as the number one company in customer service with a ‘Customer Service Index Ranking’ of 912 out of a possible 1,000, with Mercedes ranked at number 22 with a ranking of 872 (JD Power and Associates, 2006b). Surprised? This means that there are 21 companies rated ahead of Mercedes in terms of customer service satisfaction, yet mention Mercedes and it still conjures up images of superior craftsmanship and quality. So, what exactly were the determining factors in arriving at the preceding rankings and what were the reasons? According to JD Power and Associates, customer satisfaction is the overall experience one has with the dealership, and particularly the service department, whereby they interface with the personnel regarding routine as well as other vehicle service needs during ownership (JD Power and Associates, 2006b). The importance of the preceding is that those customers who are satisfied with service as well as their experience with the dealership, which represents their point of contact with the automobile company, will be likely to not only return for service, they will likely purchase their next vehicle from the company as well. And the preceding 22nd ranking has not been lost on the executives at Mercedes. The company has announced they are focusing upon a new image that â€Å"†¦ emphasizes service †¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Crain Communications, Inc., 2006), with the label for this new direction termed as â€Å"Appreciation†. The foundational pillars of Mercedes strategy are centered upon service, value, comfort and safety in a push to win back buyers who have been put off by a decline in quality, the centerpieces of success which Lexus has focused on. The company’s group vice president, Bob Carter, stated that the goal of Lexus â€Å"†¦ is to deliver 100% customer satisfaction† (PR News Today, 2006). To understand the success of Lexus, and the repositioning of Mercedes, one needs to understand that customer service means (Carlaw and Deming, 1998, p. 4): â€Å" Doing ordinary things extraordinarily well. Going beyond what’s expected. Adding value and integrity to every interaction. Being at your best with every customer. Discovering new ways to delight those you serve. Surprising yourself with how much you can do. Taking care of the customer like you would take care of your grandmother.† Introduced as an automotive brand seventeen years ago (1989), Lexus has captured the number one spot in this category eleven times (PR News Today, 2006). Effective customer service is not what the company thinks it is, it is what the customer thinks it is, and this is the important distinction in understanding effective customer service. The measurements entailing the rating of customer service include (USA Today, 2004): obtaining a service appointment at a convenient time, having the maintenance and or repair work performed correctly the first time the quality of work performed user friendliness pertaining to the service the overall customer service experience fairness of charges for service and repairs speed in completing the service appointment A big aspect of customer service rankings lies in the initial vehicle quality, meaning the improved quality of new vehicles thus necessitating the need for repair visits (USA Today, 2004). The preceding aspects represents one of the most important facets in garnering high levels of customer service satisfaction in that the lower the need for the customer to contact the company regarding things that need fixing, the higher their satisfaction will thus be. The foregoing has been consistently mentioned in customer service rating comments regarding the surveys conducted by JD Power and Associates which stated that brands have moved up in their customer service rating through â€Å"†¦ improving the quality of new vehicles †¦Ã¢â‚¬  with this aspect thus resulting in â€Å"†¦ fewer repair visits† (USA Today, 2004). With this in mind, along with the other customer service points, lets look at the reasons behind Lexus high rated performance versus Mercedes 2006 Vehicle Brand Ratings 5 Star Rating Points (With 5 representing the highest) (JD Power and Associates, 2006c) The preceding, as pointed out by JD Power and Associates provides a strong correlation between the high customer service ratings achieved by Lexus, and the lag Mercedes has felt in this quarter, and the resulting lower customer service satisfaction scores. Conclusion As stating in the beginning of this presentation, consumer perceptions regarding the aspects of customer service varying according to what they individually find and deem as important to them. A long wait on the telephone, a missed service appointment call back, an out of stock part, an automotive rattle, a mechanical breakdown, warranty areas for areas that might be borderline in terms of coverage are all facets that figure into the broad world of customer service. Thus, an automotive manufacturer’s best defense against all of these variables is the building of a quality product that results in fewer potential problem areas for their customers. This has been the approach of Lexus, Lincoln BMW and other brands, and now this mantra has been taken up by Mercedes as well. And while the best customer service is a result of not needing to contact the company at all, as a result of a worry and defect free product, the fact is that taking care of customer needs in every contact represents the opportunity to build upon their purchase experience and gain their loyalty. Mercedes has this lesson to build upon. Bibliography Blacharski. D. (2006) Superior Customer Service: How to Keep Customers Racing Back to Your Business – Time Tested Examples from Leading Companies. Atlantic Publishing Company. ISBN: 0910627525 Crain Communications, Inc. (2006) Mercedes’ new image emphasizes service; Sporty is downplayed, brand focus returns to value, comfort, safety. Retrieved on 20 October 2006 from http://www.accessmylibrary.com/comsite5/bin/pdinventory.pl?pdlanding=1referid=2930purchase_type=ITMitem_id=0286-15953710 FinFacts Ireland (2005) World’s Most Respected Companies 2005. Retrieved on 20 October 2006 from http://www.finfacts.com/biz10/worldsmostrespectedcompanies.htm JD Power and Associates (2006a) Autos. Retrieved on 20 October 2006 from http://www.jdpower.com/autos JD Power and Associates (2006c) JD Power Consumer Center. Retrieved on October 21 2006 from http://www.jdpower.com/autos/brand-ratings/ JD Power and Associates (2006b) Lexus Ranks Highest in Customer Satisfaction with Dealer Service. Retrieved on 20 October 2006 from http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/news/releases/pressrelease.asp?ID=2006119 Lilien, G. (1974) An Application of a Modified Linear Learning Model of Buyer Behavior. Vol. 11. August 1974. Journal of Marketing Research PR News Today (2006) Lexus Reclaims Top Spot in JD Power and Associates Customer Service Index Study. Retrieved on 20 October 2006 from http://www.prnewstoday.com/release.htm?cat=autodat=20060720rl=LATH10120072006-1 USA Today (2004) Lincoln owners rate service best. Retrieved on October 20 2006 from http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2004-07-20-dealer_x.htm Wikipedia (2006) Toyota Motor Corporation. Retrieved on October 20 2006 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Motor_Corporation

Mind and True Feelings Essay

In the book Grendel, the author made the decision to use the character Grendel as the narrator. He knew that the readers would understand more about Grendel’s feelings. To know the real Grendel, you need to read it from his point of view, not anyone else’s. The story made more sense because it was written in stream of consciousness. Stream of consciousness means that the author writes down everything that he is thinking. In Grendel we got to read everything from his heart, his true feelings about everything. The story would have been really different if we hadn’t gotten to see who he was and what he was all about. Grendel from the book was a totally different Grendel from Beowulf. In Beowulf we see Grendel as an evil monster that wanted to kill everyone and had no feelings. But we know that he did have true feelings for people and for himself. â€Å"My head aches† (page 13), is an example of something we would have never known by watching the movie. We also know that he cared deeply about his mother and other people. We also would have never known that he was actually very intelligent and could speak. â€Å"I sobbed as if heartbroken† (page 19). We know that he had a heart; a real monster wouldn’t have a heart. He was sad because he didn’t have the life that he wanted; everyone was happy but he wasn’t. With everything that we know about Grendel and his feelings is all stuff that we learned from the book, not from the movie. The movie basically told us the opposite of what was true about him. We would have never known this stuff if the author wouldn’t have written in the stream of consciousness. Grendel had many feelings that we did not know about in Beowulf that we learned about in the book. In the movie we got the idea that he was a horrible monster who didn’t care about anything or anyone. Beowulf told the story from the dans point of view not Grendel’s. So by John Gardner choosing to use stream of consciousness we really saw who Grendel was. Grendel seems way more human in the book rather than the movie. â€Å"I laughed my ankle was numb; my leg was on fire to the hip† (page 21). Only a real human could feel pain and sorrow like that. Everyone hated him and wanted him dead because they thought he was such a horrible monster, but he couldn’t help it. He didn’t pick the way he looks; that’s just how he was created. In the end, he was just in so much pain he didn’t know what to do with his life anymore. So that’s why I’m happy that the author choose this form of writing because we understood who he was and what he was. Not just some monster who wanted to kill everyone. If the Danes could have seen him like we did I think that that would have changed their whole look about him. Those are all the reasons why I think that the stream of consciousness was a way better form of writing rather than formal writing. This is also why I think that we see Grendel more human than monster and understood him better. I sympathize him more this way and feel sorry for him because everyone hated him for the way that he looked. I think the author choose this way because he knew that we would understand him more. That’s why if he would have chosen formal writing everything would have been more confusing and hard to understand.

Case Study About Southwest Airline Essay

Southwest Airlines was incorporated on June 18, 1971, serving three cities, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. It has been a successful business that has grown into a powerful force in the airline industry. The reason Southwest has remained financially viable is their commitment through point-to-point service with a quick turnaround time. The more planes in the air and the less time on the ground is a profitably business model. Although, there are some areas where Southwest struggled and could improve upon (Kruggel, 2001). In a large competitive Airline industry that has a strong entry barrier, Southwest Airline succeeded on their customer service and quality differentiation distinct any other Airline contributor. The company set them self up for any breakdown what might would happen in the future. Nevertheless, September 11, 2001 attack happened and the Airline could have been better prepared for that event (Anthony & Govindarajan, 2007, p. 114). After 9/11 attack struggling airlines had changed their business strategies and offer lower pricing. Almost every aspect that differentiated Southwest airline from other companies were cut because of having to adapt to new security protocols. These strategies caused Southwest not staying in competitive advantage position, and therefore, they had to slash their pricing lower than average. Of course, loyal customers would continue using Southwest over other airline industries. Analysis: Southwest competitive advantage strategies are as follow: Southwest implemented the first and most simplistic frequent-flier program: purchase eight flights and get one free. Other are their point-to-point services, which are generally targeting the frequent business traveler. With several regular flights per day, if a passenger happens to miss their flight, they will be automatically booked onto another flight. Secondly, secured routes through secondary airports which generally had lower fixed costs for the airlines and less overcrowding of travelers ease? (Koke, 2011). Southwest focal point on fast, dependable turnaround time utilizing only one type of aircraft, make available for staff and passenger to be familiar with the effectiveness of the service. Passengers are not allocating seats, which let the passenger to be guided more efficiently. In addition, Southwest’s point to point system is more dependable because it does not depend on the time arrival of an earlier flight for departure. After Porter’s five competitive forces model, Southwest airline utilizing the differentiation from competition by allowing a friendly, warm flying experience for the travelers with low cost flights undercut the competition, which would fit under the threat of substitutes. Other aspect of preventing the threat of substitutes is the reliability of the airline (Porter, 1987, pp. 28-35). The Southwest airline is determined not only to take care of their stakeholders, but to protect our planet and its natural resources as well. Conserving fuel and water, employing green purchasing practices that meet the leadership in energy and environmental design standards for new construction and building are some of the practices they are determine to retrofit. Gary C.  Kelly Southwest president and chief executive officer said,† Looking Forward As we look to our future in building Southwest Airline, our priority is to maintain the excellence we have built over the past four decades with our brand, culture, customer service, operational excellence, and consecutive annual profits. I am enthusiastic about our 2013 plan and believe our transformation efforts will make us better, stronger, and more competitive. And, the outstanding efforts, commitment, and dedication of our people give me confidence in our ability to successfully execute our plan. We are committed to our purpose to connect people to what’s important in their lives through friendly, reliable, and low-cost air travel. That purpose will guide us to go forward on our journey in pursuit of our vision to become the World’s most loved, most flown, and most profitable airline† (Movawad, 2010). The founder of the Southwest Airline Herb Kelleher in his recent interview mentioned, â€Å"We don’t know everything about everything. We know about one thing. I have seen other airlines make mistakes, buying radio stations, hotel chains, rental car businesses, and so forth and so on. And I thought, We do not want to get into thinking that we’re massive and great because we’ve done pretty well. And that is still the policy today† (Reingold, 2013). One of the Southwest airline competitor’s was United airline in terms of new services and prices. It started a program called â€Å"Shuttle by United†. The disadvantage Sout hwest airline had, was how to deal to access the program at hand. The next one was to figure out how to respond to the initiatives. Specify the decision factors while approaching the circumstance, there were some unpredictable conditions that Southwest airline had to deal with (Freiberg & Freiberg, 2006, pp. 65-70). First, it was the determination of the profitability of the flights they were profiting from and losing from competitors such as United airlines. The concern was how many round trips each airline made, how many miles each flight was, and load factor of each flight. Daily profit calculation for each flight showed how much profit they made each city and finally state wide. After some calculation â€Å"Shuttle by United† program was forecasted that it would put the United airline into debt if they do not gain more profit from it. As of now the program costs more to run than it will pay off (Anthony & Govindarajan, 2007, p. 115-116). Conclusion: While the airline industry in the United States has not made flourishing financial headlines, one small company has been able to fulfill its customers and gain a place in Fortune 500 companies in a short period of time. Southwest has adapted to the business traveler who is looking for reliability and less hassles. In addition, it has a fast reward system that is easy to comprehend and helps retain customer loyalty. In addition, Southwest hires the best people and rewards them accordingly, in a fun, enjoyable environment. Management-employee relation, organizational training and strong leadership are identified as the source of employee motivation. Finally, Southwest negotiates fuel prices for their airlines years in advance allowing the company to keep their pricing consistent (Lunsford, 2008).

Analysis Of George Moore s Proof Of An External World

Skepticism is the claim that we do not have knowledge and denies that is posible to justify our beliefs because of this. â€Å"I think, therefore I am† is the well known saying from Philosopher Rene Descartes. This saying derives from his ideas based around Skepticism and Skeptical scenarios. This essay will argue that Philosopher George Moore’s response to skepitcism, in his writings ‘Proof of an external world’ provide an argument which is sound and against Descartes skeptical scenario of being decieved by an evil genius, by comparing Descartes skeptical scenario to Moore’s skeptical scenario and Moore’s conclusion of the existance of the external world in comparions to Descartes conclusion that he can only be sure of his existence. This will be evaluated through evidence proposed through their skeptical hypothesis’ that Descartes discusses in his Second Meditation and then compared with Moore’s response to his hypothesis. In Philosophy, certain words convey specific meanings. Here, I will define these terms.The word skepticism, relates to the idea as we do not have the knowledge to be certain of anything, our beliefs become unjustifiable. A skeptical scenario has to be consistent with evidence, and if it is true then these beliefs would be unjustified. Rene Descartes â€Å"Meditations on First Philosophy† is a philsophical treatise, which is a formal written discourse on Descartes skeptical scenario. G.E. Moore’s ‘Proof of an External World’ is an essay Moore wrote. TheShow MoreRelatedAuditors Independence Case Study14460 Words   |  58 PagesINTEREST AND THE CASE OF AUDITOR INDEPENDENCE: MORAL SEDUCTION AND STRATEGIC ISSUE CYCLING DON A. MOORE Carnegie Mellon University PHILIP E. TETLOCK University of California, Berkeley LLOYD TANLU MAX H. BAZERMAN Harvard University A series of financial scandals revealed a key weakness in the American business model: the failure of the U.S. auditing system to deliver true independence. We offer a two-tiered analysis of what went wrong. At the more micro tier, we advance moral seduction theory, explainingRead MoreHerbert Spencer Essay13142 Words   |  53 Pagesconcept of organic and inorganic evolution and popularized the term itself. Particularly in Progress: Its Law and Cause, an essay published in 1857, he extended the idea of evolutionary progress to human society as well as to the animal and physical worlds. All nature moves from the simple to the complex. This fundamental law is seen in the evolution of human society as it is seen in the geological transformation of the earth and in the origin and development of plant and animal species. Natural selectionRead MoreMarketing Audit: Wal-Mart6491 Words   |  26 PagesMarketing Audit: Wal-Mart Jodie Outlaw MKT/551 University of Phoenix Online Daniel Oakland November 18, 2006 Executive Summary Sam Walton s first venture as a milk boy is when he understood the value of a dollar and the knowledge of how far a dollar could take one in life. From Sam s first five and dime stores in the 1950 s to his opening of the first Wal-Mart in Rogers, Arkansas in 1962, no one could have predicted the enormous success of this small-town merchant. Today, fourteenRead MoreAdaptation vs. Standardization in International Marketing – the Country-of-Origin Effect9552 Words   |  39 Pagesthreats – of epochal change. This confusion, change, and complexity are even greater within the international world-wide marketing environment. The debate over the amount or extent of standardisation or adaptation is of long duration. Vrontis and Vignali (1999) comment that the debate on this came under discussion as early as 1961, with Elinder (1961) considering the idea with regard to world wide advertising. The early sixties first coined the term ‘global village’ that was further discussed by RoostalRead MoreNursing Essay41677 Words   |  167 PagesThe Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12956.html Committee on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing, at the Institute of Medicine PREPUBLICATION COPY: UNCORRECTED PROOFS Copyright  © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12956.html THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20001 Read MorePolice Corruption9501 Words   |  39 Pagesbeing corrupt. The media can play a significant role in the public’s opinion of police officers and this idea was supported by Gallagher, Maguire, Mastrofski, and Reisig in a 2001 report on the public image of police when they stated â€Å"In the final analysis, it is not unreasonable to suppose that people exposed to negative mass media images will have lower evaluations of the police† (p. 37). There is a lack of state and federal laws that specifically address police corruption as a whole and Neild (2007)Read MoreTorts study notes Essay17110 Words   |  69 Pagessituation changed dramatically. Those years witnessed a surge of interest in theories interpreting tort law as an expression of what Aristotle called corrective justice.5 The leading scholars then espousing a corrective justice point of view were George Fletcher6 and Richard Epstein.7 Since the early 1980s, *1803 Jules Coleman8 and E rnest Weinrib9 have become the most prominent corrective justice scholars, though a number of other scholars10 are impressively active. The original articles by FletcherRead MoreGeorge Orwell23689 Words   |  95 PagesGeorge Orwell England Your England As I write, highly civilized human beings are flying overhead, trying to kill me. They do not feel any enmity against me as an individual, nor I against them. They are ‘only doing their duty’, as the saying goes. Most of them, I have no doubt, are kind-hearted lawabiding men who would never dream of committing murder in private life. On the other hand, if one of them succeeds in blowing me to pieces with a well-placed bomb, he will never sleep any the worse forRead MoreProject Managment Case Studies214937 Words   |  860 PagesCanada 118 Riverview Children s Hospital 124 The Evolution of Project Management at Quixtar 145 3 PROJECT MANAGEMENT CULTURES 151 Como Tool and Die (A) 153 Como Tool and Die (B) 157 Apache Metals, Inc. 160 Haller Specialty Manufacturing 162 The NF3 Project: Managing Cultural Differences 163 An International Project Manager s Day (A) 172 An International Project Manager s Day (B) (see handout provided by instructor) An International Project Manager s Day (C) (see handout provided byRead MoreOrganisational Theory230255 Words   |  922 Pagesinteresting and valuable. Peter Holdt Christensen, Associate Professor, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark McAuley et al.’s book is thought-provoking, witty and highly relevant for understanding contemporary organizational dilemmas. The book engages in an imaginative way with a wealth of organizational concepts and theories as well as provides insightful examples from the practical world of organizations. The authors’ sound scholarship and transparent style of writing set the book apart, making it an ingenious