Service Encounters

Service Encounter

Service encounters are transactional interactions in which one person provides a service or good to another person. Two negative service encounters that I have experienced were at Diamond Spa and Nails and Samurai which are both located in Glassboro, New Jersey. These two service encounters were in the Nail and Food industry. I wanted my nails done for Thanksgiving and my housemates wanted sushi for dinner one night.

Walking into the nail salon the place was very clean with nice ambient conditions. I started looking at nail colors, but no one greeted me or asked me what I needed upon entrance. After five minutes, someone came up to me and told me to sit without even asking what I wanted. I picked out my color and she came back with the wrong color nail polish. The entire service was rushed, the employee made no effort to talk to me, and my nails were chipped after 3 days. The entire service encounter was negative besides the environmental dimensions. In this case they did not “deliver the promise” (interactive marketing) in the Services Marketing Triangle. In service quality dimensions they were not reliable and did not give me assurance they could deliver quality service. To make my experience and service better the employee could have spent more time building a relationship with me by asking me questions and greeting me when I first came in. Even if the store was busy, they needed to make sure the quality of the service they provided was good and make sure the customer was happy and satisfied with the overall service. Since they failed to do this, my experience was negative and will not be returning back to this nail salon.

Another poor service encounter was at Samurai. The entire time we ate we had three servers stare at us while eating and talking amongst friends, making us feel very uncomfortable. Our table was a foot next to where all the servers put in orders and wait for get the food to be ready for the customers. Since the restaurant was empty the servers had no one to wait on so they were listening to our conversations causing us to have no privacy the entire time of our service encounter. Because of this, our service experience was awful as we could not talk or enjoy our food in peace. To better our experience the employees could have sat or stood in an area of the restaurant where no customers were, or the restaurant could fix their environmental dimensions. The spatial layout and functionality needs to improve as the employees had nowhere to sit or stand that isn’t close to the customers. The employees have no privacy and neither do the customers from the employees which causes a negative service experience due to the layout of the restaurant.

Two positive service encounters happened in the Hospitality and Food Industry. The Marcel at Gramercy hotel in New York City provided service that exceed my expectations as well the Italian Affair restaurant in Glassboro, New Jersey as the employees went above what was expected of them. Both services had excellent customer service, making my time at both the places very pleasant and leaving me with a great experience.

The Marcel Hotel in New York is a three-star hotel and for a Saturday night it was a cheap price of only $195. Before checking into the hotel my expected service was the service scape to be very simple, nothing over the top with adequate service due to the price and reviews of the hotel saying the rooms are very tiny. When walking in I wasn’t expecting a sleek, modern interior with a fireplace and water fall. The physical environmental dimensions exceeded my expectations. The front desk was excited to have me and felt very welcomed and gave me great recommendations on restaurants and bars nearby. Next to the front desk was free food and beverages which was an added service value. The hotel room was bigger than I expected based on the reviews and was very clean. As I left the hotel, they personally remembered my first name and told me to enjoy my night. This experience had all five dimensions of service quality. From the reliability of the staff, the assurance of the employees and great customer service to the tangibles of the hotel lobby and room, the empathy of the staff, and the responsiveness of the employees to ensure I had a great experience and stay at the hotel. My expectations were exceeded to a surprising degree and in reference to Chapter 3 I would be considered customer “delight.” From this experience I wrote reviews on Google and Trip Advisor of my experience and will definitely stay again due to my experience with them. Because they focused on building a relationship with me, my customer behavior benefits gave the firm free marketing