Handling Service Breakdowns at AAA LandscapingBackgroundYou is the owner of AAA Landscaping, a small company in Orlando, Florida, that specializes in resodding and maintenance of lawns. Much of your business is through word-of-mouth advertising. Once a contract is negotiated, portions of it are subcontracted to other companies (e.g., sprinkler system repair and pesticide services). Recently, you went to the home of Stu Murphy to bid on resodding his lawn. He obtained several other bids, but yours was the lowest. You arranged for work to begin to remove old grass and replace it with the St. Augustine grass sod that he requested. As part of the contract, Stu also asked that some basic maintenance be done (e.g., hedge and tree trimming, hauling away old decorative wooden logs from around flower beds, and general sprucing up of the front area of the house). In addition, fertilizer and pesticide were to be applied within two weeks. Stu signed the contract on Wednesday and the work was to be completed by Saturday, when he had planned a party. Your RoleYou were pleased to get the contract, worth over $1,200. This is the third or fourth contract in the same subdivision because of word-of-mouth advertising. Your employees completed the initial sod removal and replacement, weeding, and pruning on Friday, and you received full payment on Monday. On Tuesday afternoon, you received a call from Stu stating that several trees were not trimmed to his satisfaction, debris covering decorative rocks along hedges was not removed as agreed, and bags of clippings had been left behind. Because of other commitments, it was only on Friday that you sent someone out to finish the job. On Saturday, Stu left another message on your answering machine stating that there was still an un-trimmed tree, the debris remained, and the clippings were still in the side yard. You did not get around to returning his call. Stu called again Monday, repeating the message he had left before and reminding you that the contract called for pesticide and fertilizer to be applied to the lawn. You called back and said that someone would be out the next day. Again, other commitments kept you from following through. Stu called on Wednesday and left a fourth message on your answering machine. He said that he was getting irritated at not getting callbacks and action on his needs. Without returning Stu’s call, you responded by sending someone out on Thursday to take care of the outstanding work. It has been several days since the work was completed, and you assume that Stu is now satisfied since you have heard nothing else from him. Critical Thinking Questions
1. Based on the information in this chapter, how have you provided service to Stu? Explain.
2. What were Stu’s needs in this case?
3. Could you have done anything differently?
4. Are you sure that Stu will give a good recommendation to neighbors or friends in the future? Why or why not?