Handling Customer Complaints during the After-Sales Service: Mobile Terminals
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School of Electrical Engineering |
Licentiate thesis
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Author
Date
2014
Major/Subject
Tietoliikennetekniikka
Communications Engineering
Communications Engineering
Mcode
ETA3002
Degree programme
Language
en
Pages
60 + app. 50
Series
Abstract
This thesis examines how customer complaints regarding mobile terminals are handled and managed during the after-sales phase. Mobile communication devices have become essentials of daily life in most parts of the world. The annual increase in the number of mobile handsets produced and sold brings challenges in maintaining standards of performance in accordance with customer expectations. Such expectations give rise to the issues of device quality and service quality. By reviewing existing literature, four published articles, and a proceedings paper, this thesis analyzes the best strategy for improving the handling of customer complaints regarding mobile terminals. The case studies in the articles employ different statistical methods for analyzing different variables and parameters that affect customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention. The articles focus only on the customer-raised technical problems that are encountered in mobile terminals deployed in the field. The main customers in the current thesis are authorized service vendors that interact with terminal end-users. The statistical methods in the aforementioned articles are used to create a model that is useful for significantly optimizing problem resolution time. Results show that the perceived quality of problem resolution is closely associated with the perceived quality of problem description and perceived quality of the time spent in resolving problems. On the basis of the findings, several managerial implications are established. As a rule, training on new products should be provided to internal and external service staff to effectively manage the problems raised by customers in the field. Communication between mobile manufacturers and authorized vendors should be maintained on a regular and systematic manner to capture the business opportunities available to both parties. Such opportunities can be evaluated through panel analysis.Description
Supervisor
Hämäläinen, JyriThesis advisor
Häggman, Sven-GustavSmura, Timo
Keywords
customer complaints, complaint handling process, complaint management, customer satisfaction, quality of service, after-sales service, statistical modeling
Other note
Parts
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[Publication 1]: Mwegerano, A., Kytösaho, P., Liukkonen, T., Tuominen, A. 2008. Characterization of resolution cycle times of corrective actions in mobile terminals. Quality and Reliability Engineering Internal Journal, 24 (1), pp. 613–621.
DOI: 10.1002/qre.918 View at publisher
- [Publication 2]: Mwegerano, A., Kytösaho, P., Tuominen, A. 2007. Opinion survey on the quality of corrective actions and time provided to customers versus quality of issues description of issues raised in mobile terminals. ICEP 2007 Proceedings, pp. 343–346.
- [Publication 3]: Mwegerano, A., Ollikainen, T. 2013. Predicting customers issues resolution times in mobile terminals. International Journal of Computer and Information Technology, 2 (3), pp. 417–423.
- [Publication 4]: Mwegerano, A., Sippola, J. 2014. Authorized service vendors in mobile terminals. iBusiness Journal, 6 (1), pp. 18–28. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ib.2014.61003
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[Publication 5]: Mwegerano, A., Ollikainen, T. 2014. Evaluating challenges and competence for employees in a chain providing corrective actions to customers with mobile terminals. Archives of Business Research (ABR), 2 (1), pp. 10–22.
DOI: 10.14738/abr.21.119 View at publisher
