Present Proposals for Improvements to customer service Essay

Introduction: In this assignment I will research a business through either the Internet or visiting the actual location and describe what type of customer service does that business have. I will pass judgement by listing all the facilities that the business has installed to facilitate and benefit their customers. I will base my research on the Legoland theme park in Windsor as it has a lot of factors to talk about in my assignment and will prove quite interesting in my understanding in what good customer service is. For task 2 I will describe the Acts of Parliament that protects customers and relate each Act according to how it will affect an customer at Legoland. I will then take another business and I will observe all the factors that has been asked of me to do, such as make notes like the â€Å"friendliness that the business makes to its customers† to questions like â€Å"What are the conditions of hygiene to the customers†, all of which will be taken in to account into an overall conclusion to how that business gives satisfaction to customer service. I will visit Mc Donald’s in Hounslow, being as its a very busy environment it will test their behaviour to all the elements that could effect their service and observe how they deal in those predicaments. I will then interpretative my opinion on how Mc Donald’s could improve there business through an oral presentation. Read more:  Advantages of Off The Job Training For task 5 I will obtain information on how an organisation monitor customer service and explain on how Legoland would take out to improve and increase sales for the long term future. Task 1 and Introduction to Legoland I have chosen to visit Legoland Windsor as my organisation, Legoland has 150 acres of wooded landscape. It is set on a beautiful site, nine million families within our target age range. The lego group was founded in 1932 by â€Å"Ole Kirk Chitarisen who started life as a carpenter. today Lego is consistently the only European toy manufacturer in the worlds top ten best sellers list. The Lego group is always being innovative. Manufacturing new designs and different techniques of satisfying children’s fundamental needs. The lego group is still a family owned business. Around 1.2 – 1.4 million people visits Legoland per year. It has all a child aged 2-12 needs. It is near to main motorways and there are several means of access to Legoland. There are many advantages, for example the effect on the local economy. I am visiting Legoland in order to investigate how the business treats its internal and external customers and what methods they have to solve customer complaints. External customers are people that buy or visits. They are private individuals and businesses Legolands main external customers are families, grandparents with children, children from school trips and foreigners. There are 12 – 14 million visitors every year. It is a great idea for parents to take their children to Legoland as it meets their needs. Legoland has five themed activity areas with forty interactive notes and is full of fun for children aged 2 -12. The services that Legoland offer to its customers. * Toilet facilities: Children always need to go to the toilet nearly each hour of the day therefore , there should be a sufficient amount of toilets around the site. * Baby care Centres: This area is a private area for mothers to changed their baby or to breastfeed. It is ideal for mothers as it is convenient and they can rely on them in case of a emergency. * Lockers: Legoland offers lockers to the public as it saves them carrying their luggage around and they know that it is safe. They are non-refundable coin operated lockers . There are a high amount of lockers provided. * Pushchairs and wheelchairs hire: Both pushchairs & wheelchairs can be hired from Legoland. They have a charge but is fair. To make pushchairs & wheelchairs give more access Legoland have provided slopes instead of steps and wide gaps for access in the attractions. For example freestyle workshop. * Public telephone: There are public telephone located on the mini map. This is very pleasing as not everyone has mobile phones. This may be ideal for parents making calls to a taxi firm or friend to pick them up. * First Aid: There is only are first aid centre on the map. This is unpleasant as first aid centres are vital as children may cause injury to themselves and need assistance promptly. * Lost Parents: There are two lost parents sites located. This is a vital need as children need to know where they are and how far they are. A child may get lost and will not know what to do. Normally if a child appears at a lost parents centre, they announce it on speakers around the site giving a full description of a lost child. * Automatic cash machines; There is one cash machine on site. This is useful as parents do not have to visit banks to withdraw cash. Parents would not have to worry if they run out of money. * Restaurants and cafes: There are eight restaurants & cafes in Legoland. This is pleasing as parents and children will have the benefit of eating when they are ready. They would not have to walk far to find a restaurant. The internal customers of Legoland are the employees, support staff and those who work within the organisation. Their needs would be: * A pleasant environment to work in: The employees would require an environment in which it is clean, safe and suitable. * An average salary: All employee want to earn a sufficient amount of money, so they can purchase more goods/services, or of a higher quality of goods or services. Their salary must be able to cover for their own running costs, food and needs. * Uniform: Some jobs require the employees to wear a uniform. The employees would have to wear the uniform as it is presentable and is a form of advertising. It pleases customers & alerts them that the employees are available. * Changing area: Employees need an area in which they can change their clothes into their uniform. Their has to be a male/female changing room. This is convenient for the employees, as they will not have to wear their to and from work. * Lockers: Employees need locker to store their valuables and to reduce the risk of theft. The employees feel a little safer as they know their goods are store somewhere safe. * Toilets: Staff need toilet facilities as this is a basic need. * Car park: Staff who drive need to know where they can park their vechiles without worrying. In some staff car – parks, only the staff have an entrance to it. Business communication Oral. An event when I spoke to an member of staff at Legoland was: 1) At the main entrance, I went to guest services to ask on some more information on Legoland and perhaps that they might have a student information pack, they replied and gladly and gave me a booklet on all the information on the Legoland Corporation. My opinion of the customer service of Legoland. During my visit to Mc Donald I discovered that many of staff were exhausted, unhelpful and bored. There were not many members of the public as the weather was unpleasant. Due to the poor weather, most of the attractions and shops were closed I went on a few attractions to test the staff’s reaction. For example, we went on a ride called â€Å"the ferrous wheel†. The woman working there was being very sarcastic as the ride was for all ages but aimed at younger children but still didn’t give her the right to tell me and the people I’m with â€Å"I hope you not come back†. We went on another ride called â€Å"casserole†. The man who was supervising the ride who was opposite us and phoned the person on the other side of the path and they both started laughing and making jokes, which quite rude and uncomfortable The procedures Legoland adapt to handling customer complaints are. * Listening to the customers complaints. * Try to assess the situation. * Let the customer fill in a customer complaint form * Reassure the customer saying sorry and it will not happen again An situation where a complaint was proceeded. A man came into a restaurant to purchase a cup of coffee for 85p. He begins to drink and realises that the coffee has gone cold. He goes to the server and tells him that his coffee that he just purchased has been cold when he bought it. The server Written communication I got this leaflet from a library. It has all the information the public need to know about Legoland. It has six different languages for everyone’s needs, it gives the statistic information, opening times, advance booking, season passes and where how to get there. It is a very vibrant and bold leaflet. This leaflet is all you need to know about Legoland. It has a big and colourful writing for children to read and uses words like â€Å"excitement†, â€Å"hours of fun† â€Å"nothing better†. These words are emphasised many times to make Legoland sound fun and interesting. Legoland manufactures many leaflets in order to persuade little children and parents to visit. LEAFET * Here in a leaflet, I got from the front desk It tells the public when the opening times are for certain attractions. The second Leaflet is a addition feature that Legoland have added as their last and closing days to their seasonal year. It is shown in a very bright and vibrant layout with space Legoland character shooting a space war over the miniature site attraction. It would attract people into to going to this event but the thing that would put people off is the times that the fireworks will be displayed which is the late evening so some people might need to leave, so they have to miss that event, if it was some other special event that can proceed in the day then the turn out could be large. N/A N/A These are the four acts which protect customers 1)Consumer protection Act 1987 This act states that all goods brought should be safe to use, and prices should not be displayed in a misleading way. Legoland would have to abide by these rules. For example, the price of goods should not be displayed in a confusing way. The price should be bold so customers can clearly see and understand them. 2) Sales of goods act 1979 This law declares that goods should be: * Merchantable quality (Fit to sell, have no faults or damages) * Fit for their purpose (suitable for the purpose for which they are sold) * As describe (must match description given) For example, at Legoland the goods sold should have no faults or damages. If a women purchases a key ring and discovers that there is a crack in the glass that contains a picture of Legoland, she can take it back either to received a refund or exchange, Legoland may lose customer loyalty through damaged goods so they must maintain high quality products. 3) Trades Description Act 1963. The code conveys that traders must give an accurate description of their goods & services. Legoland must show clearly their goods & services they sell. For example, In the leaflets it describes the goods it sells. 4) Health and safety at work Act 1974 This act states that External customers can sue if they: * get injured because he/she sold a faulty product * suffer financial lost/distress, because of poor workmanship, professional negligence * Injure themselves because lack of care by an employee due to unsafe fittings. For Example, a customer walks into Burger king and slips over and breaks his arm. There were no signs of safety to alert the customer. The customer can sue the business for this. Task 4 Intro: In this part of the assignment I am going to observes the customer service at McDonald. This requires me to purchase something from the fast food chain and take in all the details which will help me explain what are my thought on the overall service of that particular restaurant. ________________________________________________________________ During my visit to a well known restaurant I discovered that many of staff treated their customers very well. I went into a restaurant called â€Å"McDonald†. The service was satisfactory as they treated me in a good manner. There were limited amounts of food to choose from. They had a chicken burger, chicken nuggets, beefburgers & chips, all in total of 6 meals to choose from. I thought there would be more of a variety to choose from. I paid 79p for a medium portion of chips. its was not filling at all, whereas if I went to a general fish and chip shop the portions that they give for 79p is quite handsome and leaves you quite full. The time it took to order an potion of chips was very quick as it was almost instant. It took almost for the cashier at Mc Donald’s to despense the money I gave her in order to give me my order about 40secs, which was very impressive. I was in a long queue to test the amount of time it took to place my order. It took 3 mins to place my order in a queue with 7 people ahead of me. The hygiene of the restaurant was only satisfactory as the place was over crowded and I think due to the poor weather conditions most staff were ill and tired to meet the standards of cleanliness required by the Health and Safety Act to their customers. Despite the hygienic of the restaurant the ergonomics of the seats and tables and all other design features to the chain restaurant is in general quite good. For a family of four could easily seat together in a booth that is to assist a number of people at once to sit. The tables is on average in the right height to eat, and the seats just complement the table with the right height. The only disadvantage to the comfort to the seats is that its 100% plastic and that can be quite uncomfortable if sat down for a long time, but due to the constant redesigning to the restaurants it may just be a costing objective. In overall comfort to the restaurant is very welcoming and due to the winter they have set the climate to a comfortable temperature. The hygiene of the lavatories was at a high standard. No matter how busy it is, Mc Donald’s always maintained the lavatories clean and the all the way into the mensroom neat. The floors are always mopeds and the cubicles are always smelling fresh. The access for the disabled people is just satisfactory. As I walked in I noticed instant that the space between the tray and bin stand and the parallel table was quite close together, and if I just squeezed through a person going the other direction then someone in a wheelchair is going to have a frustrating time getting to order and finally having a place to eat in McDonalds. There is a disabled toilet which is at a very good standard, so Mc Donald’s are to facilitate disabled people but there ideas would need to have concerns on how they are meant to get in their restaurant. Mc Donald’s have always been concern for the environment. From when a customer opens there boxed burger to reading the sheet that covers the tray, Mc Donald’s always mentions and expresses that all there packaging and wrapping is produced from recycled paper and other materials. The majority of the disposable rubbish is always mention to be recycled too. The surrounding environment to Mc Donald’s is clean and members of staff take shifts into picking up any other rubbish that surrounds Mc Donald’s. The bins around the restaurant are always being replaced with an empty black bag, and on the outside of the restaurant which is the front, is a bin which is always being monitored by the staff. The safety of the restaurant was excellent as they had taken all precautions to prevent accidents from occurring. For example a sign symbolising that theirs a wet floor was put up, this was to reduce the risk of injury. The improvements that Mc Donald’s need to take in to action are: The three improvements to customer service that I have chosen are: a) Friendliness b) Availabilty of Goods and services a) Friendliness When I went into Mc’Donalds the staff did greeted me nice but in self forcefully way. As I ordered my fries the cashier almost shouted and said â€Å"Is that all† I quietly replied â€Å"no that would be fine†. Then when I received my order She said â€Å"Thank you enjoy your meal† even when I ordered a portion of fries and in the way she said it was in a insincere way. The way that the staff at Mc Donald’s could improve its courtesy to their customer would be to hire more cashiers and give them a longer break as on the day I went to the restaurant it was a very busy day and the amount of customers and stress combined can did lead to satisfactory behaviour. b) Availability of goods. From time to time McDonalds do have a wider variety of extra value meals but only for limited time period such as the new Chinese themed meals. As in a any other working day you would go into have lunch at their restaurants you would find yourself limited amounts of foods to choose and soon enough you would become fed up of eaten the same thing time and time again. Mc Donald’s could improve this by introducing more different extra value meals and fixing them into the ordering system in the restaurant so they become a regular fixture. How businesses monitor customer satisfaction Legoland monitor the number of customers by looking at their level of sales. If their sales are low, this means that the numbers of customer’s visits are low. This may be due to high price unhelpful or rude staff or validity of goods/services. Legoland monitors the level of sales by seeing if the sales have increased. This means that more customers are buying more. If the sales are rising this may indicate that customers that customers are happy with the service or find the goods at a reasonable price. Legoland monitor feedback by asking their customers to fill a form on their service. If a customer went into a shop to purchase a magazine and was unable to find it, he/she says thank you. This is a method of feedback as the customers was happy with their good/service. Some businesses issue surveys to their customers because then they can detect if people are happy with their good/service. Legoland monitor repeats business by checking the name and address of a person and how many times his names appears. For example a man buys a jumper on credit card. It shows the name and address. Another day, the same man returns and purchases a jacket, his name will appear again. Therefore the company can conclude that this is a frequent customer.