CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

A customer is defined by Crocker and West (2003:58) as anyone whom is supplied a good or service. According to Harris (2007), customers’ service is anything that we do for the customer on order to enhance his/her experience. This may vary from one customer to another and therefore depends on service providers to first of all know their customers in order to provide them with excellent services that will enhance their customer satisfaction. Harris (2007) is of the view that excellent customer service is one of the least expensive as well as the most effective way of marketing any particular business. To emphasis this point, Kotler (1997;47) added that the ‘cost of keeping a new customer s estimated five times the cost of keeping a customer happy’. Customer service is all of the retailer activities hat increase the value received by consumers when shopping.

Levy, (Weitz,599) according to this definition, customers service is an activity that increase the value. Customer service is identifiable, but sometimes intangible, activities undertaken by a retailer in conjunction with the basic goods and services it sells (Berman, Evans,2007;647). Intangibility, one of the main characteristics of services, is valid for customer service too.

According to another definition, customer service is the sum total of what an organization does to meet customer expectation and produce customer satisfaction (Institute of Customer Service), customer satisfaction can be provided by meeting customer expectations.

To meet these expectations, retailer must provide excellent customer service. customer service is activities and benefits that directly or indirectly related products sold (Tek, Oreli 681).

Customer service support the provision of the company’s core products (Pettigrew;257). Customer service can be related with products directly such as product guarantee, product delivery etc. Also customer service can be facilitating service which is not related with products directly such as product guarantee product delivery etc. also, customer service can be facilitating service which is not related with products such as parking area, children play area, call Centre etc.

Ettore (2001) is of the view that concentrating on current customer’s information can and should be obtained to better understand their view of the service provided. The quality of service provided determines the level of satisfaction of the customer even though what is seen as quality by one customer may not necessarily be quality to another.

The satisfaction is an evaluation about how much could the retailer meet or exceed customers ‘expectations (Levy, Weitz;105). the comparison of expectation and performance in post purchase state determines the satisfaction level of customers.

Customer satisfaction is a result of the comparison process expectations and perceived service performance. Customer satisfaction is measured by “disconfirmation theory”. Disconfirmation theory is the comparison of the performance level after using the product or service with the expectation level before using the product or service as better or worse.

Customer satisfaction is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. Customer satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of business strategy. Customer satisfaction is an asset that should be monitored and managed just like any physical asset.

In a competitive business area, understanding customers need seems crucial, as a result, companies and banks in such a case have moved from product-centric to customer centric position. Customer satisfaction is influenced by the type of service provided satisfaction is particularly a challenge in the bank based services as well as service centres, provision shops as customers can easily switch from one centre to another for better service.

Increased rates of customer satisfaction bring several positive aspects to a company; it is believed that customer satisfaction has a positive relationship with economic profit (Anderson, fornell, and lehmann,1994). Also, it will reduce customer’s price sensitivity(fornell,1992) and contribute to the creation of loyal customers, which in turn implies a stable cash flow (matzler et al,1996).

It is therefore important that service industries provide quality service to customers so as to satisfy them, make them loyal and retain them at the end. customer satisfaction is also defined by kotler (1997) as a person’s overall feelings of pleasure or disappointment that comes about as a result of comparing a particular product’s perceived performance. Harris (2007;5) there outlined five needs to every customer that has to be met in order to satisfy the customer. These include; service, price quality, actions and appreciation.

MTN (Mobile Telephone Network) a telecommunication service provider company Buea brach. This telecommunication Centre has customers as one of the most important pillar on which the business operates and this research seeks to investigate whether the service being provided meets customer expectation and whether customers are being satisfied by those services and also which other ways the service can be improved so as to satisfy the customer.

1.2 Statement of the problem

In any type of organization, customers are the key for the survival of the company. In order to be profitable the company must satisfy their workers. most provision stores, banks and companies have no clue what their customers were anything less than a hundred percent satisfied. They would hear about it, and then they are surprised when the number of customers start to reduce and their existence is threatened.

This study is therefore out to investigate the extent to which customer service affects customer satisfaction in MTN Buea, and also to propose techniques or measures on how to improve on quality service offered in this company. after a close attention was paid towards this organization, I realized that most MTN customers are not satisfied, some complain of network failure.

Available records reveal that MTN, the provider of both voice and data service has not achieved significant customer service growth. The MTN Buea report (2015) shows that MTN has 30% of the market share while orange Cameroon has 60% in terms of customer service. Their introduction of new technologies went extensively with training its workforce throughout the country, modernization of customer service centres. All these were done as positive steps towards positioning itself well against the increasing competition with the other telecommunication industries like orange Cameroon and Nextel.

There is argument that despite several initiatives taken by management of MTN to ensure that customer service is the best, customers are not still satisfied. This organization has focused more on creating mobile money services (created in 2011) and seems to have neglected the first and famous service which is facilitating communication. As a result, this research will be done by analyzing customer satisfaction, to gain customer loyalty.

1.3 Research Questions

1. How does customer service affect customer satisfaction at MTN Buea?
2. What are some of the challenges to customer service provided by MTN Buea?

1.4 Research objective

1.4.1 General objective

To examine the effects of customer service on customer satisfaction

1.4.1 Specific objective

1. To investigate how quality affects customer satisfaction
2. To identify if there are challenges to customer service provided by MTN Buea.

1.5 Research Hypothesis

H0: Customer service does not affect customer satisfaction at MTN Buea.

H1: Customer service does not have an effect on customer satisfaction at MTN Buea.