C AS E
Four Customers in Search of Solutions1
Four telephone subscribers from suburban Munich call to complain about a variety of problems.
How should the telephone company respond to each?
A mong the many customers of Telekom Bavaria are four
individuals living in Haar in a middle-class suburb close
to Munich, Germany. Each of them has a telephone-related
problem and decides to call the company about it.
Andreas Werden
Andreas Werden grumbles constantly about the amount
of his home telephone bill (which is, in fact, in the top
2 percent of all household phone bills in Haar). There
are many calls to countries in Southeast Asia on weekday
evenings, almost daily calls to Schwabing (another district
in Munich, not far from Haar) around mid-day, and calls to
Frankfurt most weekends. Mr Werden also uses the phone
for his Internet modem. One day, Mr Werden receives a
telephone bill which is even larger than usual. On reviewing
the bill, he is convinced that he has been overcharged, so
he calls Telekom Bavaria’s customer service department to
complain and request an adjustment.
Erika Mueller
Erika Mueller has missed several important calls recently
because the caller received a busy signal. She phones the
telephone company to determine possible solutions to
this problem. Ms. Mueller’s telephone bill is at the median
level for a household subscriber. Most of the calls from her
house are local, but there are occasional international calls
to France, where her sister has migrated to. She does not
subscribe to any value-added services.
Anna Bauer
During the past several weeks, Mrs. Bauer has been distressed
to receive a series of obscene telephone calls. It sounds like
the same person each time. She calls the telephone company
Case Study (NEW4).indd 437
CASE STUDY
Christopher Lovelock, Jochen Wirtz and Patricia Chew
to see if they can put a stop to this harassment. Her phone
bill is in the bottom 10 percent of all household subscriber
bills and almost all calls are local.
Konrad Fichtner
For more than a week, the phone line at Konrad Fitchtner’s
house has been making strange humming and crackling
noises, making it difficult to hear what the other person is
saying. After two of his friends comment on these distracting
noises, Mr. Fichtner calls Telekom Bavaria and reports
the problem. His guess is that it is being caused by the
answering machine, which is getting old and sometimes loses
messages. Mr. Fichtner’s phone bill is at the 75th percentile
for a household subscriber. Most of the calls are made to
locations within Haar and Munich, usually at evenings and
weekends, although there are a few calls to Berlin too. He
went to university there and he likes to keep in touch with
some of his former classmates.
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Based strictly on the information in the case,
how many possibilities do you see to segment the
telecommunications market?
2. As a customer service rep at the telephone company,
how would you address each of the problems and
complaints reported?
3. Do you see any marketing opportunities for Telekom
Bavaria in any of these complaints?
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© 2009 Christopher H. Lovelock, Jochen Wirtz and Patricia Chew
Four Customers in Search of Solutions 437
8/12/08 9:53:39 AM