Simply put, service breakdowns occur whenever a product or service fails to meet customer needs, wants, and expectations. Clearly, this can happen up a product that's substandard. The product or service may also function as designed with the customer expected to work differently. For example, they may upgrade their Wi-Fi speed, but not notice as much improvement as they expected. A service breakdown can also occur when customers have unreasonable expectations. Service breakdowns often result in dissatisfaction and frustration, which can lead to a cascade of bad consequences from cancel orders, insisting unreasonable demands, and even lawsuits. It can also damage employee morale. I'll give an example. I once worked in sales for a major PC manufacturer. We were advertising new exciting products but had an undersell. Customers would call and be on hold for a long time just to hear the bad news. Actually, they got angry and made my life very unpleasant. After awhile I quit and I've never taken another sales job. No product or service is immune. A hotel room may not be properly clean when a customer arrives, a new car may not get as many miles per gallon as was advertised, or your Rideshare maybe late while you are standing in the rain waiting. In each situation, the customer did not receive what they're promised or expected, and a breakdown occurred. In addition to wants and needs, customer expectations affect how service is perceived based on their individual experiences and knowledge. Customers today have greater access to information about products and services than ever before, which affects their expectations and perceptions. If a customer dines in a restaurant with a 5-star review on an app, they may be disappointed if their meal is not amazing. Failing to meet expectations, even unreasonable ones, leads to dissatisfaction and a possible loss of business. For many customers, all it takes is one bad experience. Customers have expectations for an organization's people as well as their products and services. Customers expect the organizations people to be friendly and knowledgeable. They should treat the customer with empathy, which is recognition of their feelings and respect. They expect currently as behavior, to be made to feel valued and treated fairly. No other customer should receive preferential treatment over them. Customer expectations include the kind, level, and quality of products and services they should receive. Products should be the latest and greatest, easily accessed, readily available, priced reasonably, and competitively address their needs. Also be high-quality and easy to use, and they should carry a warranty and be free of defects. Returns or exchanging should be easy and problems should be solved quickly and appropriately. The relative importance of each of these varies by the person and the situation. For instance, when buying a used car, a person may not care if a product is the latest and greatest, but they would want it to be safe and reasonably priced. Service recovery happens after a breakdown by restoring the customer satisfaction through rate service. With the proper care and approach, service breakdowns are an opportunity to build customer loyalty. A good approach is to follow these four steps: Number one, apologize sincerely, don't fake it. Customers can tell when you were truly sorry or just going through the motions. Number two, make sure you truly understand what happened by discussing it with the customer. Ask what they would like you to do to fix it, so you will know what it takes to get a good outcome. Number three, fix the problem quickly and then follow up if it is taking longer than you would like. To make things right, keep the customer informed of what is happening. Number four, document the problem and watch for other customers with the same problem. If the same complaint is frequently heard, there's a good chance a quality defect needs attention.