Students collected information from both the complainant and the business in question and developed a case study based on their research. The researchers seemed genuinely surprised by how the customer service policies and procedures of businesses often do not fit the situations they are designed to cover. Many complaints were based upon communication problems. Not infrequently, the re-establishment of communications would result in complaint resolution. On the other hand, poor communication in the early stages of the buyer-seller relationship often resulted in a poor outcome.
Customers commonly have unrealistic expectations or lack of product knowledge.
Because many of these purchases are infrequent or unfamiliar to consumers, they do not understand what they are paying for or do not understand the product well enough to make good decisions. The focus groups were made up of representative companies that had few complaints in order to learn how they minimize complaints in a high complaint industry. Several themes were identified in the focus group phase of this study. The Customer It is very important to outline in any sales agreement what specifically will be done by the company and what will be done by the customer or some other party. Prudent sales agreements will sometimes specifically identify what the company will not do.