MANAGING ASHLAND MULTICOMM SERVICES Recently, Ashland MultiComm Services has been criti- Type and Cost cized for its inadequate customer service in responding of Wrong Billing Errors to questions and problems about its telephone, cable tele- vision, and Internet services. Senior management has Type of Wrong established a task force charged with the business object Billing Errors Cost ($ thousands) tive of improving customer service. In response to this Declined or charge, the task force collected data about the types of held transactions 7.6 customer service errors, the cost of customer service Incorrect errors, and the cost of wrong billing errors. It found the account number 104.3 following data: Invalid verification 9.8 Types of Customer Service Errors Total 121.7 Type of Errors Frequency Incorrect accessory 27 1. Review these data (stored in AMS2-1 ). Identify the Incorrect address 42 variables that are important in describing the customer Incorrect contact phone 31 service problems. For each variable you identify, con- Invalid wiring 9 struct the graphical representation you think is most On-demand programming error 14 appropriate and explain your choice. Also, suggest what Subscription not ordered other information concerning the different types of errors Suspension error 15 would be useful to examine. Offer possible courses of ac- Termination error 22 tion for either the task force or management to take that Website access error 30 would support the goal of improving customer service. Wrong billing 137 Wrong end date 17 2. As a follow-up activity, the task force decides to collect Wrong number of connections 19 data to study the pattern of calls to the help desk (stored Wrong price quoted 20 in AM52-2 ). Analyze these data and present your conclu sions in a report. Wrong start date 24 Wrong subscription type 33 Total 448 Cost of Customer Service Errors in the Past Year Type of Errors Cost ($ thousands) Incorrect accessory 17.3 Incorrect address 62.4 Incorrect contact phone 21.3 Invalid wiring 40.8 On-demand programming errors 38.8 Subscription not ordered 20.3 Suspension error 46.8 Termination error 50.9 Website access errors 60.7 Wrong billing 121.7 Wrong end date 40.9 Wrong number of connections 28.1 Wrong price quoted 50.3 Wrong start date 40.8 Wrong subscription type 60.1 Total 701.2