Paradise Tours is a Singapore-based company that caters mainly for the local market. Apart from packaged tours, it also offers a basic bus service to various cities in Malaysia. One of its most popular packages is ‘Paradise Pleasures’, which is a three-day holiday in Malaysia’s Genting Highlands.
Connie Lim had travelled with Paradise Tours previously. So, when she and some work colleagues felt they needed a break, Connie recommended that they should all go on a ‘Paradise Pleasures’ long weekend. The group decided to leave on a Friday morning and return on a Sunday night, so that they would only need to apply for one day’s leave. This was granted, although the manager pointed out that, because of heavy pre-Chinese New Year orders, it was somewhat inconvenient to have five workers away at the same time.
The bus trip to the Genting Highlands was uneventful and on schedule. The bus driver told them that he was normally assigned to ‘Paradise Pleasures’ and had driven both ways
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on over 200 occasions. However, this time he was staying over in Malaysia to assist with a corporate golf day, he told Connie and her friends. Another driver based in Kuala Lumpur would be driving them back to Singapore.
Things started to go badly from the beginning of the return trip. Connie’s party were packed and ready to leave their hotel half an hour before their scheduled departure, but the bus didn’t collect them until after they had rung the bus company to find out where it was. The driver arrived nearly 90 minutes late. Then, although he was supposed to drive straight to Singapore, he stopped without any explanation at a roadside cafe for 20 minutes and pro- ceeded to eat a snack. On returning to the bus, the driver casually mentioned to his surprised and angry passengers that he had been unable to have dinner at home due to the inconvenient pick-up time.
The passengers were even more annoyed when the bus made yet another unscheduled stop, this time making a detour down a narrow side road to collect one of the driver’s relatives. ‘My auntie hasn’t seen her sister-in-law for over two years, so I’m taking her with me to Singapore,’ he explained.
An hour later, just when most of the passengers were starting to doze off, the driver suddenly announced that he himself was sleepy and needed to take a short rest. ‘My youngest son has fever and kept us awake most of last night. I’m very sorry, but I’m doing this for your safety.’ The passengers were irate; they were already hours behind schedule, they pointed out. The driver offered no further apology, merely stating that the passengers should be more understanding and that he would be ‘okay’ after a short nap.
The nightmare continued. As the bus approached Singapore, the driver said that he would need directions in order to locate the Paradise Tours bus terminal. It soon became clear that he had only a hazy idea of Singapore’s street layout, and it was well after midnight when the bus finally reached its destination.
The exhausted passengers told the driver that they intended to report him to the company’s management. When they asked for his name, the driver refused to give it. He climbed back on to the bus, leaving the startled passengers on the pavement. Several of the passengers were met by relatives or friends; however, most had to wait for a taxi and then pay an after-midnight surcharge. Far from being refreshed and relaxed by their holi- day, Connie and her colleagues arrived home feeling weary, tense and furious about the way they had been treated. Connie herself was unable to sleep for several hours and then, after falling into a very deep sleep, woke late and had to take a taxi in order to get to work on time.
During her lunch break, Connie telephoned Paradise Tours to lodge a complaint. She described in detail the events of the return journey. After listening to her complaint, the general manager, Mr Chua, said that the company could not accept responsibility, as it had only chartered the bus and didn’t own it. ‘I’m sorry. I understand the inconvenience you have suffered, but it was completely outside our control,’ he added.
Connie wasn’t deterred. ‘You can’t escape responsibility,’ she said. ‘And I believe that you should compensate us for the cost of our taxi surcharge last night, and for the taxi I had to take to work this morning.’ Mr Chua merely laughed and said that he had to hurry away to a meeting.
Student projects
1 What criteria would you use in evaluating the bus driver? How would you rate his perfor- mance? Is any follow-up action required?
2 Do you think Paradise Tours should pay compensation? If so, compensation for what and to whom?
3 Create a customer service ‘value chain’ for Paradise Tours, identifying the structures, poli- cies and competencies needed to implement it.