Verbal Communication Between Complaining Consumers and Company Service Representatives

Dissatisfied consumers are encouraged to complain directly to company service representatives. However, little is known about the verbal communication that actually occurs during these interactions. To address this research area, the content of 461 telephone calls between complaining consumers and service representatives was analyzed. Results showed that (1) consumers and service representatives perform distinct communication roles; (2) communication evolves from discussion of performance, to attribution, to equity issues during the course of these interactions; and (3) communication is not standardized across service representatives.