Services

Good service is comprehensive but unobtrusive. Author

A service is an activity performed for one party by another, such as: repairing a car, banking, retailing, treating an illness, cutting hair or researching information. A service exists within a relationship between two parties and when the activity stops, the service stops. Unlike a product, a service cannot be stored, resold or lost.  

There are two components to any service and which, to some extent, are independent of each other - the service and the service delivery process. 

The service. When your house is painted you are concerned with the service itself, i.e. the preparation work, rectification of faults, quality of paint and the general standard of workmanship. 
The service delivery process. You are also affected by the service delivery process, i.e. the way the house painting service is delivered - whether the workpeople are polite, start work on time and clear up at the end of each day.

Good service does not always involve a good service delivery process, for example, a small run-down back-street workshop, with no coffee at reception and with restricted parking, might service your car better than a main dealer with luxurious premises, and vice versa. When evaluating a service, separate out what is being delivered from how it is being delivered.

Evaluation:  A service can be evaluated using five simple criteria: