The long good-bye: The dissolution of customer-service provider relationships

Our research examines customer-service provider relationship dissolution. W e conducted in-depth interviews with five women who recently took at least several months to terminate a service relationship. The data provide a holi stic perspective on why consumers take a long time to exit, how they exit, and their expectations about rekindling their relationships. Based on our d ata, we conceptualize a model of the long exit, a process that includes a d issolution stage, an exit stage, and a post-dissolution stage. Our model of fers a theoretical framework of service dissolution, as well as practical i mplications for service providers. (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.