Circular Reference - in Business

In Business

Sometimes, improperly planned business support will result in a circular reference.

For example:

Alice needs to return her washing machine – it's defective and she needs it working. She is instructed by Bob of customer service to report to Carol of Returns and Exchanges for the requested service. Carol, however, tells Alice to report to David. David tells Alice to talk to Bob.

The entire set of references is now worthless because none of them can satisfy Alice's request; Alice has been given the run-around, every referral leads to Alice being told to refer to someone else and ultimately she is referred back to the person she approached first.