A number of you are familiar with my saga with United/Continental from this past weekend, whether you followed it on Twitter or read about it the other day here.
I have to take the time to say that while I am not sure I was expecting it, Continental reached out to me today to make it right - a gesture that I greatly appreciate.
Funnily enough, the response I received was not from the complaint that I filed Monday early afternoon through the company website. It was actually prompted by my blog post which detailed the problems I had and my thoughts on the customer service I had (or rather hadn't) received. My co-worker had gotten a message on his cell phone for me, because when the reservation had been found, it was the number attached to our itinerary.
Christine from Continental was not only apologetic - a response I had been seeking throughout the travel ordeal - but she was sympathetic and empathetic. These qualities can go a long way when someone feels wronged by a particular service. She listened to what I had to say and explained that they could issue me a travel voucher for the outbound part of my trip (which, for those of you non-fliers out there, means they would give me part of the cost back for my trip home). Not only that, but when she asked about my co-worker that I had been traveling with, I was able to tell her that there were four of us traveling together. She said she would issue vouchers to them as well.
I will take back part of what I said the other day, with a qualifier - I know now that Continental can in fact provide a level of customer service that I would expect from an airline, but I hope this continues and doesn't only apply to people who post opinions in open forums. It did not take them long (two days, approximately) to reach out to me on my blog post, and obviously they took note of the post because they knew that my bag had been recovered and other details. Even if Christine was reading the post right then when we were on the phone, she at least was putting effort into making it better.
As someone who has worked in customer service and still does to some degree through social media and online communications, I can say that it's not always easy to know how to respond to someone when they are irate and irrational. Although I have had time to calm down from the other day, I think Christine and Continental helped me to feel even more at ease about their company. Christine also suggested that if I have further complaints to call her directly. This is key, because it makes me feel like I matter and I am important to them as a customer, even though there are thousands of others who fly their airline every day.
While I do believe United/Continental could still improve their customer service, I wanted to let you know that I appreciated the effort they put into my case, and I look forward to changes they make in their services as they continue with their merger. I think utilizing social media (much like Delta does with @DeltaAssist) would be extremely beneficial, and opening the door to give people a chance to connect to them - whether it be good or bad - will only strengthen the system.
In a world where people are connected all the time, it's important to reach out and acknowledge what people are saying about your brand. Sometimes I have to respond to negative comments but when I do, people are often surprised and will go out of their way to say that they were glad to someone was listening. Having that listening ear in the wide open spaces of the internet is sometimes what it takes to turn a person into a brand believer.
Have you ever been surprised to find that someone online was listening to what you had to say? How does it make you feel when a company tries to right a wrong?
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
the worst trip i ever had.
I travel often. I deemed 2011 the year of trips - all 12 months of this year I will be flying somewhere. So I have plenty of experiences with airlines and various staff and crew along the way. I don't necessarily feel like an expert, but I know what good customer service looks like, and I know when I am appreciated as a customer of a particular company. I also can tell you that social media can do wonders for a company, and it's disappointing that in 2011, a company won't utilize it.
This trip was just like any other. In fact, my flight out to Burlington, Vt., from Colorado Springs went smoothly. We made our connections, our baggage made it to our destination (although a co-worker was not so lucky, and her bag has been missing for nearly a week), and although United/Continental is not my favorite airline to fly, I sometimes don't have a choice.
On Sunday, Aug. 21, we were scheduled to leave Burlington (BTV) at 6:13 a.m. ET and land in Colorado Springs (COS) by 1:15 p.m. MT. This would have given us plenty of time to get back to real life, which was part of the appeal. When we arrived at the airport, there was no sign of a delay. However, around 5:10 a.m. we noticed there now a delay on our flight to Newark (EWR). No big deal, we've experienced delays before.
However, we were then informed that our flight was more than just a little delayed. Because of an FAA regulation that requires flight crews to receive a certain amount of rest between shifts, we were not going to leave at 6:13. We would now be leaving at 8:45, at the earliest. This meant we would miss every single connection we were scheduled to be on for the rest of the day.
Past experience would indicate that we would still get home on Sunday. It was still early, and we would be gaining two hours as we traveled back across time zones. But then we were informed that the earliest we could fly out of EWR to Houston (IAH) was 7 p.m. ET. Not only that, but there were no flights from IAH to COS after we were scheduled to land. We'd have to stay in Houston for the night. Lovely.
Accepting this as an option for the time being, we thought of other options. When we landed at EWR, we went to a Continental Customer Service Center. The man there said he could put us on standby to Houston on a flight that would leave at 11:50 a.m. Well, alright. The standby list had 10 folks on it ahead of us but we still thought we'd give it a shot. We didn't make it.
Then we went to another Continental Customer Service Center. The woman there was much less understanding, and told us that there was no way we could get to IAH earlier than our 7 p.m. flight. She told us it was pointless, and refused to put us on standby. Somehow this was surprising, but considering that customer service with United/Continental really means no service at all, we accepted this and left the airport for a while. Why should we spend our day in an airport when New York City is only a train ride away, and no one with Continental would add us to a standby list? Later we find out that they switched the aircraft on an earlier flight to IAH to a larger plane - if we had been on standby, we would have made a connecting flight to COS and been home on Sunday night.
Our 7 p.m. flight was delayed, as a crew member wasn't on board. Great. When we finally start boarding the plane, the system showed that we had no seat assignment on that particular flight. Excellent. Once we are assigned seats and get on the plane, we are delayed again by a family who would not split up in order to have oxygen masks for their children on their laps. They were escorted off the plane by four police officers. I almost cheered when we finally took off.
When we landed at IAH, we went to the gate agent to get our hotel information, since at least Continental had the decency to provide us with a place to stay. We were told that they couldn't help us at the gate, and that we needed to go to the service center. At the service center, we were told they couldn't help us (they were closing), and that we needed to go to ticketing. At ticketing, we were told that she couldn't help us (she was closed) and that we needed to go downstairs, to the train, to the baggage claim area to the 24-hour baggage claim office. Finally someone hooked us up with our hotel room.
This morning was slightly less aggravating, aside from the fact that we were told yesterday that we were on a United flight, and when we tried to check in at a United kiosk, we couldn't because we were on a Continental flight. I thought they were the same company? Or were supposed to be? Either way, we couldn't simply check-in.
When we finally made it back to COS, we went to pick up our baggage. No surprise at this point - my suitcase didn't show up. Apparently when it was re-checked at the Burlington airport, it was not in the system that it needed to go to COS, so it only went to Houston and stopped. At this point, I still don't know exactly where my bag is. (EDIT 9:48 p.m.: my suitcase made it! Whew.)
And though this doesn't have to do with the airline, the trip ended on an extremely low note when my car wouldn't start in the airport parking lot. However, that was a short-lived disappointment. The car started, but not before I had a breakdown because absolutely nothing was working in my favor.
While United/Continental may act as if they are creating some sort of super-airline, as far as I know they are simply a disappointment in customer service, whether it's over the phone, through social media or in person. Not one of my tweets was responded to - a far cry from the service I receive on Delta. Not one person we spoke to was apologetic or offered compensation besides the meal vouchers we received. Not one person seemed to know what to do or say to help us.
It's unfortunate that a company that obviously has thousands (if not millions) of resources (read: money) to improve their image won't take the obvious steps to do so. From what I understand, the services provided by United/Continental have gone downhill in recent months. What United/Continental fails to realize is that people are going to keep talking about their poor service much longer than they will talk about a success. And people are talking on fast-moving, readily available streams (like Twitter) where word travels fast and furious.
This should be a lesson to companies that you can't ignore social media, and you can't forgo quality customer service. I travel on United/Continental from time to time, but whenever I have a choice, I will no longer choose United/Continental when there is another option, because I do not want to give my money to a company that doesn't think that my time matters.
What experiences have you had with awful customer service? What did the company do to rectify it, if anything?
This trip was just like any other. In fact, my flight out to Burlington, Vt., from Colorado Springs went smoothly. We made our connections, our baggage made it to our destination (although a co-worker was not so lucky, and her bag has been missing for nearly a week), and although United/Continental is not my favorite airline to fly, I sometimes don't have a choice.
On Sunday, Aug. 21, we were scheduled to leave Burlington (BTV) at 6:13 a.m. ET and land in Colorado Springs (COS) by 1:15 p.m. MT. This would have given us plenty of time to get back to real life, which was part of the appeal. When we arrived at the airport, there was no sign of a delay. However, around 5:10 a.m. we noticed there now a delay on our flight to Newark (EWR). No big deal, we've experienced delays before.
However, we were then informed that our flight was more than just a little delayed. Because of an FAA regulation that requires flight crews to receive a certain amount of rest between shifts, we were not going to leave at 6:13. We would now be leaving at 8:45, at the earliest. This meant we would miss every single connection we were scheduled to be on for the rest of the day.
Past experience would indicate that we would still get home on Sunday. It was still early, and we would be gaining two hours as we traveled back across time zones. But then we were informed that the earliest we could fly out of EWR to Houston (IAH) was 7 p.m. ET. Not only that, but there were no flights from IAH to COS after we were scheduled to land. We'd have to stay in Houston for the night. Lovely.
Accepting this as an option for the time being, we thought of other options. When we landed at EWR, we went to a Continental Customer Service Center. The man there said he could put us on standby to Houston on a flight that would leave at 11:50 a.m. Well, alright. The standby list had 10 folks on it ahead of us but we still thought we'd give it a shot. We didn't make it.
Then we went to another Continental Customer Service Center. The woman there was much less understanding, and told us that there was no way we could get to IAH earlier than our 7 p.m. flight. She told us it was pointless, and refused to put us on standby. Somehow this was surprising, but considering that customer service with United/Continental really means no service at all, we accepted this and left the airport for a while. Why should we spend our day in an airport when New York City is only a train ride away, and no one with Continental would add us to a standby list? Later we find out that they switched the aircraft on an earlier flight to IAH to a larger plane - if we had been on standby, we would have made a connecting flight to COS and been home on Sunday night.
Our 7 p.m. flight was delayed, as a crew member wasn't on board. Great. When we finally start boarding the plane, the system showed that we had no seat assignment on that particular flight. Excellent. Once we are assigned seats and get on the plane, we are delayed again by a family who would not split up in order to have oxygen masks for their children on their laps. They were escorted off the plane by four police officers. I almost cheered when we finally took off.
When we landed at IAH, we went to the gate agent to get our hotel information, since at least Continental had the decency to provide us with a place to stay. We were told that they couldn't help us at the gate, and that we needed to go to the service center. At the service center, we were told they couldn't help us (they were closing), and that we needed to go to ticketing. At ticketing, we were told that she couldn't help us (she was closed) and that we needed to go downstairs, to the train, to the baggage claim area to the 24-hour baggage claim office. Finally someone hooked us up with our hotel room.
This morning was slightly less aggravating, aside from the fact that we were told yesterday that we were on a United flight, and when we tried to check in at a United kiosk, we couldn't because we were on a Continental flight. I thought they were the same company? Or were supposed to be? Either way, we couldn't simply check-in.
When we finally made it back to COS, we went to pick up our baggage. No surprise at this point - my suitcase didn't show up. Apparently when it was re-checked at the Burlington airport, it was not in the system that it needed to go to COS, so it only went to Houston and stopped. At this point, I still don't know exactly where my bag is. (EDIT 9:48 p.m.: my suitcase made it! Whew.)
And though this doesn't have to do with the airline, the trip ended on an extremely low note when my car wouldn't start in the airport parking lot. However, that was a short-lived disappointment. The car started, but not before I had a breakdown because absolutely nothing was working in my favor.
While United/Continental may act as if they are creating some sort of super-airline, as far as I know they are simply a disappointment in customer service, whether it's over the phone, through social media or in person. Not one of my tweets was responded to - a far cry from the service I receive on Delta. Not one person we spoke to was apologetic or offered compensation besides the meal vouchers we received. Not one person seemed to know what to do or say to help us.
It's unfortunate that a company that obviously has thousands (if not millions) of resources (read: money) to improve their image won't take the obvious steps to do so. From what I understand, the services provided by United/Continental have gone downhill in recent months. What United/Continental fails to realize is that people are going to keep talking about their poor service much longer than they will talk about a success. And people are talking on fast-moving, readily available streams (like Twitter) where word travels fast and furious.
This should be a lesson to companies that you can't ignore social media, and you can't forgo quality customer service. I travel on United/Continental from time to time, but whenever I have a choice, I will no longer choose United/Continental when there is another option, because I do not want to give my money to a company that doesn't think that my time matters.
What experiences have you had with awful customer service? What did the company do to rectify it, if anything?
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
read a book, read a book.
 | |
| (source.) |
There's something memorable about a good story. It sticks with you, like hot soup on a cold day. When you hear or read a good story, something about it permeates through you. If it is a touching story, you might feel it in your heart. You can learn so much from a story, whether it's a piece of history or just something new about the human race.
Some books are made into movies. You know this. But let me tell you something: 99 percent of the time? The book is better. When you watch a movie, you might be able to see the emotion that was scripted for an actor, but when you read a book, you read the feelings and thoughts of the main character. You learn more about that character. You learn more about important plot points, especially since many movies trim these down for time constraints.
 |
| open a door to adventure. (source.) |
Stories can take you to a different time, a different place, a different reality. You can discover new worlds without ever leaving your couch, and you can dream of a fantasy land from the comfort of your bed. Stories expand your horizons, sometimes without meaning to.
Books were around before television and before movies. Books were accused of being a bad influence on youth long before music was, and books were banned for their content. Books contain possibilities. Books contain hope.
I will be honest and say that I don't think I will ever have an e-book. I don't want a computer screen to look at, and electronic pages to turn. I want paper, and something tangible to hold. Have you ever noticed how books have a distinct smell? Go to a library. Pick up a book. It smells like a book, that has been loved and read and reread a million times over. There's just something special about a real book.
What books do you love and reread often? How do you choose new books to read? Why do you love stories and books over technology and other forms of entertainment?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
