A few posts ago I blogged about the abysmal service I got flying Continental Airlines to New York City. I sent the airline a long and, I felt, eloquent but well-mannered complaint.
Today, I received this in my e-mail. And cannot decide whether I won, lost, or we called it a draw. What say you?
Dear Ms. Jacy,
Thank you for taking the time to share your comments and concerns regarding your recent experience while traveling with us from Toronto to Newark on December 27, 2007. Please accept my sincere apology on behalf of Continental Airlines for the unpleasant circumstances you described.
We value your business and hope you will not judge us based solely on the behavior of the employees you encountered. This experience is not typical of the level of service we expect from our co-workers. Your comments were submitted in our monthly Customer Care report reviewed by all of our respective Airport General Managers and senior management as an opportunity to improve our local services. I am confident every effort will be made to locate the employee involved and immediate corrective action will be taken.
One of Continental's primary goals is to have the highest standards of excellence exemplified through our service and employees. I regret this is not what you experienced during your recent travel. Please continue to fly with us, and permit us to demonstrate our true commitment to earning your trust and confidence.
To encourage you to fly with us again and as a tangible means of acknowledging your disappointment, I will forward by separate e-mail (2) $25.00 Electronic Travel Certificates. The certificates are transferable and valid toward the purchase of a future Continental ticket and expire one year from the date of issue.
Ms. Jacy, again I apologize for the circumstances associated with your travel. Given the opportunity to welcome you aboard once again, I am confident you all will experience the outstanding service and operational reliability we traditionally provide.
Kind Regards,
Theresa King
Customer Care Manager
14 comments:
Well. Huh. Circular upper management talk, no real addressing of actual issues. I think the $25 certificates are the bread to your trip's cirus.
IMHO.
Actually, I thought the apology was okaaay (what more can you expect, really)? But unless travel tickets on Continental are somewhere in the range of $75, their tangible acknowledgement of your disappointment falls a little short. (And why two certificates? In case you want to divvy up the spoils? Spread the wealth?)
Sometimes saying what you need to say is enough.
Very corp-speak (which is something I fight with my execs every damn day of my business life). But at least you got $50 faux-bucks out of 'em — $50 you can apply toward a trip to Atlanta!
Slap in the face, but will expending more energy on this get you anywhere?
If you're going to Atlanta, I'm coming too. But $50 is pretty skimpy.
Post your letter, too.
In the past, I've had v. bad experiences with a certain national airline branded with the flag of a certain country's maple leaf, complained and didn't even get an acknowledgment, much less a gift cert., so I'm voting for small victory, even with the vomit inducing corp speak.
I think it's a victory. Two certificates for $50 a piece might have been nicer but I'm impressed they responded.
I was impressed that you received a personalized response. I too have had issues with that maple leaf airline. I once sent a letter detailing some specific complaints and received a PFO form letter back with no apologies or attempts at justifying extremely poor customer service.
Air Canada is the worst, I've always found. They are so nasty to their customers, not to mention they lie right to your face all the time as they cancel flights on a whim with some bogus excuse.
Hi Jacy
this has nothing to do with this post. I wanted to ask where you go spinning. I used to live in Toronto and loved quad on King West. When I come home for a few weeks, I will probably go back there for a couple of classes. Where do you spin?
Also, I think you're a really inspirational, strong and interesting writer. (And I am totally anonymous... stumbled across this blog about a year ago where there was some Eckler madness that brought me here). I really enjoy reading your posts and your point of view. Glad to know there are warm, funny people in the world like you!
That's very nice, Anonymous. Thank you.
I spin at Quad West. But also sometimes at the regular Quad if I am downtown, and sometimes at a health club near my house where you can pay as you go.
That's really cool.
Give a big hug and lots of love to Miche. (from Zoe, now in London).
(PS I hope this isn't freaky! It kindof is, but so be it. I guess smart talented people who think the same way are just attracted to the same type of smart talented businesses -- like quad)
The corporate speak--most annoying. However, it's encouraging that there was SOME acknowledgement.
A friend had a similar experience and was not treated so well by a competing airline. The fact that she didn't arrive 2 hours before her flight was the given reason. I fly a lot, and some of those six a.m. departures are a bitch but in a post 9/11-airport-security enviroment that is the new (mostly iron-clad) standard. If your ticket vendor neglected to tell you that you might think about firing off a letter to them as well.
You got an apology, that's good! Nobody gets compensated when I insult them, why should you? :-)
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