Customer Service with a Smile: The Jetstar Way...

So, your baby has just died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome / SIDS while you were on a group holiday booked through Jetstar. You booked with Jetstar to maximise the benefits of cheap flights and accommodation package deals. You are looking at changing your flights in order to deal with the tragedy within the relative safety of your own home with family and friends. Unfortunately, you find out that changing your flights and leaving your holiday on the Gold Coast early is certain to be problematic. You call Jetstar to organise the changing of flight details only to be told you will have to prove that your baby is dead or you will be slugged with AUD 600 in additional fees and charges.

Jetstar demands that these fees be paid upfront before you fly. According to Jetstar, they are going to contact the family and they are to be fully reimbursed. However, that really is not the customer service point is it? Seriously, how many people do you know who are going to call an airline or front up at the ticket counter and try and claim that they need to change their flights because one of their children has died of SIDS if it did not happen? I appreciate there are people out there that might, but they are in the minority, aren't they?

Jetstar has argued along the lines of "We deeply sympathise with our passengers in such situations and seek to be as flexible and accommodating as possible." Yeah, right! It is all about the dollars and cents. There is no compassion or sympathy exhibited by Jetstar in this instance. And, the above statement might make them feel better about themselves, but it shouldn't. Neither should this justification be considered valid as representative of sympathising with passengers suffering tragedy in their families "If documentation is unable to be provided at the time, change fees and fare difference applies — however, the amount is fully reimbursed once the documentation is provided."

Jetstar really should be ashamed of themselves in regards to the way this family was treated.

I am not going to fly Jetstar on principle. My principles are that people are more important than bottom line dollars and cents. The simple reality here is that these were extraordinary circumstances and cutting this family some slack in their moment of grief was not going to send Jetstar bankrupt. If they do not care enough for the people that pay their salaries, then I do not see any reason for me to support an organisation like that.

Thus endeth today's rant and rail.

F*&k You! Some Customers Just Do Not Have A Sense of Humour...

Oops!

I had never thought of doing this myself. But, now that I have seen it done, I am wondering why it has not been done before. Or, if it has been done before, why I have not read about it. And, having worked in the fast food and restaurant industry in a previous incarnation of this life of mine, I have heard some really weird and wonderfully nasty customer service stories.

The beauty of modern cash registers and computer technology is that you can put any old message on a receipt for purchases made. Most fast food restaurants use the technology to place standard information on the receipt, such as the name of the server, the store manager, the store contact details or even to up-sell other products.

However, a Burger King store in Sacremento, California, added the classic "show me the love" message and symbol for world peace, "Fuck You". Unfortunately for the manager and the employee involved they scored the unhappy customer who was so traumatized by reading such filth that they just had to complain. Oops! The manager and the employee are now sans of a job.

To be fair to the customer, when you buy a Double Whopper with Cheese, a serve of Onion Rings, and a small drink, you probably are not expecting to be greeted with "FUCK YOU" when you go back and check your receipt. Yes, it was in capital letters. As a matter of interest, when was the last time you checked your receipt?

The customer, Francisco Perez, claims that it was one of the most humiliating experiences he has had to endure. The point Perez makes is that he only bought a burger and end up with a "fuck you burger" instead. To ease some of the humiliation, Burger King has offered all manner of vouchers to Perez. But, the trauma is too real and too recent. Perez has knocked back all offers to rebuild the business / customer relationship. Perez will not be eating at Burger King again.

Copy cats, anyone?

AirAsia Service

Budget Airlines should be interpreted as skimping on just about everything, including customer service. If people are offended that this post paints a negative picture then so be it, but I am unapologetic for it. It is the old marketing adage that a happy customer might tell five people of their positive experience whereas an unhappy customer will tell twenty or more.

I am unhappy with the service.

Anyone that has had any contact with AirAsia knows that it has a no cancellations / no refund policy. It is a little hard not to know this as it is a prominent feature of all their advertising materials, prominent in the fine print! What is less well known is that you can purchase comprehensive travel insurance for about IDR 78,000 that allows cancellations in certain circumstances and entitles you to a full refund on the cost of your ticket.

Now, I was not travelling AirAsia myself, my folks were. The old fella and the old lady (terms of endearment -- not offensive) decided that in the middle of their planned trip to Bali they would fly over to Jakarta to visit with their first born, his wife, and their soon to be grandchild. AirAsia was to be the provider of choice. Unfortunately, for the old lady, a trip to the doctor revealed a medical problem and an immediate operation was ordered and hence no travel for a couple of months. Bang goes the trip to Bali and to Jakarta. The old lady is on the way to a full recovery if anyone is interested.

My folks grew up without a lot, so their mindset is once you have something it is worth a little extra to protect, thus everything is insured. This includes travel insurance when booking flights.

I have spent the last few days trying to cancel the AirAsia ticket and find out what I have to do to lodge the claim and get the refund processed. AirAsia has an automated phone service that ultimately gives you the option to talk to an operator in either Indonesian or English. I had called a number of times already and chose the Indonesian language option (I am pretty good in Indonesian) and did not get what I needed in terms of information.

So, I thought bugger it I am going for the English language option this time. Funnily enough when I finally got through to a talking head the first things I heard were "Selamat Siang!", "nama saya XXXX, bisa bantu dengan apa?" which roughly translates to "Good afternoon, my name is XXXX, what can I help you with?" (Siang is a period between 10.00 and 14.00, I called at 13.30). So much for the English assistance.

What transpired was this:

Me: I want to find out whether I need to cancel a ticket or at least let you know that the passengers willnot be travelling?

AA: We have a no cancellation / no refund policy.

Me: Yeah, I know! I just want to find out if I need to let AirAsia know that the passengers booked on flight xxx will not be travelling?

AA: We have a no cancellation / no refund policy.

Me: Yeah, I think I understand that part! So, I do not need to cancel? I just leave the tickets as they are and then when the passengers don't turn up that is not going to cause any dramas, is it?

AA: I do not know.

Me: Is there someone there that does know? Can I talk to them?

AA: Silence...I will check...silence for about 5 minutes.

AA: No one knows.

Me: Oh, really? Okey dokey. My next question relates to the insurance and the refund claim can I talk to you about that?

AA: We have a no cancellation / no refund policy.

Me: Even where the passengers have an insurance policy?

AA: We do not have insurance policies!

Me: Really? What about this "go insurance" policy that has been purchased.

AA: All of our policies are issued with the provision that the terms and conditions are out our discretion and your mother's illness is not covered.

Me: Have you read the policy or the terms and conditions?

AA: No, but all policies maybe changed at our discretion and your mother's illness is not covered. Besides, we have a no cancellation / no refund policy.

As stupid as this is it highlights the limitations of teaching your service staff a script and not providing them with the tools to address enquiries outside the scope of the script or having the confidence to escalate the matter to a more senior staff manager or supervisor.

In the end and a few calls later I managed to get in touch with the insurer, AIU (under the auspices of AIG), and they were very helpful and I am now onto the filling in of forms and gathering the necessary supporting documentation to make the claim.

Moral of the story is that budget airlines = budget services or no service at all.