More Tales From Customer Service Hell

     I travel a lot, which means I get to spend a fair amount of time in (spooky voice) Customer Service Hell. Here are a few recent episodes.

1.    I enter a U.S. Airways cross country flight and take my place in the first class cabin (no, I'm not super-rich, I just have lots of miles). The cabin is filthy. There are crumbs on the center arm rest. There is trash in the pouch attached to the back of the seat in front of me. It's gross. I call the flight attendant over and (nicely) complain. She tells me I should write to Phoenix. I ask what's in Phoenix, and she says that's where the company HQ is. She opens to the back of an in-flight magazine, indicates the address, and drops it in my lap. "We used to have people to clean the cabins, but they took that away in our last contract," she says.

     I hardly know where to begin my commentary. With whom does the fault lie? With the company that went cheap on customer service and then left its employees to deal with the fallout? With the employee who can't hide her bitterness and trashes her employer? With the American public (i.e. you and me) which has, by its purchasing behavior, told the airlines that the only criterion on which we will base our buying decision is price?

2. I check into a Hilton Garden Inn in North Carolina. The reservation has been made and paid in advance, by the North Carolina Bar Association. I have proof of this and my confirmation number and all that in my pocket, printed off the Internet. Nonetheless, they cannot find the reservation. I am a Hilton Honors member (and a member of every other hotel rewards program). I should be important to them. Eventually, because I am tired and frustrated, I use my own debit card to check in to the hotel, after being assured that once they find my registration, all will be arranged. I arrive in the room and lie down on the bed. Within 2 minutes it becomes clear that there is construction going on in the room directly over my head. I know this from the incessant hammering. I call the front desk to point out that there is hammering going on. The woman at the front desk asks me if I have turned down the covers on my bed. I assure her that I have not. "Okay, we'll send someone up to move you to another room," she says. My question: what would have been their stance if I said "Yes, I have turned down the covers on my bed"???? Would that have meant that they would have refused to move me? Or would have charged me for the room? If not, why ask the question? Upon checkout the next morning, I see that the bill says it will be settled to my debit card. I go to the front desk and explain that the room has already been paid for by a third party in advance. They assure me that no charges will go to my account, everything is just fine. I leave.

     Back home a couple of days later, I see that $200 is missing from my checking account courtesy of the Hilton Garden Inn. I call the hotel and am assured that this a "pre-authorization" (one might ask pre-authorization of what, since the room was already paid for? Two hundred dollars of room service?) and not an actual charge, even though the funds are blocked, and it will soon disappear from my checking account.

The "hold" for $200 went on my account on Feb. 14. Today is Feb. 21.

It's still there.

And finally, closer to home....

3. I am a big fan of Apple computers. I travel with a MacBook, and my company owns about 15 Macs. I went to my local Apple Store to upgrade my MacBook to a MacBook Pro. After talking to sales consultant, I chose a top-of-the-line 17-inch laptop, and wanted it with the glossy screen, all of which Apple sells. The salesman explained that they didn't have one in the store because not many people bought the top of the line (!). I said "Wouldn't it make sense to have one, so you could show it to people? And then when you sold that one, you could order another? Maybe you would sell more of them." Well, yes, he admitted that did make sense, but "our hands are tied by Apple." By now the manager has sidled over, having identified me as a trouble-maker, i.e. someone who wanted to spend $4,000 on their best product. They assure me that they can get my computer, but they will have to order it online from Apple and have it delivered to my house, in a couple of weeks. (One might ask what I need them for, I can do this myself.) Well, I am not happy about waiting, but I am willing to consider it. I explain that I travel a lot and I would like the computer delivered to the store and then they could call me and I'd come pick it up. I would pay in advance, of course. "I'm sorry sir, we can't do that...." and here comes the line I love, "...don't you have a neighbor or something that could sign for it?" Well, no, I tell him, I don't. What's the problem? Just have it delivered to the store. "I'm sorry sir, our hands are tied by Apple on this." And so I leave, and the store doesn't get a $4,000 sale.

   Maybe there is a good reason for this "policy." I can't imagine it, but maybe there is. But then, is the policy more important than the sale? And if so, why can't the salesperson be educated enough to explain the reason for the policy?

Comments

[Michael Lasalandra]

Merenda has always been a troublemaker.

[Bennett Braverman]

The Boulder Apple Store has 10 of them in stock. Need any help?