Comments on: “Should I just take the money and run?”

By: Charles Clarke

Charles Clarke — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 07:46:38 +0000

If there is a $200 cancellation fee for the passenger, there should be a $200 cancellation fee for the airline.

By: Liz

Liz — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 20:32:48 +0000

As a person who hates phones, I was more than happy to deal with Northwest via email last year. It took awhile (the refund came in pieces) but I got everything back after about 2-3 months. My contact person was sympathetic and as helpful as possible, and since I could just dash off an email and not waste my time on hold, my blood pressure stayed low. Letters may be more effective if you run into a stubborn company (NWA gave in to me immediately…they were just inept about following through), but email is a great compromise between the paper trail and the near-instant gratification.

By: Bela Fleck

Bela Fleck — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 01:39:56 +0000

Not dense about their own rules, I suspect. Simply doing what they can to hold on to customer’s money – assuming customers don’t know the rules and a simple “no” is all it takes to get rid of them.

By: Carver

Carver — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:24:50 +0000

@ Mr. B and Leanne

I don’t disagree that when you are making a formal complaint, a letter is more effective than a phone call. But not everything requires a formal complaint. In this case, I suspect that this matter was more the problem of a clueless agent than a systemic problem with Virgin. The quickest and easiest way to resolve such a problem is to simply thank the person, accept that your drew the short straw and call back and hopefully get a more clued in agent.

Then, the clued in agent should be able to give you a tracking number and an e-mail confirmation.

By: Joe Farrell

Joe Farrell — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 19:41:03 +0000

Virgin, after discovering their error [meaning they had their nose rubbed in it by Chris] SHOULD have put them in Business Class for their honeymoon on the flights leaving the date they wanted to leave or accommodated them on a flight the day before or after. TRUE customer service, after being discovered violating the terms of contract SHOULD have bent over backwards to accommodate the customer for a once on a lifetime [ok, maybe twice given divorce rates] trip. What buttheads.

By: Mr. B

Mr. B — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 18:13:18 +0000

@Carver
@David Z
(@Bysshe)

Step 3 is write a letter or an email, which create a clear record of your interactions with the offending provider.

Like Chris usually says: You may get a “promise” during a phone call, but when that promise fails to materialize, there’s no record of it being made.

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:41:02 +0000

They should have paid for her ticket on another airline if they were not flying her. Kind of difficult to change a wedding/honeymoon.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:20:43 +0000

So why did this poor woman have to go through all this? Why was customer service so dense about their own C of C? This type of thing makes me so angry…..

By: LeeAnne

LeeAnne — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:13:14 +0000

@Carver: If you read Chris’s blog as much as I do, you would know that he never recommends trying to deal with these types of issues over the phone. He always advises that you put everything into a letter, which you should send to key individuals at the various companies.

This advice of his is difficult to follow – I know that I always want to TALK to somebody, in real time, so I can explain the ins-and-outs and various complications of my situation. And letters don’t give you instant gratification. When I’ve been treated unfairly, especially when there’s money involved, I want resolution NOW! I want someone to listen to me, make note of the unfairness, agree with me and refund my money NOW.

But I’ve since learned that Chris really is right. The people you get on the phone are oftentimes low-level cogs in the wheel, who don’t really care about your unique situation, and just want to follow whatever rule they think they are supposed to follow, regardless of how unfair it is. They often don’t even have accessibility to someone “higher up” who can provide you with satisfaction. They are just low-level employees sitting in a call center.

Whereas with a letter, you can lay all the details out on paper, clearly, in such a manner that the realities of the situation are evident. You can be sure it gets seen by someone who actually has authorization to make things happen. And you have proven to the company that you can WRITE – therefore you can COMPLAIN – in writing, publicly, if they don’t do the right thing. Provided you have a valid complaint, this will get the right action far quicker than some lowly call-center staffer on the phone.

By: David Z

David Z — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:05:45 +0000

Step 1.1 Ask for a supervisor if need be. :)

By: Geoff

Geoff — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:45:55 +0000

Elliott is savy to airline rules. Any decent ASTA travel agent would be as savy. In this time of troubled everything, ask your friends that use agents for referrals. We good old (20 years or older) family based agents know what we are doing and know how to keep the prices down.

By: Glenn

Glenn — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:36:08 +0000

I recently had to go a couple of rounds with British Airways when they wouldn’t honor their Conditions of Carriage, to give me flight credit after I was unable to fly for “reasons beyond my control”.. After some unfruitful phone calls to agents who wouldn’t even look up the CoC, and after using the online form to no avail, I asked for Chris’ help. He suggested that I next write a letter on my own … which I did … to the CEO. Not only did I get a full refund on the tickets (and the cost of postage & phone calls to the U.K), they also sent me a $50 voucher (not that I’ll ever get a chance to use it before it expires ).

By: Carver

Carver — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:57:37 +0000

@Bysshe

Step 1: Call
Step 2: If you don’t like the answer, hang up;
Step 3: Go to Step 1 until you get the desired answer

By: Bysshe

Bysshe — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:44:46 +0000

I was wondering if you could post some advice on how to accomplish these discussion with an airline without involving a well connected member of the press? It seems as a mere layman it would be hard to convince the airline otherwise and as Ms. Boing was considering, just take the little money left and accept the inequity.