They Stole My Dignity

In January of 2010 I flew to Dijon, France and in July of 2010 I flew to Istanbul, Turkey – both via United flights.

When dealing with United you find that you are not allowed to talk to a person in customer service only email them (they prefer through a web form but you can find the email address if you poke around).  You then will get an auto-reply telling you that it takes 5 days to respond but due to an overwhelming backlog it will take probably 10 business days.

Let’s take a moment and reflect on this – the customer service for United is SO backed up that it takes 10 days to answer a customer service call?  I feel terrible for that one guy who has to answer all of the emails (I bet he answers all the phones too).

The France Trip:

I was flying back from Paris and when I sat in my seat on the plane I noticed some moisture dripping from above.

Not only was the ceiling leaking – but it was dripping onto my shoulder and arm.

I buzzed for help and the guy came buy and touched the ceiling where the water was coming down. Sniffed it and said – its just water.  And then walked away before I could complain further.

I beeped again – and they ignored it and just shut it off. I tried again – and they ignored it and shut if off.

When they came by with custom forms for the flight I told the lady that I was being dripped on and she said that it was only condensation and it should stop soon.

Stop soon? I have been slowly dripped on for 20 minutes!

When I said my shoulder was all wet – she patronizingly tapped my arm, laughed, and said “Bad Plane”.

So I sat there and got wetter and wetter. It dripped on me for over 30 minutes.

Not only that but no one cared.

I then sat there wet for at least another 30 minutes as my could wet shoulder dried.

So much for sleeping on the plane or even relaxing knowing that liquid could at any moment come back down on me.

This is NOT acceptable.

No one should  to sit on a transcontinental flight being dripped on and then told that being dripped on is acceptable.

It is NOT.

I demanded a response from United and got the following:

“Thank you for contacting us. I apologize for the discomfort you experienced on your flight from Paris to Washington, Dulles, when condensation was dripping on you. What you experienced does not measure up to our quality standards for cabin maintenance, and I have given your comments to our cabin maintenance team to help us ensure your next travel experience with us is comfortable and enjoyable. I am sorry for the less than courteous response from our flight attendant, which resulted in further disappointment with our service.

Please accept the included electronic travel certificate as our gesture of goodwill. I hope you will give us another opportunity to serve you better.”

They gave me a $250 voucher that was only good on a domestic flight.

I asked them why wouldn’t they give me a voucher that was good on a flight like the one I was on – I really don’t ever fly domestically.  The reply was that this was just a gesture of goodwill not a form of compensation.

So why would I fly with them to Turkey?

Well technically I didn’t. I booked via Travelocity (which was an adventure in itself -see previous post) and they booked me with Turkish Airways (which was a great flight) but the Cleveland to Chicago part was a United flight (still the one booking though).

Upon checking in on my flight to Istanbul I was told that I would have to pay $50 for my second bag. I told the lady at the desk that I booked with Travelocity and their customer service called United to verify that
as I was flying Turkish Airways from Chicago to Istanbul on the same itinerary (the bags checked all the way through) I could check 2 bags for free.

I really did call several times to verify this because of my previous bad experiences with the domestic side of international travel.

She rudely told me that it didn’t matter what Travelocity said or customer service said that I had to pay $50. When I asked to speak to a supervisor she said there was none available and when I asked for her
name so I could complain she said that at United names don’t matter and that the policy is the policy.

She made it very clear that she was willing to let this escalate so that she could deny me service altogether – since when did the ticketing agents get God complexes?

She was VERY rude and I paid her the $50.

I called Travelocity and they immediately apologized – I sent them the receipt and not only did they refund me the $50 but they also gave me $50 off my next flight. Kudos to them – that is how customer service is supposed to work.

I contacted United customer service again to inform them of my shakedown and rude treatment and asked them if it was their policy that if you want to be treated with dignity and respect that you need to fly another airline? I also related the issues I had previously and included the bizarre policy of giving someone a domestic voucher for an international flight (which while I was flying to Chicago this time was part of an international itinerary where I proceeded directly to Istanbul).

Their response this time was a bit longer:
“Thank you for your correspondence. I apologize for this delayed response as we are experiencing a higher than normal amount of emails and letters. We are responding to each one as soon as we can.

I am sorry that you had an unexpected charge for your second piece of baggage of $50 as you received information from Travelocity that 2 checked pieces would be free. United does charge for the second piece of luggage to Turkey of $50. Bag fees are determined by the carrier that is initially checking them. The baggage charge of $50 was a valid charge to check your bag for international travel.

However you indicate that our agent didn’t offer you the service that you deserve. In fact you say that she was very rude. Please accept my sincere apology. I have shared your comments with the Cleveland airport
manager so he can take appropriate action to prevent this from reoccurring. As a token of our concern I have provided the travel certificate below towards another flight with us.

As a global carrier, United is striving to provide you with the best service in the industry. Of the utmost importance to us and to you are schedule integrity, customer service and professionalism. We’re committed to meeting your expectations, and we hope you will give us a future opportunity to restore your confidence and support. Your business is important to us.”

This time they gave me a $150 voucher – and AGAIN it was only good for domestic travel!

I have since emailed United again about both situation – I am planning my next trip and it seems a shame that I am sitting on $400 worth of vouchers that I won’t ever use.

Hopefully this time my logic came though a little louder.

Give a vegetarian a coupon for a free steak dinner because he didn’t like his salad is NOT a valid form of compensation. For personal flights I only fly international – I know it seems funny – but its true – I haven’t flown domestically in years that wasn’t work related!

Here is hoping in 10 days I hear something – I still feel bad for that one poor soul answering all that email.

I have been booking with Travelocity for years and until now have had no problems.

I booked a trip to Turkey this week and its not a cheap flight – its over $1200.

I could have gotten that price from several places but in my experience Travelocity is pretty reliable.

I logged into my bank yesterday to find I had both a hold on my account from United Airlines & Turkish Airlines.

This isn’t too surprising because most companies these days break down the tickets by carrier.

What surprised me was that BOTH the holds were for $1200!

I contacted Travelocity and they explained that this was because I used a debit card – NO – you did not run BOTH charges through via 2 different airlines because of a debit card!

They said to wait – and that it would go away.  Then they said I should call back.

The first call took 30 minutes and the woman on the phone apologized a lot but couldn’t DO anything.

When will they train people to understand that saying “I’m sorry” over and over is NOT going to make up for $1200 missing from my bank account!

I called back later and was put on hold for 30 minutes (before I had to go again!)

I called back again and got the same BS explanation and when I demanded to speak to a supervisor he had me look up my bank’s phone number and put me on hold while he contacted my bank and I had to get them to clear the hold – I would have done this myself but I didn’t know which hold to clear – and to be honest am still concerned that my flights are all OK.

He apologized again and magnanimously offered me a $50 voucher off my next trip.

They blocked $1200 from my bank for 2 days – can’t tell me exactly why it happened or that it won’t happen again and he thinks $50 is going to make me feel better?

He wasn’t much of a supervisor because he was stuck on his script and kept telling me to “Have a nice day” and how “Sorry he was” and how “Happy he was to resolve it”.

This is not customer service!

His offer of $50 was done to make HIM feel good – to make it look like he DID something.  But as a customer I am still upset and this form of manipulation the “You should feel good because I dictate that you feel good” attitude is terrible.  I would rather he did nothing and accepted that I was upset still.

Would a $50 voucher make up for $1200 being missing from your bank account for several days?

He couldn’t answer me and didn’t know what to do next.  He just fumbled and said goodbye.  Nice.

So a follow up to the previous story.

I sent the previous article to the Hotels.com press office with no response and then I sent this message to Hotels.com Customer Service:

—
What a nightmare experience I have had with Hotels.com. First my reservation wasn’t at the hotel, then their rate was CHEAPER, then hotels.com would not refund my money, then I had to complain to my credit card agency, then I get yelled at by your dispute people and all along no one apologized to me!

What a nightmare.

Since nobody wanted resolve things with me I published the full story here:

http://www.theystolemydignity.com/2010/01/22/im-not-with-customer-service/

I travel frequently and apparently no one at hotels.com wants to keep my business!
—

I think this is a fair complaint.  I mean I have received repeated abuse from hotels.com and nobody seems to care.

I know I should just give up – but how does that reflect on their business model? On their ability to even attempt to resolve a customer service issue?

I guess it is over though because I just got an email from Hotels.com telling me as follows:

–
Thank you for taking the time to write to us in regards to booking number ***.

We would like to apologize for the delay in responding to your email.

I show that your reservation has been cancelled with a full refund.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact our customer care department at (800) 219-4606.

Tracy J.
Customer Care Specialist
—

What?  We are sorry for the delay in responding? And I shouldn’t have any complaints because I got the refund for the product I never got?

I just want to summarize:
I didn’t get what I paid for.
If I had it would have been overpriced!
I was put-out by needed to arrange my own hotel.
Customer Service ARGUED with me when I tried to resolve it.
I was compelled to report it to my credit card company.
I was YELLED at my Hotels.com dispute resolution people.
And now customer service is asking what’s my problem because I got my money back?

Wait it gets better!  They ended their email with:

—
********************************************************** Notice: The information contained in this communication is confidential, may be attorney-client privileged, may constitute insider information, and is intended only for the use of the addressee. It is the property of Hotels.com. Unauthorized use, disclosure or copying of this communication or any part thereof is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by return e-mail or by e-mail to postmaster@hotels.com, and destroy this communication and all copies thereof, including all attachments. **********************************************************
—

Really? Telling me to “kiss off” is confidential?  It’s insider information? They think they have a right to tell me that an email they send to me belongs to them?

I will forward this off to their press people again.

I am not writing this because my personal hotels.com problem – this is a about a fundamentally broken process at hotels.com and their focus on something “Other” than customer service.

Nice.

Ok folks this is a good one.

On my recent trip to Dijon, I found out at the last minute that I was going to need to spend the night in Paris.

We went online to Hotels.com to find me a hotel near the train station and we found one for 57.6 Euros.

I wrote down my confirmation number and a few hours later headed to Paris by train.

When I arrived in Paris I went to the hotel which had no record of my reservation.  I said I had my confirmation number and they said that it wouldn’t help me.

They did however have a room (for only 55 Euros) and I paid them and figured this would be easily resolved later.

When I got home the next day I went online to find out that Hotel.com did indeed charge me the night (as well of course as the hotel themselves).

So I called Hotels.com to resolve this.

My logic is simple – I purchased something from you – I didn’t receive it – I want my money back.

The man put me on hold and called over the the hotel in Paris, when he came back he started to push me aside telling me that I needed to call back another time and that this might be my issue with the hotel in Paris.  I said that the hotel in Paris did exactly what it was supposed to with me it did give me a room and it did charge me for the night and that Hotels.com didn’t do their job in that there was no prepaid room for me.

He then hung up on me.  No joke – just click.

So I called back and talked to someone else.  She too called Paris and then said that I needed to call back another time.  I said this is silly, it is their problem why won’t they take care of it and call ME back?  She told me that the moment she got off the phone that she would be so busy that she would not return my call. That if I didn’t call back that no one would take care of this.  How’s that for customer service?

So I called back and asked to speak to a manager or a supervisor.  I was told that they were all in a meeting and that they wouldn’t be available for several hours but that they could take a message.

I tried to email but the automated response asked me to mail all copies of my travel documents to a European address.

At this point – 4 tries later – I called my credit card company to dispute the charge.

I purchased something – I didn’t get it.

They were very agreeable and removed it from my card to begin an investigation.

Along the way I’ve had a few more emails requesting documents to be mailed to Europe from Hotels.com. How hard is it for them to call the hotel and find out that I their reservation didn’t go through and that I paid for 2 nights in the same location?

So today was the kicker!

I got a call from “Unknown” on my cell phone.

The woman identified herself as Martha from Expedia/Hotels.com and concerning my dispute.  She was very strong with me and very pushy and wanted to know why I would dispute the charge.  I explained the entire story including the nightmare I had with customer service when she barked at me:

“I’m not with customer service! I’m with dispute resolution!”

So now I know the score here. Which is weird because what do I need to do with her – the credit card took it off already right?

So she proceeds to tell me that she is going to have the hotel in Paris refund my money and that I will pay Hotels.com

I told her that was complete Bullshit.  First it wasn’t the Paris hotel that didn’t come through for me it was Hotels.com.  The hotel in Paris gave me a room and I paid for it.  Second, why should I pay the higher amount?  I really felt that Hotels.com would do anything not to have a credit card blemish including strong arming this little hotel.

Well this was too much for her – because I swore – pardon my use of the world Bullshit – she started getting really angry with me said I was swearing AT her – which I was not and then kept cutting me off so I had to keep interrupting her to get a word in. She finally yelled at me – I don’t have to deal with this and… HUNG UP ON ME!

So much for dispute resolution!

5 minutes later she called me back and asked if I had “calmed down yet”?  I told her that she hung up on me.  I don’t think she was supposed to hang up on me.  She told me however that if I faxed her the receipt from the hotel that she could credit me the Hotels.com amount and that this would be done today.  She also made it clear that after the fax I wouldn’t have to talk to her again – that she would just email me.

I said this was fine and took the fax number.  But she wouldn’t let me off the phone.  She started to lecture me about how this was a clerk at the hotels fault and not Hotels.com, she started to chastise me for my attitude, and I finally had to cut her off and say I didn’t want to hear any of this I just wanted my money back and for her to let me off the phone so I could send her the fax.  She was VERY angry at this point and finally let met go.

I sent the fax off and I got an email telling me that in 7-10 days they would refund me 57.60.

Refund what to whom?  They money has already been reversed!  Are they now going to recharge me so that they can credit me.

Also the lack of currency units on the email worries me.  It would not be funny to get 57.60 dollars back instead of euros.

So I called my credit card company to warn them about the nasty crazy lady I talked to at Hotels.com – just a heads up.

Finally I called Hotels.com to complain.  I got in a Customer Service loop for a few minutes and then I explained that I needed to talk to a supervisor.

The lady said that she would get me one and to hold the line.  2 second later I hear a couple of clicks and then I hear a whole bunch of conversations.

For 10 minutes I could hear the call center floor – well not the call center floor – I could hear one guy talking either on the phone or to someone else.

I don’t know what they were saying because it wasn’t in English.  They couldn’t hear me and after 10 minutes no one ever came back.

You know the worst of all of this?  I walked into a hotel with a prepaid reservation and not only am I having problems getting my money back no one has even apologized for possible ruining my trip by stranding me without a room.

Way to go Hotels.com