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A couple of
weeks ago I took my family on a ski holiday to Aspen. In the
space of a one-week trip I ran into sufficient customer service gaffes
to
confirm my suspicion that all too many American companies are giving up
on
the idea of customer retention. Their business model turns on actual
transactions. It's gravy if they get the customer to come back a second
time.
Our family of six flew United Airlines from San Francisco. We landed in
Denver fine and made our way to the gate for a flight to Aspen. Just
about
the time we expected to board our plane, a message flashed on the board
that
the flight was cancelled. I went to the service desk, and was told that
due
to snowy weather, our flight was cancelled.
The next flight scheduled
to go
later that evening was full, so we were out of luck. [Note: Those of
you
still operating under an outdated model of customer service might
wonder why
the airline would not delay our flight until the weather cleared. Silly
you,
why inconvenience a whole series of passengers on a stack of delayed
flights
when you can inconvenience one airplane full and put a containment
field
around the customer pain?]
The United agent was courteous enough to give me a sheet of paper with
hotel
numbers, saying that United took no responsibility for weather
problems. We
were on our own for a hotel, in other words. When I asked about shuttle
or
bus transportation, she gave me a second sheet of paper with phone
numbers
for shuttles - again, it would be on our dime. If we stayed in Denver
for
the evening, she would put us on a flight sometime the next day.
We decided to rent a car and drive to Aspen that evening.
We did make it to Aspen that evening and had a terrific week of powder
skiing. My good news is that the Aspen Skiing Company excels at
customer
service. Whether on the ski lifts, a hotel, or restaurant owned by the
Aspen
Skiing Company, we experienced extraordinary employees; so much so, my
junior-high-age kids remarked, unprompted, how friendly and helpful
everyone
was.
At week's end, I had drinks with the company's CEO, Pat O'Donnell. He
told
me that when he came to Aspen from the top post at Patagonia nearly a
decade
ago, the opposite attitude permeated the company. Customers regularly
complained about surly attendants, and the locals despised the way the
senior execs ran roughshod over the local ethos of the town. Over ten
years,
O'Donnell and his team drilled a sense of pride in the company. A key
element of this culture shift took place when O'Donnell challenged the
employees to find ways that the company could become environmentalists,
real
lovers of the mountains upon which they do their business. That
hard-earned
pride was evident in the new spirit of Aspen Skiing Company.
Ok, back to United Airlines. On our way out of Aspen, the scenario was
repeated. Low clouds caused our flight to be cancelled. We once again
were
left to our own wiles and rented a car to drive to Denver. Finding our
own
hotel in Aspen another night and wait for a non-guaranteed United
flight at
least 24 hours later was not an attractive option. When I made the
point to
the United agent that my family had now lost out on two United flights,
he
gave me a piece of paper where I could call to apply for a refund. Of
course, he himself was not empowered to deliver on that offer. The ball
was
in my court.
The service failure did not end that evening. We rented a vehicle from
Thrifty Rent-a-Car, drove to Denver and made a hotel reservation near
the
Denver airport at The Red Roof Inn. I called the hotel as we approached
Denver, to ask for directions. The front desk clerk answered the phone,
then
told me that she was too busy to give me directions; I had to figure it
out
on my own. I kid you not.
By the time I got to Thrifty to turn in the car, I was exhausted from
driving the mountain passes at night. By that time, however, I was not
shocked when the customer service agent at Thrifty could not process my
contract for the car. She explained that her software could not read
the
reservation codes made at the Aspen office. How did she resolve the
dilemma?
You got it, she gave me an 800 number to call so that I could figure
out my
billing at some later date.
Next time I take a week holiday I guess I better build into my time off
an
extra day to call the 800 numbers and clean up the mess. We have
entered a
new economy of do-it-yourself customer service. Makes sense, I guess.
Get
customers to take care of their own service problems and the company
can
focus on the real bread-and-butter of business: making sales.
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