Monday, March 15, 2010

Customer Service is not dead...give credit where it is due...

Wanted to pass on some quick "UP's" where they are due. A week ago this morning, i arrived at the airport at 5am to fly out of town. As i arrived, i took one last look at my e-ticket, and to my misfortune, it seems that i had been Pricelined... Yes, i used this service to book my ticket, put that i was flexible on my travel times, but not on my dates of travel. And to my dismay, it booked my ticket exactly a week later than it showed me on the screen. (Now let me pause and say, there is a chance this is my fault, and i will accept that, however in this case, i am pretty sure, i saw the dates i was trying to book online as correct).

The lady at Continental could see the worry on my face. And smiled kindly as she heard my plea for help. Mind you at this point, i had my credit card out, and knew a fee of great proportion was coming. Never the less i had to get out of town today. After a few minutes of tapping and working, she had me on a flight a few hours later, and no upgrade fee. She even prepped me to fly standby on my connecting flight. She then directed me to another carrier to fix my return flight. I was stunned, and thankful.

As i headed over to the Delta counter, i saw a gentlemen, who just as kindly heard my plea for help. He tapped away, and i thought againn, better get my $ out. This time however, he explained that he could not help me. And if Continental was willing to help i should go see them about this flight as well. I asked one last time, "Even though this is a Delta flight, i should go back over there?" He said yes, and warned me of a $200 fee coming my way.

So i head back to Continental, where she asks me what else she can do for me. I explain what Delta said, and she began tapping again. Within 5 minutes, she had fixed my ticket completely, again, ready at NO COST. During our small talk while she was tapping, she told me she was still trying to wake up. So as she finished, i headed towards Sbux, and picked her up a Grande with half/half. The bible is clear, that we are to honor those, who deserve so. Priceline and / or my negligence could have started this day with much worry and unforeseen cost. But instead someone cared enough to spend 5 minutes and fix my day.

Admittedly more often than not, my expectations are greater than the customer service i receive. However, today, my expectations were blown away, and when this deal is over, i plan to make sure that Continental knows how good they have it with this Lady at the counter. And recommend her to moved to a CS trainer and overseer. To all of you who serve in the world of C.S., thanks today was a great reminder it is not dead!

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