Dear Mr Karmis:
I am a new Travelocity user who will never use the site again after my last experience. I'm an urban, late 20's, well-traveled MBA, the type of consumer who is usually apt to stick to one provider, who values my time and who hates switching costs. In short, I am a loyal customer.
I am extremely disappointed in Travelocity's tactics this afternoon. I spent over 1 hour on the phone with customer service, for something as simple as needing to move the dates on a planned visit to my parents in Washington State from NYC. For every price I saw on my computer screen, somehow the agent saw a $50-$100 price differential on his screen. Even when I told the agent I could actually enter in my Amex to buy the ticket at the price I saw on my screen, he would still tell me it wasn't a valid price and that his higher price was the only valid one. As the phone conversation drew out in length, the prices kept only climbing higher and higher. Finally, I had enough and told the agent's manager that a reputable company cannot treat its consumers in this way - that a company with integrity doesn't invalidate the prices that are on my computer screen to sell me a ticket at a 10% higher price. That's when the manager finally said that although the website doesn't disclose this fact, customers who are switching flights get charged a more expensive price - in short, that the online prices are a bait-and-switch.
Mr. Karmis, I am a loyal and undemanding customer to please. As a consumer, I expect to be treated with respect and fairness. As a marketing and branding professional, I urge clients to be authentic and honest; I tell clients that a reputation of fairness and transparency is the best customer servicemarketing campaign any company can have. Customer service these days makes and breaks business - look at Zappos. I am extremely disappointed in a company which I had heard such great things about could find it acceptable to treat consumers and run its business this way. I have a large social network full of demographics close to mine, and I am very vocal about my good and bad experiences, on my blog, on Facebook, and in person. Regardless of the negative micro-publicity, I think it's more important that you examine what's more important - winning the battle (overcharging me $50-$100 for a flight) or the war (my loyal customer use for the next ~2-5 years).
My best,
FZ
1 comment:
I had a similar experience with Expedia when I canceled my flight and was supposed to get a full refund except they screwed up and didn't process this properly internally. In the end, they tried to blame everything on me. Spent a good hour screaming and shouting at them on the phone and, luckily, got my money back eventually.
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