Note: This article was originally published on Friday, May 10, 2024 at 8:03 in the evening and has been updated.
Everyone has a bad experience at one time or another while traveling. Companies will often monitor customer satisfaction with surveys or by answering comments through social media outlets. The problems are often not resolved. Why have surveys or solicit comments if no one will listen?
Why Have Surveys or Solicit Comments If No One Will Listen?
The following is a typical real example of a useless response to a bad customer experience:
We’re extremely sorry to read about your experience.
We do appreciate you taking the time to leave us a review and providing us with this feedback. We’re always striving to improve and as a result, we will forward this to local management for review.
The irony is that the same response is used for a variety of complaints from multiple customers — often “copied and pasted” word for word, which further dilutes the appearance of sincerity that the company is attempting to convey…
…and for the piece de resistance with regard to this blatant failure of customer satisfaction, the issues are virtually never resolved.
To add insult to injury, the company may even have the nerve to promote its products or services to the dissatisfied customer as though no service failure ever happened — even if the customer moved on to patronizing competitors.
Another real example of a customer experience which could be significantly improved is as follows:
Thank you for your most recent response. We appreciate the opportunity to assist you with your request.
In reviewing our records, your flight cancellation was caused by weather. I understand the inconvenience this situation has caused but we do not offer compensation or reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses as a result. I can certainly understand your frustration arriving two days later to your designation. While we recognize that we may not always agree upon a resolution, we will continue to do our best to be supportive as advocates for our customers.
Our team members evaluate all available information to determine the best solution for all customers impacted by a delay. While we understand you would have preferred to be on your way as quickly as possible, we typically don’t arrange for alternate travel accommodations when we expect the problem to be resolved relatively quickly.
In the event we need to reaccommodate you on another airline, the other airline must be willing to accept our rebooked customers. In some cases, they may not be able to accommodate our customers due to availability constraints or for other reasons related to their own operational needs. I apologize for any inconvenience caused as a result.
We appreciate your loyalty very much, and hope to have the opportunity to welcome you on board another flight.
I am not a person who typically gambles; but how much would you like to bet that these companies will commit the same customer service mistakes again despite soliciting feedback and sending out endless meaningless surveys?
Final Boarding Call
The following text is a response to an e-mail message I received on Friday, May 10, 2024 after I was asked to rate my stay at a resort property recently:
We are beyond disappointed to know we did not meet your expectations and had several areas where we could not perform at the level that has earned our reputation and the trust of our guests. Please know we are taking your feedback humbly and seriously as it is the only way for us to continue to offer an incredibly special and customized experience to all of our guests. We hope you have the opportunity to welcome you back in the near future and rekindle your trust and love for our resort.
Oh…whoopie. That response was about as helpful and beneficial to me as an oil change at a doughnut shop or a dry hydrant during a raging fire. What incentive do I have to return?
This practice of ignoring customer feedback seems to have worsened in recent years — almost as if companies do not need customers. I am typically not the type of customer who complains; but I have personally experienced several examples of failures in customer service and recovery myself in recent months, which have caused me to patronize competing companies when I feel that my concerns have been ignored.
I am absolutely certain that no meaningful improvements were implemented to this hotel property which was so disgusting, I spent the night in a rental car instead or to the ways that airlines should improve handling irregular operations for customers — despite my bringing my awful experience to the attention of anyone associated with these examples.
Have you experienced failures in customer service yourself recently? If so, please impart your experience in the Comments section below, which may be used in a future article to follow up on this article…
All photographs ©2022 by Brian Cohen.
