[Live at 3:15am eastern time]
I’m a big fan of making my own travel arrangements and just dealing with issues myself. I needed to get a flight booked on Air Canada and, of course, headed on over to the Air Canada web site.
Put in my request: <Barf> we are experiencing technical difficulties, try again. <growl>, back up try again and barf-o-matic.
Call Air Canada. While on the phone, working on this travel, live, I get a piece of Air Canada mail with the “TIME RUNNING OUT” on the exact travel plans I want to make.
Me: Umm, the deal I want just showed up in my email. It’s code xyz.
AC: That’s web only, sir.
Me: Web’s down, I’m there now, the error code is xyz.
AC: Yes.
Me: Right, so can you go ahead and give me the deal that is mentioned in this mail, plz?
AC: That’s web only, sir.
Web site down with Email marketing machine directing people to said down web site and happily creating pissed off customers. Thank you, sir, may I have another.
[Me, playing the burger king “Have it your way song”]
Me: Hello Delta. Can you accommodate me with this deal the AC has?
Delta: <click click> sure, you’ve got that typed into delta.com, as I see it?
Me: Yup.
Delta: <click click> Okay, the record is updated, just pay for it, pick seats and you are done.
I tell ya, if Seth Godin wanted to make a really big fortune, take the All Marketeers are Liars book, re-do the cover with the Title: Clueless, and re-sell it to the same goofs that already bought Liars, didn’t read it, and continue to allow companies to be this, um, well, clueless.
I had a similar experience not long ago with AC. I'm trying to book a flight online, and I get to the very end and it keeps rejecting me (oh, metaphor!), so I call live reservations, and they won't book it for me -- same as your story. Well, at least not at the "Web rate" they won't. They tell me they can book it for me but they'll have to charge me a $5 service fee, which on principle I refuse to do.
They tell me to call tech support, so I do. Tell them what's happening.
"Oh," says Tech Guy, "You have to go into your profile and update it."
"OK, but why?"
"Because we updated our system a few weeks ago, and everyone has to update their profile in order for the new system to recognize you."
Apparently it's too much to expect that they might notify their customers of such a requirement. But then, they've only had my email address since... 1996.
By the time I got it all updated and tried to book the flight again, the rate had gone up.
This should sound familiar to you, Rick:
Online business, a.k.a. left hand, may I introduce you to your brinks-and-mortar business, a.k.a. right hand? ;-)
Posted by: Lilly Buchwitz | August 18, 2005 at 11:51
Air Canada's customer service is terrible (in my mind, two different customer touchpoints not able to work together is a function of customer service). I've had some really poor experiences with them. Unfortunately, there's still not a lot of choice when flying the Canadian skies. Flying from the US to Canada--as I do frequently--is definitely better, but the bastards have me locked into their airmiles program...
Kareem
Posted by: reemer | August 18, 2005 at 19:33
Alot of organizations have operationalized themselves to death with so called best practice programs. They streamline, optimize, reduce head count attached to business processes...in the name of maximizing profits. But the reality is they lose advantage to enlightened companies. These are the small numbers of companies that employ technology and flexiblity while moving to operational excellence. Meanwhile we suffer the dysfunctional ones.
Posted by: David Daniels | August 19, 2005 at 06:20