December 6, 2008

• Customer Service Xangaversary

  Today marks my two year blogging anniversary.  Blogs are like clothes.  Sometimes you go back and look at your old entries and wonder “What was I thinking!!??”. 

  
  Future Xangan
  

  So, what better way to mark my 2 year blogging anniversary and my 500th blog, than to post another of my infamous customer service letters?  If there’s one thing I hate, it’s bad customer service.  If there’s one thing I love, it’s railing against corporate America and their insatiable greed!  Whether it’s Honda, eFax, Safeco (update below), Farmer’s Insurance, Aetna, Dell, United Airlines, Facebook, my Homeowner’s Association or my mortgage company or even Xanga!  My inflated ego likes to think I’m changing the world one dramatic email at a time! 

  

  So, when a friend from work solicited my help in writing an email to British Airways after they refused to work with him on changing a ticket he had for a trip to India next week, I summoned my best dramatic flare and wrote to the CEO of British Airways, Willie Walsh.  My friend was trying to either get a refund of his ticket or at least postpone his trip to India for a while, in light of last week’s terrorist attack in Mumbai.  (A decision he made after much soul searching.  It really is about his personal safety.  I’m sick of that nonsense about how if you change your life, the “terrorists win”.  Unless you’ve been woken up out of a sound sleep with a gun in your mouth, in a supposedly safe hotel room in a third world country, as I have, don’t play that card with me.)  He was traveling with other people, all of whom decided to cancel their trip.  British Airways refused to work with him, which is really quite ridiculous.  Rules are “meant to be bent” as situations warrant.  Just like after the shootings at Virginia Tech, when I got United Airlines to begrudgingly open up more frequent flyer seats for my friend Sabine and others affected by the tragedy.  It was the right thing to do, and by going up the chain of command, I got them to do it.  You can’t give up with these corporate scumbags. They’re programmed to make as much money as possible and screw the consumer.  You need to break that programming to get them to do the right thing.  It’s not always easy, but it’s always possible.  Don’t give up!  Keep fighting corporate greed!

  
  

  Mr. Walsh,
  

  I’m writing to you to plead for my life.  You see, I’m scheduled to leave on a month long trip to India in a few days.  It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime.  A trip to trace my roots, to reestablish family ties and to relax from the frantic pace of my job as a software salesman in Los Angeles, CA.  Sadly, the terrorist attacks in Mumbai have curtailed my plans.  My travel companions who all booked their tickets on other airlines have made the decision not to travel to India at this precarious time, and they were all issued full refunds.  My extended family in India has advised me not to make the trip, as the situation is still too perilous.  Restrictions remain in place in major cities in India, and the U.S. State Department has warned U.S. citizens about heightened security concerns and advised them to “maintain a high level of vigilance, avoiding crowds and demonstrations and keeping a low profile by not calling attention to one’s nationality.”  I am an American citizen Mr. Walsh; born and raised in the United States.  Asking me to not call attention to my nationality would be like asking you to disavow your Irish roots. 
  

  While I’m happy that British Airways recorded record financial results in May, 2008 and made an operating profit of £875 Million, I’m extremely disheartened after spending several hours on the phone with your Customer “Service” agents, who basically led me to believe they did not care whether I lived or died.  While I recognize that my ticket was non-refundable, I also expect you to be a good corporate citizen and not put innocent people’s lives in danger when situations change.  I spent over $1500 on a ticket to India with British Airways.  Now I am faced with the grim prospect of traveling to a country racked by terrorism, alone, without my travel companions, and quite frankly I’m terrified.  You see, that’s the thing about terror Mr. Walsh.  It can take many forms.  Sadly, corporate terror, i.e. greed, is rampant.  After speaking with your Customer “Service” agents and hearing their complete and utter lack of regard for my personal safety, I can honestly tell you that I was sick to my stomach.  What kind of company is so concerned about the bottom line that they become terrorists themselves? 
  

  We live in an information age Mr. Walsh.  I could post this letter on various blogs that receive tens of thousands of hits per week.  I can guarantee that within hours of posting said letter, if you were to Google the phrase “British Airways Customer Service”; thousands of people around the world would read this letter.  Personally, I would rather blog that British Airways did the right thing and offered a customer, who was concerned about their safety, a refund, or at least an offer to travel a year from now without having to pay exorbitant change fees.  I’m a man of simple means Mr. Walsh.  I read that you once famously said, “A reasonable man gets nowhere in negotiations”.  If that’s what you believe, than perhaps I’m an unreasonable man.  I’m a salesman Mr. Walsh.  I live to negotiate.  However, I have never been faced with such a quandary.  What can I do?  Where can I turn?  Perhaps the blogosphere and the court of public opinion are the only options left.  If my words can’t impact you, perhaps they can impact future travelers planning their own “trips of a lifetime”?  However, if my words have caused you to question your company’s role in this customer service debacle, I would welcome the opportunity to negotiate.  After all, I’m a reasonable man.
  

  Sincerely,

  

  Speaking of Safeco, and the claim from the car accident where their client admitted guilt, this email came yesterday.  This accident will never stop haunting me and Safeco has been a nightmare to deal with.  Their customer service is terrible.  Just another greedy corporate behemoth who only cares about the bottom line.

  Carey Anthony

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  Claim #484504363007
  3 messages
  

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  From: TWITCHELL, STEPHANIE L	Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 9:34 AM
  To: Carey Anthony
  Carey, I would like to follow up on the status of my final offer that was made on 10/8/08 in the amount of $1500. Attached please find the release of all claims.  If our offer is accepted, please sign the release and return it to my attention. For your protection, the State of California has a two-year Statute of Limitations for bodily injury claims.  This means you must either settle your claim or file a lawsuit within two years of the date of your accident in order to protect your right to recover damages. Thank you, Stephanie Twitchell Claims

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  From: Carey Anthony	Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 1:46 PM
  To: “TWITCHELL, STEPHANIE L”
  I’m afraid you can’t wash your hands of me that easily.  That offer is far too low.  Every day I live with the pain and suffering your client caused me.  I’m already fighting this in the court of public opinion on my blog, and Safeco is the big loser.  You need to step up to the plate and do the right thing! I’ll repeat myself: 5 months without a car. 5 months of more than 75 hours of telephone calls, emails, waiting on hold and getting cut off by insurance companies, rental car agencies, and auto body shops? 5 months of countless miles of shuttling back and forth 5 months of interruptions to my job, where I earn my living and had to miss work to manage this. 5 months of painful needles all over my body 5 months of headaches and uncertainty 5 months losing sleep from said problem. No, $1,500 is actually insulting. Read the blogs.  It’s all there, as any court will agree. 5 months times $1500 would be far more appropriate.  $7500 is a drop in the bucket for a major conglomerate like yours, whose client, through their own admitted negligence, caused me pain and suffering (not to mention a tremendous loss of productivity) for FIVE MONTHS.  And is that suffering over?  I FINALLY have my car back, but only time will tell the rest.  Perhaps 10,000 would be more appropriate! I await your response, and please don’t insult me again! Carey

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  So!  Happy Xangaversary to me!  May the next two years bring even more victories in the age of “Power of the People”!!  Boycott Safeco Insurance and British Airways and every company that puts greed ahead of servicing their customers!

  • 2:44 am
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