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A New Way to Tell Your Airline You Hate It

bloomberg.com

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Re: A New Way to Tell Your Airline You Hate It

#11

Post by joezydeco »

nxsynonym wrote: post #3
Spivak wrote: post #2

I get that it's a catchy title and all, but give the airlines a chance here. This seems like a genuine attempt to provide better customer service and we should applaud companies for actually bothering to try.

I'm all for better customer service, especially as a customer. But I question the motives - is it a way to improve customer service or is it really just a shroud to help cut down on the "social media dirty laundry" posts? As much as I applaud the idea of quick issue-resolution via text, I don't think texting will actually solve 90% of the issues customers face.

IMO there are customer service cases that could benefit from a tighter communication loop.

Real-world example: Trying to drop bags at the counter, there's a huge line and not enough stations open. Flight is boarding in 30 minutes. Which would improve your chances of getting some help at the counter: SMS or a Facebook post?

Re: A New Way to Tell Your Airline You Hate It

#12

Post by samstave »

newscracker wrote: post #4

Slightly off topic. As someone who values privacy a lot and doesn't give out phone numbers much at all, I prefer other ways to communicate with service providers where the user identifier is easier to switch/change (changing one's phone number is a lot more tedious than changing email addresses because many people, at least from the last two decades, have the habit of using multiple email addresses segregated by usag…

Years ago I started crating email aliases on my mail server for various things.

I would typically make an email alias for a company that was [company-name]@my-domain.com and use that as my contact email for correspondence with said company.

So, I was doing something with the DMV online - and I created the alias "dmv@my-domain.com" to communicate with them via...

They sent their lawyers after me and sent me cease and desist letters telling me that my use of dmv@ was a violation of their copyright and that I would "confuse users"

I tried to explain to the DMV (yes dept of motor vehicles) how ridiculous this whole thing was and that the email address was for their use only - and that as a state agency, they don't have a consumer brand and that anyone with the initials of DMV, like David Michael Vincent would be using DMV in their emails etc...

They persisted and were annoying enough I just deleted their alias...

Re: A New Way to Tell Your Airline You Hate It

#13

Post by probably_wrong »

The article is slightly too optimistic, bordering on naive.

My problem is not that I hate airlines. My problem is that I hate (some of) them because they keep ignoring my complaints. Even when it is "hugely expensive" for them to listen to me, they still keep me around for hours.

If the medium were the reason of traveler's unhappiness, all problems would have been solved by now with Twitter/Facebook/WhatsApp. Social media gives users (some) power back, by making public shaming a real possibility. Texting won't change that anytime soon.

Re: A New Way to Tell Your Airline You Hate It

#14

Post by mikeash »

nxsynonym wrote: post #3
Spivak wrote: post #2

I get that it's a catchy title and all, but give the airlines a chance here. This seems like a genuine attempt to provide better customer service and we should applaud companies for actually bothering to try.

I'm all for better customer service, especially as a customer. But I question the motives - is it a way to improve customer service or is it really just a shroud to help cut down on the "social media dirty laundry" posts? As much as I applaud the idea of quick issue-resolution via text, I don't think texting will actually solve 90% of the issues customers face.

Does it matter? Having another option is good. It's not like having this service somehow blocks you from complaining on Twitter.

Lots of companies already provide text-based customer service (although usually as some crappy custom web-based thing, not SMS) and I often take advantage of it. It usually takes longer than calling, but it takes up a lot less of my attention and is easier to deal with, especially when I have to give or receive some long number or code.

Re: A New Way to Tell Your Airline You Hate It

#15

Post by maxxxxx »

ryanmarsh wrote: post #7

I fly weekly. After every flight and almost every phone call I get an email requesting I take a survey. Knowing how metrics driven most big companies are (I'm a consultant) I have to assume that for all the complaining nobody is filling out these surveys. When I fill them out things happen. Every time I give a negative review I find myself higher in the upgrade list or upgraded outright. It's actually a "hack" anothe…

Interesting. My naive self thought that these surveys are anonymous.

Re: A New Way to Tell Your Airline You Hate It

#16

Post by ebiester »

nxsynonym wrote: post #3
Spivak wrote: post #2

I get that it's a catchy title and all, but give the airlines a chance here. This seems like a genuine attempt to provide better customer service and we should applaud companies for actually bothering to try.

I'm all for better customer service, especially as a customer. But I question the motives - is it a way to improve customer service or is it really just a shroud to help cut down on the "social media dirty laundry" posts? As much as I applaud the idea of quick issue-resolution via text, I don't think texting will actually solve 90% of the issues customers face.

The social media likely has nothing to do with it - it's likely more about reducing/shifting call center costs. If an issue would require multiple calls, it can get much more expensive than handling by text. Some issues are also much easier to handle async.

Re: A New Way to Tell Your Airline You Hate It

#17

Post by xkcd-sucks »

samstave wrote: post #12
newscracker wrote: post #4

Slightly off topic. As someone who values privacy a lot and doesn't give out phone numbers much at all, I prefer other ways to communicate with service providers where the user identifier is easier to switch/change (changing one's phone number is a lot more tedious than changing email addresses because many people, at least from the last two decades, have the habit of using multiple email addresses segregated by usag…

Years ago I started crating email aliases on my mail server for various things. I would typically make an email alias for a company that was [company-name]@my-domain.com and use that as my contact email for correspondence with said company. So, I was doing something with the DMV online - and I created the alias "dmv@my-domain.com" to communicate with them via... They sent their lawyers after me and sent me cease and…

How do they deal with the 50ish other DMVs?

Re: A New Way to Tell Your Airline You Hate It

#18

Post by jorts »

Tweets are a terrible communication channel for solving customer service related issues. I run a customer support team, and almost all of our customer service related tweets end up with us either emailing the customer directly (if we can identify them) or asking them to email us so that we can get more information about their issue/concern. Text at least gives you a private chat where you can give information that you wouldn't publicly post on twitter. It helps drive to a much quicker resolution and overall provides a much better customer experience. If I were in their shoes I would 100% be pushing for this so that I can do my job better. It will definitely reduce the noise on twitter, but I don't think that's the main motivator here, just a nice side effect.

Re: A New Way to Tell Your Airline You Hate It

#20

Post by guiomie »

jorts wrote: post #18

Tweets are a terrible communication channel for solving customer service related issues. I run a customer support team, and almost all of our customer service related tweets end up with us either emailing the customer directly (if we can identify them) or asking them to email us so that we can get more information about their issue/concern. Text at least gives you a private chat where you can give information that yo…

Tweets makes your problem public. Multiple times I couldn't get reach to customer service or I would be lost in a Labyrinth of various agents who would simply transfer me over and over.
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