UNBELIEVABLY bad customer service!
In the beginning of June (2007) I went to Burlington, Vermont. My trip back to Oregon, on June 8th was the absolute WORST travel experience I’ve ever had. It wasn’t because my flights were delayed by weather, or because I ended up having to spend the night in the Chicago airport, or even because my luggage was slightly misplaced in Portland. It was my trip from hell because of really, really, REALLY lousy customer service.
I understand weather is sometimes unpredictable and planes can be late because the weather is terrible somewhere else and that screws up the whole system. When that happens, I expect the airlines to be understanding, informative and, if necessary, provide at least blankets and pillows for those who end up stranded in the airport.
However, on this June day, the United Airlines staff were uninformative, unhelpful, and apparently didn’t give a damn about the passengers. We were ignored, blatently lied to, and treated like cattle. I spent about 4 hours in line, routed from one place to the next, without EVER talking to a customer service person. And when I finally did, I ended up with someone who didn’t know anything at 1:30 in the morning, and was unable to get back through security… so I slept in baggage claim!
After I got home (very, very pissed off), I submitted a customer service complaint online and wrote a detailed letter. I tried faxing that to the United Airlines Customer Service fax number, but it was disconnected. When I called, I spoke to someone in India who gave me a different fax number—which was also disconnected. So I mailed the letter to United’s President and CEO, Vice-President and COO, Senior Vice President, and Customer Service Manager.
In response to my on-line complaint, I received a form letter saying “we are currently experiencing a high volume of emails, so please accept my apology for not being able to respond with a more personalized reply.”
On June 21st I received a letter from “Customer Relations” with a $150 coupon towards a United Flight. I still haven’t decided if I will ever fly on United again, even with the coupon.
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