Amusing response to feedback
Dec 2, 2016, 8:24 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: YUL
Programs: Skymiles Silver Medallion
Posts: 955
Amusing response to feedback
I flew KTM-IST-YUL last week. My second flight, IST-YUL, had a few minor issues: My seat's recline, footrest and USB port were all broken, and a foul smell was emanating from the lavatories for at least the last 4 hours of the flight.
I did complain to the flight attendant, and she said she's note it. But she also said she'd bring me water on about 4 separate occasions, and never did. Plus she forgot my meal.
Seeing as how this was an 11-hour flight, none of this was particularly serious, but they were minor annoyances that were enough that I took a few minutes to shoot a feedback note to TK via their website when I got home.
A week later, I get the following response:
So basically, because I complained to the flight attendant and she never noted it, I get told that I must be mistaken and there was no issue? The feedback seems to amount to "thanks for writing in, but we don't believe you."
I'm ... kinda amused. How typically Turkish Airlines.
I did complain to the flight attendant, and she said she's note it. But she also said she'd bring me water on about 4 separate occasions, and never did. Plus she forgot my meal.
Seeing as how this was an 11-hour flight, none of this was particularly serious, but they were minor annoyances that were enough that I took a few minutes to shoot a feedback note to TK via their website when I got home.
A week later, I get the following response:
Thank you for your feedback with file number TK-xxxxxx.
First of all, we want you to know that we are sorry for the trouble you have experienced in Istanbul / Montreal flight number TK0035.
In such cases, we would like to state that our cabin crews must be informed so that the action can be taken.
In our survey, we found that you did not have any feedback during your trip.
However, it has been understood that necessary controls have been made about the toilets and there are no problems.
We would like to thank you for sharing your valuable opinions with us, and we offer you with the hope of providing perfect service for your next trip.
Sincerely yours,
Begüm Ç.
Turkish Airlines Inc.
Customer Contact Center
First of all, we want you to know that we are sorry for the trouble you have experienced in Istanbul / Montreal flight number TK0035.
In such cases, we would like to state that our cabin crews must be informed so that the action can be taken.
In our survey, we found that you did not have any feedback during your trip.
However, it has been understood that necessary controls have been made about the toilets and there are no problems.
We would like to thank you for sharing your valuable opinions with us, and we offer you with the hope of providing perfect service for your next trip.
Sincerely yours,
Begüm Ç.
Turkish Airlines Inc.
Customer Contact Center
I'm ... kinda amused. How typically Turkish Airlines.
Dec 3, 2016, 2:15 am
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: London
Programs: Hilton, IHG - BA, GA, LH, QR, SV, TK
Posts: 17,008
So basically, because I complained to the flight attendant and she never noted it, I get told that I must be mistaken and there was no issue? The feedback seems to amount to "thanks for writing in, but we don't believe you."
I'm ... kinda amused. How typically Turkish Airlines.
I'm ... kinda amused. How typically Turkish Airlines.
My more generous interpretation is of an apology and the news that thanks to your timely complaint the toilets have been fixed
.However there is a nudge suggesting it would be helpful if you could let the purser know about faulty footrests etc. In that way they can be taken care of, or logged for attention at the next stop where quick-fix engineering is available for such problems.
I guess it's difficult for carriers to understand what complaints about such minor issues hope to achieve in terms of customer satisfaction. If an apology and assurance that the problem has been addressed is not sufficient, then maybe compensation was being sought: in which case it is best to make that clear.
Dec 3, 2016, 8:22 am
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: YUL
Programs: Skymiles Silver Medallion
Posts: 955
Nah, not seeking nor expecting compensation. Merely wanted to let them know that the seat and toilets were broken.
Their follow-up reply to my answer:
Reasonable enough -- they can't fix what they don't know is broken. But I wonder why they don't count my email as "informing" them?
And I did report it to the flight attendant on board. Casually, though. I didn't make a big deal of it -- 'cause it wasn't a big deal -- and she did say she'd note it -- which clearly she didn't -- but what can ya do, right?
Their follow-up reply to my answer:
Upon your feedback, we checked our flight records and we questioned your situation from our cabin crew. Actually, we can not detect any trouble, but sometimes our records may lead us misinformed. We did not want to mean and mean any negative comments about your claims. We would like you inform that we are not able to take an action when we failed to detect a fault.
In such cases, we would like to state that our cabin crews should be informed, a report must be made, so that the action can be taken.
In such cases, we would like to state that our cabin crews should be informed, a report must be made, so that the action can be taken.
And I did report it to the flight attendant on board. Casually, though. I didn't make a big deal of it -- 'cause it wasn't a big deal -- and she did say she'd note it -- which clearly she didn't -- but what can ya do, right?
Dec 4, 2016, 2:45 am
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 15,345
Yeah, I had a situation like this a few years ago on a flight to Asia, as sewage started seeping down the aisle. I too got a "it must not have happened" e-mail, as they had "no log of it". The tone of the e-mails changed markedly when I sent them several pictures of the sewage seeping down the aisle, with several members of the flight crew obviously flitting around and not caring about it......interestingly it was then claimed that it was from the garbage system, and not the sewage system..............1) So what, and 2) from where the seepage started, that was obviously wrong (unless the garbage system is secretly located in the toilet(s)!!??
Dec 5, 2016, 12:13 am
#6
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: HEL
Programs: *G, used to be with TK but left due to their corruption and political ties
Posts: 4,406
Actually this happened to an acquaintance of mine on Emirates: He flew F BKK-HKG and never received his dessert. When he enquired about it he was told it was too late. He wrote a complaint to Emirates who told him that there was no report from the cabin crew about this, so obviously he was wrong.
Dec 5, 2016, 8:06 am
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: YUL
Programs: Skymiles Silver Medallion
Posts: 955
Actually this happened to an acquaintance of mine on Emirates: He flew F BKK-HKG and never received his dessert. When he enquired about it he was told it was too late. He wrote a complaint to Emirates who told him that there was no report from the cabin crew about this, so obviously he was wrong.
Actually, as it happens, I asked the flight attendant a few times if she could bring me some dessert, since my (economy class meal) tray was served missing the cake. She vaguely said "two minutes" and then disappeared for a couple of hours. Never got the cake. I never really bothered following up, but apparently there's an epidemic of dessert-withholding on middle eastern airlines? "The cake is a lie..."
Dec 7, 2016, 9:22 am
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: YUL
Programs: Skymiles Silver Medallion
Posts: 955
So... update to this: Despite not having replied to the last message, this morning I got. another email in my inbox:
I'm not sure what's most surprising:
1. TK has staff members monitoring and reading Flyertalk;
2. TK actually acknowledged my feedback and said they'd take steps to fix it;
3. TK was able to match my forum posts from my username to my email feedback, which is about twelve steps better than most airlines' technical capabilities; or
4. I actually got the sense that they valued feedback from me, a no-status nobody who was even flying on a reward, not revenue, ticket (from another airline's FF program, no less).
So yeah, despite myself, I'm actually kinda impressed. I can't imagine most North American airlines following up in this way. This just went a long way towards redeeming TK in my books.
Dear (segacs),
We have inspected your complaints once more in accordance with your messages in FlyerTalk forums.
Please accept our apologies if our previous answers were of confusing nature. As is the intention of our reply, we like to apologise for the discontent arisen due to the issue with the lavatories.
Although no reports are kept to describe this issue, the crew have been notified of their duties to check the sanitary conditions of the lavatories as often as possible.
We have also noticed from your messages that you were not served your dessert during the flight. Your messages have been shared with the related department to prevent this type of undesired situations in the future.
In closing, we would like to express that we value you as a customer and sincerely appreciate your support of Turkish Airlines.
Also, we sincerely hope that you consider this travel experience as an exception and provide us with an opportunity to restore your confidence.
To demonstrate our commitment to service excellence and as a gesture of apology we would be pleased if you share your postal address so we may sent you a small gift.
Once again, please accept our apologies with greatest respect.
Kind regards,
(customer care representative)
We have inspected your complaints once more in accordance with your messages in FlyerTalk forums.
Please accept our apologies if our previous answers were of confusing nature. As is the intention of our reply, we like to apologise for the discontent arisen due to the issue with the lavatories.
Although no reports are kept to describe this issue, the crew have been notified of their duties to check the sanitary conditions of the lavatories as often as possible.
We have also noticed from your messages that you were not served your dessert during the flight. Your messages have been shared with the related department to prevent this type of undesired situations in the future.
In closing, we would like to express that we value you as a customer and sincerely appreciate your support of Turkish Airlines.
Also, we sincerely hope that you consider this travel experience as an exception and provide us with an opportunity to restore your confidence.
To demonstrate our commitment to service excellence and as a gesture of apology we would be pleased if you share your postal address so we may sent you a small gift.
Once again, please accept our apologies with greatest respect.
Kind regards,
(customer care representative)
I'm not sure what's most surprising:
1. TK has staff members monitoring and reading Flyertalk;
2. TK actually acknowledged my feedback and said they'd take steps to fix it;
3. TK was able to match my forum posts from my username to my email feedback, which is about twelve steps better than most airlines' technical capabilities; or
4. I actually got the sense that they valued feedback from me, a no-status nobody who was even flying on a reward, not revenue, ticket (from another airline's FF program, no less).
So yeah, despite myself, I'm actually kinda impressed. I can't imagine most North American airlines following up in this way. This just went a long way towards redeeming TK in my books.
Dec 7, 2016, 9:34 am
#10
Join Date: May 2016
Location: IST, LHR
Programs: TK E+, AA PLAT
Posts: 481
So... update to this: Despite not having replied to the last message, this morning I got. another email in my inbox:
I'm not sure what's most surprising:
1. TK has staff members monitoring and reading Flyertalk;
2. TK actually acknowledged my feedback and said they'd take steps to fix it;
3. TK was able to match my forum posts from my username to my email feedback, which is about twelve steps better than most airlines' technical capabilities; or
4. I actually got the sense that they valued feedback from me, a no-status nobody who was even flying on a reward, not revenue, ticket (from another airline's FF program, no less).
So yeah, despite myself, I'm actually kinda impressed. I can't imagine most North American airlines following up in this way. This just went a long way towards redeeming TK in my books.
I'm not sure what's most surprising:
1. TK has staff members monitoring and reading Flyertalk;
2. TK actually acknowledged my feedback and said they'd take steps to fix it;
3. TK was able to match my forum posts from my username to my email feedback, which is about twelve steps better than most airlines' technical capabilities; or
4. I actually got the sense that they valued feedback from me, a no-status nobody who was even flying on a reward, not revenue, ticket (from another airline's FF program, no less).
So yeah, despite myself, I'm actually kinda impressed. I can't imagine most North American airlines following up in this way. This just went a long way towards redeeming TK in my books.
Dec 7, 2016, 9:44 am
#11
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: YUL
Programs: Skymiles Silver Medallion
Posts: 955
Possibly. But to be fair, none of the things I pointed out to them were particularly serious issues. They didn't have to follow up. The fact that they did, well, credit where credit's due.
Dec 7, 2016, 10:09 am
#12
Join Date: May 2016
Location: IST, LHR
Programs: TK E+, AA PLAT
Posts: 481
Well yes, but I do wonder if this is because they have seen it being posted on a forum and know people are talking about it, or if they are being generally sincere. Often with TK I am left thinking "talk is cheap". Or if only had I mile for every apology.
Dec 7, 2016, 11:48 am
#13
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: YUL
Programs: Skymiles Silver Medallion
Posts: 955
But I don't mind. To me, that speaks to them understanding the power of social media, and taking proactive steps to manage their brand in the digital era. All corporations act out of self interest, not out of generosity. I'm not particularly irked about that.
I actually think it's encouraging that they're monitoring places like FlyerTalk, because, while I'm a no-status nobody, plenty of people here are top-tier frequent flyers and are exactly the type of influencers that the airlines should be trying to woo.
Dec 7, 2016, 11:55 am
#14
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 2,341
Oh, I have no illusions here. They ignored it until they found it on a forum, and then they followed up.
But I don't mind. To me, that speaks to them understanding the power of social media, and taking proactive steps to manage their brand in the digital era. All corporations act out of self interest, not out of generosity. I'm not particularly irked about that.
I actually think it's encouraging that they're monitoring places like FlyerTalk, because, while I'm a no-status nobody, plenty of people here are top-tier frequent flyers and are exactly the type of influencers that the airlines should be trying to woo.
But I don't mind. To me, that speaks to them understanding the power of social media, and taking proactive steps to manage their brand in the digital era. All corporations act out of self interest, not out of generosity. I'm not particularly irked about that.
I actually think it's encouraging that they're monitoring places like FlyerTalk, because, while I'm a no-status nobody, plenty of people here are top-tier frequent flyers and are exactly the type of influencers that the airlines should be trying to woo.
Dec 7, 2016, 1:29 pm
#15
Join Date: May 2016
Location: IST, LHR
Programs: TK E+, AA PLAT
Posts: 481
But this is the core of the problem, it is great that they tracked this down and got it resolved but it should have been dealt with by CC in the first place not their social media team. PR should not have played a part in this at all. Maybe I am just out of touch or hoping for an utopian ideal, but I'd hope a company would prioritise their customer complaint procedures over managing the repercussions on social media brand after the fact.