COmplaint - Stranded in ELP
 

Hi guys,
I have/had a string of problems with CO and feel totally abandoned by customer service. Looking for any help/guidance/suggestions. Story follows. Sorry about the length.

July 2nd - 2PM.
I was scheduled to fly from ELP – IAH – CLL. My original flight was canceled due to weather. I go to the ticketing counter to see what can be done. She says best she can do is put me on a flight the next day. Ugh, but fine. I sit down and check my missed calls and voicemail. I have a VM from CO notifying me that my original flight was canceled, but I have a confirmed seat on another flight that day. I go back and tell the agent about the VM. She says that I am wrong and refuses to listen to the VM. She puts me on standby for the flight I was supposed to have a confirmed seat on. Of course, the flight is packed and I miss it. I go back to the ticketing desk and ask for a hotel voucher since I was taken off of my flight due to agent or system error. They refuse, accuse me of lying, and were just flat out rude. They turn out the lights, close the counter, and leave me standing there.

6PM. I call the Elite helpdesk and eventually get to talk to supervisor “June” (IIRC). She says “I hate to add insult to injury, but the ticketing agent DID remove you from your confirmed flight and put you on the flight for the next day.” She apologizes profusely and searches for any and all options to get me home that night. It’s too late, no more flights, and too many cancellations. She authorizes a $250 travel voucher, a hotel voucher, and a meal voucher. She tells me to find someone in baggage to print the vouchers for me. Ugh. But at least I’ll have somewhere to sleep, right? Wrong. I find one of the ticketing agents at the baggage desk. After waiting for him to finish his baggage duties, he prints out the hotel and meal vouchers and sends me on my way.

8PM. Arrive at the El Paso Marriott and hand them my “FOR USE AT MARRIOTT” hotel voucher. The manager takes a look at it and says that they don’t accept CO vouchers. What!? He doesn’t know why the ticketing agent would send me to them. The Marriott manager was determined to resolve the issue and calls the airport to see what can be done. Nobody answers. He calls the Elite helpdesk. We hold and talk to CSRs that offer no help whatsoever. He calls other hotels that he knows accept CO vouchers, but they won’t accept it since it says “FOR USE AT MARRIOTT.” He calls the elite helpdesk again and we talk to supervisor “Kate.” Kate calls the airport and finds a CO ground crew who advises he is the only CO person still at the airport. She doesn’t know what to do at this point. She claims she is documenting everything that happened to me and she “had half a novel already.” She says the best thing she can do is have me pay for the hotel out-of-pocket, and we will use the documentation on my account to reimburse me at a later date. She advises me to email customer care after the holiday weekend.

11PM. After being strung along for so many hours, I finally check-in to a hotel room using my personal credit card. I grab some food from the hotel bar (which of course doesn’t accept my meal voucher) and call it a night. At this point I feel completely abandoned by CO.

July 7th – I email CO Customer Care as directed by Kate. No response.

July 14th – I email CO Customer Care again asking for someone to contact me. No response.

July 26th – I call CO Customer Care asking for an update on my case. I am told they just read my emails that day and will contact me in the next day or two. I never receive a call or email.

August 6th – I call CO Customer Care again looking for an update. CSR Vicki takes my call and informs me that my case has been closed. No explanation, no apologies, no reimbursement, nothing. She was the rudest, most arrogant, and unprofessional CSR I have ever dealt with (in ANY industry). I was told I could not talk to her manager/supervisor. I asked to have her name; she replied “Vicki” and immediately hung up.


I have spent countless hours trying to resolve this issue. CO has always been my airline of choice. I have always had great service… until this series of events. I have lost all faith and confidence in CO. I am dismayed, sad, angry, bewildered, tired. I don’t know where to turn. Is there anyone else I can talk to???

Thanks.

CO is fine until something goes wrong. Then they're a basket case. This is really all one issue, and them tripping over their feet.

Sorry to hear about your issues. You can either try again at CS, maybe ask CO Insider, or file a DOT complaint.

A well-written complaint. Well documented. I am able to understand what went wrong and I can understand your frustration. Unfortunately, I have very little CO experience. I suspect that in the next 2 hours you will get some help from people here who know how to contact CO at a more significant level. Good luck.

Small claims court
 

Perhaps if all else fails you can go to small claims court to get reimbursed for your hotel expenses (since CO promised to pay them ). CO has a bad reputation for IRROPS operations so what happened to you is not surprising. Although next time one should listen to the voice mail messages before going to the counter.

My first step would be to MAIL (not email or call) Continental with exactly what you've stated above, along iwth COPIES of receipts for the hotel that they agreed to pay for.

10 days later, I'd file a claim with both the DOT and the Better Business Bureau.

One other option: Depending how you paid for the ticket, you can dispute the ticket charge with your credit card. Also, for future reference: some cards have policies that help in situations like this (if you paid for the tix with your card). Good luck and keep us updated!

I really prefer UA over CO when it comes to irregular ops and they aren't so hot with it themselves.

OP, welcome to Flyertalk. I would follow the above advice and send a registered letter to corporate HQ - a customer relations group or the president's office. It is really unacceptable that this has gone on as long as it has, and I'd begin to worry that either the record wasn't documented as promised or someone has edited entries to cover over what actually happened/was reported.

Maybe CO Insider will see this post and help you out.

If he doesn't get back to you within a few days, my next suggestion would be to mail CO Customer Care, like others have suggested, and advising them that you're also alerting the DOT of what has happened. That'll get their attention quickly.

So sorry you had to experience this. Such an unnecessary burden.

You might try contacting the consumer advocate Chris Elliott http://www.elliott.org/

He seems to be successful in cutting through the red tape and getting airlines and others in the travel industry to respond to things like this.

I'm not so sure CO Insider is going to be available to deal with this in a timely manner due to the merger meetings.

Might I suggest that you return to your home based airport, that actually has CO employees working it, and ask to speak to a supervisor or the GM. Take all of your documentation with you and have a polite conversation about your unfortunate experience with your flights. You should ask them about faxing your documents to the correct department or having the station cut you a check while you wait.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry9700/5.0.0.586 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

I think going to the airport is a bit much at this point. The OP has done enough and CO has dropped the ball several times. At this point I would file a DOT complaint.

If the purpose of complaining is to get your money back, then that is why I suggested going back to the airport. Not so sure the DOT can do this for you.

I do find it interesting that Marriott in ELP doesn't accept our vouchers. They do just about everywhere else.

I have found that most airlines are quite responsive to DOT complaints. If one so angry as to the point of complaining to government they should be taken seriously.

The DOT is just an intermediary. Filing a DOT complaint is a message to the airline that the concern is serious and warrants attention, and that their previous behavior is not acceptable. It is also a demonstration from the airline to the DOT as to how they respond to such issues.

In addition, it's also a ding against the airline in the DOT statistics, demonstrating to other consumers that the airline can at times leave a customer hanging.

The complaint to the DOT is a ding which they will notice, however DOT will not follow up on the customer's behalf, its just not their job. The report to the DOT is unlikely to get the customer any satisfaction that they are due. Now the registered letter or confirmed email delivery/receipt (I like the former when it goes this far and is bad) to the President/corporate Customer Relations and/or using one of the consumer travel advocates that are out there is your best avenue to receiving any type of satisfaction, especially of a monetary nature.

G'Luck to the OP whatever you choose to do.

While CO Insider might not be able to tend to your case personally, he might be able to get it looked at by the proper party. A private message him would be a good idea... it certainly wouldn't hurt.

In the past, I've had success overnighting a letter and documentation to the CEO also indicating that you have CC'd other agencies (DOT, BBB, and anyone else that might be appropriate).

Good luck.