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Thanks CO; DirectTV preview runs out in F early in SuperBowl and no fix given

Thanks CO; DirectTV preview runs out in F early in SuperBowl and no fix given

 
Old Feb 7, 2011, 9:36 am
  #16  
 
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What's so stupid here (beyond the fact that F passengers should ever have to pay) is that other airlines have a way for FAs to activate the system on a per-passenger basis. I think it was Virgin America I flew with once and as a non-F passenger with a pre-paid entertainment option, the FA slid a credit-card-like object through the reader and activated the system for me.

I'm waiting for a credit card reader on the oxygen masks; I always thought Ryanair would be first, but now I'm not so sure.
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Old Feb 7, 2011, 9:38 am
  #17  
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Originally Posted by cbechdel
sometimes NO means NO. She said she couldn't comp it, he said she tried to fix it, and no she couldn't fix it. So now you want her to discuss with her crew what else she can do, even though she has ben trained on the system, and probably had this problem many times, as if we the PAX know more about operating it than she does.

I'm certain after the "cabin suggested she use her own card" she was completely over the outrageous suggestions being offered to her and repeated cry from customers to try some other method of fixing which her training has told her won't work anyway.

NO MEANS NO.

Somewhere in this forum, a FA has posted the picture of the FA controls for the system. Basically it's ON or OFF, no manner to go in and allow a particular station to reboot or comp. that's the limitation of the hardware on CO planes which does vary from other airlines, NOT of the FA.

Write to CO Customer care, they are the ONLY ONES who can accommodate this. The flight attendant herself should not be chosen to be you bank, unless she's the one you all paid your fares to initially.

NO MEANS NO.
And sorry but that's exactly what everyone has almost become conditioned to expect from airline, the same old 'no' and frankly I've almost had it with that approach whether it's actually true and correct or not which is beside the point which IMHO is that it's poor customer service to not be to offered a solution to such a dead-end. This FA on my flight, for example, never advised us we could swipe our card and seek reimbursement on co.com as another poster mentioned, though with no success which I'm sure is the desired outcome. Nor was even a simple apology tendered by any of the flight crew which might've gone a small way to mitigating the impact.

Surely it's not too much to expect that in a service industry there should be a Plan B when things don't work to keep the customer engaged if not totally happy. I'm not the type who fishes for compensation ever so don't expect when something goes wrong I automatically get a windfall but wasn't seeing the FA or the crew even trying to find another way to ease the frustration of an ill-timed tech glitch. Just MHO and YMMV.
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Old Feb 7, 2011, 9:39 am
  #18  
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Originally Posted by SFOSpiff
What's so stupid here (beyond the fact that F passengers should ever have to pay) is that other airlines have a way for FAs to activate the system on a per-passenger basis. I think it was Virgin America I flew with once and as a non-F passenger with a pre-paid entertainment option, the FA slid a credit-card-like object through the reader and activated the system for me.
Same with F9 -- they can handle things on a per passenger basis.

Now there were two theories on why this is in the other thread if you find it -- one is that CO "dumbed down" the interface to restrict what the FA can do (this is my theory because it matches CO's tendencies to over-rely on automation and to tie the hands of its employees). The other theory was that CO's system is newer and more modern and as such has a more simple interface with just a few buttons -- ON, OFF, or FREE. The usual suspects came up with that one.
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Old Feb 7, 2011, 9:40 am
  #19  
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This is ridiculous! The DirecTV refund page is STILL NOT WORKING! I've tried 3 different browsers and two different computers - each and every time it hangs on the Number of Times Card Swiped box with a "please enter a number" error.

It's been almost 4 weeks - why isn't this fixed??
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Old Feb 7, 2011, 9:43 am
  #20  
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Originally Posted by bocastephen
This is ridiculous! The DirecTV refund page is STILL NOT WORKING! I've tried 3 different browsers and two different computers - each and every time it hangs on the Number of Times Card Swiped box with a "please enter a number" error.

It's been almost 4 weeks - why isn't this fixed??
It's probably calculated. With $4 to $6 charges, people either won't bother, or if this page continues to fail, they'll call their CC company, which will just eat it as a customer service gesture, since it'd cost them more than $6 to process the dispute.
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Old Feb 7, 2011, 9:45 am
  #21  
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Originally Posted by tcook052
Surely it's not too much to expect that in a service industry there should be a Plan B when things don't work to keep the customer engaged if not totally happy.
CO? Plan B? You must be joking.

The airline runs great when everything's running smoothly. They've focused for years on optimizing their operation for the best case scenario that when thing go wrong they fall flat on their face. Service hiccups is not something they're good at handling.
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Old Feb 7, 2011, 9:54 am
  #22  
 
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The technical difficulty is unfortunate.. but what's shocking is that the OP refused to pay $6 to watch the super bowl! I surely would have..and then dealt with it later.
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Old Feb 7, 2011, 10:37 am
  #23  
 
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Originally Posted by channa
It's probably calculated. With $4 to $6 charges, people either won't bother, or if this page continues to fail, they'll call their CC company, which will just eat it as a customer service gesture, since it'd cost them more than $6 to process the dispute.
Well if that's the case, it's a bad business decision on CO's part: high numbers of chargebacks result in an increase in processing fees from credit card processors.
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Old Feb 7, 2011, 10:43 am
  #24  
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Originally Posted by CO DCA
Well if that's the case, it's a bad business decision on CO's part: high numbers of chargebacks result in an increase in processing fees from credit card processors.

But it wouldn't be a chargeback. CC companies won't charge back $6. They have to investigate the claim before charging back in order to be fair to both the customer and the merchant. That costs them money, so most CC companies will just eat it if it's under ~$15 or so.
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Old Feb 7, 2011, 10:51 am
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Originally Posted by SEA1K4EVR
The technical difficulty is unfortunate.. but what's shocking is that the OP refused to pay $6 to watch the super bowl! I surely would have..and then dealt with it later.
+1
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Old Feb 7, 2011, 12:36 pm
  #26  
 
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Originally Posted by SEA1K4EVR
The technical difficulty is unfortunate.. but what's shocking is that the OP refused to pay $6 to watch the super bowl! I surely would have..and then dealt with it later.
and furthermore to suggest that the FA dole out her credit card to appease the, "im so tight, i cant afford $6, entitled DB pax," is insane. If I were the FA, the conversation would have been OVER at that point.

Its SIX dollars. anyone would have paid 5 times that in chips and beer to watch it at home.

The ONLY arguement should have been the tact of the FA.
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Old Feb 7, 2011, 1:12 pm
  #27  
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Originally Posted by dlen111

The ONLY argument should have been the tact of the FA.

I dunno, it's so common that FAs have the ability to change/reset settings that I can see how the reaction to the FA would be that she's incorrect or being lazy.

I agree that after some attempts with the FA, giving up and paying $6, then fighting later would have been prudent. But it's so difficult to believe that the FA can't do something for the F cabin, that I can see how a customer would think the FA is the problem, not the infrastructure (or lack thereof).

CO really set their staff up to fail here without giving them any tools or ability to reset seats or comp on an individual basis. Did they really think any system would work so flawlessly that they wouldn't need to empower the crew with a local override of some sort? Or is it that CO simply doesn't trust its employees to exercise reasonable judgment in these situations, they'd much rather disappoint their F customers and make them go through extra effort to get made whole?
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Old Feb 7, 2011, 1:30 pm
  #28  
 
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I remember seeing a post from a FA a while back about onboard crew controls for the DirecTV system. The only option they have is to comp the whole plane (which might not have been a bad idea during the superbowl) but I believe that has to be done from the cockpit and it's the captain's call.

The problem that was described sounds like a software/hardware glitch in the system itself that could only be fixed by comping the whole plane (or perhaps resetting the system which would have screwed the people in Y who had already paid).

I agree with channa that CO would do themselves a favor by having more onboard tools that allow them to react proactively to situations like this.

If this ship has this problem on other flights, then I certainly hope someone reports the problem so it can be repaired.
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Old Feb 7, 2011, 1:48 pm
  #29  
 
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Originally Posted by SEA1K4EVR
The technical difficulty is unfortunate.. but what's shocking is that the OP refused to pay $6 to watch the super bowl! I surely would have..and then dealt with it later.
I don't think it's about $6.
Reading some comments I feel, that some believe, that OP is the one to blame. Why should passenger pay and then go to co.com and request the payment back? CO is the one who should make sure, that service that is promised is delivered (free DTV in this case).
Statements, that FAs cannot do much is just an excuse. They could make it free for everyone if no other options were available.
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Old Feb 7, 2011, 2:02 pm
  #30  
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WEll, if it were me I'd dispute the whole ticket charge, not just the $6... since CO won't see that.. the issue has far more to do with CO's can't do culture than anything else.

They don't empower their people to rebook people, they don't empower them to comp drinks (in fact they make them enter in the cert #s for thsoe drinkie chits as if a 50c bottle of booze is a bottle of oxy..), they let them push FREE for the whole plane but they better be prepared to face the consequences of $quandering CO's money.

What would be the harm in giving the pursers a "credit card" that actuates a screen?
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