I've kept quite till now, but after a few recent post I feel compelled to share my recent experience with CO's customer service.

Background:
I purchased ($99) CO's prestige pack (Upgrades/7500 miles/Club passes/ and $ off coupons) about 10 weeks ago. It eventually shipped while I was out of town (on a CO ticket) and I was notified by Airborne to pick it up. Airborne would not hold the package till my return (7 days) or ship it to an alternate address at my expense. Airborne chose to return the package.

Mitigating Circumstances:
I have 3 more RT flights on CO scheduled before the end of the year. As of my next scheduled leg (12/22) I will have the mileage for NW elite. I had hoped to use the upgrades prior to hitting the NW elite status or at least before all the flights got credited and my status was recognized.

Problem:
After the package was sent back and received by CO (according to Airborne's tracking), I sent them an email detailing the situation. This email had all the details of my next few flights (all CO), the Airborne tracking number, Onepass #, shipping addresses, etc, as well as my reason for wanting the upgrade passes quickly. After 2+ weeks, 2 follow up emails, and a phone call (agent was no help and told me there was nothing he or anyone else could do), I have yet to even receive a response, much less a resolution. All I've asked for was that 1. the pack or specifically the upgrade coupons be sent to me where I'm staying (since I won't be home until New Years) or 2. they "apply" the coupons to my upcoming flights (I've given them the reference numbers). Doing either of these would have made me a happy and probably loyal Onepass customer.

I had planned on switching to Onepass as my primary FF plan beginning the new year. After this impression of their customer service, I keep looking for another alternative.

I would suggest disputing the charge with your CC company.

That has a way of getting the attention of customer service folks.

Greg

Maybe you have done this already ?? but I would talk to a manager and explain the situation. Your expectations seem reasonable. And if there is some physical reason they can't do it (i.e. the Prestige pack is sent from an outsourced supplier and CO folks never even see them) maybe a customer satisfaction mileage adjustment would be reasonable. You'll still not have the UPG certs, but it might take the sting out of it. Just an idea.

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freefaller12k,

CO obviously should have responded better -- no excuse. But FYI, you should not realistically expect to be able to use those upgrade certs that come with the Prestige Pak. By the time you're eligible to use them (<2 hours prior to departure), CO elites will most likely have snagged all the seats. Touting these certs, too, in and of itself is a pretty lame PR move, given how useless they actually are.

The upgrade certs aren't completely useless. A lot of it depends on where you live and when you try to use them. It's easier to use them on weekends than during peak business travel times (fewer elites) and it's easier to use them at certain airports (like MCI). Again, it's fewer elites to compete against. I managed to use 4 of mine before making silver out of about 12 or so upgradeable attempts.

To be fair, this was pre-EUA. I could beat out lazy elites before and you won't have that opportunity. Perhaps weekends are now your only practical chance.

[This message has been edited by happymob (edited 12-13-2000).]

CO certainly could have, but chose not too, accommodate this customer. For example, they could have designated a liason at the Onepass service center for this customer to work with. Said CO agent could document the record (PNR) indicating that the pax was authorized a complimentary stand-by upgrade 2 hrs prior to departure at the ATO. This would have provided the pax with essentially the same possibility of benefit as the paper cert. Then the rep could figure out if the pax upgraded, and thus how many certs are left, by looking at the pax pnr to see if they flew in F. Another posibility is they could have looked at the Onepass account to see what class of svc the flights posted in. Onepass also could have sent out additional upgrade certs (e.g. goodwill upgrades) to give the pax a chance to upgrade in the near term. CO could have shipped these overnight to the pax. Once my pack got delayed, and they sent me some extra goodwill upgrades to use before my package arrived. Also my priority Gold pack for US was going to arrive late, so the agent agreed to document my record for the upgrades, with the method I noted above, and then told me to send in my certs once they arrived at my home.

CO clearly had an opportunity to provide this pax with customer service, and its staff and management has expressly chosen to fail to provide a service level that would have made the passenger whole. I would recommend that the pax send one more letter, to CO customer care or their CEO/COO, detailing the incident, and detailing the business CO lost as a result of its abidsmal customer service. If you spend a lot of money in a year on air fare, I would also mention this. E.g. "As a result of your not addressing my customer service concern, you (Continental) lost out on about $18,719.71 of revenue in 2001." If you really want to get creative, then CC your letter to CO's board of directors, stockholders, etc. You can also contact the Department Of Transportation, and CC your elected officials who continue to investigate passenger bill of rights. Somehow I think these letters will get a bit more attention than your previous emails and calls with unhelpful agents, who through management, have probably not been either directed or empowered to solve customer problems beyond the most basic and routine things (like changing an address of record), etc. I've also had other issues with the service center myself.

When NJ David posts his web site, you might also post your story on that forum, if there is a facility to discuss individual situations.

If you do nothing, you are sending Continental Airlines, Inc. (and the industry) a very loud clear and unambiguous message that it is ok to provide substandard customer service. By doing nothing you tell the industry you will tollerate this situation, and you possibly infer that you would even tollerate poorer service.

Just a quick update.

Someone finally responded to one of the emails. Interestingly enough, it was not the 1st or the last one I sent, but one of the ones in the middle. After a few emails exchanged, the agent finally said she would express ship me a couple of upgrade certs for my trouble. Presummably they will still try to resend the whole package again when they find it in their system.

As of my last flight, I have the miles for NW elite, so the certificates are probally useless unless the ones they ship are transferable or it takes too long for NW to reconize my new status.

Anyway, I wanted to update this out of fairness. I still intend on documenting this in a letter. Nothing steams me up quicker than not returning calls/emails. CO's customer support went from a "F" to a "D-" IMHO with this incindent.