Appalling CO "Service"
 

Long time reader, first time poster. Sorry it's so negative, but I needed to get this out. This is an e-mail I just sent (from the President's Club) via CO's online customer service form:



1 December 2008, Flight 432 (IAH-LGA). The 1-800-We-Care-2 call referenced below was made at approximately 9:30AM Central.

I'd like to start by complimenting Sheryl in baggage handling and James at President's Club E, both at IAH, for their terrific service.

I booked a three-legged trip, conf. XXXXXX, from LGA-XXX-IAH-LGA), all at one time, paid all on one card, and made no changes. I was not asked to pay the $15 checked bag fee for the LGA-XXX or the XXX-IAH legs. It was only on this third leg that I was made to pay the fee. Of course this was confusing to me, and no one at the airport (Sheryl included) was able to explain it to any satisfactory degree. Rather than understanding my shock at suddenly being assessed this fee - unprecedented for Continental - they acted as though I had jut won the lottery. So Sheryl advised me to call 1-800-We-Care-2.

On the We Care line, I spoke with an agent named John, who would provide neither his location, last name, employee ID, nor any other identifying information. He was irritated that Sheryl had told me to call that number with a baggage issue, and asked that I put her on the phone. When I told him I was calling from the President's Club, he actually maintained that I should leave the club, walk back to Terminal C, go downstairs, and find Sheryl - all so I could put her back on the phone so that he could tell her not to have any more customers call the We Care line.

This was obviously unacceptable. When I asked to speak to a supervisor, John refused, saying that line was not for baggage issues. When I asked for a last name or an employee ID, John again refused, and actually hung up. When I called the We Care line again, I was able to speak with a supervisor, who was very apologetic but otherwise did nothing to ameliorate the abysmal customer "care" situation I've confronted today.

I understand the economic realities facing Continental and the airline industry. I am now aware that, in the future, in the (as of now highly unlikely) event I ever book another flight on Continental, I will be liable for the $15 checked bag fee. But you should be aware - and based on the reactions of your customer "care" staff, you obviously are not - that when you inconsistently implement this policy as concerns customers who have never before encountered it when flying Continental - being assessed the fee on one leg out of three on the same reservation doesn't feel like winning the lottery - it feels like getting hosed. Don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining.

But the real issue here is no longer the checked bag fee - it's the awful treatment I received from John. As you might expect, he made no record of anything we discussed, so according to the supervisor I spoke with, he can't be identified or reprimanded. And that supervisor - apologetic though she was - did not offer to do anything to make this situation better, even faced with the prospect of losing a customer over something so trivial.

Continental will lose a customer over this issue if nothing can be done to make right the horrific "service" I've received today other than an apology. It only rubs salt in the wound that Continental continues to bill itself as the last remaining "full service" airline - which one can hardy say with a straight face now that it's instituted a first-checked bag fee. More on this below. But the long and short of it is, Continental will lose a customer if something isn't done to rectify this. I will cancel my Continental MasterCard and use up the hundreds of thousands of OnePass miles I have banked - finding ways to do it that ensure you don't get another dime of revenue - and will never fly the airline again, if this is how Continental plans on treating its customers from now on.

With regard to the full-service airline bit, I recently flew with Delta - something I'm sure will be happening much more frequently now - and paid $8 for a California club salad or some such thing. It was really good. I would much rather pay $8 for something appetizing rather than stomach a disgusting, breaded, processed-chicken "sandwich" you serve to me in a plastic baggy with some iceberg lettuce just so you can claim to be the last remaining "full service" airline. Which you can no longer do, if you're going to assess this first-checked bag fee, while being honest to yourself and your customers. I know your economic reality. But. don't. pee. on. my. leg. and. tell. me. it's. raining.

I truly hope something can be done to make this right. Of course I don't want to have to deal with the possibility of an extra connection on some routes if I fly Delta, American, or some other airline. But that is exactly what I intend to do if this is how I can expect to be treated on Continental.

Thank you and regards.

I am sure you will receive a nice form letter, slightly customized, in response.

There are bad apples working at all of the airlines, sounds like John was a real tool, let's hope CO doesn't lose that checked bag!

No offense, but you seem to be making a bigger issue out of this than needed. All companies have bad apples and it is a shame that you did not receive the service that we all deserve. Is it really worth moving your business away from CO over this? That seems a bit extreme.

I'm curious to know what you expect to get out of this note to CO. Compensation? A form appology letter? Nothing?

John sure showed you who the boss is, didn't he.

I agree...there were some problems here with the baggage, but bringing up the food thing seems like you are complaining just to complain.....

The checked bag fee began on Oct 7. I'm alittle confused as to why you are upset that you were NOT charged on each leg of your journey. Granted no one seemed to be able to provide an answer as to why you were not charged until you checked in at IAH. How did you check in?

I'm sorry that John at We Care was not more helpful.

The food issue is something all together different. If you like the BOB program, that's nice. You do have the option of not eating what CO provides as part of your ticket price and you can bring on board food that you wish to eat.

Since the OP is "just getting this out" after having already sent the letter to CO we can just take it for what it is, efforts by the OP to share his experience and encourage others not to fly with CO.

There's nothing that CO can do to satisfy him at this point in time.

I will quote the relevant portion of his letter: "Don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining."

and again: "But. don't. pee. on. my. leg. and. tell. me. it's. raining."

CO Mastercard
 

Did anyone else catch that the OP was cancelling his CO Mastercard? Probably why the 1st bag fee wasn't charged on the outbound legs, since chase card holders are also exempt from the 1st bag fee.

The service was horrible, starting with the Ticket Agent and going from there. This is a situation that should have been handled directly at the station, not at We Care. So in that aspect John was correct, however the delivery was all wrong. Its not the responsibility of the customer to track down the ticket agent to get a verbal, "don't pee on the rug" from a we care agent. John not providing his information indicates to me that he doesn't want his "soft skills" to come under scrutiny. This is pathetic.

The worst of the situation is this started with making a mountain out of a molehill. Now the mountain is coming down.

I think Continental does a great job.

Whoops, I forgot about CO Chase cardholders getting bag fees waived. I appears that everyone this person spoke with also didn't catch that, as well. Unless this item was not mentioned in all of the dealings with CO agents.

It is always a good idea to attempt to take care of the problem where it happens, such as at the check in counter.

Too bad we didn't get this matter corrected in a timely professional manner.

The OP said that he will cancel his card, not that he already had.

I see that now. Perhaps the issue is that the OP didn't know why the fee was waived and thus wasn't able to appropriately explain to the agent why it shouldn't be charged. Certainly CO messed up at some point in charging it, assuming that the record had the OP's OP number in the reservation.

Is that an excuse for the CSR's behavior? Absolutely not. Is it a reason to walk away from an airline? Not in my book. If it were I'd never be able to fly again as I'd have written off every carrier out there. Mistakes and bad experiences happen. And this one really wasn't all that bad.

I too caught this and couldn't help but coming to the conclusion that the OP was unaware of this benefit. Had this been me, I would have politely tried to explain to the agent checking the bag that the fee is waived for cardholders. If that didn't work, I would have simply charged the $15 fee TO the CO Mastercard with the expectation that it would be cheerfully refunded with a phone call to Chase. End of story.

The following part of the OP's e-mail gave me pause:

In other words, gimme some miles, monetary compensation, or both OR ELSE!! Seems like the if the OP makes threats and ultimatums in an e-mail to CO s/he might have done so over the phone as well. It doesn't excuse the alleged attitude of the we-care agent, however it may explain it.

Well, he is due $15 back. Would that be sufficient??

While I am a big CO fan, I believe that "we care" has become a major weak point for them and have had a similar experience. It is one of the few areas that don't match up to their otherwise excellent performance. By the time most people call that number they are already upset so encountering someone like John just makes the situation worse and results in a posting like the above. If he had come across someone who took the time to explain what happened or even expressed interest he would probably would have moved on. I too am in the service industry and most times people with complaints will forget the complaint and remember a positive response, not necessarily the response they wanted but how well it was presented.