GUWonder

I tried to redeem some award certificates for business travel between the Indian Subcontinent and Europe. For the relevant cities I thought I redeemed Skyteam awards on Delta.com. However, minutes later after the certs were processed and I double checked the certificate type it appears that the certificate type is for Delta awards and not the Skyteam awards I wanted.

I called Delta and they could not do anything other than to document the error and say that I will be allowed to redeposit said without fees. However, they could not promise that SkyMiles Customer Service would change the award certificate type from D252 (Delta) to T252 (Skyteam/Air France) and the redeposit and redemption may mean being hit with the increased mileage levels in less than an hour.

Their suggestion was to call SkyMiles customer service tomorrow first thing in the morning and that they have documented the matter in my record.

Any suggestions here?

RSSrsvp

This type of problem needs the attention of the Skymiles dept. that is closed at night. The advice given to you was IMHO the best that the agent could possibly offer. Good luck when you call today. They may quote you SGB.

GUWonder

Update: No luck. They even want a redeposit fee.

Let's see. Delta wants to charge a redeposit fee and 20,000 additional miles for a leisure trip in business.

I guess that means change of plans: British Airways gets our two roundtrip sets of NYC-Bombay business class (for a team of 5) for the next 8 weeks. Brilliant, Delta. Brilliant! Penny wise, pound foolish. [Nice to control someone else's travel dollars on occassion -- even if a change in plans due to such pettiness leaves a bad taste in your mouth.]

JS

You're going to punish Delta to the tune of 10 business class ticket just because YOU made a mistake and they didn't have someone on call 24/7 to fix it?

Oh well, enjoy BA!

Northern Willy

Punish Delta? Huh?

She is denying them a reward for good customer service. Which is her right.

You moan all the time here about people complaining and suggest they take their biz elsewhere. Someone does and now you're crying for poor old DL when it happens.

Sob...Sob...

GUWonder

I don't hold grudges. I just change a vendor -- sometimes once, sometimes temporarily, sometimes permanently. My money, my decision.

Punishment? Let's call it reward. After all, I am rewarding Delta for its decision.

Delta's lack of customer service and understanding (as I perceive it in this matter) has some consequence. Action - reaction.

[This message has been edited by GUWonder (edited Mar 16, 2004).]

CelticFlyer

I don't think that is the point. A genuine error made on a website by a customer and reported very shortly after the mistake has been made merits discretionary intervention. Any other response turns a customer loyalty program into sales prevention program. This is one of Delta's weakest areas in the past couple of years.

Edited to add.... as a GM get somebody in SMS involved (preferably one of the excellent SLC people). Tell them you want to give SMSC another chance to do the right thing before you write a letter explaining how this lost them those additional sales to the top brass.

[This message has been edited by CelticFlyer (edited Mar 16, 2004).]

GUWonder

Thanks for the suggestion, but it's just easier for me to give the cert (or commit blashpemy and trade/sell/barter) away. I don't have much loyalty to Delta anymore anyway; too frustrating to deal with.

These airlines could learn a lesson from some of the hotel program's customer service departments.

Celtic Flyer, I like your comment that such turns a customer loyalty program into a sales prevention program. I think that line is worth plagiarizing.

[This message has been edited by GUWonder (edited Mar 16, 2004).]

JS

It's just that it seems extreme. If you expect an airline to be perfect in every way, you're going to be driving across the country and sailing across the ocean.

Had GUwonder redeemed the certificate one day prior, or even earlier the same day, Delta could have fixed it. When you wait until the last minute, there's little room for error.

Look, I've done the same thing and punished Delta when they screw up (THEY being the operative word). I was mad at them for initially refusing to give me a refund on a ticket where they had canceled a flight from the schedule (next flight 6 hours later!), so I flew AA as the replacement for that trip.

I'm also punishing Delta for flying CRJ's into FLO. I will be taking USAir instead next week.

Summary -- Let the punishment fit the crime (used in Disney's "The Parent Trap")

[This message has been edited by JS (edited Mar 16, 2004).]

GUWonder

If that were true, I would be more comfortable that. It's true that I am responsible for my own error, although I think the website is misleading when you select a SkyTeam award and then on the award certificate list, the first award in sequence that comes up on the list for the same zones is Delta's award certificate not the SkyTeam award certificate.

Actually, even if I ordered it 3 days ago it would have no impact in their decision. Reason being that I would have to wait until I received the certificate, then have to return it -- with a re-deposit fee which is not easy to find on Delta's own website even after spending several minutes of diligent searching -- and then wait for the mileage to be redeposited. This is per three (or is it four now?) SMS people I called from two minutes after the cert was issued until a few hours ago.

Last minute or not, this is poor customer service and is a sales prevention decision, like CelticFlyer said.

I am glad I found this out now, since it's two team trips that are easy enough to change. The rest of the summer, travel there will be less frequent and fewer people will be going there so "rewarding" Delta would not be as meaningful or imminent an option.

[This message has been edited by GUWonder (edited Mar 16, 2004).]

Pointfreak!

I just bought four tickets to see Blue Man Group in Vegas. The Ticketmaster website, the tickets and everywhere you look says they are "Non-Refundable". My plans changed an hour later, and now I can't go...they won't take them back! This was simply a mistake!

THIS IS AN OUTRAGE & POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE!

I WILL NEVER SEE BLUE MAN GROUP AGAIN! I am taking my entertainment dollar to the Blackjack table where they actually CARE about their customers!






[This message has been edited by Pointfreak! (edited Mar 16, 2004).]

GUWonder

Pointsfreak, bad analogy.

This is more akin to a bait and switch, even if unintnetional on Delta's part.

The webpage to webpage differences in award certificate selection and layout is misleading. I even caught the switch before leaving the store, but after handing over the card and signature.

Buy a pair of shoes, the clerk comes back with a shoe box with your shoes. You hand over the payment. Before leaving the store, you pull the box out of the bag, and find out that the shoes have been changed so that you have shoes that look similar except that they gave you the store's own generic brand of shoe vs. the brand name you thought you bought and paid for. The store says: "you're out of luck".

Bad customer service and more than annoying. Big difference from your theater ticket purchase process.

[This message has been edited by GUWonder (edited Mar 16, 2004).]

Pointfreak!

Bait & Switch is telling your daughter you will give her a pony for her birthday, then giving her a duck. There was no switch here...he got what he clicked on. At what point does personal responsibility (to actually know what you are buying, whatever that may be) come into play?


OK...well I guess I need to give you a little more detail. I actually bought tickets to the "Dirty Girls Review", instead of Celine Dion like my wife wanted. When she found out, I told her it was an accident! Hey...The web pages looked the same! Now we MUST go to the "Dirty Girls Review"!

THIS IS AN OUTRAGE! [



[This message has been edited by Pointfreak! (edited Mar 16, 2004).]

indufan

While I generally agree with the TicketMaster analogy, they are hardly a company that exudes customer service. At least they respond to emails daily. I am still waiting on a response from Comair from a month ago.

Having said that, I did convince them to exchange some tickets to Fleetwood Mac after better seats became available. It wasn't easy and they didn't cave in easily but I did get around the no exchanges rule.

GUWonder

Oh in that case Delta will not mind allowing me to use the business class certificate for travel between India-Europe on Air France as well as Delta. After all, there is no duck and pony switch.

By the way, I selected Skyteam awards and the quantity on delta.com. I did not select Delta.

I took responsibility for the error, but Delta's website layout was part of the problem. I was not even out of the "store" when I called to alert them about the matter and ask them to resolve it. I don't even trust Delta to have corrected the mistake if it was a Delta agent who made the same mistake. I have relied on misinformed Delta CSRs to my detriment on matters such as this before and Delta has not resolved such to any imaginable satisfaction level.

Actually, the web pages looked very different and the layout difference was the problem. Of course Delta would have little to no interest in a six sigma project that targetted improving the customer experience.

[This message has been edited by GUWonder (edited Mar 16, 2004).]