Agent to me: "You are making fun of me because of my accent" ????
#31
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 3,359
If I'm in the unfortunate situation of having to deal with an agent for a booking, I'll generally have the flight numbers at hand and reference them during the entire conversation. If they ever bring up where I'm going to/from I'll just say, "I've got no idea those are the flights I need!" That being said, your experience is unacceptable. While you may have been a bit snide, that was due to being frustrated with having to repeat yourself several times. HUCA seems to be the best way to get good customer service at UA, it's sad but true! I've had some agents who I didn't have to say a word, they knew exactly what's going on and did it for me. I've also had others who didn't understand the *A rules for rebooking and I had to cite the page # and paragraph from them to double check.
Safe Travels,
James
Safe Travels,
James
#32
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: WAS/TYO
Programs: AA PPro, TP Gold, UA Silver, Bonvoy/Hilton Gold, Global Entry
Posts: 296
Im mostly with you, OP. First of all, the appropriate response from the agent after your second time correcting him should have been sorry for misunderstanding you, not questioning your motives for doing so. Not only is it none of his business, it honestly sounds as if he was being defensive, feeling indignant about having to be corrected so many times. Of course none of that should matter to you as a customer on the phone, whos just trying to get his flights booked.
And as a non-native English speaker, I find it ridiculous and shameful that he decided to pull the accent card on you, of all things. I mean, is he not working as a customer service agent at an English call center? He doesnt get to play that card when hes the one that has struggled to understand what youre saying, and thus failed to do his job properly.
Thats a ludicrously bad agent, and I pray that I never come across him. Obviously being courteous and nice to the agent is a good practice, but that doesnt absolve the agents blame for his incompetence, and its understandable that you lost your temper.
And as a non-native English speaker, I find it ridiculous and shameful that he decided to pull the accent card on you, of all things. I mean, is he not working as a customer service agent at an English call center? He doesnt get to play that card when hes the one that has struggled to understand what youre saying, and thus failed to do his job properly.
Thats a ludicrously bad agent, and I pray that I never come across him. Obviously being courteous and nice to the agent is a good practice, but that doesnt absolve the agents blame for his incompetence, and its understandable that you lost your temper.
#33
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: EAU
Programs: UA 1K, CO Plat, NW Plat, Marriott Premiere Plat, SPG Plat, Priority Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 4,711
One other thought: UA may train their agents to push callers to book on UA metal.
"You want to go to Amsterdam via Lisbon? Well we can get you there through Newark entirely on UA planes..."
"You want to go to Amsterdam via Lisbon? Well we can get you there through Newark entirely on UA planes..."
#34
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 57,251
I agree with J2simpso upthread, who always has the desired flight numbers at hand when making a call. I generally do the same thing.
#35
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: IAH
Programs: DL Plat
Posts: 196
This has generally been my experience when trying to book something with a partner airline. I remember one time back in the days of BusinessFirst on CO, being asked a number of times why I wanted to fly X airline business class when CO offers BusinessFirst which is a higher class of service.
#36
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 261
logic dictates that if you call united to book a ticket then theres a high probability that you want to fly on United. Someone over the phone cant read your mind and assume that you are calling United to book a flight on TAP. The agent went through the most logical thought process for the situation and presented a better option that the majority would consider reasonable. There is no excuse for the OP to treat the agent rudely, especially when hes literally the only person in the world who will ever make that request, and they cant understand why.
#37
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: SAN
Programs: 1K (since 2008), *G (since 1990), 1MM
Posts: 3,213
I feel for the OP and for the CS rep. I call in as I cannot do what I want/need to do on-line so I am starting from a place of frustration, so no matter how angry/confused/upset I am, I do realize it has not been caused by the person who picked up on the other end of the line. I am hoping they will help me. So after greeting them and asking about their day I explain my issue(s) and reassure them I know they did not cause it and would appreciate their help in resolving it. Most of the time it goes well. Sometimes people on FT help me when I get a bad/wrong answer.
I truly believe you catch more flies with honey than vinegar and hope I can make soneone's job a little less stressful. CS agents are generally dealing with people with problems which they did not cause. In fairness neither did the pax. :-D
I truly believe you catch more flies with honey than vinegar and hope I can make soneone's job a little less stressful. CS agents are generally dealing with people with problems which they did not cause. In fairness neither did the pax. :-D
#38
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: South Yorkshire, UK
Programs: A3*G, LH FTL, VS Red, Avis Preferred, Hertz President's Circle, (RIP Diamond Club)
Posts: 2,356
Not read everyones replies, but Id say that you should have started the call by saying that you wanted to be on the inaugural flight for that route so you were going to be asking for unusual routing. It seems like the agent was trying to find you a better route based on normal requirements for an airline ticket, e.g. saving time and/or money, so perhaps more patience and a better explanation from you would have been appropriate. It sounds like agent quickly jumped to the accusation of you making fun of them because of their accent, but without hearing the call recording its impossible to judge.
#39
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: NYC, FLL
Programs: UA PP 1MM, Marriott Bonvoy LTTE, BA Bronze
Posts: 6,261
This is rude, condescending, and unnecessary. You should have left it out.
What you said after makes sense, but you could have made it more polite - eg. "I'm sorry, it must be a bad connection - I'm after a very specific routing and I'd like to go XXX-YYY-ZZZ. Can you try that please?"
I don't think the agent's behavior was particularly stellar but these folks are human and when you said the quoted sentence, you'll tend to lose something at that point. Just hang up politely if you don't get an agent who can meet your needs - we do that here all the time and there's no unnecessary anger on either side.
What you said after makes sense, but you could have made it more polite - eg. "I'm sorry, it must be a bad connection - I'm after a very specific routing and I'd like to go XXX-YYY-ZZZ. Can you try that please?"
I don't think the agent's behavior was particularly stellar but these folks are human and when you said the quoted sentence, you'll tend to lose something at that point. Just hang up politely if you don't get an agent who can meet your needs - we do that here all the time and there's no unnecessary anger on either side.
#42
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Los Angeles
Programs: UA Plat 2MM. DL Plat, AS MVP
Posts: 12,745
This is rude, condescending, and unnecessary. You should have left it out.
What you said after makes sense, but you could have made it more polite - eg. "I'm sorry, it must be a bad connection - I'm after a very specific routing and I'd like to go XXX-YYY-ZZZ. Can you try that please?"
I don't think the agent's behavior was particularly stellar but these folks are human and when you said the quoted sentence, you'll tend to lose something at that point. Just hang up politely if you don't get an agent who can meet your needs - we do that here all the time and there's no unnecessary anger on either side.
What you said after makes sense, but you could have made it more polite - eg. "I'm sorry, it must be a bad connection - I'm after a very specific routing and I'd like to go XXX-YYY-ZZZ. Can you try that please?"
I don't think the agent's behavior was particularly stellar but these folks are human and when you said the quoted sentence, you'll tend to lose something at that point. Just hang up politely if you don't get an agent who can meet your needs - we do that here all the time and there's no unnecessary anger on either side.
#43
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Bellingham/Gainesville
Programs: UA-G MM, Priority Club Platinum, Avis First, Hertz 5*, Red Lion
Posts: 2,808
This is rude, condescending, and unnecessary. You should have left it out.
What you said after makes sense, but you could have made it more polite - eg. "I'm sorry, it must be a bad connection - I'm after a very specific routing and I'd like to go XXX-YYY-ZZZ. Can you try that please?"
I don't think the agent's behavior was particularly stellar but these folks are human and when you said the quoted sentence, you'll tend to lose something at that point. Just hang up politely if you don't get an agent who can meet your needs - we do that here all the time and there's no unnecessary anger on either side.
What you said after makes sense, but you could have made it more polite - eg. "I'm sorry, it must be a bad connection - I'm after a very specific routing and I'd like to go XXX-YYY-ZZZ. Can you try that please?"
I don't think the agent's behavior was particularly stellar but these folks are human and when you said the quoted sentence, you'll tend to lose something at that point. Just hang up politely if you don't get an agent who can meet your needs - we do that here all the time and there's no unnecessary anger on either side.
#44
Join Date: May 2010
Location: AVP & PEK
Programs: UA 1K 1.8MM
Posts: 6,275
This is rude, condescending, and unnecessary. You should have left it out.
What you said after makes sense, but you could have made it more polite - eg. "I'm sorry, it must be a bad connection - I'm after a very specific routing and I'd like to go XXX-YYY-ZZZ. Can you try that please?"
What you said after makes sense, but you could have made it more polite - eg. "I'm sorry, it must be a bad connection - I'm after a very specific routing and I'd like to go XXX-YYY-ZZZ. Can you try that please?"
The latter sounds rather condescendingly facetious.
I have a feeling if OP left out two of the three question marks after "Are you listening to me" in the original post, there wouldn't be so much criticism in this thread.
Last edited by narvik; Jan 19, 2019 at 11:40 am
#45
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: NYC, FLL
Programs: UA PP 1MM, Marriott Bonvoy LTTE, BA Bronze
Posts: 6,261
I disagree, as what I suggested is an attempt to de-escalate the situation rather than confront. Kind of like getting upset at a check-in or gate agent and playing the DYKWIA card. It's just confrontational and more likely to be met with resistance. Being nice gets you further
I see your angle, though. As I said, I think we are all in agreement on HUACA.
I see your angle, though. As I said, I think we are all in agreement on HUACA.