Our Customer's Love for U

[Dog Wonder]

Rant on.

The customers are wrong. You are right.

 

[tadjr]

I just found it odd that anyone would think 245 complaints were out of line for the month following that little bump in the road called res migration. That sure is some conspiracy to skew the results.....

Jim

Jim,
I humbly apologize and ask for your forgiveness. 🙄 I did not pay attention that the month in question was in 2007 and I was not talking specifically about the month mentioned nor the 245 complaints in particular (like you seem to think I was). I was talking about overall general DOT stats in this category for all airlines and all purposes. US isnt the only airline that would have this happen to them or could benefit from the DOT publishing the complaints. Of course there were no FFOCUS complaints that month about losing their bonus, even I know that. Next time I'll try to be more focused about specifics or general info so as to not confuse everyone here. Do you really think I'm stupid enough to not believe we got a ton of complaints after rez migration and that we arent still getting them for the way we run? I was just trying to point out an alternative that few here seem to have thought about since we all know US sucks and its more fun to bash them than to maybe question some of the stats involved for all of the carriers in the report.

 

[Travel Is My Life]

Rant on.

The customers are wrong. You are right.

I don't think anybody here is saying that. Customers are not always going to be right and many customers use the DOT as a "crutch" of sorts. As has been mentioned the DOT needs to "weed" out the BS complaints.

 

[Be Careful What You Wish For.]

Being last or second to last is nothing to be proud of but ,for comparisons sake, I wonder where we ranked during the golden years of Wolfe and Colodney.

Let me make it clear that I am not a DP fan nor do I think we needed to go full circle to make things run correctly.

Noting the particular challenges inherit in East flying, lots of complaints are not a new thing.

 

[Dog Wonder]

I don't think anybody here is saying that. Customers are not always going to be right and many customers use the DOT as a "crutch" of sorts. As has been mentioned the DOT needs to "weed" out the BS complaints.

Tadjr is saying exactly that.

 

[Travel Is My Life]

Tadjr is saying exactly that.

Did you not read all of Tadjr's posts?? I dont think you did otherwise you'd see your statement is incorrect. In one of Tadjr's posts its stated that if the airline did something wrong (and its not some BS complain) than by all rights they need to deal with it and the consequences. Just because somebody complains doesn't necessarily mean they have a valid complaint!!

 

[john john]

The airline can, and does get complaints thrown out or applied to another carrier (contract Express, for example). So there are checks and balances in place for the complaints that aren't in place for any other area ranked by the DOT - all the others depend strictly on info submitted by the airlines.

Jim

Therefore, if you fly on USAirways express and file a complaint with the DOT USAirways does not take responsibility

 

[Travel Is My Life]

By definition, NO COMPLAINT IS BS! If the Customer percieves he/she has been wronged then in fact they have been wronged.

NOW, does that mean the Complaint is valid under the Contract of Carriage or any other regulations that may govern a particular situation? Certainly the answer is no. That does NOT mean the complaint is BS.

If US Airways along with every other commercial airline would make there CoC as transparent as possible so that even my 13 year old niece could understand it then you'd see a marked difference in the number and type of complaints. Did anyone ever notice that WN does pretty good in the Consumer Complaints portion of the DOT stats. Could that reason be that there rules are relatively simple and easy to understand. Somethings they just don't do and everyone knows going in.

What a concept. Manage Customer Expectations up front, eliminate complaints to the DOT?

You do make some good points about the CoCs for the airlines and how "difficult" they are for the majority to understand. However the complaints I'm primarily referring to as BS are ones that dont require any sort of comprehension of the CoCs such as complaining when you cant get a refund on a refundable ticket, when you miss your flight because you decided to stop in the airport bar or restaurant and miss your flight, stuff like that. There are other complaints that of course I'd consider BS but as you mention if the CoCs were easier to understand there'd probably be less of them. However as we all know in many cases no matter how easy something is to understand people won't read it anyway. No matter how easy, clear or available you make it to them.

 

[Travel Is My Life]

Therefore, if you fly on USAirways express and file a complaint with the DOT USAirways does not take responsibility

Well when flying on Express you are flying on a different carrier other than US Airways so of course that complaint is going to get "applied" to the appropriate airline.

 

[Travel Is My Life]

As for a group skewing the numbers let's be real for a minute. If FFOCUS, for example were to attempt such an endeavor the numbers would be off the charts bad or good depending whether
we decided to be positive or not. We have just shy of 1200 members so if each member submitted ONE complaint per year, you'd start out with more complaints than you had last month from just our group. If we were doing such a thing you'd know and I wouldn't have to tell you.

The issue is Customer Satisfaction and the simplest cheapest way to achieve it is through employee satisfaction.

In the situation you pose, you are right we'd know. However it is well known that there are certain "members" that send in complaint, after complaint after complaint. Most of the time for BS stuff. Its people like that whom are really skewing the numbers.

Also I do agree about taking care of the employees who will in turn take care of the customers. That applies to any business. Unfortunately in today's world, there arent too many airlines out there (at least domestically) that practice that concept.

 

[Travel Is My Life]

Think of it this way.

IF, Before, During & After the Res Migration, US Airways had been candid with it's customers. Especially those of us who are Frequent Fliers about the potential pitfalls that can occur with ANY computer system cut-over.

US Airways had ample opportunity and cash on hand to get in front of the Res Migration Disaster but for whatever reason chose not to.

IF, After the Res Migration, US Airways had responded in a timely fashion to the flood of consumer complaints, most of which were NOT to use your descriptor "BS". Again for whatever reasons they chose not to. As a result we have what we have now. A group of highly annoyed Frequent Fliers who may or may not be FFOCUS members on a mission.

We know from experience that a writing a letter to Customer Relations doesn't always lead to a timely resolution of a problem. Fact is often it doesn't even offer an accurate response to the question or concern and I've the e-mails and the apology to prove it.

So then given that oft times we can't get a response what are we supposed to do as consumers? Taking a Flame Thrower to Dougie's Bimmer is widely frowned upon in law Enforcement circles, so that's not viable now is it? So it's off to the DOT to at least get an aknowledgement.

I have always counseled that an agrieved customer should use all of the tools at their disposal to get a issue or concern addressed. DOT filing is but one of many avenues. If US Airways fails to respond tomy concern, then it creates the opportunity for me as an agressive consumer to file 2 DOT complaints over the same issue. One for the issue itself and one for failing to provide a timely response.

So once again if falls to the airline to manage expectations and deliver on their promises to customers. If the claim is invalid that will also work its way out as the customer will get nothing.

I'm not sure why you brought up the res migration. US did screw up with that and complaints related to it by no means were BS complaints. In that case, I'm sure US didnt respond in a timely manner to complaints because there were just too many (which had everything gone right, it wouldnt have been an issue). In any case it doesnt have anything to do with my issue of BS complaints.

With regards to you, the airline and the DOT. Something tells me that the airline just doesn't even bother really "responding" to you since all you seem do to is complain. Why would they keep responding when no matter what they say would probably do nothing??

 

[john john]

Well when flying on Express you are flying on a different carrier other than US Airways so of course that complaint is going to get "applied" to the appropriate airline.

So 2/3 of US departures are express US runs a virtual airline with skew DOT stats

 

[Art at ISP]

Travel is My Life,

I have to agree with Piney Bob. The lack of response from Customer Relations to just about any complaint has been less than acceptable-not just to Bob, but to me and to many of the members of FFOCUS who would wait almost 30 days, and when no response was received, would contact me and ask me to intervene.

When I did get involved, they would often get a response with 24 hours of my request, which was sent to senior management in Customer Relations, but in most cases, it failed to offer a satisfactory resolution or explanation for the issue reported, and in many cases the response was inappropriate to the problem reported--as if they never read the original complaint. Also, for what it's worth, I was once asked for a list of 10 high yield flyers who had had enough of US Airways, with a promise that each would be individually contacted. I gave them 65 names, and NOT A ONE was ever contacted.

The main pattern we saw was that of complaint resolution rather than customer service--placate the customer with a voucher or two to shut him up, and ignore the issue he was reporting. Had the brain trust used information from complaints to actually FIX the problems being reported, the volume of complaints would most likely have gone down, the company could have saved significant money, and customers would not have felt the need to report to DOT.

Also here's a thought. One of the comments I hear all the time is "why would they give me a voucher which is impossible to redeem on an airline I have no desire to fly?"

I remain dedicated to helping US Airways see the error of their ways, and maybe, one day get it RIGHT, like WN or CO, but with this management team, who continually show contempt for both employees AND customers, I don't see it happening. In order to do so they would have to admit they are WRONG, and that is apparently a deal breaker for them.

So please don't pick on Bob--he was not alone by a long shot in his experiences with CR.

My BEST to you ALL.

 

[SS255]

Travel is My Life,

I have to agree with Piney Bob. The lack of response from Customer Relations to just about any complaint has been less than acceptable-not just to Bob, but to me and to many of the members of FFOCUS who would wait almost 30 days, and when no response was received, would contact me and ask me to intervene.

The problem is far deeper than lack of response. It is a complete and utter disregard for solving the real problem. I sent a letter to Customer Relations to complain about the lack of communication during a 3.5 hour delay in PHL. I did not expect a voucher, but what I received a few weeks later was a $150 voucher (which proved difficult to use) and a "promise" that my complaint would be forwarded to the food & beverage manager at PHL. WTF?????

Either nobody read my letter, nor nobody proofread the response. Either way, it did not reflect very highly on US's Customer Relations department......or the company as a whole.

 

[US1YFARE]

Either way, it did not reflect very highly on US's Customer Relations department......or the company as a whole.

Did you expect anything different? This is nothing new. It is painfully obvious the total disregard for customers and employees will never change.