triphunter.com

It is hard to believe in this day and age that a business hasn’t yet realized the importance of listening, and responding to its customers. Not just the good customers. Heck, like an overachieving child, all they need is a pat on the back to re-assure them that you really care. No, it’s the unhappy, disenfranchised customer you need to pay attention to, because like the angry child, they just won’t shut up until they get what they want. And they can do a lot of damage to your brand if your course of action is to ignore them.

Delta, are you listening? You inarguably have the worst customer service of any company I, and a growing list of my friends, have ever come in contact with. And apparently we are not a fringe group swimming upstream against a current of love for Delta. A quick search brought a number of sites to my attention where I can bitch about Delta: Delta Airlines Hate, Delta Sucks, Delta Stinks, I hate Delta. You can pretty much type in any derogatory term you want followed by Delta, and hit unhappy customer pay dirt. 

My wife and I became Delta haters a year ago when they lost her bags on a trip to the Caymans with her Mom and Sister. She spent three days of her six day vacation in a $12 dollar bikini, which wasn’t a problem for me, and at that point I actually liked Delta.  But then, rather than just own up, they took a proverbial crap right in the middle of the floor and tracked it all over the house. “We never lost your bag. We returned your bag, we don’t owe you anything for your bag, your clothes weren’t worth what you declared.” It was unbelievable. Six months later she got a $12 dollar check and a banana nut Odwalla bar. And we vowed never to fly Delta again. 

Then, just yesterday, my ire, yes, I said ire, was re-awakened when friends of ours told us of their Delta nightmare. It goes like this: Mom, Dad and the three kids (6,5 and 2) went on a vacation to Mexico. Great time. Ruins, sun, fun, the works. Then, with all the stress removed from their internal organs, they boarded a Delta flight home, basking in their memories. The first hitch came in Atlanta, when their connecting flight was delayed 7 hours. Finally, Dad pulled a few strings and got them on a flight close to home, but not where the departed from originally. So, some 15 hours later, they all got home. But guess what was not with them. That’s right. Their bags. All five bags. Gone. Gone the way of the dodo.  Hours of calls and days later, 4 of the 5 bags were located, but here is what my friend said about the fifth, which contained all of the kids clothes:

“No one at the 800 numbers at Delta or their emails is responsive.  Delta told me this morning they will look for the bag for 3 months and it will take 8-12 weeks to process the claim!  For those with children, you can imagine what this is like.  Every time they realize a favorite shirt is among the missing we have to go through this whole process of crying and me assuring them that we can get a new one.”      

So here is the advice I give Delta. Any response is better than no response. An understanding voice acknowledging the inconvenience is the basic tenet of customer service. Because if you decide to ignore me, or my friend, or any other of the angry people who have brushed up against your crappy brand, you too will go the way of the dodo.