The Squirrel Awards
Document Actions
- A certain car hire company. I joined up with them when I lived in France for a while. According to their system I still live there. If I login to their UK website, it tells me that my id and password are invalid. If I then try to link my existing details to an online account, it tells me I am already in the system and won't continue. If I login to the French website, it knows all about me, but I can't find anywhere to change my profile. I have phoned / facsed and emailed them. No change.
- Another car hire company. I have a reservation and I want to change it. I login with my id and password and it asks me for the reservation number! WHY? You know what it is, you morons, I don't have it to hand! Just because you are too lazy to implement a decent indexing system, don't punish me.
- A certain airline, where I book tickets online. They know all about me. I am a long-term customer. Why then do you ask me for my credit card details and address every time I buy a ticket? As one European CIO quite rightly said to me years ago (about our products) "Peter, I will give you data once and never again; I expect you to remember it and exploit it in all your software - that is part of true integration."
- Same airline. Book tickets online, get an email with details/ cost etc. Change the ticket, get nothing to confirm the fee I have just paid and need to call someone to send me a receipt so that I can claim it. Was told in the accompanying note "The ticket usually counts as the invoice". Not with e-tickets it doesn't, there's nothing on there about the price paid!
- Colleague getting a quote for car insurance. 20 minutes on the phone answering all the questions. The last question was "what sort of car?" "A Porsche" "We don't insure them!" Could you start with that question?
- And now to be positive, a hotel chain I use. Login to their website and it shows me all the reservations I currently have, shows me the hotels I have stayed at before so I can rebook etc. Wonderful.
By the way, does this affect my loyalty? Yes, I avoid the top two companies, only use the airline if I have to and always book that hotel chain if I can.
_____
tags:
Let me tell you about loyalty!
Posted by
Ynema Mangum
at
2007-06-29 16:00
I once gave up eating at a restaurant because they stopped carrying the salad dressing I prefer...Why wouldn't I stop visiting a site or buying certain services from companies that don't ask my opinion if they are going to make a major change? It's a social, open world we live in. No business can forget it.
Travel
Posted by
Dougie Lawson
at
2007-07-04 15:49
Just be thankful you're not having to use the Online Travel Reservation system at your previous employer. It used to be so much easier when you phoned a warm body, told him or her where you were going, when you were going and when you were coming back. Next day there'd be a courier in reception with your tickets, receipts and a clip-board. Sign the receipt and you're done.
Now we have an OTR system. Last time I tried to book a hotel in Mainz they were all booked out. I thought about finding a campsite to pitch my tent - but that's not on the "authorised" accomodation list. Down the big snake, grumble, throw the dice again hoping for a ladder.
We've also heard of folks being routed via stupid places on long duration flights A to B via Z to save the odd buck. They forget that the five hours on the extra sectors takes it's toll on the passenger. Some folks now resort to finding the route they want then feeding that back into the OTR system.
Now we have an OTR system. Last time I tried to book a hotel in Mainz they were all booked out. I thought about finding a campsite to pitch my tent - but that's not on the "authorised" accomodation list. Down the big snake, grumble, throw the dice again hoping for a ladder.
We've also heard of folks being routed via stupid places on long duration flights A to B via Z to save the odd buck. They forget that the five hours on the extra sectors takes it's toll on the passenger. Some folks now resort to finding the route they want then feeding that back into the OTR system.
Automated Call Centre systems
Posted by
Ron Preedy
at
2007-07-06 04:23
My favourite:
Call the 0800 number of my fixed-line telephone provider on my mobile, because the line is dead. Voice tells me to call a high-priced mobile number instead. Call that number, voice tells me (after 2 minutes of blathering) that to report a problem, I should call yet another (low-cost) number.
New voice tells me to "give me" my customer number. Now what? Is it a voice response system, so I can just say the number? Or do they want me to tap it in on the phone keyboard? I try the voice, you can guess what happens "I didn't understand your response. Please try again". Now I type it in, wonderful, voice tells me to hang on for a few millenia till a human can speak to me.
No prizes for guessing the first question he asks. Correct: "please give me your customer number."
GAAAAAAH!
If I didn't know that the main competitor was even worse (that's why I changed), I would have cancelled immediately.
Call the 0800 number of my fixed-line telephone provider on my mobile, because the line is dead. Voice tells me to call a high-priced mobile number instead. Call that number, voice tells me (after 2 minutes of blathering) that to report a problem, I should call yet another (low-cost) number.
New voice tells me to "give me" my customer number. Now what? Is it a voice response system, so I can just say the number? Or do they want me to tap it in on the phone keyboard? I try the voice, you can guess what happens "I didn't understand your response. Please try again". Now I type it in, wonderful, voice tells me to hang on for a few millenia till a human can speak to me.
No prizes for guessing the first question he asks. Correct: "please give me your customer number."
GAAAAAAH!
If I didn't know that the main competitor was even worse (that's why I changed), I would have cancelled immediately.
Forgot your password?
New user?
