Brian,
I notice you have defended United and other airlines in a couple of complaints posted on this site. Do you work for United? In Customer Service?
Anyway, you missed the point of my complaint completely. I have flown many hundreds of thousands of miles over 32 years in my business, so I have seen and experienced just about every senario there is. This is the first time I have ever written a complaint.
Let me clarify the issues as you responded to them:
1- I never complained or suggested that the airline ignore the weight and balance problem or the weather. On this point I agree with you, these are very serious problems for planes.
My point here was that we sat through a 2 hour delay and then another 40 minutes to correct the baggage problem. There was alot of time wasted, which then put us into the weather situation.
2- You refer to "customer service" as a noun or person. I use it as an adverb. It is a companies policies, attitudes, procedures and actions in regard to how they treat clients. Too many people like yourself, think that customer service is a department. I think a company's customer service philosophy is reflected in every employee that works for them, not just a single "department". United obviously has a "treat them like cattle" philosophy.
In this instance, any announcements to keep passangers informed as to the situation would have eased the inconvenience.
3- I don't blame you for making the many assumptions you have here. In all my years of traveling, the points you make are usually the norm. In most cases the passengers are "informed" of options and the airline makes "recomendations" to help thier customers get to thier final destinations.
Picture this, a United representative standing in a crowded gate area, with 50 passengers from this flight standing around him. He opted not to come on board and make an announcment, or use the loud speaker in the terminal, so he had to shout. He stated that "all flights to Madson were canceled" and that they could not accommodate us on the following day. He held up a sheet of paper and said the local bus company's phone number was on it and that "you are on our own".
4- I'm adding this since you failed to comment on the issue that most angered me. The fact that my travel agent could not adjust my travel plans because United had SUSPENDED my ticket because I FAILED TO USE THE CHICAGO TO MADISON PORTION OF MY RESERVATION!
This just added to the inconvenience of this trip and when I spoke to the United agent on the phone she made it sound as though it was my fault.
In closing, I am not rash and do not assume anything. If you re-read my posting, you will see that I never complained about the weather or suggested that it was only happening to United.
I DO "vote" with my wallet. I do not patronize any business that treats thier clients like a commodity. Whether its restaurants, hotels, airlines, retail stores, or gas stations, if I don't feel that they appreciate my business, then I do not go back.
Enough Said!
|