I think I am going to faint... I am agreeing completely with mars. The issue here is not that the end result was the same... it is that when a customer makes a complaint, they are angry and upset and they want to feel that their complaint was taken seriously and heard.
Delta (and they are far from alone in doing this) use a "cut and paste" canned response, which reeks of insincerity and which often indicates that the basic point of the complaint has not been understood. This has the exact opposite effect to the one intended. It inflames the situation and distances the customer further from the company.
To do this with people who are loyal customers since 1991 and very frequent flyers is stupid.
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Wait a minute, I'm confused. You got the same resolution even if you hadn't gone to the top. The only thing the OP recieved was a deeper apology than the cut and paste (which isstill cut and paste) and a gift. I doubt its anything small, but after reading all the responses and the final response, to me, they look pretty similar. Well not too similar, the first responses danced around the MQM points, which you still ended up not getting, and the final response said straight up "no mqm miles".
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The common mistake people who work in the complaints department make is that people are always after something. I used to manage a small hospital. When patients and families complained, the hospital would take a very cautious approach, as the climate was one of fear of litigation. Whilst this fear may have been well founded in the litigious environment of the US, it had the effect of making the patients and families feel utterly powerless and seemed to make them angrier.
We decided to completely revise how we handled complaints. First, we
spoke to the complainant, rather than respond by canned letter. If we disagreed, we told them why. If we made a mistake, we admitted it and told them what we would do about it. We often could not resolve it to their satisfaction. For example, they would say xxx should be fired, she should not be working in healthcare. We would respond that whilst we understood their feelings, we were required to take a balanced perspective, but that their specific complaint would be acted upon. The effect was marked in terms of our customer satisfaction.
To be clear Bob...
the outcome was not the same. Although Delta did not award the MQM miles he asked for, the difference in his feelings towards Delta was dramatic. Once he felt heard, he immediately rewarded the company with further business. Prior to that, he was contemplating moving his significant business to a competitor. Delta should be grateful... and share this email exchange with the dolts who work in their complaints department. It illustrates perfectly the point... listen to the customer and acknowledge when mistakes have been made. Not everyone is after everything they can get.
Justme, I appreciate your love.. but sadly our divorce was complete and final when you lied to me and stranded me penniless and alone. In any event, my remedy for Delta is an act of love... I would break up this monopoly, order you to reduce the number of take off and landing slots at Atlanta to less than 35% and face proper competition. You would transform into a customer focussed love machine. Sadly, it ain't gonna happen...