To many of us, going to the airport is not an easy task. It is very frustrating to make sure you arrive on time for your flight with all your liquids in one bag ready to go. Not to mention the delays, long lines, cancellations, weather conditions, and so on. In most cases, the airlines do their best to accommodate passengers in making sure you get the best treatment for your inconvenience. In my many flights that I have taken around the world, I have received great customer service from the airlines. Dave Carroll however, has a different story that I’m sure will change the way United Airlines does business for a long time to come. This is one problem that United Airlines did have control over, but didn’t take action against; cost them a great hit to their business.
Customer service is something that should be taken very seriously. Dave Carroll chose United, and had is $3,500 guitar damaged in the process. His claims that he made to the different airline employees were always rejected. He was continually passed from one person to the next trying to find someone to listen to his claim. There are many instances that people go through on a daily basis with any company that involves effective customer service to solve issues before they become big problems. How could United Airlines helped Dave from the beginning to solve his problem?
Only part of the problem was the fact that Dave's guitar was broken. If you wrong another person, it is vital to make your apologies to that person as soon as possible to diffuse the issues before they become bombs. It is the same in business, if those airline employees would have solved Dave’s problem from the start, we wouldn’t be having this discussion about “United Breaks”.
Airlines advertise great customer service because it is a tough business to continually receive customers. If you watch the airline commercials, read their ads, and receive their brochures, they tell you how much they love and appreciate their customers.
As I have been studying public relations, I have begun to realize how important it is to “practice what you preach”. As a public relations and marketing group, United needs to make sure they realize that their customers are the life blood of their business so they don’t have another Dave Carroll situation on their hands. To some extent, I do understand why United was reluctant to give Dave money for his guitar. I work for ICON Health & Fitness in the sales department. We have to care about customer service just as much as we do selling the machines. Once they have received the product, if there are any issues, it is vital to resolve their concerns before it causes and uproar. We don’t give free machines to anyone with an issue, but we do carefully analyze the problem, and we take the necessary steps to resolve it.
Dave Carroll told United that he would be writing a song about his experience. After two days of the song being Youtube, the song had received 2 million hits! That whole PR department for United should be fired for not taking quick enough actions.
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Tyson,
ReplyDeleteI think it's great that customer service it that important to you. I think customer service is one of the most important aspect of a company. I understand your company doesn't go giving treadmills away, but I also think that United Airlines could have saved a lot of money being aware of what happened to their customers.
I liked what you said about the customers being the "life blood" of the company. That is so true and if more companies would realize that, I think they would have less public relations disasters on their hands.
ReplyDeletegood insight here. i like how you compared this situation to a situation you face everyday. it helps put a good perspective on this article.
ReplyDeleteTyson--I liked how you started with the airport experience. I think when you add experiences that everyone goes through that really grabs the reader. I also liked how you emphasized the customer and how important customer relations is. good post!
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