Agents can capitalise on consumers’ disillusionment with suppliers wait times by making service their USP, says Digital Drums chief executive Steve Dunne
“Hello, thank you for calling our company. Your call is important to us, that’s why we will keep you on hold for an hour listening to dodgy muzak while constantly interrupting the aforementioned muzak to tell you it would be better if you visited our website – you know, the one that can’t actually deal with your specific problem.”
While that’s not exactly the wording, it is too often the sentiment of the call centre answering systems of many tour operators, airlines (especially airlines) and cruise companies. It appears as if the art, and indeed the value, of customer service has been lost by many firms in the travel industry.
To be fair, it isn’t just the travel and aviation sectors that fall short in this area, it is pretty much endemic across every sector of the economy.
I had cause to deal with a very famous airline recently that owed me a refund for some seat upgrades and witnessed first-hand its somewhat strange approach to customer service.
The airline had said it would refund me within 14 working days, but after six weeks had passed, I decided a nudge to customer services was required.
Before doing so, I looked at the carrier’s Twitter page and was heartened to see it state: “We’re beyond excited to welcome you on board”. This looked promising.
However, the statement didn’t seem to extend to anyone in the refunds or reservations departments. That part of the airline seemed distinctly unexcited to have me anywhere near them.
Getting no response
The email address on the website, which promised to deal with my issue, returned a message saying “this address is no longer monitored”. Not to worry, I thought, I can always use the phone.
Despite a message telling me “we really value your call”, I wasn’t valued enough to have someone pick up in the hour I waited on the line.
Periodically, a charming female voice would interrupt the muzak to inform me the airline’s call centre was “experiencing unprecedented call numbers”, something claimed every day, over several days. I wondered if the script writer knew what the word unprecedented really meant.
I’ll not bore you with a blow-by-blow account of dozens of email bounce-backs with a “not monitored message” or being told to visit a website. Suffice to say, my efforts to contact a human being drew a complete blank.
Going public
Now frustrated, I followed a tactic I’ve witnessed on the rise. I took my concerns public. I tweeted @ them. Unfortunately for the airline, my tweet was seen by hundreds of people and prompted many responses of support.
Within 15 minutes, the airline was in touch on Twitter. Could I ‘direct message’ them, asked a charming chap called Adam. I did. Over several direct messages, each strangely signed off by a different individual (presumably so I never felt I had the ear of one particular person), we got to the bottom of the problem.
My claim had been found and would be paid within, you guessed it, 14 working days. Needless to say, those 14 days passed with no payment.
This is my point. Why send me promotional emails almost daily selling me dream destinations or tell me you’re excited to have me as a client when clearly you’re not? In marketing, it’s called cognitive dissonance: where the brand doesn’t walk the talk, which leaves customers disillusioned and eventually drives them away. This makes the whole process of advertising and public relations a bit of a waste of money.
However, this situation presents a marketing opportunity I think travel agents can capitalise on.
If Covid has shown one thing clearly, it’s that the consumer is re-evaluating service. We’re seeing customer service leaping to the top as regards how they rank brands. Clearly it should be the area every travel agent uses as their unique selling proposition. It doesn’t matter about size or location – if you offer great service, you’re the brand for me.
So let’s make customer service human again, and watch brands that offer it run away with the business.
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