The Customer Service Survey
VocaLabs' weblog providing news and commentary on the challenges of providing good customer service.
Customers Will Forgive...Once
Tuesday - June 27, 2006 04:07 PM in
Perhaps you read about the problems last week when the carrier AirTran cut over to a new reservation/booking system that crashed repeatedly. It seems that by way of apology AirTran has announced that every passenger flying that day will receive a $100 ticket voucher. There is a truism in marketing that if you mess up and fix it, you have created a far more loyal customer than had you never messed up in the first place.
It so happens that I was on an AirTran flight that day and stood in line four hours for a one hour flight. The following day, still included a rwo hour standing in line wait to get home.
If they do this right, AirTran could very well end up with MORE loyal customers. OTOH, the article hinted that maybe only Atlanta fliers were being compensated (I flew from MPLS to Chicago and back). Bad move. Customers can be very forgiving because we do understand that such things can happen. But a corollary to fixing a screw up is that you'd better not screw up the fix. The article doesn't say how the vouchers are to be distributed. (Peter correctly points out that we booked the flight on line, but AirTran may not know who actually boarded.) So if the carrier messes up the apology, loyalty and repeat business will plummet. Stay tuned.
Posted by Rick Rappe
If they do this right, AirTran could very well end up with MORE loyal customers. OTOH, the article hinted that maybe only Atlanta fliers were being compensated (I flew from MPLS to Chicago and back). Bad move. Customers can be very forgiving because we do understand that such things can happen. But a corollary to fixing a screw up is that you'd better not screw up the fix. The article doesn't say how the vouchers are to be distributed. (Peter correctly points out that we booked the flight on line, but AirTran may not know who actually boarded.) So if the carrier messes up the apology, loyalty and repeat business will plummet. Stay tuned.
Posted by Rick Rappe
Posted at 04:07 PM by | | | |