BLOG.TheServiceJourney.COM: Who Works For Whom? Continental - Delta Disaffiliation Puts Responsibility On Clients

Susan Hoekstra

shoekstra@theservicejourney.com
Customer Service Expert
Author: The Service Journey

Who Works For Whom? Continental - Delta Disaffiliation Puts Responsibility On Clients

I am always amazed at companies who treat their clients as if the clients work for them, expecting clients to either fix errors made by the company, or expecting clients to be well versed in the firm's policies and procedures. Don't believe this happens? Here are two examples from firms in different industries:

In my book, The Service Journey, I talk about an experience I had with a major package delivery company. I received someone else's package. When I called the number on the package to let them know of their error (they delivered to the correct street, wrong town), so they could pick up the package and redeliver it, they told me I would have to drop off the package at one of their shipping stores! It was as if it were my fault they delivered the package to my home!

More recently, a friend vented to me about her experience with Continental and Delta Airlines.

"As you probably know, Continental recently disaffiliated with Delta. This was announced MANY months ago, but Delta continued to allow people to enter their Continental OnePass Frequent Flyer Number when purchasing tickets for flights past the disaffililation date --- so, don't you know, I'm going to lose out on 8000+ Continental miles and, therefore, probably Elite for 2011 because my upcoming flight is on Delta. I'm FURIOUS that Delta was still allowing this --- in fact, Delta allowed me to enter my OnePass number as recently as the week BEFORE the disaffiliation for a flight 2 days after the disaffiliation. If the option had no longer been available, I probably would have at least considered other airline options that would have allowed me to earn Continental miles."

I understand my friend's annoyance with Delta for allowing her to enter her OnePass information, giving her the impression she would be given credit for the travel. But, in addition to Delta being at fault, Continental should also have ensured the technology was corrected at their partners' website for information that pertained to them.

We should not expect our clients to be well versed about our policy changes and expect them to work around our technology glitches (and allowing clients to enter their OnePass Frequent Flyer Number for flights that occur after the partnership in my opinion is a technology glitch). Treating our clients as if they work for us causes a lot of client disatisfaction. Causing 'work' for our clients is also much more common than you would think. Review your clients' experience to determine who works for whom.

Want to know how the issue with Continental was resolved? Check out my next blog entry!

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