XCheck
Veteran
Folks, read this, and tell me what would you do...
I travel FREQUENTLY (read: almost every week) across the US/Canadian border. For those of you who've experienced it, that should say it all...
BUT: I use AC's express check-in. A few weeks ago, I suddenly noticed that my passport number in the check-in profile had changed since the week before - a case of something like AB123456 changed into ABB123456.
In times of identity theft, arbitrary detentions, and US-VISIT finger-printing procedures, that freaked me out. It also brought back a flashback from about a year ago, when my date of birth in AC's online booking profile had suddenly changed (from 30th of the month to 13th of the same month - I guess you and I know how did THAT happen, but keep reading...)
So I send them an e-mail, asking for an investigation how come this could have happened. Their response was the most arrogant, biggest piece of crap reply I ever got: Basicaly they said that it was all my fault, and that their system is secure. Not even addressing either of the two issues, trying to blame the responsibility for the booking profile change on me, while in fact, their system doesn't even permit date of birth to be changed online (I've checked both online and by asking their employees).
By this time, I am only slightly annoyed, until last week. After a day of 'technical difficulties' on AC site, I can't get into my booking profile. Called AC, they said that my password had been revoked, probably because I'd entered it incorrectly three times in a row. Well - that could happen, of course, BUT in the last five years I've been using the system, it didn't happen once. All of the sudden, it happens the same day they were experiencing 'technical difficulties'. Strange coincidence, isn't it?
But wait, that's not all! Today, my wife tries to redeem some of my accumulated airmiles for a trip. After everything goes through, she reviewes the booking, enters the credit card number and hits BUY, she gets an error. So she calls the technical support, and they refuse to talk to her because it's my account, not hers. Never mind that I sent them a letter years ago, asking them to add her name as an authorized user of the account. Their concern is SECURITY!
So I call in, and the person on the phone tells me that there is invalid data in my booking profile (that I've been using unchanged for several years), and that she will fix it for me. THEN SHE ASKS FOR MY PASSWORD - that's the same department that wouldn't talk to my wife ten minutes before. Some security.
Now that got my blood boiling. I told her what I thought of the sorry outfit, and that there was no way I'd give her my password. So she gave me a point by point checklist what to do, some of which involved changing security settings in my browser. ???
After my wife did what the tech. suport said, the thing still wouldn't work. So I called the tech. sup. again, this time calling a supervisor. She called my home, talked to my wife, walked her through the thing three times - no success. At this point, the supervisor blamed it on the router that sits between my cable modem and the LAN. Have I mentioned that the router has been in use for six years, without problems?
Eventually, my wife had to book the ticket through the phone, insistent that she wanted the phone booking fee to be waived. That took 30 minutes on hold to arrange. Combined, we spent two and half hours on the phone booking a single ticket.
So, you bet I am writing a long rant that I will send to AC customer relations department. What bothers me most is that they consistently try to put the blame and the responsibility on the customer, rather than looking into their own procedures and systems. I work in IT, so I now a plenty of things can go wrong, but it's their attitude and lack of respect that bothers me more than the fact that an error happened somewhere in their system.
Now - what would you guys do? I don't think just writing a complaint to AC will get me anywhere...
Jerry
I travel FREQUENTLY (read: almost every week) across the US/Canadian border. For those of you who've experienced it, that should say it all...
BUT: I use AC's express check-in. A few weeks ago, I suddenly noticed that my passport number in the check-in profile had changed since the week before - a case of something like AB123456 changed into ABB123456.
In times of identity theft, arbitrary detentions, and US-VISIT finger-printing procedures, that freaked me out. It also brought back a flashback from about a year ago, when my date of birth in AC's online booking profile had suddenly changed (from 30th of the month to 13th of the same month - I guess you and I know how did THAT happen, but keep reading...)
So I send them an e-mail, asking for an investigation how come this could have happened. Their response was the most arrogant, biggest piece of crap reply I ever got: Basicaly they said that it was all my fault, and that their system is secure. Not even addressing either of the two issues, trying to blame the responsibility for the booking profile change on me, while in fact, their system doesn't even permit date of birth to be changed online (I've checked both online and by asking their employees).
By this time, I am only slightly annoyed, until last week. After a day of 'technical difficulties' on AC site, I can't get into my booking profile. Called AC, they said that my password had been revoked, probably because I'd entered it incorrectly three times in a row. Well - that could happen, of course, BUT in the last five years I've been using the system, it didn't happen once. All of the sudden, it happens the same day they were experiencing 'technical difficulties'. Strange coincidence, isn't it?
But wait, that's not all! Today, my wife tries to redeem some of my accumulated airmiles for a trip. After everything goes through, she reviewes the booking, enters the credit card number and hits BUY, she gets an error. So she calls the technical support, and they refuse to talk to her because it's my account, not hers. Never mind that I sent them a letter years ago, asking them to add her name as an authorized user of the account. Their concern is SECURITY!
So I call in, and the person on the phone tells me that there is invalid data in my booking profile (that I've been using unchanged for several years), and that she will fix it for me. THEN SHE ASKS FOR MY PASSWORD - that's the same department that wouldn't talk to my wife ten minutes before. Some security.
Now that got my blood boiling. I told her what I thought of the sorry outfit, and that there was no way I'd give her my password. So she gave me a point by point checklist what to do, some of which involved changing security settings in my browser. ???
After my wife did what the tech. suport said, the thing still wouldn't work. So I called the tech. sup. again, this time calling a supervisor. She called my home, talked to my wife, walked her through the thing three times - no success. At this point, the supervisor blamed it on the router that sits between my cable modem and the LAN. Have I mentioned that the router has been in use for six years, without problems?
Eventually, my wife had to book the ticket through the phone, insistent that she wanted the phone booking fee to be waived. That took 30 minutes on hold to arrange. Combined, we spent two and half hours on the phone booking a single ticket.
So, you bet I am writing a long rant that I will send to AC customer relations department. What bothers me most is that they consistently try to put the blame and the responsibility on the customer, rather than looking into their own procedures and systems. I work in IT, so I now a plenty of things can go wrong, but it's their attitude and lack of respect that bothers me more than the fact that an error happened somewhere in their system.
Now - what would you guys do? I don't think just writing a complaint to AC will get me anywhere...
Jerry
I feel your pain. It's no secret that customer service is non-existent anymore. The customer's always right? Yeah right, - the company's never wrong is the new motto. And if you even imply they have made a mistake? Well, I'm convinced some lackey goes out of their way to cause future problems. Wouldn't be at all surprised if that happened in your case and that's why your experiencing repeated problems. Call me paranoid...
