AirBaltic and Customer relations: Lessons learned
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE
Long story short – I was left in Gatwick airport hotel for 24 hours due to technical problems (oil leak from main front left chasse) of AirBaltic. Gatwick airport is in the middle of field (nowhere to go), particular hotel charge 6 pounds an hour for internet (as they say, up to 10 times faster than dial-up). So only things you can do, is watch TV or spend money in bar.
When finally I got home, I complained a bit and got into communication about whether they had to do something more or not.
It just happens to be that I’m the guy who is invited by companies and ad/media agencies to help them figure out online communication – for campaigns and in general. So for me it was interesting to observe - how they will handle it? Also I kind of inspected myself as a pissed of customer – what would be my reactions and how I felt in different moments of our communication. So here are some of my observations
Game it is
Whole experience has, so to say, built in game mechanic. Game mechanic is something which motivates individual to do particular actions. I noticed that at the beginning it wasn’t that important for me to get some compensation. I was just pissed off and thought that AirBaltic will just provide me some flight coupons, box of chocolate or whatever. But then I got more and more into communication got some not so pleasant answers (We are not supposed to provide you with leisure activities in London) and in the end I just couldn’t stop. In another words - if I’m doing this, it must be worth it. I suppose if you will look into statistics of customer support you will notice that there are those whose problems get solved in days and then there are those who complain for weeks or month. There is no middle. And that is because of this very game mechanic – if I have spent this much time into this, it must be worth it. If you are interested more in game mechanics and how they apply to real life, check out this video.
Those zombies will come back
… or when REALLY problems are solved. It might seem as minor importance question but in reality it appears to be big deal. For companies problem is solved when they cannot do anything more. For customers it is when they are satisfied. And if both of these are not aligned, trouble kicks in. It is amazing how many people showed up with unsolved problems or underserved experience when I shared my story. One women was taken out of the queue, one guy haven’t got e-mail answer for long time, other points out to his blog post, another has similar problem and mail exchange for more than a month, etc. They all are a bit like Customer Relation zombies (as one of people I shared my story described). They are not active black preachers who spread “AirBaltic sux big time” message. Instead they are engaging when someone will stand against the brand. And amount of those zombies is accumulating if company doesn’t change approach to problem solving or [well] the service itself. Some people made point that I’m talking a bit too much about AirBaltic on my Twitter stream. Yes and No. It wasn’t my intention to spam about Airbaltic. It was because of those “zombies” who were asking questions, sharing experience. Of course I started to join those conversations myself. Don’t take just my word for it – Customer service is the new marketing.
About emotional intelligence
Communication style. Must admit this was something unexpected. First of all, Twitter account seems to be operated by more than one person and so reactions varied from “We have done everything we can” or “can we solve this somehow” to “we are not supposed to pay for your leisure in London”. At one point they really wanted to move all our communication to email. And so we did and it was again disastrous. You know those corporate robots? Yes, this was the case. No introduction by saying “Who” is actually writing, what is their “Position” in company and responsibilities. Just “Hi, we are answering particular thing”. At one moment I got feeling that there is one legal attorney who is just changing outgoing e-mail addresses. Instead of answering my questions they provided same problem description (three times in a row). Well, maybe their intention was to make me feel stupid or turn all this conversation useless. At other moment in our correspondence they mention that “we are really happy to hear that you were treated well while staying in Gatwick”. Is this real? I’m having this complain conversation particularly about my dissatisfaction and they come to this conclusion. Maybe this is AirBaltic's Customer relations Emotional intelligence they are talking about.
I would have liked to talk with real person. And it appears that it is not only me - "consumers say their most satisfying experience occurred because of a capable and competent customer service representative" and How human is your customer service
In the end
Where we are now? Well, I have checked with EU Air Council (by email) on my little issue (oil leak from main front left chasse). This institution is the one where all complains in EU ends up and are resolved. They said my particular problem indeed applies to EU regula about delays and cancallation and suggested me to talk one more time with carrier and then go to local Consumer Rights Protection Centre. I sent that to AirBaltic and got answer that It doesn’t say particularly that they have to pay me compensation. They will wait when Air Council will ask for more details directly. Oh, well, instead of just checking with Air council directly they want to keep me into this. In case of compensation payout they will look like ones who tried to hide it from customers. In case of compensation denial there would be all these unnecessary tweets, buzz and blog posts (live forever and having seo). And of course me, that damn customer who was pissed off by all this and sharing this story whenever I could (sometimes even with clients).
What amazes me most is that AirBaltic talks in public how good they are in Customer relations and how great have been their social media strategy (PR has done it’s job).